Trip to Barber Vintage Days-Birmingham AL.

[Ack535]

Well, I can't really call this a ride report since I cheated and flew down to Atlanta where I met an old family friend. But with my knee still on the mend from my recent encounter with a forest rat, I htought I would play it safe.

When you first walk into the Barber Museum, it is almost overwhelming how many motorcycles they have there!



Some of my favorites:





I love the 1983 Honda 650 Turbo, and all of the Turbo bikes from the early 80's!


A really rare Suzuki XN85! I rode one briefly in 1985.


Fastest production turbo bike of the era, Kawasaki 750 Turbo.


Racing action at Barber.



Vintage Japanese bikes.




It's awesome and a bit odd at the same time when you find out the bike you just bought is in a museum (CBR1100XX)!


Very rare Vincent Black Shadow:


Really cool German WWII SS Bike with a real MG32 Machine Gun!



Air show over the infield.


I had a great time! Looking forward to next year already...

Pete

[bldrman]

Thanks a bunch for the great pics of some of my all time favorite bikes. I'll bet you guys had an outstanding time. Syd

[Brick]

Amazing... I need to go again... perhaps next year!

[MI_MSTA]

Hey Pete -

Congrats on the purchase of a "Road Rocket".
If you had been able to attend the Fall Colors Ride - you would have had the pleasure of seeing a Honda Turbo 650 that looked just like the one at the museum (clean as a whiste). It belonged to one of your fellow Michigan Members - Gary Hensley from Waterford. He has owned it since new (a birthday present from his wife).
Maybe he'll ride it to one of our meetings sometime.

Heal up soon!

[dlogston]

I got to visit the museum on the way to STAR 2011.
Spent five hours there and I'm sure I missed some of it.
Got to talking with one of the employees at the museum and learned that there were approx 600 bikes on display when I visited.
(And George Barber had another 700+ bikes he'd like to display. Currently bikes are rotated in and out of the museum every 6 - 8 months.)
What I found particularly interesting during my conversation with the Barber employee was that Mr. Barber had planned to build a second museum in the infield . . . till the economy fell on its lips in 2009.

Doug L.

[Ack535]

Greg: Thanks for the well wishes Greg, I am already back up on two wheels!

Doug: You couldn't tell there was a recession going on. Probably well in excess of 50,000 people at barber on Saturday. Huge crowds everywhere!

See you all at the next meeting!

Pete

[stevegrab]

Seeing those pictures again (especially the bikes in those boxes/shelfs on the wall) reminded me of my visit. I had this overwhelming feeling like a kid who had been shrunk down the scale of is matchbox cars, but with bikes.

Been 5 years now since my last visit, need to go again.

[HawkGTRider]

I was lucky to get to attend BMS for vintage days, and I spent pretty much the entire weekend watching the off-road events. It was my first exposure to observed trials (our local vintage club had a guy that finished 7th in his class) as well as the Cross Country race. It was way cool to see Matchless, Triumphs, Hodakas, and many more brands of bikes you'd have to now consider almost rare, being flogged in the woods, banged into trees, turned upside down in rocks, and ridden hard...sometimes very successfully. And everyone seemed to be having a good time.

It was one of the best $30 bucks I've ever spent.

[stevegrab]

When I was there in 2007 (for AMA roadracing) they were just starting to work on the off road area. There was a big sign claiming it would be another world class riding venue.

I feel Barber the best motorsports facility I have been too (Mid-Ohio, Laguna, Willow Springs, Indy). You have the museum, a great road racing track, and now the off road stuff. I particularly like their trams that make it very easy to get around the track quickly.