Motorcycle Museum plans Vintage Rally, June 10

     If you have not been to the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa here’s a special reason to visit; the Museum is opening two new motorcycle exhibits and presenting Vintage Rally 2017. On this one-day, Saturday, June 10, they also take the show outside and go live with a vintage bike show, a swap meet, even a motorcycle stunt show.

     Headlining the Vintage Rally is a big vintage motorcycle and bicycle show for all machines through 1988 with a special class for any form of dirt bike or two-wheel off-road machine. As before, any customs, choppers and bobbers through 2017 have a special class. Not to mention a motorcycle swap meet takes place as well! It’s all there, but you need to get to the National Motorcycle Museum on June 10 for all these special activities.

     The new DIRT RIDING USA exhibit presented by J&P Cycles will hold about 42 select motocross, trials, enduro and cross country motorcycles, a desert sled or two. In the case of bikes with a rider history, visitors get the story on the bikes and the people, the places and times, and there is apparel and off-road poster art to round out the show. This new exhibit will bring total motorcycles on display in the Museum to around 475!

     BARN FIND is a new permanent display at the Museum. Staff located salvaged barn lumber and constructed the corner of a barn in the Museum. They brought in the rusty, dusty and crusty motorcycles and parts you might find if you got lucky in your explorations about anywhere in rural America. 

     Just before the BIKE SHOW awards, we will focus on John Parham who we lost on April 20 after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. This memorial will help us all keep John Parham in our thoughts, remember his good works for the history of motorcycling as well as his great success at “Keeping the World on 2 Wheels.”

     Attend the Vintage Rally Motorcycle Collecting panel discussion, in which six experts who collect, restore, buy and sell old bikes share their wisdom, even past mistakes and help you make smart decisions for what you surround yourself with and keep into the future. Motorcycle collecting, restoring and stewardship are bigger than ever. But as with many pursuits, there are potential pitfalls.

     Polish up a couple of your best 1988 and older motorcycles or bicycles and bring them to the Vintage Rally Bike Show. Arranged on the concrete bike show range by country of origin, judges will carefully review all entries and make their choices; about 40 trophies, sponsored by Motorcycle Classics magazine, will be awarded. Preserved/unrestored motorcycles will be judged for the Hagerty Motorcycle Insurance Preservation Award. The best Cafe Racer entry will receive a copy of the book “ACE Cafe,” as will the Best in Show winner. For 2017 we are celebrating the opening of the DIRT RIDING USA exhibit presented by J&P Cycles, so all dirt bikes through 1988 are welcome.

     Parts, memorabilia and motorcycles are all on display in the Swap Meet.

     Call 319 462 3925 for more information, or check out the website, www.nationalmcmuseum.org.