Venice Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show

Well, being a motorcycle enthusiast, I felt obligated to attend the Venice Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show today. I love Venice Beach and all that it has to offer - artists, freaks, cheap goods, etc. - and I love motorcycles.

I have to mention that I love Los Angeles. I felt myself get all giddy as we were driving through the L.A. area, as I always tend to do.  I know many people snub their noses at L.A., but I love it.  I can do without the traffic (fortunately, there wasn't much today - Sunday), but overall, it's a fun place to visit.

The show was great - much better than anticipated.  There were Harleys, Indians, BSAs, Hondas, BMWs, and more.  Most were cafe racer styles and bobbers - I love both.

There was live music, a few vendors, and tons of bikes.  There were a few babes, but I can't mention that too much as the wife wouldn't be too enthusiastic about it.

Perhaps it's time to post some pictures.  Without further ado, as they say, here's some images.

Here's probably the coolest bike out there.  It's a custom triumph.

Here's a BMW with mounted sidecar.  I love these old BMWs.

Here's a Bultaco cafe racer.  What a great bike!

Here's another BMW - nice looking bike!

One of the many cool bobbers on display.  My eyes say that I need one of these but my back says no.

There were a few Enfields on display.  Here's one of them.

Here's a cool old Harley.  I was once told that if you didn't have an oil leak on one of these old beauties, you would take it in to see what was wrong with it.

Here's a cafe racer of the Honda variety.

Here's a Husqvarna.  Beautiful!

Here's a cool Japanese Bobber.  Look at those leg-warmers!

Here's a motorcycle powered car/trike. I'm not sure the manufacturer, but it is cool.  Just look at that historical license plate.

Here's one of a handful of motorized bicycles on display.  I like the color scheme.

Here's a Norton.

Here's an old Ducati.

Here's another old Hog and a blacked-out Victory in the background.

Here's a rustic old Indian. There were a couple of these on display.  I'm not sure if they ran or not.

Check out this Triumph.  This thing was nicely finished.

Here is a Parilla.  I'm not sure that I've ever seen one of these before.

This is a Redneck Rocket chopper (I'm not making this stuff up).  It was a cool bike.  I was fortunate enough to talk with the owner for a few minutes.  He was a very cool guy.

Every once in a while, I have to post a non-motorcycle image.  Here it is.  Obviously it's a slammed VW Bug.  If you can believe it, I had one that was a tad bit lower than this one.

Just to display the variation in bike manufacturers and designs, here's a Trail-Breaker.  I've actually witnessed a guy who lives in the same mountain community that I do ride something similar in the snow.

Earlier, I showed you an image of a motorcycle-powered car.  Now I'm going to show you a car-powered motorcycle - well, it's a trike.  This thing has a blown V8.

Here's a VRod with ape hangers and suicide shift.  The shift nob, kind of hard to see in the image, is shaped like a mace (a spiked ball on the end of a stick). If you're not sure what that is, just search for "mace medieval weapon."

One last bobber to finish it up.

As you can see by the images above, there were many motorcycles on display.  They represented many manufacturers and styles, each with their own cool story.  I managed to take over 200 pictures of them - my wife actually didn't complain much, surprisingly.

Following the show, the organizers had a ride planned, followed by an after party.  We didn't stay for the events.  Instead, the wife and I took this opportunity away from the kids to enjoy a nice stroll along the beach - it is Venice after all!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos and descriptions.  I look forward to going again next year.