Vincent Black Shadow: Fastest Bike in the World for 25 Years

It Doesn’t Look That Fast

Full fenders, a large headlamp, a swoopy exhaust, and lots of black enamel paint. This could describe a lot of British bikes from the postwar decades. But look a little closer at this Black Shadow. Not only is that a lot of motor, but it looks gorgeous. With that narrow 50-degree angle separation of the cylinders, it resembles a radial aviation engine.

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Then there’s the frame—or lack of it. Renowned for its engineering innovation, Vincent mounted the 1000-cc V-twin as a stressed member. So there’s no need for a tube running from the neck of the frame and under the engine to connect with the rear suspension.

If you scrutinize it, you’ll realize that the suspension consists of two large triangular pieces on either side of the wheel. It pivots on the rear of the transmission at the bottom. The spring/damper units connect the two pieces behind the rear seat at the top. There is no spring hanging off the frame’s rear. No clutter.

How Fast Was It?

The Vincent Black Shadow was so fast that nothing could lay a glove on it for a quarter of a century. It’s forever associated with the great Rollie Free and that photograph of the American daredevil, stripped to his trunks, lying on his front as he made a record 150 mph run at Bonneville in 1948. But that was a factory-prepared Black Lightning special.

The official top speed of the production bike was 125 mph, thanks chiefly to the peerless standards of the engine. For example, the lubrication was by a dry sump, which is still pretty neat today.

This One Is Concours

The seller is confident of the Vincent’s status as a concours-standard machine. Reportedly restored 35 years ago, it has apparently covered 300 miles since and has spent most of that time in the owner’s living room. How’s that for a conversation starter?

Crucially for a top-dollar machine, the engine, transmission, and frame numbers match, showing that they are factory original to this bike. It comes with all relevant documents, certificates, books, and trophies. This Black Shadow’s best trophy-hauling days could still be ahead of it. It looks absolutely immaculate.

Are They Really Worth This Much?

The world of high speeds, Lewis Leathers goggles, gauntlets, and hitting “the ton” (or more) on old British bikes has a strong following. When you reflect on the brief period of history that gave rise to the fashion, the scene, and the machines, the Vincent Black Shadow stands out on its own. It’s untouchable by anything else on two wheels in terms of engineering and outright speed.

Perhaps surprisingly for such a valuable machine, almost 1,800 were made, and it’s likely that most of those are still around in one form or another. As such, they appear on the market often enough to show us that values rise steadily. If you have the means and love motorcycles, how could you resist, even with a Buy-It-Now price of $130,000?

Perfection

It is not easy to do justice both to the model and to this particular example, so we’ll leave you with the words of the esteemed Motorcycle magazine after they tested an earlier 1949 version:

It is a connoisseur’s machine: one with speed and acceleration far greater than any other standard motorcycle and with unique and ingenious features which make it one of the outstanding designs of all time.