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1952-1955 Cushman 1955-1956 The Pisser 1960-1961 First Vincent Racer
1962-1963 First Blown Vincent 1965-1966 Magnesium Monster 1967-1979 Quarter Hemi
1979-1999 Fuel Injected Vincents 1983-1984 AJS Scrambler 1985-1989 Grey Flash Replica
1989-1993 Norton Manx 1990-1996 Black Lightning Replica 1993-1994 Norton Manx Double Knocker
2003-2003 The Copycat



1979-1999 Fuel Injected Vincents

Click the photo above to view a photo album

In my desire to capture records with Vincent engines, I built three bikes, all using the same engine, different chassis. Modifications to the engine for whatever reason were made over a period of about three years. This effort is mentioned here primarily to point out the experience that was gained by employing a fuel injection system similar to Dave Matson's, on a normally aspirated engine.

The riders who piloted the effort were Dave Breeden and Sonny Angel, both brave at heart, as speeds of over 200 mph were achieved. 205 was the best, which was not recorded by the clock, only tach reading and gearing. However, runs of over 150 mph carried timing slips. All of the runs were made at El Mirage, a SCTA event held in Southern California on a dry lake bed. The bikes were never run on the salt.

The final configuration is now owned by John Hanson, a California gentleman who is restoring it for donation to the Southern California NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) museum. After all those years I still had some parts to the bike, fuel tank, nitrous bottles. I donated what I had left of the "Old Shaker" to John.

What I learned most with this project was that the time frame for sanctioned meets is limited both in number per year on Dry Lakes, as well as at Bonneville, and are short in duration. The longest being Speed Week in August of each year with only 7 days of running, weather permitting.

But somewhere in mind I kept asking myself what was I thinking. I had built a Vincent to set records, and mine fell into basically the same category as Dave Matson's machine. I didn't want to bump heads with Dave for two reasons. One, which was obvious. I didn't have the expertise, nor did I have the knowledge to do so. Two, what would be the point, if one Vincent took a record from another record holding Vincent? My goal was to put a Vincent motorcycle in the record books, and Dave had already done that.

All three configurations of the fuel injected motor were sit-on motorcycles. Like I said, Dave had already gone 225 mph on his sit-on Vincent, so my thoughts began to drift towards building a streamliner to take on the new "World's Fastest Motorcycle", the Harley Easy Rider.

I abandoned the effort of the go-fast sit-on record in favor of what has now evolved into my passion and obsession--a Vincent powered streamliner to capture the FIM title of the "World's Fastest Motorcycle".