Article Description:1948 Vincent Black Lightning Replica - Part 2: 2011-2014

Written Nov 2011 - July 2014: The Vincent Black Lightning build was always a 'background' project, i.e. something I did between other builds, or when I had the 'Vincent bug' back . In the early days - i.e. the 1980's/1990's, this was normally because for me to progress, I needed to sell another bike to afford the bits that I needed to rebuild the Vinnie - it always had the best of everything, and I did not want to skimp on the build - I well remember trips over the fens to my favourite supplier's the Maughan family, another bike sold and wad of cash in my hands, just like Christmas morning!

A number of the first articles for this website were written in one of these ' Vincent build' periods in the early 2000's and these are covered in the first set of Vincent articles on the Article page. But then it was put on hold again, as the Norton business SOHC started to play more of a part, and most of my own restoration work was on Norton's. However, in October/November 2011 I made a conscious decision that I was going to give the bike a final push and get it finished once and for all. If I am truthful, at the time part of the reason for this was that I was giving some thought to starting my own engineering company, to make more of my own SOHC parts, so thought there was a chance I might need the funds to raise the capital to do this.
However, as I write this short article introduction in July 2014, with the bike just about complete, I have decided to hold off on this idea at the moment and just enjoy the bike that has taken me so long to build. This short series of articles covers the latter stages of the build, from November 2011 onwards. As I write this update I am not sure how many articles it will eventually turn out to be, but dependent on response, I might add more as I get time


Vincent BL Engine

Build progressing, the Vincent is on its wheels at this stage


1948 Vincent Black Lightning

And jumping ahead - the finished bike - 1948 Vincent Black Lightning, July 2014


Article Carousel:

Select the desired article from the carousel below (I will add any further related articles from this build to the carousel as they are written)
1948 Vincent Black Lightning Build Part 2 - Nov 2011 - July 2014
  • BL Build Part 2 - Article 1
  • BL Build Part 2 - Article 2

Please Note: Many of these articles were originally written when the web site design was in a different format. The individual articles should open in a new window, but not all of the original links on that article page may work any more. Please bear this in mind, and return to this page by closing the article window . . . but you never know, you might get to a link that still works but cannot be accessed from the main website any more - a bit like a lucky dip!