My old dad on his Vincent HRD.
Unfortunately the bikes long gone but I still have the number plate, boots and the Burberry leather jacket he’s wearing in the pic.
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HRD stands for H R Davies. He built his own HRD bikes which were top end sports bikes in the '20s usually with JAP engines. Philip Vincent bought the HRD name when he first came into the motorcycle business as a rich young graduate.
The bike in the original post is definitely a Matchless single circa 1955 but looks to be mildly customised as it has non standard headlight, saddle, and a crash bar with auxiliary light. It looks like the front mudguard has been lined but that may be an artifact of the photograph.
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Thanks for details and images
Thanks Pev.
Looks like a straight bar across frame with lights.
I’ve seen some frame images that show a small tube across the frame in that area, so maybe a design to take such an arrangement.
I had the same leather coat during winters, when I was a student. I loved it.
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It’s a universal aftermarket crash bar probably made by Britax though there may have been other makes. It consists of two halves which screw together and go through the front sidecar mounting which all bikes had in those days. It was often used as a badge bar or for mounting extra lights.
I’ve got one on a shelf in the garage waiting to be fitted to my 1951 Norton Model 7.
Ok, so the detail I was referring to is actually a sidecar mounting.
That makes sense.
No such attachments to my current triumph trident 660.
Not quite - almost all large bikes of that era had a lug with a round hole built into the front down tube. This was intended as an attachment point for a sidecar mounting bar. If there is no sidecar fitted you can use the lug to fit a crash bar as in the photo of your dad’s bike. Hopefully a photo of the item in question will help.
Cheers
Pev
Whatever happened to my dads I wish he’d kept it, looking at the astronomical prices they’re going for at the moment.
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