VINTAGE BIKE OC NEWS

Huntington Beach, Calif. - 101 people sprung forward and showed up for an awesome afternoon at Beach Burgers. We had so many vintage bikes, the vintage area was full, and they were overflowing into the overflow parking. Around half of the bikes were 30 years or older today.

Motozania.com Helmet Bike of the Month Prize
Once again Tim Kuglin of www.Motozania.com, came to the meet today with a Bike of the Month prize. Motozania donated a brand new full face helmet for our prize. Motozania is a social networking site for motorcyclists of all types with thousands of members. Tim has long been a supporter of Vintage Bike OC.

Bike of the Month Contest
So many cool bikes, we had a great contest for Bike of the Month. Our top three bikes were all clear winners each getting three times the votes of our fourth place bikes. Plus with the time change, people stuck around until way past 4:00.

First place went easily to Mark D'Ambrosio of Orange for his 1976 Kawasaki KH100 B7. Mark had emailed me photos of this original gem earlier in the week predicting that he would win. An all original 35 year old bike with 434.5 miles on it is very difficult to compete with.

Second place went to David Kelleway of Laguna Beach for his Hi Fi Red 1968 Triumph Bonneville. First time to our meet, David has owned this restored classic for one year. He has owned many bikes over the years including a Matchless, Velocette, BSA, Kawasaki and a Yamaha.

Third place (and probably my favorite) was the 1971 Triumph 650 Bonneville T120R custom owned and built by Jay Minor of Huntington Beach. This is why I don't vote actually I like them all. Jay built this fine custom 3 years ago and any similarity to a stock Bonnie is nearly non existant. Jay left a little before I could shoot photos, but fortunately Brian Tinkler was able to get many detailed shots for our gallery. Too many custom bits to mention, but the springer fork, the Captain Morgan brake reservoir, the internal frame oil tank and the Schwinn badge on the headset are just a few of the tasty bits.

I hope that both David and Jay bring their bikes back for another run for Bike of the Month. I would love to spend more time with these bikes.

1971/67 BSA Custom Cafe
Another bike of note was Michael Cooper's red cafe BSA. Built by James Banke of www.BankePerformance.com from a 1971 B50 frame and a 1967 Victor 441 engine. Also his first time at the meet, Michael showed up sometime near the end with this stunning custom. Again, Brian captured many photos for our gallery.

Special Guest
I had a special guest helping me out this month. My sister Ann Frechen traveled all the way from Michigan to help out with the voting. It worked out well because Debbie Hopkins was home ill. Tom Hopkins also helped with counting bikes and ballots and Brian Tink Tinkler shot 160 fine photos. Thank you Ann, Tom and Brian, and I hope Debbie recovers soon.

April 8, 2012 Happy Easter!
I'm not sure if Beach Burgers will be opened on Easter Sunday, but I won't be around to run the meet. Let's all spend a nice day with our friends and family and we'll meet back here in May.

Thanks to everyone for showing up and making this another great event. I'll see you again on May 13, 2012.

Keep On Ridin',
Joe Kagerer