Vincent Black Shadow
The Vincent Black Shadow could crack 125mph. In 1948. Vincent pointed out in their advertising: “This is a fact, not a slogan”, and it took until 1973 and the mighty Kawasaki Z1 to surpass the Black Shadow’s blistering performance. The Vincent dripped with technological innovations and it had that most important of things – presence.
The legend that was Vincent had an inauspicious birth. Motorcycle company HRD was founded in 1924 by Howard R Davies, who won a Senior TT on a 350 – the only man to have won a TT on his own motorcycle.
The company floundered after just a few years and was bought by Philip C Vincent in 1928. P C Vincent was aged 22, two years into a mechanical science degree at Kings College, Cambridge, and had already patented his cantilever rear suspension system when he paid £450 for
