Think I've fallen in love...

[el-nicko]

An old schoolmate's got a couple of immaculatly restored Rapides in his, mostly 1950s, bike collection. A black one, and this 'Chinese Red' one. I'm pretty sure he once told me that Vincent made about 50 of these with the valanced front mudguard and in this rather 'sudden' colour for the US market. The (just visible below the gearbox) electric starter motor is a recent 'mod' on account of the old boy's pushing 70 and finds kick-starting a bit of a challenge nowadays. Conservatively valued today at £60/85,000 I believe but I'm sure it won't be long before 'a quarter of a mill' will seem like a snip in todays ever-inflating classic bike market.

[ned1]

If you look at the above photo you can just see they have two prop stands
at the front which with both down the front wheel can be removed.

clever

[nab 301]

It was the Comet my Farther raced,
If you are interested have a look at my web site.

Interesting story!