Vincent Black Knight Vincent Black Knight The Vincent Black Knight is a British motorcycle made between 1954 and 1955 by Vincent Motorcycles. A year before the factory closed in 1955, Vincent produced the enclosed range of "Black Knight" and "Black Prince". Known as the 'Series D', the Black Knight was an upgraded Vincent Rapide which was fully enclosed to keep the rain and dirt from the rider. As well as allowing Vincent to reduce production costs, the enclosure actually improved performance by directing more air to the rear cylinder. Phil Vincent described it as a 'two-wheeled Bentley' and the enclosed Vincents got a
Vincent Black Shadow bolted to a slightly modified version of the Series C malleable iron steering head casting. This revised UFM no longer carries oil and so a separate oil tank is fitted. Due to extensive use of aluminium alloy, weight for the complete bike is kept to a relatively light . The standard handlebar on all models of HRDs and Vincents is the black enamelled `HRD straights'. Series B and C bars are 7/8 inches in diameter and 25 inches long with the ends bent back at 20°. Series D bars are 1½ inches longer. The Black Shadow could be had in