Motorcycle Classics has teamed up with Dairyland Cycle Insurance – sponsors of our popular 2010 Bonneville Build – for another bike project. Like previous builds our next project will be a custom classic. But this time, we want you to help us choose our build bike by voting for your favorite in the Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Race To Rebuild.

It’s no secret that we like riders, so for this next build, we’ve chosen four bikes that fit a theme of classic Seventies highway cruisers: BMW’s long-legged R90/6, Harley-Davidson’s old-school Iron Head Sportster 1000, Honda’s iconic and revolutionary CB750 Four, and the last of the “real” Triumphs, the classic T140 Bonneville. All we need from you is your vote to determine which one of these classic cruisers deserves to get the Motorcycle Classics custom touch.

 
Choose your favorite in our Race To Rebuild: Triumph T140 Bonneville, Honda CB750, H-D Sportster 1000 or BMW R90 

Voting is easy: Just go to build sponsor Dairyland Cycle Insurance’s Race to Rebuild Facebook page to “like” our project and vote for the bike of your choice. But hurry, you only have ‘till March 9, 2012, to vote. Once you’ve chosen our build bike, you’ll be able to follow our progress online and weigh in with your opinion on what we’re doing and what you’d like to see on our finished bike. We’ll make regular updates on our online build page and feature highlights of the build in every issue of Motorcycle Classics. And when it’s done, some lucky reader will ride our project bike home when we give it away! So log on now to help us decide what classic custom will be in the Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Race to Rebuild!

 
Voting's easy: Just go to Dairyland Cycle's Facebook page, like our project and cast your vote for your favorite bike. 

John Surtees patiently watches the temperature gauge on a Ferrari  158 F1 before heading out on the track during the Barber Vintage Festival in 2006. 

The only man ever to win World Championships on two wheels and four, John Surtees is without question one of the great figures in motorsports. A gifted rider who worked as an apprentice for Vincent in his early years, Surtees went on to win seven World Championships riding for MV Agusta before moving to Formula One in the early 1960s. Now, a group of enthusiasts and supporters are pressing a petition drive to put the “Sir” in Surtees with an official knighthood.

We learned of the drive thanks to an email from the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, where Surtees has been a regular fixture, twice honored as the featured guest of the Barber Vintage Festival. This is a worthy endeavor, honoring Surtees for all he has done to elevate motorsports. If you’ve been touched by Surtees, whether through following his exploits in print or watching him race in person, we encourage you to help put the “Sir” in Surtees by supporting this petition: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/sirjohnsurtees  

And don’t forget to spread the word. – Richard Backus 

 
1922 Triumph 500 single on display at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum at Barber Motorsports Park. 

ZOOM Motorsports, the exclusive event promoter of Barber Motorsports Park, has announced that Triumph Motorcycles will become the title sponsor of the AMA Pro Series race at Barber, as well as presenting sponsor for the fast-growing Barber Vintage Festival. The three-year agreement is a natural fit for the iconic manufacturer of high-performance motorcycles and Barber Motorsports Park and Vintage Museum, with its world-class road course and collection of over 1,000 modern and vintage motorcycles.

 The 2012 Triumph Superbike Classic is scheduled for June 22-24, while the 8th annual Barber Vintage Festival Presented by the Triumph Dealers of North America is set for Oct. 12-14.

“Triumph Motorcycles is proud to announce this exciting new partnership with Barber Motorsports Park, one of the premier road courses in North America,” said Greg Heichelbech, CEO of Triumph North America. “The Triumph Superbike Classic is the perfect showcase for our high-performance motorcycles, while the Barber Vintage Festival allows us to put our rich brand heritage on living display at a venue that also includes the finest motorcycle museum in the world.”

Fresh from achieving record sales in 2011, the UK-based manufacturer will celebrate its 110th anniversary in 2012.  At the heart of Triumph’s philosophy is a commitment to developing class-leading motorcycles with distinctive looks, sound and performance.  Triumph’s range of parallel twin and three-cylinder bikes combines classic British engineering and style with cutting edge technology and a character unrivaled by any other motorcycle manufacturer.

“Triumph has been a longtime supporter of the Barber Motorsports Park and its events,” said Gene Hallman, president of ZOOM Motorsports.  “We’re excited to have them as such a devoted sponsor for two of our major events at Barber Motorsports Park, and we look forward to a great partnership for many years to come.”

Last year’s race brought more than 34,000 fans from all over the world to watch the best of the AMA Pro series compete on the 17-turn, 2.38-mile permanent road course at Barber Motorsports Park.  Tickets are now on sale for the Triumph Superbike Classic at www.barbermotorsports.com and fans 12 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult.

Marking the Series’ 10th visit to the Alabama-based park, the weekend will feature the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, AMA Pro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 series. In SuperSport, this will be an East Division event.  In addition, the weekend will include fan walks on pit lane, autograph sessions, demo rides and much more.

The 8th installment of the Barber Vintage Festival is expected to build on the popularity of last year’s event. Over 51,000 guests attended in 2011, taking in a full weekend of activities, including vintage road racing, a parts swap meet, seminars and a full air show.  Tickets will go on sale this summer and are available at www.barbermotorsports.com.

A welcome addition to this year’s classic motorcycle auctions in Las Vegas was a panel discussion on motorcycles as collectibles. Hosted by Las Vegas new-comer Auctions America by RM and moderated by SPEED commentator Dave Despain, the panel brought together an interesting and diverse group of enthusiasts (Cycle World’s Mark Hoyer, Walneck’s Classic Cycle’s Buzz Walneck, collector Joe Bortz and motorcycle photographer/author Doug Mitchel) whose challenge was to draw from experience and look into their crystal balls for clues to the future of motorcycle collecting.

The conversation covered the usual issues, including who collects, why to collect, what to collect and when to collect, but one question from the audience particularly grabbed my attention: Who’s going to collect in the future? As modern motorcycles get farther and farther away from their forebears in looks, use and technology, will modern riders have the same pull to the classics as riders reared on bikes built in, say, the 1970s and 1980s — or before?

This is a hot topic in other collector areas. In addition to Motorcycle Classics, I oversee two other collector magazines, Farm Collector and Gas Engine Magazine. Where the former is broad in scope, looking at just about anything old and from the farm (including, once, an article on collecting outhouses!), the latter is highly targeted and fairly esoteric, honing in on collectors and restorers of gas engines built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The future of collecting, or rather who’s going to be collecting, is a big issue in both of these groups, particularly at Gas Engine, where it’s hard getting kids reared on Toyota Camrys to get interested in a 1917 Fuller & Johnson 3hp hit-and-miss farm engine.

People become motorcycle collectors for a variety of reasons. They can be drawn by an interest in riding, by an interest in motorcycle mechanics, by historic interests, by the notion of motorcycles as art or simply by the promise of monetary gain; the most oft-repeated comment at this year’s auctions was that if you want a return on your investment, forget stocks and bonds, put your money in classic motorcycles and cars.

But people who collect just for money tend to be a bit dispassionate about the machines they own. It’s the value, and the promise of more value to come, that drives their collecting. Certainly there’s appreciation for the thing; I don’t think it’s possible to own a Brough Superior and not appreciate what it meant to motorcyclists yesterday, and what it still means to motorcyclists today.

However, I think the heart and soul of the collector community is bound up and represented by hardcore enthusiasts, the riders and lovers of motorcycles who collect out of passion. And what they collect is more often than not driven by simple relevance. Rarity really only matters to the cognoscenti. For the average collector, the bikes they want are the bikes they remember from their youth, available before they had any money and gone once they got some. If not that, it’s something their father or their grandfather owned and prized, a kind of mechanical heritage that gives them direct linkage to their past. You may not have been born early enough to have bought a 1956 Triumph Thunderbird new. But if Dad had one, you can buy and ride one today, and lose yourself imagining dear old Dad rolling down the same country road you’re riding right now, enjoying the same sensations you’re feeling right now, even if it’s decades later. — Richard Backus 

 
This 1914 overhead cam Cyclone was stolen during a robbery in Bel Air, Calif. 

Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC-TV reports that a vintage motorcycle collector was robbed of his 1914 overhead cam Cyclone and a Honda CR110 racer when a pair of intruders broke into the man’s house, tied him up and made off with the two race bikes, which are valued at approximately $1 million and $60,000, respectively.

From the KABC website: “Police are searching for a pair of thieves who broke into a Bel Air home in the middle of the night, tied up the home owner and made off with two valuable motorcycles. That home invasion robbery took place about 4:30 a.m. in the 900 block of Linda Flora Drive.
“Police said the suspects kicked in the front door and tied up the man, a longtime collector of vintage cars and motorcycles. The man's wife was able to get away and went to a neighbor's house to call police.
“Police said the suspects knew exactly what they were after. They went straight for the two vintage motorcycles valued at more than $1.5 million.
“One of the motorcycles was a rare 1914 yellow Cyclone. The other was a 1952 gray and red Kawasaki. [Reliable sources tell us it was in fact a Honda CR110 – Ed]. The wife said the thieves loaded the motorcycles onto a white van, possibly a rental.
“‘It's a quiet, residential neighborhood, but we don't think it was a random break-in," said neighbor Charles Lesser,’ It looks as if whoever did it knew exactly what they were looking for and took it and left.
“Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department at (877) 527-3247.”

The Honda might be easy to unload, but I can’t imagine how the thieves believe they can sell an OHC Cyclone, one of the rarest – it’s one of six – and most valuable motorcycles in the world, unless they already have an unscrupulous buyer lined up who just wants to lock it away. It’s akin to trying to hawk the Mona Lisa, and once you have the bike in your possession, what do you do with it besides keep it hidden? You sure can’t show it. While some suggest it might go to an overseas collector, the same issues apply, although perhaps not with the same legal implications should it stay in the U.S. Whatever the case, it’s a chilling event. -- Richard Backus