Up Front
UP FRONT
The Man Who Loved Vincent
David Edwards
BARNEY LI, WHO FOR 15 YEARS DREAMED of reviving the Vincent brand, has died. He was touring with friends in Arizona, ahead of the group-as usual-when he ran off the tarmac and clipped a steel pole. Given Li’s riding expertise, the clear weather and straight road, those with him surmise a health problem caused the accident; he had a history of heart trouble.
Bernard Anthony Li, born in Tientsin, China, in 1946, emigrated to the U.S. with his mother when he was just 6 months old. After a failed attempt at operating a Southern California Yamaha dealership, in 1978 he parlayed a $5000 investment into Eagle One Industries, a 1 car care products company that 20 years later was purchased by industry giant Valvoline for a reported $27 million.
Childhood values served Li well as he developed cleaners, polishes and waxes. “Barney was taught that if you can’t take care of something, then you don’t deserve to have it,” said longtime friend and business partner Doug Dwyer. “He didn’t want anything that was dirty, broken or screwed up.” Li’s cars and motorcycles-the latter ranging from Harley-Davidson Road King to Yamaha FZ1 to Ducati 1098S-usually black, were always impeccably turned out.
After the buyout, Li devoted much of his time to resurrecting Vincent, the British company known for its fast and fabled V-Twins, out of business since 1955. He acquired the rights to the name and built an updated prototype using a minimally modernized version of the old lOOOcc aircooled Vincent motor. When that combo proved unsatisfactory, too oily, unreliable and impractical to mass-produce, Li somehow convinced Honda to sell him highperformance, liquid-cooled RC51 V-Twins. Designer James Parker-of RADD front end and Yamaha GTS 1000 fame-was commissioned to come up with all-new models, and Roush Industries produced four prototypes that were rolled out to the press and investors in 2002.
“Vincents were always mythical motorcycles that exceeded anything else,” Li said. “Everyone knew about them and how fast they were. I want to extend that great and worthy legacy.”
Cycle World got exclusive rides on the sporty Black Lightning S and later the Black Eagle power-cruiser (shown). We commented on the controversy that using a Japanese engine in a U.S.-designed neoVincent fronted by a Chinese-American CEO had created.
“It’s knocked vintage noses out of joint and lit up chatrooms all across the Internet,” we wrote. “So noted, but Li is not trying to resurrect your Uncle Albert’s Black Shadow. If that’s your cuppa, grab a Walneck ’s, a magic marker and be prepared to part with $30-35 Large (now $55-60,000). Li’s new Vincent, packing double the horsepower, with top-notch suspension and brakes and jewel-like build quality, will set you back between $20-25K.”
Li had peeled off $2 million of his own money to this point; he needed to raise another $ 18 million to reach production. Unfortunately, an investment community soured by the failure of first ExcelsiorHenderson, then Indian, then Norton, passed on yet another retro start-up, so he back-burnered Vincent, biding his time. With the 90-degree RC51 motor now out of production, Li was most recently in talks with another company to provide air-cooled, narrower-angle Vees. A counterbalancer had been added and cases were recast to resemble those of the old Vincent. He was turning up the heat once more, apparently preparing to bankroll a small-scale production run himself, investors be damned. It’s unclear now what will happen with the Vincent nameplate.
Li was a friend and mentor to Kenny Dreer, who had his own difficulties resurrecting the Norton Commando.
“He was a very trusted friend and a loyal supporter of all of my efforts,” said Dreer. “I will miss him for sure. He was like my own Ben Franklin-wit and wisdom a phone call away. He would call me to discuss his never-ending love affair with Vincent; we discussed every aspect of that deal, from backlit handlebar switches to motors, frames, the look and feel of a Vincent...it was endless. His dream with Vincent, mine with Norton; we even tempted the British Motorcycle Gods by discussing a Norton-Vincent (or Vincent-Norton) Motorcycle Company more than once.”
Li is survived by his wife Elizabeth, sons Justin and Darren, daughter Nikki, brother Jerry and loyal golden retriever Winston. We at Cycle World pass along condolences to Barney’s family and friends, and count ourselves among the latter.
As Dreer said in closing, “Barney touched many within the motorcycle community, and among those of us who knew him well, he will be remembered with great fondness. May he forever ride with the Gods of Speed, for riding was truly
his passion.”
