What’s the best none Norton Norton ?

This was such a good bike ...

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I very recently repaired a crashed red MG Breva 1100 , and revived it's near twin (black) for the widow of my late friend, Andy. He had racked up over 100,000 miles on the black bike, then bought the red one and within 6,000 miles, dumped it pretty badly in Mexico.

Black one already sold, red one will sell soon (if you are interested, I can connect you).

Very zippy, but the torque steer is an acquired taste!

What’s the best none Norton Norton ?
 
Stumbled across this site - https://egli-vincent.net/

Godet gets the golden gong for me! Interesting to see some other builders interpretations; widely replicated over the years. Not something old Fritz was worried about I guress (no IP/trademark).

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A sign of the times, the Egli workshop closed its doors only six months ago, after 60 years of trading. Genuine quality going the way of the dodo!

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Stumbled across this site - https://egli-vincent.net/

Godet gets the golden gong for me! Interesting to see some other builders interpretations; widely replicated over the years. Not something old Fritz was worried about I guress (no IP/trademark).

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A sign of the times, the Egli workshop closed its doors only six months ago, after 60 years of trading. Genuine quality going the way of the dodo!

View attachment 114144

Fritz Egli granted Godet the right to use the name. He openly stated that Godet built better bikes than he did! Fritz himself had a Godet and would send potential customers to Godet. Patrick and Fritz became close personal friends.

Godet also has the usage right granted to them by the owners of the Vincent name. Godet Motorcycles continues in Patrick’s absence.

I really liked Patrick, I liked his French stubbornness towards what he considered his art (for best results reading the quotes below use animated gesticulations and a comedy French accent)…

I discussed Vincent 4 valve heads with him once and he said “if you want an 8 valve v twin… buy a Ducati” !

And a request for a kick start only machine (with 1330cc and high CR) was met with “when you have a crowd around you and you cannot start it, it has MY NAME on the tank, I won’t do it”.

And the best was when I enquired about disc brakes “Non! They are ‘orrible! They ‘ave no place on such a beautiful machine. Even if it costs me a sale, I will not do it”.

RIP Patrick Godet 🇫🇷 🇬🇧
 
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Interesting stuff indeed FE - Godet was no doubt a true master of his craft. You were honoured to meet him indeed. I guess when you bought yours?

You might not be a fan of this, and we’ve seen the vid before, but it’s worth another look. Possibly the most beautiful ever built!? Try not to throw anything at the screen😁!

Not for the purists of course and Godet would have hated the brake disks as you recount - god only knows what his thoughts would be on fuel injection and USD forks! I wonder what his assessment of the bike as a whole would have been though - as a modern iteration.

It’s a bastard (by the adjective meaning) but I think that it’s truly magnificent! Then again, I’ve never ridden the real thing!

 
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Interesting stuff indeed FE - Godet was no doubt a true master of his craft. You were honoured to meet him indeed. I guess when you bought yours?

You might not be a fan of this, and we’ve seen the vid before, but it’s worth another look. Possibly the most beautiful ever built!? Try not to throw anything at the screen😁!

Not for the purists of course and Godet would have hated the brake disks as you recount - god only knows what his thoughts would be on fuel injection and USD forks! I wonder what his assessment of the bike as a whole would have been though - as a modern iteration.

It’s a bastard (by the adjective meaning) but I think that’s it’s truly magnificent! Then again, I’ve never ridden the real thing!


It’s a well executed custom bike using a Vincent engine.

And the fact it has a Vincent engine is where the comparison ends!

Personally, I admire the workmanship, but I don’t like the finished article. But I’m sure the owner does… which is all that matters.
 
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