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Meet Stu - a real long-haul rider

Here’s a true story to warm the cockles of your heart: Stuart Jenkinson (83) has decided to hang up his crash helmet after riding bikes for 56 years… amazingly he still owns Vinnylonglegs, a Vincent Black Prince 1000cc touring bike that’s clocked up more than 700 000 miles — that’s 1.1-million kilometres!

The purchase price back then (Jenkinson still has all the receipts from 1955, totalling £385 - about R770 back then.

Hardly surprising, then, that the mission statement of the Vincent Motorcycle Company read: “Fast, long-distance riding with stamina and economy - plus long intervals between major overhauls.” Vincents certainly got that right!

ANNUAL HOLIDAY TREAT

“At first I just used to ride it to work and back but then the touring bug hit," he told the London Daily Mail. "Down the years I’ve travelled through Greece, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, Czechoslovakia, Montenegro, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Hungary.

"Yes, I did have a favourite: Greece - with my wife Anne on the pillion and the bike loaded with camping gear it was our annual holiday treat."

The former university lecturer in Northumberland, north-east England, decided to start up a motorcycle touring company after officially retiring in 1980, hence the extraordinary mileage achieved by the Black Prince and his obvious love affair with travel.

“She’s been rebuilt a couple of times and a few modifications have been done along the way to carry more than average in the way of touring gear," he told the Mail. "Iit must be the most travelled bike in the world and has gone through scores of tyres and tubes but never any real mechanical trouble."

'LOOK DARLING, NO HANDS!' This was a publicity shot taken for the Vincent Black Prince was back in 1955. What - hadn't the bikini been invented then?

He was no stranger to the seminal Vincent marque (this was his third Vincent - a bike soon dubbed “the world’s fastest standard motorcyle". They were made in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in limited numbers from about 1935 through to 1955. With exciting model names such as Shadow, Rapide, Lightning, Black Knight and Black Prince, the brand was held in awe by real motorcyclists of the day.

'NOT THE STRENGTH NOW...'

Back at the Vincent factory the chief tester, George Brown, had something of an alter ego because he was also a world record-breaker of note with his brace of Nero speed machines. Perhaps it was Roly Free, though, who really set tongues wagging back in the early 1950's by achieving a world speed record at the Utah Salt Flats of 240km/h on his Vincent Black Shadow… he was naked except for swimming trunks and a pair of flip-flops to improve streamlining; lying prone on the fuel tank and Feridax saddle!

Is Stuart Jenksinson finally packing up driving and visiting Europe by luxury coach, then?  Not a bit of it! He still has his car for that occasion. “On continental roads we could push Vinnylonglegs up to 180km/h but we rarely travel at more than 160km/h these days. I’ve dropped it a few times - even with my wife on the back.

"Trouble is, I don’t have the strength to pick it up any more..."

• Vinnylonglegs is to be sold by British Auctioneers Bonhams on April 24 at the 2011 International Motorcycle Show in Staffordshire. Conservative estimates by experts suggest the bike will go for around £40 000 (about R500 000).
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