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.
In keeping with the Vincent Black Shadow's history, the Black Falcon is built for tearing up tarmac or peeling off eyeball-flattening speed runs. The "roadster" tank shown here can be swapped out with a smaller "dragster" tank for quarter-mile runs.
So gorgeous.
Another shot of the Black Shadow engine, with too many details to count.
The front brake only resembles the finned brake of the Vincent Black Shadow. The 8-inch double-sided drum brake was built specifically for the Black Falcon and features four shoes.
Even the primary drive is beautifully detailed.
A close-up of the rear brake.
Most builders would slap on a pair of pegs and a shifter and call it a day. Ian Barry is not most builders. Note the fender mounting bracket.
The top of the tank.
The seat provides another definition of "craftsmanship."
Sit down, start up and hold on.
It looks just as good from the back as it does from the side.
Photos: Falcon Motorcycles via Bike EXIF. Video: Los Angeles Times/YouTube
