Previous post                   A Vincent Black Shadow for the Modern Era                       By Chuck Squatriglia                                                                                        May 16, 2011                     |                      2:15 pm                     |                     Categories: Design,  Motorcycles                            Ian Barry and the crew at Falcon Motorcycles have rolled out another  beautiful custom, this one a riff on the venerable Vincent Black Shadow.  The Black Shadow was an incredible machine that essentially set the  benchmark for performance through the 1950s. It was blindingly quick,  something Rollie Free proved at Bonneville  in 1948. Barry and a team of six craftsmen spent one year building an  homage that is as much a work of art as it is a motorcycle.  According to our friend Chris Hunter at Bike EXIF,  the Black Falcon features a 1952 Black Shadow engine that was  discovered in pieces. The 1,000cc mill had been modified for drag  racing, so Barry had the engine stripped to the last part and  meticulously rebuilt. It now runs like “a 75-bhp Swiss watch.”  The entire chassis but for a single lug was fabricated from scratch.  The aluminum fork is based on the Vincent “Girdraulic” design, and the  bike sports custom Works Performance shocks. The 8-inch drum brakes may  look like the old finned Vincent units, but they were built specifically  for the Black Falcon and are quite capable of hauling the bike down  from speed.  There’s no end to the delicious details Barry has incorporated into  the bike, from the gorgeous foot pegs to the six-way adjustable  handlebars to the …  the list goes on.  The Black Falcon, the third of 10 one-offs we’ll see from Falcon Motorcycles, is already sold.   More here http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/05/a-vincent-black-shadow-for-the-modern-era/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29