Antique Motorcycle Rally next weekend

Several of us from the Winston Salem, NC. area are going on Saturday.

Friday we plan to go to the ADV Rider old school event up off the BRP in Laural Springs, NC. at the old Station's Inn location.

One of the many interesting bikes there was a horizontally opposed Harley, but not the XA that most of us are familiar with (from WWII). It was an unrestored, and running Sport model, which was made from 1919 to 1922. The jugs ran inline with the frame as opposed to horizontal to the frame. The theme of the rally was flatheads, of which there were about 25 in the show for judging. These machines have to be at least 35 years old and must run. Classes are: restored, unrestored, and modified. Judging is very strict - down to the nuts and bolts, they must look as they were fresh from the factory, or have accessories that were available from the same year as purchase - or else you get marked down. You didn't have to have a flathead to enter the competition - that was just the theme. The theme for the next National is Wauseon, Ohio is Indian motorcycles. That rally is being held the same weekend as the BMWMOA national.

Rode down with five guys and had a great day.

One of our group had been looking a long time for some throttle cable that fit a Triumph in his collection. He was over the moon that we found a NOS set.

Thought the bike parade was pretty cool , not so much on all the more modern rusty HD junk all over the place. It kind of made the event look a bit less than it actually is.
But someone out there is always looking for that odd bit to finish a project so i guess it goes with the territory.

The thing that always amazes me at these type of events is the knowledge of the people.
We were looking at a Whizzer motor bike and I commented I had not seen that model before. The guy at the booth happily shared with us his in depth knowledge of the mark. IMPRESSIVE !!

I would go again next year !

The cool thing about it is the judging. There was a kid that was probably 30 years old that was judging along with the older fellas. The torch of knowledge has to be passed along while the knowledge about these machines is still there. In Wauseon, Ohio about 15 years ago, best of show went to a '35 BMW, and it was great to see. A guy had a BSA Royal Star camped close to me. I'd never seen one in person because everyone wanted the Lighting or the Thunderbolt, back in the day. I was just riding out to grab some beer while the bikes were lined up along the main drag. Of course, I was going the wrong way, inching through the crowd. Last year there was a guy with a Neracar, very cool. Up in Wauseon in '08, a fella let me ride around on his Honda Trail 70, which was the first bike I ever rode. A lot of the really cool bikes were up in the main building. A four cylinder Schwinn Excelsior X sure caught my attention.

I was taken by a racer friend to Wauseon a long time ago, too bad for me that i did not know what sort of an event i was at to appreciate it at the time.

That's not the case any more, the older i get the more i appreciate what went before.

It's great to hear there are some youngsters out there who appreciate and participate in this great hobby.

Well, this year is the 6th annual flat track racing event for antique flat trackers. If you may remember, they had a race track there and folks used to take the antique flat trackers and run the track. They were all mixed up from 20's to 70's. It was not a competition run, but some of the old timers (Indian and Harley factory racers) would get out there and get a little "spirited". Now, it is a sanctioned race, with different categories according to era, and the bike has to be period correct, and it is a competition, with different races for different eras. Ossas and Bultacos and old Husquevarnas carving up the tracks. I'll be there this year, I just can't miss something like this. I have a great time at the MOA rallies, and I'll buy a ticket for the sweepstakes, but, what can I say? Too bad that both events occur simultaneously...