Every year, the Southern California Norton Owner’s Club hosts a wonderful get together at Hansen Dam. The combined show and ride features decades of classic British iron – and you’re bound to see great bikes from other marques, new and old. We got an invite from a local BMW mechanic friend and couldn’t say no.
As you’ve come to expect interesting bikes from all walks of life from Bike-urious, we figured you’d like to see some of our favorite bikes in this event. We’ve linked to any bike that we’ve featured in the past, if you want more information on what makes them special!
Things started off stereotypically British – 40 miles from the event, we started following a Vincent Black Shadow rider who starting leaking oil onto an exhaust pipe, causing a fantastic smoke screen. Thankfully, he was able to fix the issue and we saw him back at the show.
Parking was a little chaotic, but there were classics all over the place. Here’s a bike we’ve been waiting to feature – the Suzuki RE-5, a rotary-engined motorcycle.
Another RE-5
Ariel Square Four
BMW R100RS Last Edition
Amusing sticker on the ABS pump of a 80’s BMW Flying Brick
Moto Guzzi V65 SP
Boss Hoss – featuring a Chevy Small Block 350 V8
Someone felt left out with their Suzuki VX800, so they made it a little more British.
The tank of a beautiful BSA Lighting.
ATK 600 turned into a street tracker
Beautiful Yamaha TZR with the “Rear Straight Exhaust”
Rickman Metisee with a Matchless engine
A duo of Norton Manx’s
Norton Manx Tachometer
Our new favorite sidecar setup!
Incredible Norton Fastback that unfortunately dumped a good amount of oil before the ride and had to stay in the parking lot.
More of the lovely fastback, with the owner (Barry Weiss from Storage Wars)
Hindall frame with a 500cc engine – 1 of 2. If this is the bike we’re thinking of, the “other” one was recently auctioned off for over $60,000…more research needed!
Triumph Thunderbird with the horrible bathtub rear fender.
Honda CX650 Turbo
Interesting custom BMW – shortbed /5 frame, 1000cc boxer engine, front suspension from the flying brick, and a very nice shade of green to bring it all together.
Two generations of Cagiva dual sports – the Elefant and the Gran Canyon
The joys of owning a Norton Commando. After about 8 kicks, this poor guy needed a quick breather.
The joys of a bike show – an Italian superbike right next to a classic Harley.
Someone brought the new Yamaha triple – we expect this to sell like hotcakes and put Triumph on notice with their Speed Triple.
For those of you that didn’t know, Norton is back with a modern Commando.
Possibly our favorite bike here – an old Norton racer. Note the position of the battery in the rear fairing.
A little reminder for the pilot – down is up when shifting this bike!
To be a true bike-urious post, a bike has to be for sale, right? Here you go.
Moto Guzzi 850 Le Mans
This Le Mans gets ridden. Good show, ol’ boy!
A well done event by the SoCal Norton Owners Club
The LED headlight of the new watercooled BMW R1200GS
Our buddy from the beginning managed to make it to the show. What a beautiful bike.
We leave you with the owner of Garage Company, Yoshi, and his lovely Rickman Triumph custom.
Unfortunately, we were not able to stay till the end, so we can’t even report to you who won. Check out the SoCal Norton Owner’s Club website, hopefully they’ll update with winners in the next couple of days.