The Vincent Black Knight was a later rendition of the series D Rapide. The bike was fully enclosed with shrouds and the idea was to build a bike that would keep the rider dry. They are pretty interesting and from what I have read, it was a pretty good touring set up. The rear piece hinged up for access to the rear wheel as shown in the picture.
There was a patrol of Black Knight motorcycles used in Orson Wells' 1984. The thought police rode them. The producer wanted something rather ominous looking and I guess he got that right. Pretty amazing how many things that Wells wrote about came true to a degree, think about it.....
I had the opportunity to purchase a Black Knight when I was living in Albuquerque about 8 years ago. It was being advertised along with an old BSA and I went to check it out. The BSA was an old restoration that wasn't too cool and the Vincent had been neglected for years. I looked them over and made a deal to buy them both for $42,000, but I stipulated that they both had to run. In hind sight that was pretty dumb
I made an appointment to come back and help him get the Vincent running and if I remember right the BSA ran. When we worked on the Vincent for a few minutes it didn't take much to figure out that it would run. I kicked it through a few times and then it fired right up !! It sounded wonderful and was spitting acorns out the tail pipe. I guess some squirrels had made a home in the pipes.
After I got the Vincent running the guy wouldn't sell the bikes to me as he said the BSA now would not start. I was pretty upset but what can you do. I had $42K in my pocket and was ready to load the bikes in my truck. I saw where he later sold the Vincent for around $78,000
