Vincent Vee Twins

VINCENT VEE TWINS

BOOK REVIEW

by Roy Harper Published by Osprey Press, Ltd. Distributed by Motorsport 6115 Gravois St. Louis, Mo. 63116 $19.95 plus $1 packing and postage

Wait, now. This may look like just another English book about another English motorcycle no longer with us, but don’t quit yet.

First, this book is about the Vincent, the stuff of legends and (unlike some deceased brands) the legends had some basis in fact. Vincents really were big and fast and different.

Second, there’s a lot of neat history included here. Not just the Vee Twins, despite the title, but about technology of the past; why the Vincent designers did what they did, what worked and what didn’t. No matter how much you know about motorcycles, you’ll learn something here.

Third, the book is packed with funny

stories, some of which may be true. There’s the one about the Vincent owner speeding away from the pursuing policeman who’s going so fast he zooms past another copper in flat-out pursuit of another speeder. And there’s the time a member of Parliament rode his Vincent" water scooter (never heard of it, right?) on the Thames, flying the flag except the heat from the engine melted the fiberglass hull and the scooter sank within sight of Big Ben . . . and so forth.

And maybe nobody cares. Maybe you have to be a Vincent fan before you’ll spring for still another English etc. If you are, though, you’ll not find a better Vincent book than this one.

AG