Rollie Free's Vincent was not on the street. It was a Bonneville salt bike.
In fact, virtually no Vincents were on the street in the late 50s and 60s. Vincent went out of production in 1948 or so.
And Ariel Square Four, at 1000cc with 7:1 compression and 42hp vs the 900cc Sportster's 55hp. The Sportster was King of the Road from 1957 until the late-60s and the emergence of the "Superbike" with the Norton 750/850s, Honda 4, Kawa triples etc etc.
And no Vincent ever made, ever went anywhere near as fast as this Sportster:
"In 1970, Cal Rayborn piloted a Sportster-powered streamliner across the Bonneville salt flats to a world motorcycle land speed record of 265.492 miles per hour. The long, low, cigar-shaped missile in which Rayborn became the fastest man on two wheels has frequently been referred to as the “Rayborn streamliner”
This Sportster was THE FASTEST MOTORCYCLE IN THE WORLD in 1970.
Yeah, they're shit now.... But 40 years ago they were HOT!
Notice "Il Douche'" compares the performance of factory sponsored Harley streamliner in 1970 to that of an unfaired basically stock privateer Vincent in 1948. But the (Heavily modified probably-nitro-burning factory sponsored) Sportster was THE FASTEST MOTORCYCLE IN THE WORLD in 1970!
If they weren't morons they wouldn't ride Harleys.
Incidentally, doesn't that Vincent remind you of a new Confederate?
10 comments:
That isn't a motorcycle. Not a fair comparison at all.
Got a couple comments.
First; they're correct that back in the 60's the Harley's were really nice bikes, "state of the art", even. And apparently the Harley engineers are really die-hard fanatical believers in the adage "Don't mess with a good thing".
Second; That's all they got. The 1960's.
They're desperate to foster the illusion the world has not passed them by.
I'm pretty sure they are forced to integrate more modern components as their vendors finally stop production of the antiques the formerly used.
Nah, they didn't stop nothin. They had the antique components custom made, that's why Hardleys are so expensive.
That vincent does remind me of the confederate wraith. And yes... I still have a hardon for it.
I stopped by the Harley dealer when shopping for the V-Strom (it was next door), and some of their bikes have fuel injection, and balance shafts...
Oh, yeah, Harley invented ABS a two years ago.
IIRC, there is more than one Vincent video in Jay Leno's Garage site. (Awesome site. Yes, I know some here know, just reminding.)
So I'm not all that into motorcycles but over the past week I've come to hate Harley fags as well...There we were in Key West enjoying drinks at plenty of cool outdoor bars in 70 degree weather. Relaxing, right? Hell no! Because at every green light at the intersection down the street, you could hear the next pack of fat assed, dirty old posers revving up for no damn good reason other than to announce to the world, "Look at me! I'm awesome!" Their claim might have been a bit more accurate had they not been one of a thousand assholes just like themselves polluting the place with unneeded racket. All I could think of was that South Park episode, and how dead nuts accurate it was at portraying these fags. There I feel better now.
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