‘Black Lightning’ strikes

By Mary Wade Burnside
Times West Virginian

MORGANTOWN July 27, 2008 01:07 am

— Harley-Davidson and Honda motorcycles thundered around Morgantown on Saturday in honor of the MountainFest Motorcycle Rally, but at the Waterfront Place Hotel, a black, gleaming machine held court during the display of vintage bikes.
Maybe it’s the fact that 60 years ago, the Vincent Black Lightning beat the Harley-Davidson to the punch by reaching a speed of 150 miles per hour, in a feat made famous by a photo of bathing suit-clad rider, Rollie Free, on his belly on the back fender with legs stretched out over the back of the bike.
Or maybe it’s British singer/songwriter Richard Thompson’s mournful and romantic tune of a tale about James, a doomed owner of a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and his red-headed girlfriend, Molly.
“Now Nortons and Indians and Greeves won’t do, they don’t have a soul like a Vincent ’52,” James tells Molly as he hands her the keys to his pride and joy before he dies, shot during an armed robbery undertaken to help finance his “Vincent machine.”
Just stand around and listen to the random comments made by other motorcycle aficionados as they study the gleaming Vincent Black Lightning that Gene Brown of Denver, Colo., brought to the vintage show.
“It epitomizes handling, guts and engineering,” collector Mark Radtke of Indiana told a friend on Saturday. “It’s a monster.”
It’s a monster whose lower engine, before being remodeled, had been clocked at 185 miles per hour — 168 mph with a sidecar, Brown said.
It might be able to go that fast in its current configuration, but Brown would have no way of knowing that yet. He does not plan to test that out personally and instead hopes to get a professional rider to do that for him.
“I’ve only had in second gear,” he said.
That had him going zooming at 100 mph.
Operational since January, the bike already has gotten Brown in trouble with the law when he gunned around the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on the motorcycle not exactly known for having a muffler.
A police officer told Brown that security had gotten a complaint about the noise and added, “I had you clocked at 85 mph.”
Brown’s reaction?
“I was bright enough not to tell him I was only in first gear.”
The remodeled 1952 Vincent Black Lightning has seen an actual public road once, when Brown took it out on Interstate 25 near his Denver home. “That’s when I got it to second gear,” he said.
He estimates the gleaming machine to be worth about $130,000, a fact that might have popped into his head during his short interstate road trip.
“I rode to the nearest exit and then rode it back home,” he said.
Another motivation for getting off the road — other than the six-figure sticker price — is the fact that the motorcycle is a racing bike.
“If there is a noise ordinance, it won’t pass,” Brown said.
It’s a sound that is sweet music to some people’s ears. Like the guy at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds who just wanted to hear it run. Brown indulged the man, who then said, “Now I can die in peace.”
“I think he might have been serious,” Brown laughed.
Most people tell him they only have seen the legendary bike in photographs. “Only 32 of these were ever made,” he said.
Vincent Motorcycles manufactured bikes in Britain from 1928 to 1955, but the Black Lightnings were only produced from 1949 to 1952. Brown estimates that about 10 to 12 of them can be found in the United States, which adds to the mystique.
“It’s the quintessential speed design bike of the 20th century,” Brown said. “It has a brutality and a finesse that were blended almost in a perfect combination.”
Enthusiasts checked out the motorcycles Saturday afternoon at the hotel, one of several MountainFest locations with most activities at Mylan Park on the other side of Morgantown.
In addition to Brown’s 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and his 1938 Brough Superior — similar to the one ridden by Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence in “Lawrence of Arabia” as well as the real Lawrence when he died in 1935 — they could see 110 motorcycles, including bikes that actually looked like, well, bikes, with motors attached, dating back to 1900.
“We changed the pattern this year,” said show organizer Tom McKee. “We used to group early American, late American, Japanese, British, and so on, but this year, we did a timeline so people can see how they have progressed.”
Also on display through today will be a replica of the Harley-Davidson chopper — complete with star-spangled gas tank and motorcycle helmet — ridden by Peter Fonda as Captain America in the 1969 cult classic, “Easy Rider.”
The actual motorcycle does not exist because one of the two bikes that appeared in the movie was crashed as part of the plot and parts were stolen off another one, McKee said.
In addition to Saturday’s parade of bikes in downtown Morgantown, activities included bands at Mylan Park culminating with a performance by Kansas.
Cliff Sutherland, co-owner of Triple S Harley-Davidson and co-founder of MountainFest, said he expected attendance to eclipse last year’s 40,000 by maybe as much as 30 percent to 40 percent.
However, in spite of the crowds, taking admission at the gate instead of the parking lot prevented the traffic problems that occurred last year, he said. Admission today will be free, he added, with events including the World Famous Wall of Death Motorcycle Thrill Show and the Jack Daniel’s Experience.
High gas prices apparently actually helped boost MountainFest, Sutherland said.
“Instead of going to national shows for a week at a clip, I think people as a general rule are going to smaller rallies,” he said. “People are choosing two- or three-day trips closer to home. So it probably helped us.”
E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.

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