In England there is a small motorcycle shop in the quaint town of Buntingford, just outside Stansted. It is a good 45-minute train ride and pleasantly removed from the bustle of London, where several men have taken on the precious task of dusting-off dreams. Here, amidst the charming setting, iconic British machines that once ruled supreme are meticulously rebuilt with patient hands and respectfully resurrected to their past glory.
For 14 years, John Mossey, proprietor of John Mossey Restorations (JMR), and his team have been returning post-war British singles and twins, ravaged by time and the accumulated neglect from a string of unwitting miscreants, to their full and deserving original condition. Among the shop’s eclectic array of impressively restored Triumphs, BSAs, and Nortons, the motorcycles that garner the lion’s share of attention, simply by virtue of their legend and storied past, are the revered Vincents.
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Photograph by Paul & Linda Jones. (Click image to enlarge) Just 17,000 of the black beauties were originally produced by HRD Vincent between 1928 and 1955 (the HRD initials were dropped in 1949 to avoid confusion with Harley-Davidson’s increasingly popular H-D acronym). In the end, Phillip Vincent chose to cease production of his labor-intensive, hand-built motorcycles, rather than compromise quality by adopting cost-cutting manufacturing and a low-bid mentality with his suppliers. The level of commitment to quality evidenced in that most assuredly difficult decision by the company’s founder, combined with the sheer performance of his beloved machines, has only served to perpetuate the legend and desirability of Vincent motorcycles. (Click image to enlarge)
JMR, though thoroughly devoted to the task of restoring surviving machines to their full resplendence, have taken the prospect of owning a Vincent into a new realm. Working from original designs and specifications, they now have the means to build—in incredibly limited quantities—the majestic motorcycles from scratch, rendering, ostensibly, brand new, zero-mileage Vincents.
The enterprise is flourishing, and draws a steady stream of graying gentlemen interested in revisiting their cherished personal Vincent experience from the past, or—for the have-nots of that era—those intent on making good their promise to some day own one of the venerated machines. They are returning from the detour of careers and the task of raising families to indulge their early passions. Time may have slowed their strides but not their fancies.
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The past unites the present with an alluringly enjoyable result. (Click image to enlarge) One of the essential Vincent projects the JMR team had to tackle in order to satisfy this generation of discerning, fanatical devotees was the famous Egli-Vincent. Fritz Egli, a Swiss motorcycle builder who was racing a Vincent in 1967, fabricated a frame of his own design around the potent Vincent V-twin engine. Egli’s formula for superior handling was rigidity between the steering head and swingarm pivot. The beautifully crafted, signature chrome frames utilized a massive 4-inch diameter backbone that doubled as the oil tank. Meticulously welded straight sections of tubing avoided curved frame pieces, which Egli believed compromised the frame’s integrity. The result of JMR’s tireless endeavor to replicate the legendary and extremely rare Egli-framed Vincent is the beautiful, time-defying machine you see here.
Choices abound for the prospective owner, allowing each customer to tailor his machine to personal taste. He can choose between an electronic or magneto ignition, Smith Kanrin or Menani brakes, dual or mono shock frame design, stainless steel or fiberglass fenders, and a Mikuni or the traditional Amal carburetor. The fuel tank, seat and rear cowling, as well as the race-inspired fairing, are bespoke JMR items that pay homage to the shape and design flow of the original race bikes. Old-school Ceriani forks and triple clamps handle the front suspension, with Falcon shocks holding up the rear. Flanged alloy 18-inch rims and heavy-duty spokes are laced into massive racing drum brake hubs. Magura levers and custom footrests and pedals complete the rolling aesthetics. At the heart of the machine is a fresh 1000cc Vincent twin-cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke engine in signature polished black. The big V-twin honors its ancestors with the same 84mm bore and 90mm stroke, and produces 66 hp at 6,200 rpm. JMR uses a multi-plate race clutch of its own design for smoother action and dependability.
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
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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
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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 Restorations
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.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
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