I woke up yesterday morning with the realisation that my damaged lower back had healed enough for me to take part in the Oxford Distinguished Gentleman's Ride. I dressed in my Tweed suit, shirt, tie and brogues and waited for my mate Tony to arrive on his lovely BMW 9T, we then headed off to the start at Premier Bikes, Boars Hill. We had a coffee there and looked at all the fantastic bikes and chatted with a lot of interesting people whilst waiting for the official start. The ride then got under way and the first section was to ride to Radcliff Square in Oxford where we had permission to park in the actual square, which was great as it's usually blocked off to vehicles. After an hour of photos and chatting we got on the road again and this time it was off to the Kingsley cafe in Eynsham where the ride terminated. At Kingsley's there was food, a bar and a live band, the weather was glorious and a good time was had by all!
The Vincent behaved impeccably, and although it doesn't enjoy heavy stop start traffic (which there was a lot of) due to its antiquated servo clutch, it didn't disgrace itself. Even though I prefer originality with veteran machines like the Vincent, I think a sensible mod this year will be to replace the servo clutch with a modern multiplate one which improves neutral selection and is beautifully progressive, this will make town driving a lot less stressful! The beauty is it isn't permanent as in doesn't require any cutting, grinding or drilling to fit, it doesn't change the appearance, and the bike could be converted back to the standard servo clutch in an afternoon if you so wish.
Anyway here's a few photographs of the day. There was a chap taking part on his beautiful 1952 Vincent Black Shadow who I talked to at length, unfortunately due to talking to much I managed to completely forget to take any photos of his bike. Typical!
Originally Posted by mowflow
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