VINTAGE BIKE OC NEWS

Huntington Beach, Calif. - Happy Anniversary Vintage Bike OC. Vintage Bike Night started in 2004 at the pizzaria on Brookhurst by Thomas Harper and Greg McBride. I joined in mid 2006. August 2007 was the first official meet for Vintage Bike OC. We had 16 bikes at that meet where I annointed Frank Colver's 1927 Sunbeam as Bike of the Month.

Frank was here again today, along with most of those original 16 people plus 95 more. Our official count today was 110 bikes for a great 4th Anniversary party. This time Frank was riding his Zero emissions electric bike. A world away from his Sunbeam.

Moto Retro Illustrated
Many of our members have a special place in motorcycle history, but today Mitch Boehm editor of Moto Retro Illustrated magazine attended our meet. Mitch has made a huge impact on the sport and hobby of motorcycling as the editor of Motorcycling magazine for 15 years. Mitch's passion for vintage motorcycles has driven him to publish his own Moto Retro Illustrated. Today he brought 60 copies of his first issue published last year, and donated a one year subscription to our Bike of the Month winner.

Finally A Win for BSA
After two months of placing high in the voting, Dave Zamiska of Huntington Beach won Bike of the Month with his 1954 BSA A7-500. Probably because there were no eligible mini-bikes in the competition...

Second place went to Eric Biley of Norwalk with his 1954 Royal Enfield Ensign. This English built original has also been a crowd favorite for the past few months. Royal Enfield's that are sold in the US today are manufactured in India from the British design.

Third place went to a new comer on a bike that's been to our event in the past. Marco Rigassi of Torrance rode his 1963/68 Triton. This bike was built 25 years ago by our member Mick Felder of Hermosa Beach. It started out as a 1963 Norton Atlas Featherbed Slimline frame. Mick mounted a 1968 Triumph Bonneville 650cc engine with a 5 speed transmission and a TR6 head. The engine mounts are from Unity in England.

However the beauty of this bike is the hand fabricated aluminum gas tank and rear tail that Mick built. Following the lines on the oil tank, the tank and tail peices look like factory designed bits. These along with the Dunstall pipes finish this bike perfectly. Mick said that he took the Triton on a 2500 mile ride in Montana and that the only reason he sold it to Marco, was that he knew it would be well taken care of.

Once again I had a great team helping with the event. Thank you Debbie & Tom Hopkins helping with voting and counting and Brian TINK Tinkler for shooting many great photos.

Thanks to everyone for showing up and making this another great event. Mark your calendars for our next meet on September 11, 2011.

Keep On Ridin',
Joe Kagerer