If you’ve never witnessed the spectacle that is the Barber Vintage Festival, you really don’t know what you’re missing. The world’s greatest motorcycle museum, great vintage motorcycle racing, a fab old-bike swap meet, classic bikes shows from Motorcycle Classics and others, not to mention vintage aerial acrobatics and the annual Race of the Century for bikes 100 years old or older – classic motorcycle meets just don’t get any better than this. And this year, you’ve got a shot at taking it all in for free.

That’s right. Free. Just point your browser to the Barber Vintage Festival Sweepstakes page and sign up for our Barber Vintage Festival Sweepstakes. The winners — it’s a prize for two — will get a pair of passes to the 6th Annual Barber Vintage Festival Oct. 8-11, 2010, plus passes to the museum, three nights lodging (including Thursday night so you won’t miss a thing on Friday) and front row tickets to the Bator auction, now heading into its second year at the Barber Festival. Getting there is your responsibility, but if you’re our winner, once you’re there you’ll be pretty much taken care of for the entire weekend. Pretty sweet deal — and it could be yours!

It's a weekend of moto excess that’s got to be experienced to believe. Sign up now for your chance to take it all in, and make sure to come by the Motorcycle Classics tent to check out the Motorcycle Classics Classic Bike Show and the Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Bonneville Build, the new Triumph Bonneville SE we’re turning into a retro-classic bobber and giving away at the Barber show! – Richard Backus 

The 2010 Bonneville Vintage GP Honda CB160 Raffle Bike in the early stages of preparation at Vicious Cycle in Portland, Oregon.

Tom Kullen, the moving force behind the annual Bonneville Vintage GP at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, has announced the return of the CB160 Raffle Bike for the 2010 Bonneville Vintage GP. Presented by Motorcycle Classics, the Bonneville Vintage GP is heading into its fifth year, bringing with it the return of the popular CB160 Raffle, which took a hiatus last year thanks to the global economic slump.

Thanks to the incredible popularity of the Battle of the CB160s LeMans Start  held Saturday and Sunday during the Bonneville GP, and building interest in the CB160 race series, Kullen was able to bring the CB160 Raffle Bike back. Bikes were built and raffled off during the 2007 and 2008 event. Vicious Cycle in Portland, Ore., built both those machines, and they’re building this year’s bike, as well. Deeply immersed in the CB160 race scene, Joe Pethoud and his crew at Vicious Cycle know how to make one of these little twins move around a track with remarkable speed and grace. 14hp and 80mph from 161cc is nothing to sneeze at, and the way CB160 riders blitz through the corners barely letting off the throttle makes for some incredible racing. It’s great stuff, and bikes from Vicious are regularly at the head of the pack in CB160 racing.

The engine for this year's raffle bike spread out on the workbench at Vicious. Once it's done, this little bike will have been gone through from top to bottom and front to back.

Four-time World Champion Doug Polen took one of the little racers for a ride for last year’s LeMans start, predictably coming in first after buzzing his way to the head of the pack. Hey, you don’t get to be World Champion by being slow, but even if his bike was a slightly larger and more powerful CB175 he still had to work for his victory, with CB160 series regular Mick Hart hanging onto Polen’s tail every inch of the way.

Great vintage racing awaits, and it all takes place Sept. 3-5, 2010. We’ll be there as we have been since the beginning, hosting the annual Motorcycle Classics Bonneville Vintage GP Motorcycle Show on Saturday and otherwise enjoying what’s always an incredible weekend of great vintage motorcycle racing at one of the premier racing venues in the country, Miller Motorsports Park. Go here to learn more about the raffle bike, and go here to sign up for the Motorcycle Classics Bonneville Vintage GP Motorcycle Show. – Richard Backus 

Forget the trailer queen shows: Make plans to head to Texas for the rolling and rocking Rockers vs. Mods rally March 26-28, 2010, in Dallas. Showcasing one-of-a-kind bikes, a raffle, slow races, night rides through downtown, bands, DJ’s and general mayhem for Italian scooter and European bike enthusiasts and spectators, the Rockers vs. Mods rally brings cool classic bikes out of the garage and onto the street.

This will the fourth iteration of this now highly anticipated event, an urban motorcycle gathering we first reported on in the March/April 2009 issue of Motorcycle Classics. Unlike the old days in Blighty, when the Mods and Rockers would routinely engage in turf wars for bragging rights, this modern incarnation of contrasting motorcycle groups is a congenial romp through downtown Dallas, stopping at Dallas biker bars and where participants hang out and swap lies, er, stories about motorcycling and living the motorcycle life.

Last year’s event saw over 60 bikes rolling through downtown Dallas, and we’d expect this year’s event to be even bigger, thanks to excellent word of mouth and a general increase in interest in, well, just having fun. Check out the full schedule at the Rockers vs. Mods website; if you’re in the greater Dallas area, don’t miss this very cool and decidedly growing classic bike gathering. – Richard Backus 

Seth Enslow and his specially prepared H-D XR1200,
which he rode to a record jump of 183.7 feet 

Freestyle motocrosser Seth Enslow broke the existing record of 157 feet for a successful long distance jump aboard a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, sailing 175 feet through the air on a specially prepared 2010 XR1200. And he did it twice!

Enslow made the jump Monday aboard a modified Harley-Davidson XR1200 in Sydney, Australi. The jump was broadcast live from Australia via http://www.harleyworldrecordjump.com 

Enslow was supposed to make his jump at 9:30am Australia on Tuesday, but hit the ramp 45 minutes early at 8:45am. He cleared 175 feet on the first jump, but because so few media had arrived he opted to repeat the stunt. This time, he gave himself an extra 8.7-foot lead, resulting in a new record jump of 183.7 feet, breaking the record 11-year record by more than 25 feet. That record was once held by the legendary Evel Knievel. “To many, Evel Knievel was the original extreme athlete – long before there were extreme sports,” said Mark-Hans Richer, Harley-Davidson Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer. “This latest generation of riders still revere Knievel – even as they attempt to smash his records.” The world record was first benchmarked by Evel Knievel in 1975 and recently set by Bubba Blackwell in 1999.

Like every other manufacturer, H-D is struggling to prop up sales. They put a lot of their promotional and marketing muscle behind Enslow, hoping a spectacle like his jump will help boost interest in Harley at a time when sales are lagging. Using the XR1200 for the jump was a no-brainer. It looks the part, and as modified and ridden by Enslow, it’s the bike to beat. If you’re into sailing through the air, that is. – Richard Backus 

Watch Enslow’s record-breaking jump by clicking on the video below: