Last month I had the pleasure of attending The Californian Moto Show, and while my focus was on filming video for something I’m going to share on the Iconic Motorbikes YouTube channel soon, I was thankfully able to get a few photos of some personal highlights. Come check out what was on display!
I had an agenda for the show to film some social media videos as well but that went out the window when my buddy Brady Walker (who put on the event) surprised me by asking if I would be one of the judges for the show! It was my first time judging and a very interesting experience – usually at shows I’ll just spend time staring at bikes that I’m interested in, but with a judge hat on I obviously had to spend time evaluating every single entrant. It was great to hear the stories from multiple owners!
Here are some personal favorites of the gorgeous bikes:
– Honda CR750 tribute (which you’ll see up for auction on Iconic this week – here’s a sneak preview for you). I’ve shared this in previous Picture Intermissions and it’s also been featured on Jay Leno’s Garage.
– MV Agusta America 750SS with Magni conversion. This beautiful bike spent most of its life in a Swiss collection before being imported to the US in 2024. The owner acquired it on Bring a Trailer and then had us do some service work – finding some parts for this is incredibly difficult as there aren’t really part numbers for the Magni chain drive conversion! This ended up winning Best in Show.
– 1933 (first year) Velocette 250 MOV that’s been ridden in the Cannonball! Here’s a picture of the bike with its owner, Larry Luce.
– Coventry-Eagle is not particularly well-known nowadays, but they did have some success with top of the line, expensive motorcycles that competed with the likes of Brough Superior. This is a 350cc model owned by Bill Getty of JRC Engineering – check out their shop if you need British bike parts!
– 1955 New Hudson Autocycle – this little cutie was designed as affordable transport thanks to a 98cc 2-stroke Villiers engine with pedal assist starting and “bodywork” designed to keep riders clean. New Hudson kept building these until 1957, at which point they became part of BSA.
– Bike-urious regular Ken Morris brought out several beautiful BMWs – here was my personal favorite:
– Yamaha TD2 production road racer, which utilized a 250cc DS6 motor and thanks to fettling from Yamaha’s engineering department it produced 44 horsepower. Kel Carruthers won the IoM TT Lightweight 250cc class on one of these in 1970 – are you catching up with the Isle of Man right now? In the background, you’ll see my friend Tara Maricle. I’ve been a guest on her podcast before and she’s a prolific photographer who recently shot both the Californian as well as the Willow Springs round of AHRMA that I raced in. You can check out more of her photos from The Californian here.
– 1951 Vincent Black Shadow Lightning Tribute – won the “British 1950s” class.
– BMW K1 – I’ve shared my thoughts on the K1 before, this is a lovely low-mile example in the rare blue/silver livery.
– This sassy Velocette 350 has AHRMA race history.
Don’t forget to turn the oil on!
I’ll have some interviews with owners in the YouTube video when it’s up live soon!