Sunday, April 17, 2011

2nd Annual Tucson Vintage/Classic motorcycle show & swap meet

Last week my dad and I headed down to the 2nd annual Tucson Vintage motorcycle show.  It's held at a local eatery called "Barrio Brewery".  You may remember a similar post I made awhile back.   These are the same folks.  They typically meet once a month to shoot the breeze and grab a beer.  This is their big event where they hold contests, people can swap old motorcycle parts, and you can even find old/restored bikes for sell.

The day before we had a small winter storm roll through.  It was still a little chilly so I broke out the chaps and leather jacket.  We're already hitting the mid nighties this weekend. The nice weather seems like a distant memory now.


My dad.  He used to have an old Honda in his college days.  I got to see an old photo of it yesterday.  I'm going to see if I can get a copy and post it here.  We saw a couple of bikes that were close to his that reminded him of the old days.

Great hard cases on this BMW.  Reminds me of the curves of a beautiful woman.
I had to look this one up.  It's a Maico. A West German company that went out of business in the 1980's.  I like their logo which you can see on the handle bars and headlight below.
Follow scrupulously!
Not sure why I'm drawn to Triumph's but they certainly are nice looking bikes.
And another!
Modern day Triumph badges are stuck on with adhesive.  It probably saves them money, but the company should really stay with screw on badges.  I bet there's a market for unique looking badges people could swap on and off depending on the look they want for their bikes.
Really nice looking Norton.

I can't remember who's logo this is.
Beautiful Sunbeam motorcycle.  It's shaft driven, no chain.
I saw these two Indians at the last vintage meetup.
Retro 70's.  Notice the suicide shifter.
I liked the look of the seat on this next bike.  There happened to be a guy standing right next to the bike and when I mentioned the seat his eyes lit up and he happened to own the company that made them.  His name was Ron and he is the managing director of Kontour seats.  (KonTourSeat.com)  The seat has a "Air Cooled" mesh on the outside.  So even when it's 100 degrees outside you don't have to sit directly on scorching hot black leather.
I saw this bike at the last show.  I believe it's a 2007.
Very nice MV Agusta F4.  The tail pipes are super sexy.
A 89 Honda Tourist Trophy.  It was named after a race on England's Isle of Man.  Apparently it didn't sell well in the US and had a short life span.



This bike had a unique suicide shifter.  It was a bat in a glass sphere.
 
 
 This guy put wrought iron over his drive belt to keep his pants leg from being pulled in.
This one's for Ed.
The seventies called.  They want their bike back.
This old BMW with side car was amazing.







That was pretty much it.  This was the 2nd show.  I hope it takes off and keeps building.  It would be great for Tucson to have a bigger and bigger bike show.  My dad and I grabbed some lunch and heading out to look at helmets.  Hope you liked the pictures!

5 comments:

  1. Nice photos and a nice selection interesting bikes. It looks like it was a fine event for only it's second year. Had I known about it I'd have cruised on down from C.G.

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  2. You hit it big time with that show! These photos just proved how awesome that batch of car show is. On your thoughts about the Triumph, I don’t know if we have the same reason, but I find them interesting since I know that Triumphs were the bad boys back in the `60s. Well, that was the case until the roads were dominated by those`70s beasts (I love those shots of them, by the way!).

    Regards,
    Erik Lucien

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  3. Nice! An MV Agusta F4. Did you know that this is the bike that Chris Burns used in the Dutch Superbike Championship race? It’s one heck of a motorcycle, man! He stormed to second place in that racing competition!

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  4. That old BMW with a sidecar is a stunning classic! I wonder how old it is? The original owner must be one heck of a rider! I think it would be even more gorgeous if it was restored! I also love the rocket-like shape of the sidecar!

    Hannah Parkin

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  5. @Erik - Thanks for the comment! Only a couple more months until they have their next showing. I'm hoping to capture more Triumph pictures then:)

    @Claudio - I wasn't aware of that. I'm only now starting to get into MotoGP racing. But there is a whole history of racing I'd love to learn more about. I'll have to read up on Chris Burns.

    @Hannah - Yeah that was a neat one! I took those pictures just as I was leaving the show and never really saw the owner. I'm picturing someone aged to the same level as the bike:) It would look sharp fully restored. But there is something to be said for that rusty well ridden look.

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