Have bike will travel

“YOU START IT,” SAYS ANDY, TICKLING THE NEW Amal carbs and putting a foot, clad in a Nike trainer, on the Vincent Rapide’s kick-start, “like a cement mixer.”

Vincents have been compared to many things, but a cement mixer isn’t usually one of them.

Andy pushes down on the starter and I confidently expect him to suffer a sprained ankle, at the very least. The Rapide starts first time and as it rumbles away, Andy explains:

“You get lots of advice about starting a Vincent, I just worked out my own way. You get some fuel in there, pull in the decompressor, get it to TDC and push down hard, but don’t release the decompressor till you are at the bottom of the stroke. The flywheel momentum that’s built up does the rest. Like starting a cement mixer.”

Andy Hopkins’ 1953 Vincent Rapide is the touring model of the famed 998cc V-twin.

This Rapide was built between January 6-13, 1953 as an export model for the Indian Sales Corporation of America and was fitted with the second example of Vincent’s new die-cast engine. “Many Vincent aficionados believed die-cast engines were not introduced until the later series ‘D’ in 1954,” says Andy. This bike shows them to be wrong.”

“get it to TDC and push down hard, but don’t release the decompressor till you are at the bottom of the stroke. The flywheel momentum that’s built up does the rest. Like starting