"Naked" record, Vincent Black Shadow

outlawbusa

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I know this has been around forever, and most likely posted here before...but the conversation came up the other day about this picture and I didn't know the exact story, so here it is:


Vincent Black Shadow » Cold Fury

That’s the appropriately-named Rollie Free, on his way to setting a record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1948. To wit:

On the morning of September 13, 1948, Free raised the American motorcycle speed record by riding the very first Vincent HRD (it is debated as to whether it was a Black Lightning or Black Shadow), owned by the California sportsman John Edgar and sponsored by Mobil Oil, to a speed of 150.313 mph (241.905 km/h). Special features included the first-ever Vincent use of a rear shock absorber, the first Mk II racing cams, and horizontally-mounted racing carburetors. Free had already developed a style of removing the seat from his mount, and lying flat prone along the back spine – thereby minimizing wind resistance, and placing most weight over the rear wheel. It is generally believed that this bike is The Black Lightning though, a custom order from the factory and was some 100 pounds lighter and 25 hp more powerful than the stock Black Shadow. In one of his books, Phil Irving (one of the designers) said that there were only about 16 of the model produced. The Black Lightning is the fastest Vincent ever produced.

To protect himself and allow comfort when in such a position, Free had developed special protective clothing. However, when his leathers tore from early runs at 147 mph (237 km/h), he discarded them and made a final attempt without jacket, pants, gloves, boots or helmet. Free lay flat on the motorcycle wearing only a Speedo bathing suit, a shower cap, and a pair of borrowed sneakers – inspired by friend Ed Kretz. This resulted not only in the record, but also one of the most famous photographs in motorcycling history, the “bathing suit bike†shot taken from a speeding car alongside his run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

They really don’t make ‘em like that anymore. The bike, or the man; nowadays, the man would be arrested, and the bike would probably be considered a criminal offense in some states itself.

Lots more on the Black Shadow at the first link, and like I said, it’s well worth a look. Pretty sure the guy’s wrong when he says “Vincents also boasted four speeds when a *Harley-Davidson had only three†though; H-D had a four-speed tranny for years and years. He was probably thinking about Indians, which did have three all along; in fact, it was one of the great advantages Harley had over Indian that eventually led to the Iron Redskin’s demise. But I could possibly be off on the dates myself on that one.

The article ends with this rueful observation:

You can tell that Vincents are my favorite motorcycles. There’s a wonderful mechanical-ness to them; they are such quality machines. When you check the oil in a Vincent primary case, there’s a beautiful aluminum knurled knob on the dipstick. It’s overdesigned, way better than it needs to be. The general public ignored this kind of detailing because they could buy something cheaper. But today, the Vincent is considered a piece of art to be revered.

The truth, and nothing but. If Lileks was a biker, he’d probably ride one of these. I’ve only ever seen one of them myself, and you don’t have to ride it to enjoy it. But it sure is a plus.

VincentSpeedRecord.jpg
 
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