Beautiful motorcycles and beautiful weather came together on Sunday, June 10 th at Hickory Corners, Michigan for the 12 th Annual Vintage Motorcycle Show at Gilmore Car Museum. Hundreds of pristine examples of two wheeled transportation filled the grass infield from several different countries of origin. The museum and the BMW club of Battle Creek run an awesome show that separates bikes according to country of origin. There were numerous British bikes, many Harley Davidsons representing the United States and of course, a great showing of motorcycles made in Japan.
Steve Searles set up the VJMC booth and brought his collection which made for a very nice display. The 1974 Yamaha RD350, 1978 Kawasaki KZ200, 1975 Yamaha DT250B and 1985 Suzuki GS700E cycles drew attention all day. It was great to see all of the VJMC members from Michigan, Indiana and surrounding states. President Pete Boody was in attendance all day and helped with membership applications as well as past president Jim Townsend. A total of 17 new or renewing members signed up at this show. That is fantastic!
There was a lot of activity all day around the VJMC booth as well as stories being told under Jerry Boody’s tent housing his 1976 Honda Goldwing LTD. Todd Ritter came over from Muskegon to represent the west side of the state. Jeff Kalin manned the booth for a while riding in on his Suzuki GS1100E. Tony Schultz brought his Dad’s Suzuki TC125 over from Holly. There is a story about all of the members in attendance but that is why you must attend this show and support the VJMC, to share in the fun! |
Interview
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Blue Ribbon Veteran
Roger Smith
by Beth Braun
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| Roger; how long have you been involved with Japanese motorcycles? |
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My first experience with motorcycles was in the summer of 1965. Our family was vacationing in Grand Bend, Ontario, (located on Lake Huron). The main boardwalk had all kinds of attractions and they were renting new, bright red,Honda 50 "step through" bikes for 25 cents per half hour.
I was 14 and after spending many days cruising the beach and streets of Canada, I was hooked.
When we returned home to S.E. Michigan, I read every magazine I could about motorcycles and fell in love with a brand new model presented in Cycle World magazine - the Suzuki X-6 Hustler.
With the help of my parents I soon had a black and chrome X-6 in the garage and the adventure began. (I still feel bad about convincing them that the X-6 was the perfect "beginners model." WOW!) |
| What got you started with motorcycle restoration? |
While we were heavily involved with Experimental Aircraft and the EAA in Oskosh, we always had motorcycles in the garage. Then one day, at a Fly-In that we were helping run, a friend of ours perished in an aircraft incident, right in front of us. Aviation was never the same and I became more involved in motorcycling.
We went to Daytona Bike Week 2005 and stopped by the Jerry Wood Vintage Bike Auction, held at Stetson University, near Daytona.
There it was .... a bright red 1966 Suzuki X-6 in good shape coming up for bid and it was the rare high pipe version. I began thinking about the challenge of bringing the Suzuki back to "like new" condition. We were the high bidder that day and after Federal Transport delivered the bike to Michigan, the work began.
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| Do you do the actual work yourself? |
The one thing most bikers learn is their "limitations." When we are young, we may take on any mechanical challenge. But when we mature, we understand what we are truly capable of.
While my daughter's fiance Matt Tate and I do complete disassemble of the bikes we restore, we do not do major crank repair, or the painting.
When it comes to painting, we are blessed to have a good relationship with world renowned metal designer and custom painter Ron Finch, the winner of the 2006 Discovery Channel Biker Build Off . Ron lives 20 minutes from us and he paints all of our bike parts.
Other than that, we do all the work and Matt specializes in metal restoration and polishing. He actually enjoys spending hours polishing hubs, side cases, etc. |
| What do you feel are some of the more important items to cover in preparing your motorcycles for concours level competition? |
We learned a lot during our 10 years with EAA. When we would go to their annual "Oshkosh" fly in, we would see tens of thousands of displays. The most successful ones showed a lot of pre-event planning. Rarely did you see an airplane for sale just sitting on the field, dirty or without information about the aircraft somewhere where spectators could read about it.
It surprised us that some of the bikes entered into events in Canada and the US were filthy. Now I am not speaking about light dust from riding to the event but rather staining and dirt crusted on the bike. We have overheard judges ask, "Is this bike going to be judged?" when they stand in front of a dirty bike.
We take great pains presenting our bikes in a professional manner, including color posters created by Staples Office Supply, that show the bikes' restoration process and awards already won. These posters are mounted on foam board and placed on easels near the bike. The crowd especially appreciates the information on these boards, as do the judges.
We have found that to win, or to attempt to win two years in a row at the same event, that your bike must stand out. Most of the bikes you compete against are magnificent and as we found at Gilmore, many are very expensive models. Restorers we have competed against know all the keys to finding N.O.S. parts and replacing every nut and bolt. But you can get the attention of the judges and spectators with a little pre-event preparation.
On Sunday, June 10th at the Gilmore event, the X-6 Scrambler won its individual class plus the "Spectators Best of Show" award over hundreds of beautiful Indians, classic Harley's and expensive European models . History was made when 6,500 paying spectators voted for a Japanese bike, for the first time in the show's 12 year history.
Looking back .... preparation and display made all the difference on that Sunday. It was one more step ahead for Japanese bikes showing that our motorcycles, can go head-to-head with other makes and models and win! |
| What do you think your next restoration project might be? |
In November, 2006 we purchased a clean 1967 Yamaha 305cc YM2C Big Bear Scrambler from a fellow in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Over the winter, we completely rebuilt the bike utilizing parts we found on EBay, from as far away as Cambodia and England along with a paint job by Finch and re chroming by Browns in Paducha, KY.
The "Bear" came in 2nd at Gilmore, in it's class, on its very first outing. The Yamaha will come with us to every event this year. Since the Suzuki and Yamaha both have high pipes, and they are only one year apart in manufacture, they really draw attention at the shows.
Spectators gather around telling their stories about owning either the Yamaha, or Suzuki, when they were a teen, in the 1960's. They remember fondly how the Suzuki "Hustler" surprised many a Triumph and Harley, with its speed, on those warm summer nights and how the Yamaha Big Bear had a distinctive "howl" under acceleration. The smiles on their face make the months of labor worthwhile!
For 2007, we are going to campaign our Suzuki and the recently restored Yamaha Big Bear.
But we will be attending the Jerry Wood Motorcycle Auction, during Daytona Bike Week in early March, 2008.
We are always looking for that unusual bike that
will catch a Judges eye. The Wood auction is a terrific place to start for two reasons.
First, they have a tremendous selection of motorcycles. Second, for those of us who live in the northern climates, bringing a new project home in early March, still gives us months to work on it while the weather improves.
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