QUAIL MOTORCYCLE GATHERING, 2011 ~ Motorcycle Fashions

Another Quail cooked and eaten...The grass never felt crowded, even with significant increases in attendance, and if you happened to spot a former National or World Champion (Lawill, Emde, Leonard, Rainey), legendary film maker (Peter Starr), or custom bike builder (Falcon, So-Cal, Speed Shop Design) you didn't have to wade through a scrum of admirers to say 'howdy', as the vibe was entirely casual, being a literal field of one's peers.

Fantastic works-built Harley midget race car, to show off their new-for-1915 gearbox. This car was owned by Charles Howard, of Seabiscuit fame.

The pre-show banquet Friday night was decorated with the cream of the Bonhams sale, including two mega-dollar machines, the ex-Steve McQueen Husqvarna and BMW R32, plus a lineup of racing Nortons and replicas of the 'Easy Rider' choppers. No bunting or flowers necessary; for this crowd Bonhams was the perfect interior designer.

Steve McQueen's Husky brought $144,000

Even for those bored by dinner speeches, Kevin Cameron (tech editor for Cycle World) gave a surprisingly emotional talk on the value of 'sense memory' in motorcycling, the sounds and smells which connect the present and the past, and managed to weave his highly technical perspective into the very human reasons we love motorcycles. If I can get a copy, it will be posted here for your delectation, although his quiet delivery will be missed. A tough act for yours truly to follow, but what a pleasure; my own talk will be posted shortly.

Watching Peter Starr's film of Mike Hailwood at the Isle of Man TT; this film brought Mike out of retirement to ride a Suzuki around the Island at 185mph!

Saturday, show day, defied the weatherman and was perfectly mild, while alternating cloud cover and sun made for a variety of lighting conditions to view the crazy range of bikes displayed. From Craig Vetter's 'gang' of super-high fuel economy experimental machines, to Broughs and early American iron, to the latest Custom masterpieces, there was a bike for every preference. This year the Quail became a proper Concours d'Elegance, with 7 categories, 10 judges, and several special awards given by esteemed guest judges. As a true Concours, the Quail is now in extremely rare company; is there another prestige Concours for motorcycles only? While the big auto Concours (and I'm on a plane to Villa d'Este at this very moment, courtesy of sponsor BMW) are scrambling to make a place for two-wheelers, the stand-alone motorcycle event which aspires to such a level of judging and quality of entrants is still far too rare.

Historian Michael Lynch awards the Heritage trophy to Frank Recoder and his Velocette Thruxton

The Quail is attempting to strike a balance between a casual atmosphere, inclusion of local clubs and riders, reasonable gate price, and a serious appraisal of motorcycles by a judging committee, without inclusion of the money/prestige that the 'car world' can muster with ease. They show is yet evolving, as organizer Gordon McCall's strategy is to organically build up to a Pebble Beach standard as word about the Quail brings participation from further afield. They certainly deserve the support of the broader collecting world, if for no other reason than the Quail could easily be a place to see the best motorcycles in the world.

Original paint 1911 Flying Merkel

Highlights of the show included several original-paint American machines, a century old, and looking like they needed only a good kick to ride away. The event was heavy on European makes this year, with BMW and the Italian mob present in force. My favorite Teutonic machine was BMW's first ohv racer, an R37 of 1924, so rare I've never seen one outside a museum, yet one could crawl all around the machine to investigate, as I did, without disturbing the owner...too much.

Don Emde aboard his 'big base' Indian Daytona Scout... it sounded great!

As noted in the Quail Ride report, a 'ridden not hidden' Ducati '74 750SS shared the field with many other Italian twins, 750GT and Sports, Laverda twins and triples, plus a tasty selection of lightweights from a dozen different marques. I barely had time to look/photograph them all, as my judging duties were somehow combined with being the show emcee...next time I'm simply going to judge bikes 'on mike' to save time. Or not.

The So-Cal 'Miler'

The Quail has also become a place to see the latest from several Custom/modified/artisanal motorcycle builders, and this year So-Cal Speed Shop displayed a range of new Triumph Bonnevilles which had morphed into dirt-track, flat-trak, and café racer guises, very effectively too. The advent of tiny LED head- and tail-lamps means a bike which appears full-race with number plates and straight pipes is actually road legal; clever stuff.

My ride review of the 'love it or hate it' modified BSA A65 'Beezerker' by Speed Shop Design is short and sweet. I've seen this motorcycle on all the Custom photoblogs for the past year, yet apparently, nobody had ever asked for a ride!

Clutch twistrip connects to a quick-thread release in the primary cover, and works surprisingly smoothly

Beezerker's charming builder, Chris Fletchner, explained the details of the machine, which is impressive in the skill and cleverness of its execution, and cleanliness of the overall design. Chris went way out on a limb with the aesthetics, landing somewhere akin to a prop for a Flash Gordon movie, filmed in 1968. With lights hidden behind oval grilles, exhaust routed through the frame tubes (exiting the rear oval grille), a non-hydraulic caliper rear sprocket-disc brake, and a twistgrip clutch (!), the bike is not only radical, but registered for the road.

Riding the Beezerker; David Folch photo

Beezerker fired first kick with a robust bark - there's no baffling in the frame tubes - and Chris was concerned about my unfamiliarity with the twistgrip clutch, but this proved very easy to master, and in fact, I finished my short ride wondering why more bikes don't use this device? It would relieve carpal-tunnel torture on bikes with he-man levers. The engine was sweet and smooth, the ultra-narrow 'bars being no particular impediment to weaving around a golf course full of static bikes and moving pedestrians. The sheetmetal girder fork worked well, and the riding position, with my ass fully cradled in that seat, was far more ergonomic than it looked. No worse than my Velo Thruxton, and much better than a Ducati 748. A wild show bike one can actually ride, surprise surprise, with good ground clearance and a healthy engine. if you're looking for something a little different, Beezerker is looking for a new owner.

Falcon designer Ian Barry with the Black

Falcon Motorcycles expands their patch of grass every year as the latest of their 'Concept 10' series of ultra-labor-intensive prototypes débuts; this year the 'Black' was created around the engine of a 1952 Vincent Black Shadow which had been modified in the 50s and 60s for dry-lakes speed runs and drag racing. The radical cylinder head porting and carburation is 'as found', while everything but the engine was built by Falcon in Los Angeles. Put simply, the Black is a tour-de-force; there is nothing else remotely like it, and even the Vincent purists were overawed by what Falcon has achieved.

The Black's intake; breathe deep...

I'll post a full report on this outrageous machine shortly, with documentation of the evolutionary process over the year of its design and construction. Plus of course, a ride report, which you'll not find anywhere else. Stay tuned!