Vincent Comet
Encyclopedia
The Vincent Comet was designed and built at the Vincent works in Great North Road, Stevenage
Stevenage
Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....

, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, England]. Developed from the Vincent Rapide
Vincent Rapide
The Vincent Rapide was a motorcycle designed and built at the Vincent works in Great North Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire UK during the war and released to the press before end of hostilities. The prototype was the Series A 47.5° V-twin launched in 1936. With 6.8:1 compression, it produced...

 by Australian engineer Phil Irving
Phil Irving
Philip Edward Irving OBE, C.Eng., M.I.Mech.E., M.S.A.E., was an Australian engineer and author, most famous for the Repco-Brabham Formula One and Vincent motorcycle engines...

 in 1935, it was one of four 499 cc single models. As well as the sports Comet, Vincent produced a TT racing model, the Comet Special (a TT model with lights) and the standard Vincent Meteor
Vincent Meteor
The Vincent Meteor is a British motorcycle designed and built at the Vincent works in Great North Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire UK. Developed from the Vincent Rapide by Australian engineer Phil Irving in 1935, the Meteor was powered by Vincent Motorcycles first in-house engine and was one of four...

 which shared many of the same cycle parts..

An unusual feature of the valve design for these motors was the double valve guides, and the attachment of the forked rocker arm to a shoulder between the guides, to eliminate side forces on the valve stem and ensure maximum valve life under racing conditions.

The prototype series A was refined and developed into a production model B but after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 it was the development of the series C that represents the ultimate Vincent 500 cc single. A series D was actually designed and one was built at the factory. Others had to be subsequently made up from spare parts as Vincent production ceased in 1955.

Specifications

The 499 cc single-cylinder high-camshaft OHV, air-cooled Vincent engine had a light alloy barrel and cylinder head with a cast-iron liner, 'backbone' type combined frame and oil tank, the engine acting as a stressed member of the frame, and most other components in common with the post-war twin-cylinder models. Unlike the twins, it had a Burman
Burman and Sons Ltd
Burman and Sons Ltd, of Ryland Road, Birmingham, England, manufactured Burman-Douglas steering gear.Their recirculating worm and ball design of steering gear was fitted to pre-war vehicles such as the Ford Eight and the Ford Prefect, the Bedford CA, plus many other vehicles - both pre and post-war....

 BAP four-speed gearbox held by a vertical piece of cast aluminium, which mated with the backbone frame that it shared with the twin models.
At the time and to this day some members of the motorcycling fraternity quipped that it was really only 'half of' the desirable Rapide twin-cylinder model, although in fact the specification had more in common with the higher performance Black Shadow twin-cylinder model, sharing compression ratio (7.3:1) and the larger carburettor. Unlike the Black Shadow
Vincent Black Shadow
The Vincent Black Shadow was a hand-built motorcycle produced by Vincent HRD from 1948. The series "C" which was introduced in 1949 had a 50 degree OHV V-twin engine running a 7.3:1 compression ratio.-Model history:...

however, it did not have polished internals nor was it selectively assembled. All Comet models had both front (Vincent Girdraulic forks) and rear suspension with damping at a time when most manufacturers had only front suspension.

External links

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