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Trans-Atlantic
twins
Sunday shed wrap
June 1, 2025, by Guy 'Guido' Allen
One of the peculiar
challenges of getting to know a 'new' bike is that
every now and then you are made to feel like a
complete novice. Such is the case with the
recently-acquired 1952 Vincent
Rapide.
If we were talking of
almost anything made in the last 50 years, there's a
fair chance I'd have some sort of handle on how to do
a relatively straight-forward task such as removing
and refitting wheels. Not in this case.
There are traps for
young players and you are sternly warned that if you
need to resort to a spanner, you have either screwed
up or are about to. True story. The plot is designed
so you can do everything without resorting to tools,
thanks in part to the use of Tommy bars to tighten up
the axles and some other clever ideas.
I'm told that designer
Phil Irving could remove and refit a set in a matter
of minutes and enjoyed challenging owners of other
marques to a race – which he always won. As a
neophite, it took me an hour or two to refit the
wheels with their fresh rubber. More on that topic at
a later date.
The bike is now sporting
new mirrors and it is basically ready for a roadworthy
inspection and then club registration. That's a task
for next week.
Meanwhile I finally took
the 2009
Indian Chief Vintage out for a run – its first
for two months and possibly longer. I generally try to
get everything out for a gallop at least once a month.
In the case of bikes running carburettors, a fortnight
is preferable.
It rewarded my neglect
by at first refusing to start. A quick reset by
switching it off and on again convinced it to play
along.
One thing that helps
enormously is it is running dual batteries, both of
them lithium. A standard-spec item is under the seat
and I have it connected in series to another in one of
the saddlebags. That means it has serious grunt when
it comes to turning over the rather large slugs in a
cold engine.
While the second battery
eats a little space, the fact it is a lithium unit
means it weighs next to nothing.
Anyway, the Indian is a
lovely thing to ride. It handles and brakes reasonably
well for its type, while having a huge amount of room
thanks in part to the extra-long wheelbase. Power is
nothing to write home about, but it's enough to do the
job and was at least competitive compared to the
equivalent models from Harley back in the day.
This is from the Kings
Mountain era, namely when the company was owned by
Stellican – that was the outfit which was bought by
Polaris to establish a new Indian range from 2014.
Kings Mountain made just 1134 bikes in total from 2009
to 2013, covering several models.
They were expensive.
Back in 2009, you would have paid around US$35,000 for
a Chief Vintage like this one. However they were never
sold new here and so there are just a handful in the
local fleet.
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