Antiques Rode Show
Antiques Rode SHOW
Cycle World's Rolling Concours attracts the True Believers
MARK HOYER
A MAN WILL DO A LOT OF THINGS FOR A free donut and a bottle of wine.Up to and including rolling out his finely restored classic motorcycle in the pouring rain with the prospect of a 50-mile ride ahead.
Yes, by their very nature, Cycle World Rolling Concours types are a durable sort, hearty souls unafraid of the odd bit of drizzle. Hell, for the Britbike guys, rain is the natural habitat! Sadly, it had been so wet for so long up Sonoma way that one of the local wineries near Infineon Raceway (nee Sears Point) had “Build an Ark” spelled out on its roadside marquee. But compared with being underwater, this was just a light mist.
Still, there was a notable lack of waxedcotton riding gear, and not nearly enough plastic trash bags to go around. So, after a quick poll of entrants asking whether to roll or not to roll-there was no question: a nearly unanimous vote in the negative.
And so it came to pass that this, the fifth edition of the Cycle World Rolling Concours, had its rolling part made voluntary and moved post-judging, in hopes the skies might clear and roads dry up (which they did). We do, after all, do this for fun, and the weather was so bad Saturday morning that no riding fun was to be had out on the road.
Spirits were still pretty high, and judging was as difficult as ever, even if entries were down from the amazing turnouts of years past. On the plus side, it was going to be impossible to award all the trophies-local red wine in various sizes from standard to huge-so there might be one or two of the specially etched bottles left over for post-ceremony celebration.
Unfortunately for the staff boozers, it’s impossible not to award the biggest bottle of red, because that one goes to Best in Show, which simply must be presented (although we judges are trying to amend the rules...).
This year, the 3-liter prize went to Marcel Fortney’s black 1967 BMW R50, in all its Earles-forked, Hoske-tanked glory. Fortney restores bikes in his spare time, so we were waiting to hear great stories of how he lovingly machined the engine parts himself, checked all the tolerances and so forth.
“I’d like to say I’ve done a lot of work to it, but I bought it like this just a couple of weeks ago!” a grinning
Fortney said. “I feel pretty silly, because all I did was click on a button on eBay and was a winner. But I’m glad I got it. It’s a wonderful motorcycle.”
Smart man-the best restorations are often the ones somebody else pays for! It’s also less painful when you ride it in the rain...
Speaking of which, we were close to delivering to Tim Tewksbury “Worst Rain Bike” honors as one of our “Special” awards, uh, awarded at the discretion of the judges for outstanding, you know, whatever, all bestowed with a sense of fun. Past categories have been “Best Flamed Chainguard,” “Best Valve-Stem Caps” and “Best Communist-Bloc Magnesium-Cased Motorcycle.”
Rolling Concours Results Best of Show: American Classic: Marcel Fortney, 1967 BMW R50 1st Otto Hofmann, 1971 Harley-Davidson Leggero 65 Best British: Don Johnson, 1972 Norton Commando Japanese Classic: 1 st Terry Mohr, 1966 Suzuki B105P Classic 1931-59: 2nd Ron Mousouris, 1976 Honda CB400F 1st Paul Zell, 1938 Velocette KTT 3rd Joe Everly, 1972 Honda CB750 2nd Peter Foster, 1960 BSA Gold Star 3rd Wayne Brooks, 1950 Vincent Street Specials 1st Tim Tewksbury, 1972 Honda CB750 Classic 1960-76: 2nd Larry Horn, 1950 Norvin 1st Tim Gilligan, 1966 Triumph Bonneville 3rd Doug Vallankie, 1976 CB400F 2nd Mike Johnson, 1970 Triumph Bonneville Special thanks to Triumph America for 3rd Jeff Martin, 1974 Norton Commando sponsoring the “Best British” award.
But Tewksbury’s 1972 Honda 750cc Turbo custom, all black and hunkered down, was more special than that, and we did give him extra points for showing up with a turbo to ride on a rainy day! Actually, he got enough points (all the judges pointed at it...) that he won the Street Specials class, open to all modified vintage machines. And while the bike is neat in its own right, the story gets even better when you find out that Tewksbury built it way back in ’78 and just recently finished restoring it.
“It did an 11.70 in the quarter-mile, even with my big butt on it,” he said.
That’s the spirit!
We were again, uh, flooded with a fine group of Triumphs, and absolutely foul with Bonnevilles in the Classic II class (bikes from 1960-76). Tim Gilligan-who took Best British honors last year-was back again, and even rode to the event from his hotel, wearing a trashbag. “It doesn’t do much for the boots and jeans,” said the Santa Monica firefighter. “I guess I need a bigger trashbag!”
Gilligan’s ’66 T120R is as sweet as they come and gets ridden frequently, so to the rider went the spoils. And for the record, Gilligan wanted to make the ride before judging, bigger trashbag or no!
With Gilligan out of the running for Best British, it went to Don Johnson’s most noble Norton Commando, which positively glowed, even in the dim light afforded by the darkly clouded sky. Proof that beauty can come from a pile of parts, Johnson’s ’72 frame sports a ’73 850cc engine, a Hi-Rider tank and as little Lucas as possible.
“There’s no Prince of Darkness except for the headlight and taillight,” he said quite proudly.
In this weather, it was probably a good thing that the electrics were updated. But the sun did shine after judging, and much of the old iron was fired up and taken on the road.
Next year, make ’em run, and beautifully, and you’ve got yourself a winner. But bring your Belstaff, just in case! □
