Elf Rider's Visit To The Barber Motorsports Museum - Friday Dec 28Th

Hey all!

So we missed most of you.  In fact it was just myself, Elfrider Jr. (James) and Soloii (Kevin). Thanks to all who commented and encouraged us to go. I am from Socal, and I had no idea this was here until I read Viethorse's ride report and saw some pictures from here. All I can say is wow!  So James and I caged it from the outlaws in Lanett and Soloii showed up on his beautiful 07 RWB.  We looked at some of his farkels and then headed in for the fun.

This is certainly the best put together moto-museum I have ever seen.  If some of you are familiar with Barry Meguiar (Car Crazy), it made me think of how he would do a museum if he did one - everything clean, perfect and polished.  So with that in mind, and knowing Viethorse would be biting at the bits to see my picts, and see lots of them, I decided to do something a little bit different on my coverage of the bikes.  Keep in mind there are over 1000 bikes.  Of course with that many bikes, it just became overload and my brain fell out on the floor by the time I got to the 3rd floor (out of 5).  Not to mention the worlds most extensive collection of Lotus mobiles, mostly of the race type.

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Soloii joined us on his patriotic scooter.

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Elfrider Jr. joined in the fray.

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A little taste of whats to come.

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I'll leave you with this, as its way too late for me to do anymore tonight.  These were just really cool looking.  Im not really a statue type person, but these really interested me.  Would have liked to look at them longer.  What do you think?  More tomorrow.

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Elfrider

Wow...

A real report is launching.... Some of the photos which shown the familiar place but never seen...

You are on it! In the words of the dark lord,  "Impressive, most impressive".  I gotta go to bed...

Well, Im going to start this with a disclaimer: I have no idea really what model bikes most of these, especially the vintage ones are, so don't ask.  Just look and enjoy.  I did.

We spent about 4 hours in the museum.  We did not get to see everything and need to go back at some point.

Anyhow, Im going to start by giving you an idea of the enormity of the place.  So here are few picts and pano's of the inside.  This first one is from the top floor.

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So we talked to one of the curators about how they get the bikes up on the racks.  At first we thought they used the big elevator some how.  They have a scissor lift to get all but the top two bikes. The top two bikes are installed with a cherry picker.  Therefore they use some of the lighter examples up on the top two racks.

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And heres a pano of the ground floor.  I dont know how to post these so you can view them in high res.  Anyone know?

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Classic 70's Ducati.

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Surtees?

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I never imagined so many engine and tranny configs, so I tried to capture a few different ones.

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This was from the movie "Wild West" with Will Smith.

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So many different manufacturers that I have never seen.

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Lotusness.  Barber's has the worlds largest collection of Lotus mobiles.  Most of them race types.

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Mario's cart.

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This is from Tatooine.

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This bike interested me a lot.  V-8 powered 800cc.  V-8 sport touring hmmm.

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Now this one scared me.  This was a 50cc race bike.  I think it said it did 119mph.  No freakin way for me.  Look at those wheels.

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More race cages...

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This is Dan Gurney's recumbent MC concept.  These were interesting to me also. Looked like it had a couple VFR parts on it as it was mostly Honda.

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James holds one of the worlds land speed records.

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Looking out over the speedway, Elfrider Jr. imagines what it would be like if there were bikes on the track.

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I thought this Aprilla was nicely styled.  All their stuff is really nice.  Ive only ridden their dirt bike (the 550 twin) and that thing is a monster when its working that is.

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Ice racing. Check out the handlebars.  Meant to turn only one way.

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Looks like some torture device from the dark ages.  These studs keeps thing sort of in control.

 

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My wife loves dogs.  In fact we have an Italian Greyhound we call Stella.  

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There were VFR's or cousins all over the museum.

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Ok.  Thats it for today.  Happy NEW YEAR everyone!

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Nice pictures. Brings back fond memories. I've been there three times and enjoyed each visit more than the previous one. One visit had a Porsche driving school running and another had a motorcycle track day, so those were added bonuses. A friend and I are planning on attending California Superbike School there in may/june. Looking forward to getting on the track! Looks like its a fun one. Keep the pictures coming. Happy new year!

Just finished watching the Rose Bowl.  Good game.  Anyhow, inbetween bowls, Im going to post a few more pics.  If you own any of these bikes, sound off and post a picture of it.

Shall we start with some High Technology for the New Age.

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Hold your fire.

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I love the side hacks.

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Wardy's Motard ride.

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Another view out onto the track. James really gets around.

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Yamaha Maximus.  I really like the new one.  Better than a Harley.

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This bike was off the hook.  Carbon fiber everywhere. Britton V1000.  This is what wiki says about it:

The Britten V1000 is a handbuilt race motorcycle designed and built by John Britten and a group of friends in Christchurch, New Zealand during the early 1990s. The bike went on to win the Battle of the Twins in Daytona, USA and set a number of world speed records.

The bike was designed from first principles and hosts a number of innovations including extensive use of carbon fibre, theradiator located under the seat, double wishbone front suspension, frameless chassis and engine data logging.

A total of 10 Britten V1000s were produced by the Britten Motorcycle Company and now exist in collections and museums around the world.

Renowned motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart said of the bike:

"It’s an easy bike to ride, in the sense it’s got a very wide power delivery, but to really get top performance, you have to ride it like a grand prix bike."

And having ridden all the superbike contenders in the world today, I can say that the Britten is the closest to a grand prix bike. It’s incredibly ironic that instead of Europe or Japan, the most sophisticated and technically advanced motorcycle in the world comes from New Zealand,’[2]

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Carbon fibre detail.  Loved the wheels.

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Böhmerland or Čechie (as it was known domestically) was a motorcycle produced in Czechoslovakia from 1924 until World War II.  Loved the woodwork on the side hack.

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This Indian was owned by the L.A. PD in the 30's.

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The siren was powered by the wheel.  Notice the foot activated cable.

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Nice piece of custom machinery.

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Kevin poses in front of the green Fuller.

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We were wondering what would happen if you got your pants caught up in the exposed sprockets.  I don't think it would be pretty.

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Ill end with the Pierce Arrow.  Love this configuration.

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More tomorrow.

Really great stuff. I wish I could be there next year. Thanks for bringing up my sweet memory...

Awesome photographic documentary... going to to get a mop to clean up all the drool...

Thank you so much for this post Elfrider!  Awesome photos and has cemented a roadtrip in my to do list...

Nice pics, Elfrider. You should have gotten Elf jr. to take your pic with some of these beauties.

I am only sorry some of us could not have been there to greet youl