As our treasured classic bikes get older and older with every passing year, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to discover fewer and fewer of them out on the road. Yet motorcyclists tend to define themselve by a high level of engagement, and in old bike circles indications are that as time marches by the reverse is true, with seemingly more vintage two-wheelers out plying the roads than ever before.

Across the country, local and national vintage bike happenings back me up on this impression. Yesterday, I got a call from Bill Bibbiani of the Southern California Norton Owners Club, letting me know he and his merry band of Anglophiles had successfully wrapped up their Route 66 Ride. Covering 2,000-plus miles on the “Mother Road” from St. Louis, Mo., to Santa Monica, Calif., most of those 30-plus riders were piloting  — you guessed it — vintage Nortons.

As I write, participants in the 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball are somewhere in Idaho or Oregon, wending their way to their final stop in San Francisco, Calif. Almost 70 riders, tracing a 4,000-mile coast-to-coast route on pre-1930 BSAs, Hendersons, Harleys, and Indians, to name a few. That’s engagement.

This year, the folks who put on the twice-annual MotoGiro USA in New England for pre-1969 small-bore motorcycles — 65cc to 305cc engines — are taking their show on the road, mapping out a 170-mile, one-day MotoGiro USA South to run the day before the Barber Vintage Festival in Leeds, Ala., in mid-October. That’s guaranteed to be an exceptional day, riding through one of the most beautiful areas in the country.

I’m hoping I’ll get to make that one, but even if I don’t I can rest happy from the three days I spent with Joel Samick’s RetroTours, our group riding a half dozen different 1970s-vintage Italian twins through the back roads of West Virginia in the tongue-in-cheek Redneck Giro. Or the full day I spent riding Alan Comfort’s 1948 Moto Guzzi Astore — my first time ever astride one of MG’s famed “bacon slicers” — in the shadows of Washington’s Mount Rainier following the inaugural Meet at the Ace Vintage Motorcycle Festival at the new and astonishing LeMay vintage car museum (think Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum for cars, only bigger) in Tacoma, Wash. Some 100-plus riders gathered early Sunday morning for that spectacular back road run.

And that’s not to ignore the excellent 40-mile romp led by Dennis Weinhold during the Motorcycle Classics Ride & Show at this year’s Road America Vintage Motorcycle Classic 2012, or the upcoming two-day vintage road run mapped out by Jim Sneegas and our local AMCA chapter, a route that will guide mostly American vintage iron through the hills and dales surrounding historic Atchison, Kan.

Those are just a few of the “official” runs I’ve paid attention to. Outside of those rides — and hundreds more just like them — vintage fans are routinely getting together for short-notice Saturday and Sunday breakfast rides like the ones pals Keith and Ken have been taking on their Norton Commandos, or the upcoming — and from what I’ve heard the last — Ralph Wayne’s Backyard Vintage Nationals in suburban Kansas City, Mo. Twenty years in the making, this ride-in show is legendary around here, drawing an unbelievable selection of rare and desirable vintage motorcycles, including Ace fours, Ducati twins and Harley singles, all crammed into Ralph’s yard and the surrounding streets. Amazing.

This is good stuff, underscoring the abiding passion and enthusiasm of the vintage motorcycle community, qualities that make our little corner of the world shine.

Ride ‘em, don’t hide ‘em. — Richard Backus 

 
Vincents gather at the swap meet during the 8th Annual Barber Vintage Festival. 

The 8^th Annual Barber Vintage Festival drew a record crowd, promoter ZOOM Motorsports says, with 57,000-plus bike fans sharing the sights and sounds of vintage racing and shows during the three-day 2012 event. ZOOM says attendance for the Barber Vintage Festival grew by 11 percent, a significant uptick from last year’s attendance figures of 51,723.

That’s a lot of people by any reckoning, and even if those numbers include all event participants like vendors, AHRMA racers and other support staff, it’s still an impressive increase. Since its inception in 2005, the Barber Vintage Festival has witnessed stratospheric growth, and this year was no different. We well remember the first year, when an estimated 10,000 or so enthusiasts showed up. We were blown out of the water then with the quality and variety of the event, aspects that have only improved with every passing year.

Motorcycle Classics held its annual Barber Vintage Motorcycle Show, with Triumph motorcycles the featured marque. Top honors went to David Hurst for his beautifully restored 1966 Triumph Bonneville TT, which, we’re glad to note, he rode into our show to prove that it’s more than just another pretty face. David’s trophy was presented to him by none other than Triumph North America CEO Greg Heichelbech, who helped judge the Triumph class.

 
David Hurst (left) with Triumph North America CEO Greg Heichelbech after receiving the Best Triumph award for his 1966 Bonneville TT100. 

We also got to meet up with Alan Sayler, winner of this year’s Motorcycle Classics/Barber Vintage Festival Sweepstakes. Alan was more than a little chuffed by his good luck, telling us, “I’ve can’t believe I won! I’ve never been able to attend the festival.” Attend he did, thanks to Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which handed Alan two tickets to the festival, a two-night hotel stay, weekend passes to the museum, plus Barber Vintage Festival hats and T-shirts. Pretty cool. Could be you next year.

 
Barber Vintage Festival Sweepstakes winner Alan Sayler (left) with MC editor Richard Backus. 

The day prior to the show found me astride a circa-1966 Honda CB160 for the inaugural running of MotoGiro South. Run as a one-day event instead of the standard three-plus, the ride took the 50 assembled participants on a 150-plus-mile jaunt through the Alabama back country. Riders had to run a regularity trial at the beginning of the rally, another before lunch, another just after lunch, and a final trial at rally’s end back in Birmingham at rally headquarters at the Hilton Birmingham Perimeter Park. Although there were a few DNFs, my little Honda ran flawlessly – no surprise – and everyone who took the ride is looking forward to next year when, it’s hoped, it will become a full-blown three-day Motogiro. That would be one hell of an addition to an already jam-packed weekend.

 
A rider in the Motogiro South winds his way through the Alabama back country on a Bultaco. 

Barber continues to grow, but fortunately not at the expense of the event, which has been top shelf since that first event in 2005. We’re astounded at how this show continues to not only get bigger, but quantifiably better each and every year, with more attractions and features, and more to see and do. Barber has already scheduled the 2013 event, set for Oct. 11-13, 2013. See you there! – Richard Backus 

 
George Brown's spectacular Laverda RGS with full Executive equipment. This bike is one serial number off my own RGS, so they probably shared the same floor space on the same day in the old Laverda factory.