Esteemed French photographer (and Vintagent Contributor) Laurent Nivalle visited the workshop of Atelier Chatokhine in the village of Ouerray recently, to document the resurrection of the Richard Vincent racing Velocette MSS. This historic machine was raced in Southern California in the mid-1960s by Richard, who lived in Santa Barbara and was a surfer, photographer, filmmaker, pilot, and motorcycle racer in the golden days of the ‘Endless Summer’ generation. We documented some of Richard’s story on The Vintagent with our short film ‘The Ended Summer’, by David Martinez, and Richard’s motorcycles and surfboards were exhibited at Wheels&Waves California in 2016, and Wheels&Waves France in 2017.Richard’s Velocette racer is a very special and historic machine, with a Lou Branch cylinder head of the type that was later adapted by the Veloce factory for its ‘Thruxton’ production racer. The head is easily recognized, with a huge 1 1/2″ Amal GP racing carburetor angling down towards the inlet valve, stuck out on an extended inlet tract. The setup gives an ideal 8″ distance between the carb’s fuel jet and the inlet valve itself, and the valves in the head are set at a shallower angle than the Venom head; the result is a significant horsepower increase, with much better breathing than a standard Velo head, and is the reason why a Velocette Thruxton won the Isle of Man Production TT in 1967, with a motorcycle design that was essentially 15 years old, barring that head, which had come from California race tuners!It isn’t known how many such cylinder heads were built for racers by Lou Branch (the LA Velocette importer) between 1962-5, when the factory began offering its own version, but there can’t be many! Richard’s machine has a fantastic patina, being totally original and as-last-raced from 1967, when he was drafted into the Army. A rocket blast in Vietnam put Richard in the hospital for a year, and injuries to his arm and eyes meant he was no longer able to compete at the level he wanted, so he laid up his Velocette and Triumph racers for almost 50 years, until he was prompted by his son to literally drag them out of the barn!Bringing the Velocettes (and Richard’s photography and films) to light is an ongoing project at The Vintagent, and it’s inspiring to see his motorcycles brought back to life at Atelier Chatokine (for the Velos) and the workshop of Hayden Roberts in Ventura (for the Triumph). Give our film a look, enjoy Laurent’s photos, and there’s more to come!
I so regret selling my Venom. It was without a doubt the best Sporting Motorcycle I have owned. I have had a few that I liked . A 650 Triton which was comfortable an d fast and also very safe, Another was a G12 Matchless CS. Very enjoyable if a little heavy . But the Venom!! it would do everything and do it well. I must have been mad to get rid of it. Ever since I have regretted it. No at the age of 77 and approaching 78 I suppose I am a little old for this?? Although I still want to ride,
Met 3 guys in Northern Spain last year they were going to the Bike Fest in Santander. They had 3 beautiful Venoms between them and they were perfect. Did my old heart good to see and hear them. My advice? especially if you are younger than me
Dont wait! If you still want to do it them just go for it and do it. Time passes so very quickly and who knows what it will bring. So go for it, Do it and enjoy it. You owe it to yourself.
david……….. its good to hear your meaningful words about velocette’s , have sort of had velo stuck in the back of my mind here lately, I plan to buy one more bike before I get too old (68 now) , am gonna keep my eyes and ears on alert for a velocette product instead of a new cruiser, currently have a 1996 HD, which runs very well and just too good to give up, I had a 500 matchless many years ago and loved it, and a triumph and a BSA , yada yada …the old big singles always excited me though
I love this website, always good information and interesting articles. I like the comment on the velo rebuild ” built like a swiss watch”, to run 100 mph 24 hours is truly a testament of strong, well designed engineering……. love it !!!! Not many velocettes around this neck of the woods (northern california), sure like to find a nice big single velo in decent shape and just enjoy the riding experience, finally retired , don’t commute anymore, moved out to the foothills and there’s plenty of nice foothill/mountain roads nearby to just cruise, the 40 mile loop around the mystical sutter buttes is pleasant.