Look through the ads for collector cars and you’ll see lots and lots of tributes and clones, cars that, at first glance, look like the special model everyone wants, but are really just a common base model with the right pieces added. Regular Mustangs become Shelby GT500 tributes or an old Pontiac LeMans becomes a GTO clone. Happens all the time, but with motorcycles, almost never. I hadn’t really thought about it, but a recent eBay listing made me stop for a second, it was for a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning tribute (shown above). According to the description it was: “Manufactured after production ceased from all original parts.”
Now, this really is a first class bike, no doubt:
1st Place quail winner, Museum quality restoration from the Gene Brown Collection, The bike was restored by Herb Harris with and for Gene Brolin at the Harris Vincent Gallery and has a Burns and Wright bottom end in it.
I’m no Vincent expert so I take it these fellows are some of the guys to see if you need work of this sort done, but this particular bike never left the factory as a Black Lightning, in fact it never left the factory at all, it was assembled from the pieces that could have been a Black Lightning had the production run continued.
Vintage motorcycles tend to be what they are, there aren’t many models that came in multiple trim levels with all kinds of engine choices, one combination being the sought after holy grail. Instead, the popular model was all the same except, perhaps, for a few color choices. Owners don’t make a Kawasaki Z1 from something else, or an Indian 4. If that’s what you see, that’s what it is. But a Yenko Camaro? Better do your homework. The tributes and clones in the auto world can lead a buyer to make an expensive mistake if he isn’t careful and the seller is less than honest, but with motorcycles, you can rest a little easier.
There’s no deeper point to be made here, but when I saw the Vincent tribute, it just jumped out because it’s something not often seen. Interesting.
Yeti2bikes says
I read somewhere that some one had bought up the original Vincent tooling and were trying to make new parts for restore projects and possibly new bikes from the old designs.
Paul Crowe says
Actually, I wrote about that way back in 2007.
I think Vincents are almost a special case, making parts to keep them on the road, now they have all the parts so you can build a whole new bike. As long as the buyer knows what he’s buying, there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just not used to seeing a “tribute” motorcycle.
GenWaylaid says
With the quality of 3D scanning available today, in theory you don’t even need the original tooling to go that route.
Reverse engineering an entire classic motorcycle is not for the faint of heart, though. Not only do you need to be well-versed in several different methods of small lot manufacturing, you have to be able to afford a good example of one of these sought-after bikes and reduce it to a pile of pieces!
Bob says
A number of Konig GP bikes (Kim Newcombe replicas) have been built, and if I heard right, the original mechanics were involved with their construction. One was recently on eBay.
Vintage racing has made it possible to more or less build a complete new Manx Norton and AJS 7R / Matchless G50 from new parts, or that’s what I told.
More than a few Kawasaki “ELR”s are plain KZs (Large, medium, or small) with lime green paint and a stepped seat and maybe a Kerker pipe. Motorcyclist magazine did an article a few decades ago about building a “Wes Cooley Replica” out of a more ordinary GS1000 or 1100 (I forgot which). It is a fairly common conversion. A few early ’90’s ZX7Rs ended up with ZX7RR parts on them.
Bob says
More than a few Ducati 900SS bikes are converted Darmahs. I wonder if most Laverda “SFC”s out there are dressed up S, SFs, or GTs.
Thanks to enthusiasm for the early F750 era – and replica bodywork business – there are a number of plain Nortons looking like John Player Nortons, Honda CB750s looking like CR750s, Suzuki GT750s looking like TR750s, Kawasaki H2s looking like H2Rs, etc…
The tribute/replica bikes are out there, it is just that they don’t get any exposure from the low effort/high volume pipeexif Kustom Krap Konformity sites (Yeah, don’t get me started on that…)
Paul Crowe says
Good points. There are a lot of brand new Manx Nortons for sale on a regular basis. I hadn’t thought about some of those other examples either. Interesting.
Bob says
Then there are a few replicas with modern(ish) engines (Repli-mods?): The Paton, from Paton (No kidding), and the Suzuki XR69 from Silverstone Superbikes. I’ve heard that both get used at the IoM Classic TT. They look like the best of both worlds, to me, anyway.
Bob says
Check out the Drixton Honda replicas (Along with the few other old racer replicas) from Curtis Racing Frames.
There was also the recent Magni Filo Rosso – looks classic but with modern MV engine.
Paul Crowe says
I’m not familiar with some of your examples, but I think you may be including a few too many. The idea I’m referring to is an owner trying to build a bike that could be passed off as something else to a low info buyer. Modified bikes that look like they could have been something else, maybe even something else that never existed, aren’t the idea here, it’s the change of parts to make the run of the mill model into the limited production factory model. You reference a lot of racers, maybe the factory built twenty or so racers and now there’s only 150 of them left. That idea.
Paul Crowe says
Oddly enough, I just spotted this racer for sale and the owner didn’t even know it was a “tribute.” He had what he thought was a mid 50s Horex factory racer, but upon opening the engine, found “Made in Japan” on the clutch basket.
Obviously, when the number of bikes produced is low and not well documented, as some historic factory racers would probably be, it’s easy to tell tall tales. Add a few badges with the proper name and there you go.
Since The Kneeslider is not devoted to race coverage, either current or historic, I am unaware of rampant cloning that may be going on in the paddock. From the list of bikes you cite, this may be quite the little cottage industry.
Bob says
Well, there’s the questionable Easyrider “Captain America” bike that was auctioned off for 7 figures, then…?
The Paton was featured in 2007 as a continuation bike – on this site.
That “Horex” looks like it had dressup castings stuck on a Kawasaki engine – sort of like those fake knucklehead rocker covers one can stick on Evo engines…
mick says
Hey! You’re right!
Except for the CB1300 of course.
And the XJR1300
And the ZRX1300
And the Royal Enfield
And pretty much every Harley ever made
And the Ural
And the Bimota Mantra
And the Norton Commando
And the Triumph Bonneville
And the Kawasaki W650
And the Kawasaki Drifter
And the Indian Chief and Scout
Etcetera etcetera etcetera
Paul Crowe says
You missed the point. I’m not talking about bikes built by the factory to resemble something else, I’m talking about standard models the owner tries to disguise to look like another model that has high value.
Which model from your list is modified by owners to resemble which other high value model of the same bike?
Mirko Rumer says
We should not forget the various IMZ m72 which were “tuned” by their owners to resemble a BMW r71 and thus sell for a much higher sum. These days one can buy many of the details/parts which make the difference reproduced so that someone not so well versed in this area can be mislead into thinking that he is owning a “real BMW”, probably even a “real wehrmacht BMW” (even higher price)…
Not so uncommon in central europe.
Paul Crowe says
That’s a good example, Mirko. Thanks.