2025 Dania Beach FL Vintage Motorcycle Show

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This event is over for another year. The city park where it's held annually is supposed to be getting extensively renovated. That may be taking place next year at the time the event is usually held, the end of January. I've spoken with one of the principals operating the event, and they're looking for another venue for next year.

Anyway, here are a few pics from this year.

Vincent 1000cc V-twin, arguably the first 'superbike.'



Rollie Free's famous stance on a Vincent at Utah. Rollie Free at Bonneville Speed Trials wearing a pair of goggles, a bathing suit, and a pair of low footwear.



BSA 441 Victor, one of the last four-strokes in motocross, after the two-stroke singles dominated, starting in the late 1960's.



John Banks ran a BSA 500 (up from the 441) twice 500cc runner-up to the World Championship and four times British National 500cc Champion. Clews (CCM) bought the rights to the BSA single when BSA went under in the early 1970's. Banks' BSA 500 used a titanium frame, lightening the bike. The Japanese motocross manufacturers also used titanium for their factory racers. However your Suzuki 250cc Savage two-stroke single enduro, though it resembles the factory motocross bike Joel Robert rode, uses mild steel. The TM400 Suzuki Cyclone motocrosser (the TS400 was the enduro model) you bought from the dealer probably shared the Suzuki tank decal with the factory riders' competition bikes, and not much-else.

Indian inline four cylinder bike.





H-D V-twin from the 1920's. I think it's a '23 Model 61 F w/tank shifter and magneto ignition. I had to look that up in my library.



1970 Harley-Davidson 125cc ML125 S Rapido



What it would look like, restored:

 

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There was a swap meet/flea market too. Some examples of what was there. This guy had H-D Knuckleheads and parts and Panhead parts.



A Knucklehead cylinder head and its distinctive rockerbox cover.



I always find something to buy. This year I bought a SOHC Honda 750 book by one of the most famous British bike authors, Mick Duckworth. I have a K4 SOHC Honda 750 and a British nickel-plated brazed chromoly frame for it.



A headlamp bucket, a 6-7/8" measurement across the opening, no bezel. I bought it for the aluminum 'ears.'



A reproduction of a vintage Miobil Oil sign. The antique ones are too-much $$$! Gearhead decoration/art for the garage wall.

 

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Like vintage Hondas? Here's one you won't see unless you go to an Asian country, as they were never sold here, a CL250 and its big brother which was sold here, a CL350. Both scramblers before the SL350 which was more dirt-oriented.



Maybe you want a road-burner, the fastest Honda of its time, like the CB1100F. Two years, I have a friend who bought one new, he still has it with 4,000 miles showing. He had many other bikes along the way. He's my tag & title guy for > 30 years.

 

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Man, what a gas! Thanks for the tour F.M.

 

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More stuff:



I was in Miami on my way to the show, about 26 miles away, and I was next to this guy in traffic. I had on a motorcycle shirt in my truck and his bike was so loud he couldn't have a conversation but he finally realized I was headed to the bike show, his destination too.

I met my Daytona Bike Week partner & we had breakfast by the show. When we parked, this bike was in the parking lot. I was able to speak with him when he moved it into the show. He said it's a punishing ride (check out the rear suspension).



A Hodaka Ace 100, very popular in the late 1960's and into the mid-1970's, built under contract by Pacific Basin Trading Company PABATCO by Yamaguchi in Japan. The bike was capable of suspending a 200 lb person comfortably, and they saw a lot of off-road use, and were popular for small-bore racing classes for enduros and motocross. Inexpensive, easy to work on, and to soup-up.

Later Hodaka models included the Combat Wombat, the Road Toad, Super Rat, and Dirt Squirt.
https://www.autoevolution.com/moto/hodaka/



This one has a custom paint job, a Super Rat. When I raced my Yamaha RT 2 360cc in enduros and hare scrambles in MI in 1972, Hodakas were a favorite ride. This was before the 'long travel' f & r suspension revolution. That really 'hit' in 1974, when Yamaha brought out the Monoshock rear suspension, changing the way off-road bikes were built. The 1973 YZ Yamaha off-road racers were a mid-step towards that with lightweight bikes, but they still used twin rear shocks, the Yamaha 'Thermal-Flow' shocks had a remote reservoir off the shock main body to enhance their solution to shock over-heating, but it was the Monoshock that really changed things.

A new BSA twin, an acquaintance of mine, formerly a Ducati, Moto Guzzi, and Bimota dealer in Ft. Lauderdale, is promoting as a distributor. The build quality appears to be very good, and the traditional 'cocktail shakers' for exhausts give a decent tone. Styled very traditionally, but modern tooling, for a well-functioning product.





A BSA 650 which was the inspiration for the new bike. The unit-construction BSA was nicknamed the 'Power-Egg' due to the bottom-end side cases' shape. Note the style of the surfaces on the two bikes, similar in shape, finish, and execution.



Suzuki rotary engine RE-5 with styling by Giugiaro, He designed the VW Golf GTI (1972), the BMW M1 (1978), the Fiat 850, and the Lotus Espirit (1973), among others. This isn't considered one of his better efforts. He evidently was going for 'the ground-breaking impression.' Check out the cylindrical integrated instrument cluster which had a flip-up cover, and the cylindrical taillight. The exhausts have intake vents at their bottom leading ends and double-wall construction to help cool the pipes. They were built from 1974-'76. The styling changed after the first year of poor sales, going to traditional shapes for the instruments and taillight. It didn't help much, sales were still poor. They were still new in inventory in dealers' showrooms into the late 1970's.





Yamaha did one-better than Suzuki, they were done with pre-production and ready to release a two-rotor Wankel bike, where the Suzuki RE 5 was a single rotor. They decided to kill the project and it never was sold. Its styling was cleaner than the Suzuki. https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/yamaha/yamaha_RZ 201 Rotary Concept.htm



If you're old like me, and you're aware of TC Christianson and team head John Gregory as designer/builder, if someone mentions the two-engined Norton named 'Hogslayer,' you may recognize the guy on the right, that's Gregory. The guy on the left is John Long, a local Miami guy who's raced and built motorcycles for decades.

Look for the slim, tall guy in the video, that's Gregory, I'd guess he's about 6' 6"





This video is a short version, there's a longer one which is available on Apple TV now. Sixty-four minutes.
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/hogslayer-the-unapproachable-legend/umc.cmc.17qozzxtfm1m10arvmazs8hya