My experience aboard the JMR Egli-Vincent would be full immersion in the
past, and entail the donning of an open-faced helmet and retro black leather
jacket to thoroughly indulge the spirit of the café racers of old. Thankfully, I
was granted the modern convenience of an electric start that brought to life a
symphonic rap of bellicose exhaust notes that issued from the shapely sweep of
large diameter dual header pipes. In quiet repose, the JMR machine politely
tempts the willing time traveler to recall the past with a kind of passive
sentimentality. However, once cranked over and thumping, the audible cacophony
of whirling engine parts and that growling exhaust conspire to aggressively
yank you back several decades.
 Photograph by Paul & Linda Jones. (Click image to enlarge)
An unusually sunny, hot English day welcomed
the Egli-Vincent onto the winding roads snaking through the countryside. A
right-hand side, five-speed gearbox with one-up, four-down shift pattern,
combined with riding on the left side of the road, kept my mind busier than
usual. The concentration needed to avoid unintentionally slamming the rear
brake on or going up a gear when meaning to go down, resulted in a unusual
clarity of awareness of the machine as I rode. (Click image to enlarge)
A careful rhythm of
respectful, precise riding was quickly assumed. It consisted of twisting the
throttle, letting the V-twin build off its torque, pushing the revs up, and then
rolling off, grabbing the next gear, and finally dropping the clutch to feel the
healthy pull of the engine begging for more. It’s a slower gear changing process
than nowadays, but it’s a necessary accommodating technique that one feels
compelled to invoke when riding a piece of history (even if it is a new one).
In short order, the JMR Egli-Vincent was barreling down narrow country
lanes, the big 3-inch rev-counter well north of 4,000 rpm, the lugubrious growl
of the mighty V-twin stirring birds from the blur of trees and scattering leaves
in its wake. The countryside offered precious few reminders of the present, and
I was transformed into my thorough return to the past, helped immeasurably by
the sting of insects against my face courtesy of the old school open-face helmet
I was wearing. I was back in time, face shield splattered with a colorful array
of sacrificial bugs that had wandered too close to the thundering velocity of
the mighty Vincent.
 RIDING STYLE
Helmet: JMR Spitfire by Cromwell
Jacket: JMR
Egli-Vincent
Gloves: Hideout
Boots: Hideout. Photograph by Paul & Linda Jones. (Click image to enlarge)
After my nostalgic ride, with the JMR Egli-Vincent parked
in a small town square, emitting creaks and pops from its cooling engine, I was
trying to collect my elated thoughts about what I’d just experienced. An
old-timer appeared, admiring the bike with a magical gleam in his eye, and
summed it up with, “Well, this certainly brings back memories.” And that is
really what this motorcycle is all about.
John Mossey is a Vincent lover of the deepest order. The genesis of his own
particular affinity for the British marque came about at the ripe old age of 14,
when he went ’round to one of his mate’s homes whose father owned a Vincent
Black Shadow. His friend’s parents weren’t home and, well, boys will be boys.
Mossey spent the afternoon in typical adolescent mischief, trying to kick the
stubborn black beast over, without success. He was lucky the engine failed to
fire. The Vincent’s V-twin, when not properly aligned for starting with the rear
piston at top-dead-center, results in a notoriously irascible kickback. John
Mossey’s diminutive leg would not have been much of a hindrance to the mighty
twin. He only tired himself with repeated, unrequited kicks. But, the experience
left an indelible memory in young John’s mind, fueling a love of motorcycles
that has not abated in any noticeable measure in the 27 years since. Proof of
this is evident in the way Mossey smiles fondly recalling that experience as
well as the subsequent motorcycle-racing years that followed. A virtual endless
string of weekend race outings, comprised of late night engine rebuilds and
sleeping in vans, have left him forever partial to the pleasant mix of smells
from ham sandwiches, a Thermos of coffee, and Castrol R two-cycle motor oil.
This is the kind of man you want building your motorcycles.
 Photograph by Paul & Linda Jones.
If your
sentimentality hasn’t been roused by the availability of a fresh, built-to-order
Egli-Vincent rolling out of the JMR shop in Buntingford, then perhaps the fact
that they’re now working on re-building the Norvin will. Manufactured with the
same zeal as the Egli, the Norvin is a replica of the famous Norton
chassis/Vincent motor marriage of the 1960s.
www.johnmosseyrestorations.com
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