Did you know you can help us decide what goes into each issue of Motorcycle Classics? You can, simply by joining our Editorial Advisory Group. If you’re not already a member of our advisory group, you probably didn’t realize that we survey every issue of Motorcycle Classics. In addition to giving their opinions on specific motorcycles and story ideas, advisory group members also choose the cover of every issue of Motorcycle Classics, helping us craft the classic motorcycle magazine you want to read.

In addition to helping us decide what goes into the magazine, advisory group members also give us feedback on the types of bikes they actually own and what they’re hoping to have parked in their garage next so we can learn more about our readers. We’ve been doing it this way since we started Motorcycle Classics over five years ago, and it’s helped us ensure Motorcycle Classics is your magazine.

And we won’t inundate you with surveys; we typically send out one to two a month. If you haven’t signed up yet, just follow this link to the Editorial Advisory Group sign up page. Hope to see your comments on a survey soon! – Richard Backus 

 
The Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Bonneville Build. Nice, eh?

Six months ago, we launched into our latest project, the Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Bonneville Build. We took a brand new retro classic 2010 Triumph Bonneville and morphed it into our interpretation of a modern take on a classic theme, the bobber hotrod. Our plan from the beginning was to give the bike away, and give it away we did when we announced the winner of our Bonneville Build Sweepstakes at the 6^th Annual Barber Vintage Festival on Saturday, October 9. And the winner is …

The winner is Christopher Howley, of Quincy, Mass. Chris wasn’t in attendance at the festival to hear his name called by Dairyland Cycle’s Frank Thornbury, who made the drive to Leeds to announce the winner (you didn’t need to be present to win). It took us a few days to track Chris down, and once he found out he’d won our new Triumph he was predictably excited. “It was kind of a shocking thing,” Chris told me. “I came home and my mom said ‘you got a call.’ And that was the call!”

Although Chris isn’t an avid motorcyclist, his brother is, and we’re hoping said brother will fire up Chris’ interest in bikes and get him out on the road on his new Triumph. If that doesn’t work, Chris admits that he’ll probably sell the Triumph. But not just for the sake of cash. “I have a cousin who does Habitat for Humanity,” Chris says. “He’s been in New Orleans, and I went with him last year and I’m going in 2011, too. He’s inspired me, and I’d like to do something like that, start an organization that builds houses. I want to call it WAITT, We’re All In This Together. So if I sell it, the money won’t be used for selfish purposes.”

Well, we won’t hide that we’d be happier to see the bike go to someone who plans to ride it and enjoy it the way we enjoyed building it, but if our Bonneville Build ends up making life easier for people who have less than the rest of us, we’d call that a pretty happy ending.

So congratulations to Chris, and thanks to everyone who signed up for a chance to win. The sweepstakes was enormously popular, and the comments and encouragement we received regarding the build were fabulous. Our email inbox was literally stuffed with notes from would-be winner telling us how much they liked what we did and how proud they’d be to ride our bobber down the road. Well, maybe next time. And yes, there will be a next time, because we’re plotting out our next build, to be announced soon!

In the meantime, our thanks to all of you for your interest in the Bonneville Build, and particularly to Dairyland Cycle Insurance for its support, partnering with us to build one of the coolest bikes anywhere. If you’re looking for motorcycle insurance, check them out; they’re good folks, and not just because they sponsored our build. – Richard Backus 

 
Bikes started lining up early for the Motorcycle Classics Vintage Bike Show at the 6th Annual Barber Vintage Festival on Saturday, October 9, 2010. 

There are plenty of excellent bike shows held around the country every year. But only a very few have that special something, that almost indescribable allure that makes us jump on our bikes, hop in our vans or climb into planes and travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to immerse ourselves in the vintage scene for a few days. The Barber Vintage Festival is one of those shows.

If you missed the Barber Vintage Festival last weekend, well, simply put, you missed the coolest vintage bike show of the year. Now in its sixth year, the Barber Vintage Festival keeps growing and growing. The first show, held in 2005, logged something on the order of 6,000 attendees. By the time the fifth show rolled around last year that number had risen to a reported 35,000. Working off those numbers, we’d guess at least 45,000 vintage bike fans showed up this year for what can only be described as three days of classic bike heaven.

I can only guess why the numbers seemingly rose so dramatically, but frankly, I’m chalking it up to pent up interest and a general frustration with the drawn-out economic slump; simply put, I think people are finally saying screw it, I’m going to go out and do what I love most, economy be damned. And in our crowd, that means getting together with like-minded bike fans.

Motorcycle Classics held its annual vintage bike show, and this year’s was our biggest ever. Helping to draw a crowd to our tent were some special guests, a somewhat loose-knit association of Suzuki Gamma owners. Some 25 Gamma owners descended upon our tent for the Gathering of the Gammas, celebrating 25 years since Suzuki launched the Gamma, an amazing 500cc, liquid-cooled, 2-stroke square four that put more than a little emphasis on performance. Gammas are fabulous machines, as were the bikes that participated in our show.

The featured category in our show was Cafés, Bobbers and Customs, with Rick Jones taking top honors for his very nicely prepared 1976 Triumph T140 Street Tracker, a bike he’s owned since 1981 and started customizing about nine years ago.

  
Rick Jones and his very tasty Triumph Street Tracker. You can't see it in this small shot, but the bike features lots of nice detail work, and even runs a magneto ignition! Nice. 

The big surprise at our show was a visit from former world champion John Surtees, Grand Marshal for the 2010 event. Making the surprise even better, Surtees, the only man ever to win world championships on two wheels and four, showed up with classic car and bike TV personality Alain de Cadenet. A successful racer in the 1970s and 1980s, and today a major figure in the vintage car and bike scene thanks to his work with SPEED TV, de Cadenet is about the nicest, suavest guy you’ll ever meet. Surtees couldn’t hang around our tent for long, but he did stick around long enough to wander through our show. It was an absolute blast watching him walking around and checking out the nice selection of machines on hand, clearly enjoying himself and the opportunity to examine prized machines that owners use rather than stack in a collection hidden from view.

  
John Surtees (left) and Alain de Cadenet check out a Vincent Black Shadow at the Motorcycle Classics bike show.Surtees got his start in motorcycles as an apprentice for Vincent. 

Fabulously, de Cadenet stuck around for the end of our show, and alongside Barber’s Brian Slark and the National Motorcycle Museum’s Mark Mederski, who both helped judge the bikes on hand, de Cadenet handed out the trophies to the winners in our vintage bike show.

What a hoot, and really something that would only happen at the Barber Vintage Festival. We’ll have more on the show in the coming weeks, but for now, hats off to everyone who stopped by our booth, and congratulations to our winners, including Dale Carpenter, who won our on-site drawing for a full set of riding gear from Joe Rocket. Nice.

Speaking of winners, we did draw the name of the winner of our Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance 2010 Triumph Bonneville Build. Unfortunately, that person wasn’t on hand, and as of yet I’ve not been able to speak directly with them. As soon as I do, we’ll announce their name and give you full details. Stay tuned! – Richard Backus  

To check out our previous coverage of the Barber show, click on the links below:
2005 Barber Vintage Festival

2006 Barber Vintage Festival

2008 Barber Vintage Festival

2009 Barber Vintage Festival 

  
The Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance 2010 Triumph Bonneville - It could be yours! 

What? You haven’t entered the Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Bonneville Build Sweepstakes? Valued at $10,000, we’re giving away the 2010 Triumph Bonneville we turned from a mild retro classic into a classic hotrod bobber on Saturday, October 9 at the 6^th Annual Barber Vintage Festival. Hustle on over to our sign up page before the sweepstakes ends at noon (EST) Friday, October 8.

Yup, giving it away. As in free. As in no charge. As in we’ll even deliver it to you. All you have to do is sign up and have your name drawn as the winner in our sweepstakes drawing, which we’ll conduct at 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 9, when we wrap up our annual Vintage Motorcycle Show at the Barber Vintage Festival. Heck, if you’re there, you can even drag it on home with you. With only 2.5 miles on the clock, it’s still brand new, most of those miles having been accumulated just rolling it around at the different shows we’ve taken it to over the past few months. Fact is, we haven’t had a chance to get it out on the road. That’s a thrill you’ll get to experience, assuming of course you’re the winner in our sweepstakes drawing. You can check out our Triumph Bonneville Bobber here, the last of our series of article chronicling the project.

Before we give it away, we’ll spend the day with like-minded classic motorcycle owners during our Vintage Motorcycle Show, this year featuring – what else – bobbers, customs and cafés. We’ll be awarding trophies in seven categories, including British, European, American, Japanese, Competition and People’s Choice. And we’ll also be giving away a full set of Joe Rocket riding gear, including helmet, gloves, jacket and pants. Like we say, be there, or be square. – Richard Backus 

Wanna hear our new Triumph with its great sounding pipes from D&D Performance Exhaust? Just click on the video below and watch my son, Charlie, as he cranks it up for the first time. It sounds even better in real life!