Sid Biberman and his son Matthew have put together a beautiful Vincati special combining the frame from a 1973 Ducati GT750 with the engine from a 1953 Vincent Rapide. The frame came from a racer who had completely rebuilt and prepped it before deciding to install his engine elsewhere and the engine came from a friend who had plans for the Vincent frame as a Bonneville racer. With both major pieces in hand, the Bibermans set to work.
If you look at the image you’ll notice the downtubes missing. With some additional bracing and using the Vincent engine as a stressed member our view of the engine is totally unobstructed and of course, it wouldn’t fit any other way. The engine was rebuilt by a couple of friends who beefed up performance and the beast even has electric start, although cold starts still require a kick. The finished bike looks superb, actually it looks almost stock, and it evidently runs great. Top speed is in the 140 mph area but the bike was designed to be a reliable long distance ride not some non functional garage decoration.
As mentioned in the articles, this has been done several times before in Australia where Vincent engines from old racing sidecars and Ducati frames with blown up engines were blended into one. A marriage of convenience in those cases, the Bibermans doing it because they just thought it was the right thing to do, and I wouldn’t argue.
I missed the coverage of this bike when Cycle World wrote it up in October of last year and then noticed it the other day in the March issue of ClassicBike. Both have quite a few photos and I have to admit, I like it.
Although this special uses original parts, they have plans to offer perhaps 10 more using replica frames and engines for $100,000. Yes, that is a very steep price and you could buy an old Vincent and maybe a Ducati, too, for that money but this isn’t for everyone and unless someone decides to come up with the money, maybe it’s for no one except the Bibermans. They, however, have a beauty.
Link: Cycle World
Sean says
Looks like that could become one hell of a cafe.
Mayakovski says
Beautiful.