The Evolution of HRD

 

So --- What is and what was HRD? The Man – the machines, light years ahead of the years they were from.

 

The Man.

Howard Raymond Davies was born in 1895 in Birmingham, England a time when the world was beginning to get an interest in motorized bicycles. What a perfect time for a young boy to get on board! By the time he ended formal schooling, motorcycling was in his blood, as well as a competitive need for speed. Howard joined local clubs and went to work as an apprentice with the AJS company owned by five Stevens brothers that had started up in 1897. At that time they were a small production numbers company, turning out only a handful of touring bikes. Early on, with an eye on “sporting” events he hooked up with Sunbeam and rode in Scottish trials, piloted sidecar, then moved to Diamond Motorcycles, only to be rehired by Sunbeam for junior member for Isle of Man TT Senior race of 1914. At the ripe age of 19, he finishing second, making his mark in racing.

 

Soon after, it was off to war, first Army, then Air Force to pilot and got shot down twice, mistakenly reported as killed in action. Nevertheless, Lt. Davies returned home to AJS and rode 350 and 500cc in the IOM TT in the early 1920’s with mixed reliability. Some wins and some DNFs. Not good enough for HRD, so in ’24 he helped design along with Massey Arran and produced the 80 and 90 series, using JAP engines. In addition to winning at IOM 1925, HRDs were getting noticed internationally with wins and records in Australia, Japan, Germany and Italy.

 

Tough economic times in the 1925 General Strike forced HRD into voluntary liquidation, selling to Ernie Humphries who then sold the name to Philip Vincent. After selling the company, Davies worked as a traveling rep for Alvis and Star cars, then got a mistaken call-up for WWII military duty – but wound up unemployed again when the company he worked for folded. Jobless for a while, he became depressed and attempted suicide by gas fire only to be rescued by his wife. With a new lease on life, Howard started his own business and was a manufacturer’s agent ‘til bad health, and died Jan 3, 1973.

 

HRD and his insight into speed and reliability carried forward, integrated into the future HRD designs and models by Philip Vincent in the Comet, Rapide and Black Shadow. Under new ownership, HRD Co., Philip Vincent designed, manufactured and produced the Series “A” Rapide in 1936 with 45 bhp at 5,500rpm, a 50 degree, 1,000 cc,  V-twin, with a 4-speed Burman gearbox, boasting that it would do 100-110 mph.

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After the war ended, the Series “B” was introduced and was the same displacement and engine with 7” dual brakes and Brampton forks (later switched to Girdraulics), with Vincent 4 speed gearbox and Vincent sprung frame. The “B” model topped out at 110mph, would do 60 in first gear and lug and chug down to 20mph in high gear – a great touring sidecar machine with plenty of grunt. It wore Avon Speedster tires, 20” front, 19” rear, and weighed in at 455 pounds to give it that well-planted feeling and handling/manners. The “B” Rapide soon was a hit with touring, rally and racing, as the Works in Stevenage were hopping-up the model for more speed. Obtaining speed and reliability not often seen in a race bike, famous record holders began to emerge. The series “B” design further evolved in to the “sporty” Black Shadow series “C” with upgrades. That is to say, faster – more than 2 miles in 1 minute,125mph.

 

Phil Vincent changed the company name in 1948 after being in the US (H-D country)  and thought there would be identity confusion so he changed the name to The Vincent Co. to avoid confusion. The Vincent Black Shadow, then an upgraded Series B Rapide became the fasted production bike in the world until those pesky Japanese came along with those Kawi’s.

 

A heartfelt Thank You to HRD – Howard Raymond Davies and to Philip Vincent – Nice Vision and Nice Work!