This is a great photo of Bluey Henderson on his Vincent Lightning F10AB/1C/4439 purchase in 1951. The photo is taken just outside the front door to Sven Kallin's dealership .
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Reg Dearden on the super-charged Lightning
The Dearden super-charged Lightning
Rollie Free Flat Out at Bonneville
The Rollie Free Vincent as it is today
Vincent motorcycles started when a young Phillip Vincent acquired the rights to the trademark of the well respected British HRD motorcycle in 1928. With the help of engineer Phil Irving, Vincents got better and better. Besides adding power, the Vincent machines pioneered features that were innovations to motorcycle technology. This included the first full rear suspension, a foot shift 4 speed gearbox, V Twin engine, and side stands. The Vincent Black Shadow of 1948 pushed the envelope further, with a cruising speed of 100 mph, and a maximum speed of 125, despite the speedometer’s 150 mph top peg.
The Vincent Black Lightning also came out in 1948, and was a sensation in the motorcycle world. It had a top speed of 150 mph, and was rated at 70 horse power. On September 13 of 1948, Rollie Free became the worlds fastest motorcyclist at a speed of 150.313, riding a specially tuned production model Vincent Black Lightning on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
The previous record was 136.183 mph, set by a Harley Davidson. Incidentaly Rollie Free had a life long aversion to harley Davidson for past dealings so the record was somewhat personal.
Free’s riding leathers had torn in earlier runs of 147 mph, and they were scooping air and flapping, so for the record breaking run, he wore a speedo and sneakers, and extended his legs back to reduce drag.
Vincent Black Lightnings went on to win races and set records all over the motorcycle world. Unfortunately, the company went out of business in 1955. Never forgotton, the Black lightning is one of the most sought after motorcycles ever built.
The orginal "Rollie Free" Vincent is in a collection in Texas. Pretty amazing stuff for a bike from the 1940's.
In 1950, English motorcycle dealer reg Dearden had Vincent build him a special super-charged Lightning to break the World Speed Record. It took six months and cost thousands of pounds but the bike never saw a single run ! Speed costs, how fast do you want to go ?
