Egli Vincent
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Egli Vincent

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By BikeReview - 09 November 2021

Words & Photography: Tony ‘Pommie’ Wilding, Jeff Ware

This beautiful piece of engineering may look old, but the fact is, it’s something rather different altogether…

A BIT OF VINCENT HISTORY

1928 saw the introduction of the first Vincent-HRD, it used a JAP engine with a Vincent cantilever frame. But Phil Vincent wanted to go racing and using other manufactures engines was not really an option for him. Then in 1931, Australian Phil Irving joined Vincent as Chief Engineer. Irving designed a brand new 500cc OHV single-cylinder motor that powered the 1934 Vincent Meteor.

The late great Patrick Godet hand-made the exhaust system. 

Then just after World-War-II and again with the help of Phil Irving, Vincent HRD produced the fastest and some say the most legendary motorcycle ever built – the Vincent Black Shadow. The 1948 Black Shadow broke every record in the book, including the most important, the fastest production motorcycle. The Black Shadow is capable of an incredible 196km/h – I could only imagine what that felt like over 70-years ago.

The bike was built around a decade ago by Fritz Egli, he hadn’t built one since the 1960s. 

The engine was a 998cc V-twin with a 50-degree angle and an 84mm bore, with a 6.8:1 compression ratio. The twin-valve cylinder-heads use steel coil springs and the valve guide system had forked rockers, thrusting on collars halfway along the valve stems for smooth operation. The engine itself was made of alloy but had steel liners in the bores for the alloy pistons to slide in. The timing was gear driven and used twin camshafts to operate the pushrods for the valves. The close ratio gearbox was a four-speed unit and was operated by a lever on the right side, unlike a more modern motorcycle’s left operated one.

Big bore 1300cc version of the original Vincent Black Shadow engine modernised with electric start.

In 1948 Vincent blitzed the most famous race in the world, the Isle of Man TT, taking first and second place in the senior class and 1949 was much the same story. In fact, the Vincent went on to dominate racing and land speed records for years to come.

Fast forward to 1965 and a Swiss man called Fritz Egli opened his engineering shop, specialising in designing custom frames and engine tuning, mainly for racing. The most famous bike Egli built was the Egli Vincent, that as the name suggests, uses a tuned Vincent Black Shadow engine and Egli’s custom steel tubular frame.

British Racing Green with gold lettering, so stunning. The tank is hand beaten alloy. 

THE BIKE

This particular Egli Vincent is a more recent custom-built bike, in fact, Egli hadn’t built a Vincent since the sixties but eventually the owner convinced Egli to build this one-off beauty and doesn’t it looks just stunning in British racing green?

The engine was designed by Aussie Phil Irving and is probably the most legendary motorcycle engine in history. 

The oversized 1300cc engine is basically built new as per Egli’s original spec’s, with flowed heads, Egli cams and followers and twin 45mm Mikuni carburettors to control the fuelling. The engine is tuned for mid-range torque and puts out approx 100hp at the rear wheel and has the benefit of a close ratio four-speed gearbox.

Long, narrow and the ultimate café racer but you will need a few hundred grand for this one. 

Egli’s spine frame is made from chrome molly tubular steel and then coated in a nickel chrome finish that really looks great against the green paintwork. The bodywork consists of a custom-made, hand beaten alloy, banana shaped fuel tank – with twin alloy filler caps, one for the fuel and one for the oil. Then a fibreglass nose fairing and a custom alloy cafe racer style seat unit are used to complete the bodywork.

Fontana twin leading shoe front brake and Akront wheel.
Chrome Moly swingarm with Akront 18in rear wheel and Fontana hub.

At the front, conventional 38mm Ceriani GP forks are fitted, while the stopping power is provided by Fontana type magnesium hub, with twin leading shoes. The front and back wheels are a typical cafe racer alloy design but use stainless steel spokes instead of steel and both are contoured with sleek alloy guards. 

Alloy triple-clamps and Smiths clocks. 

The dash area again uses alloy extensively, with alloy headstock clamps, sixties style clip-on bars, bar-end mirrors and then finished off with beautiful Smiths clocks. In the tradition of the cafe racer and to aid ground clearance, billet alloy rearset footpegs are used, along with a full Patrick Godet twin stainless steel exhaust system, which is a work of art. To finish off the bike, it’s fitted with an Alton generator, electronic ignition and electric start, to make life a bit easier. The bike is tuned and maintained by Dudley Lister.

This was a true racer for the road back in the era. 

The overall effect is simply stunning and unbelievably it only weighs around 170kg wet, that’s the same as a 600 supersport bike and I know which bike I’d prefer, but with an estimated value of around $200,000 I may have to wait a while…

SPECIFICATIONS

Colours: British Racing Green

Engine: 1300cc air-cooled, four-stroke, twin-cylinders, two-valve per cylinder/

Claimed power: 100hp

Claimed torque: Bloody lots

Dry weight: 172kg

Chassis: chrome molly tubular steel

Suspension: 38mm Ceriani GP forks, rear: hand-built Maxton twin shocks

Brakes: Fontana type magnesium hubs with twin leading shoes

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