Ducati and Italian Motorcycle Exhibit

Check out http://www.simeonemuseum.org/ for details.

Opening party is Saturday night August 13 with special guest, former

Cycle World editor and AMA racer Cook Neilson.

AMA Vintage Days at Mid Ohio 2011

Mid Ohio AMAVintage Days 2011 saw a smaller crowd than usual for the three day event due to a heat wave and still sluggish economy. While the garages weren't filled to capacity as in previous years, there were still lots of great machines as always. Kawasaki was the featured marque and two stroke racers from Team Green were in abundance. On track, the battles still raged, but without the full grids that were seen just a few years back.

Same garage, different manufacturer. The legendary TZ750 was on track despite looking a bit shop-worn from a recent get off.

A magnificent Matchless Silver Hawk. This beauty was brought back from a very sorry state from the boys from Big D Triumph, who had a number of well prepared bikes in the pits.

Absolutely spotless and faster than you might imagine, this Triumph was another Big D prepared machine.

Ring, ding , ding, guess what?

Spotless Norton with a belt drive conversion was evidence of a very particular builders work.

The swap meet went on for as far as the eye could see, but there was an awful lot of over-priced junk that went back to the sheds from which they came. Prices tagged on most bikes were way over the market value and did not find buyers who usually swarm the place.

Barn Find BMW

Big Red Barn reveals her secret !

This 1965 BMW R60/2 had been laid up for a couple of years with minimal usage.  The owner contacted us to sell the bike. He wanted to find out what it was worth and send her on to the next owner.

After blowing the dust off her, The BMW actually looked in fairly good order.

Taken out and cleaned up a bit, it became apparent that this was going to make someone very happy own.

BMW 's of this era have a high quality, long wearing finishes. This original paint bike was well preserved despite it's oftern less than ideal storage location.

Everywhere you look, it's pleasing in form and function. 

When brought to auction in April 2008, this bike sold for $4500.00 plus buyers premium. The seller and buyer were pleased with the transaction.

If you are interested in selling an classic motorcycle or collection of motorcycles, we buy and sell for our clients and settle estates. Contact john@myclassicmotorcycle.com

1930 AJS 250cc

Albert John Stevens and brothers George, Harry and Joseph formed A. J. Stevens and Co. Ltd. or AJS to produce motorcycles in Wolverhampton, UK in 1909 after working with engines and other vehicles since 1897. Success came quickly to the brothers when in 1914 they entered a bike of their own manufacture in the Isle of Man Junior TT race, finishing first and second.

This machine is a 250cc, which features a three-speed gearbox and sports a Brooklands style fishtail exhaust pipes. This was the penultimate year of manufacture prior to the sale to AMC.  Production of four stroke motorcycles continued with AMC and Norton Villiers until 1969. AJS turned to two strokes then, and even today, the brand name has been re-sold several times and is used to sell a series of sub-125cc motorbikes, although these are Chinese made. A sad end to a long award winning series of British motorcycles.

Girder fork up front and rigid rear with a sprung saddle made for a surprisingly pleasant ride. Ths AJS featured many well-thought out features. Let's take a closer look:

Clever bits in abundance, no wonder they possessed 117 world records prior to 1931.

While the independent days of AJS were soon over, great things were about to happen when riders Jimmie Guthrie and Jimmy Simpson came on board. Amazing watercooled, supercharged V-4 engines were developed on the eve of Wold War II.  Post war, it was Les Graham who won the 500cc FIM World Championship on the unsupercharged twin cylinder  E90  "Porcupine" in 1949. It truly was the best of times for AJS. While the financial aspects of running a company profitably eluded AJS, talent and creative engineering was always evident.