The Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 had more than just gorgeous motorcycles. We had a celebrity. That’s racing legend Eddie Mulder on the left & BSAOC president Don Danmeier on the right, with the proud recipient of Best in Modified Class.
THE BEST CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE SHOW AROUND
I go to classic bike shows, auctions, rallies & other events every chance I get & this has got to be the best Classic British Motorcycle Show that I have attended. I have gone several years running & have entered bikes in the show myself (never having won anything). Imagine a building absolutely full of hundreds of gorgeous Classic British Motorcycles, eye candy for you to ogle to your heart’s content. Well, that’s the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005, and every year, for that matter. It’s held the last Saturday of March & has been a Bay Area tradition for nearly two decades. This year that was Saturday, March 26, 2005.
Lotsa’ nice bikes, lotsa’ nice people. A fun, relaxed day of looking at stunning motorcycles.
SPONSORED BY BSA OWNERS CLUB
The Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 was in it’s 19th year. It was founded & is put on each year by the Northern California Chapter of the BSA Owners Club (BSAOC), or the BSAOCNC. It’s a non-profit show staffed completely by volunteers. That’s how they keep the price to just $5.00 for adults & free for kids under 12. That’s ridiculous! This would be a good deal at twice that price! A whole day of drooling over Classic British Motorcycles, all indoors, with food & beer on hand (a nice concession stand) for five bucks?
BIKES, BIKES & MORE BIKES
There were well over 100 incredible bikes at the show this year, with everything from vintage pre-war stuff, to super original classics, to painstakingly restored show bikes, to rat bikes, even a brand new Norton. It’s all in one building with plenty of room to walk around & take pictures. It’s held each year at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose CA, right next to the stadium that used to play host to the legendary San Jose Mile. Living legends have walked on this hallowed ground, and in fact one was walking around with us at this Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005. Racing god Eddie Mulder was there helping to judge & awarding trophies at the end. Eddie’s not only one of the greatest racers who ever lived, but an all around nice guy.
TALK, TALK, TALK…
But rather than continue to gush over this show, sometimes its best to just shut up & let the pictures do the talking. So, walk with me, if you will, down the aisles of this the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 Show & let’s look at some motorcycles!
Sometimes the best stuff isn’t even in the show. This drop-dead gorgeous Egli Vincent was parked out front, still cooling off from being ridden to the show. It wasn’t even entered!
But there were plenty of Vincents inside the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 to look at, like this lovely Vincent Black Shadow.
Of course, there were lots of tasty Triumph Bonnevilles at the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005, there always are…
Lots of Triumphs of all kinds, early & late.
Yep, lots and lots of Triumphs…
Did I mention all the Triumphs?
There were lots of cool competition bikes at the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 also, both road & off-road, like this stunning Rickman with pre-unit Triumph engine.
Of course, what Classic British Motorcycle Show would be complete without a bevy of Norton Commandos. In fact, the Norton Owners Club had a very nice booth & exhibit with several nice bikes, a Commando engine with Isolastic suspension on display, old show room ads & more.
Very nice job, lads.
But how many shows have one of the few Norton 961 Commandos in captivity? Just the latest effort to revive the hallowed Norton name. Will it take?
Suffice it to say that there are plenty of nice, fairly normal motorcycles to feast your eyes on at the Clubman’s All-British Weekend 2005. But, there was also some weird stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I like weird. So, here goes – weird: This wild twin-engine BSA is actually street-legal.
They linked 2 pre-unit 650 A10 engines together via this custom double-primary set up. One’s left foot would seem to get dangerously close to whirring parts. A tasteful cover could actually add to the look of the bike, if done right.
It would appear that they stretched a stock pre-unit BSA swingarm frame. The bike was well-engineered & properly put together. Very impressive.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Instead of stuffing two engines in one-behind-the-other, this guy stuck two pre-unit Triumph 650s to each other side-by-side. Imagine kickstarting this beast?
Wait a minute…shouldn’t the timing cover be on the other side? Yes, you’re right. When they siamesed the engines, they faced them in toward each other timing-side-out, joined together via a common primary drive running between the two & linking to a conventional 4-speed Triumph pre-unit gearbox. Nice piece of engineering. Very cool bike. I’d love to hear it run.
THAT’S ALL, FOLKS…OR IS IT?
I have hundreds more photos, some good, some bad, but that concludes our photo tour of the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 classic motorcycle show. Trophies were awarded, people had fund, everyone packed up & went home. But, the next morning was the traditional “Morning After Ride” leaving Downtown Los Gatos at 10:00 am on Sunday morning & riding up Highway 9, through picturesque Saratoga, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Redwoods, the California Coast & Highway 1. All on Classic British Motorcycles. Dozens, sometimes over 100 bikes show up & ride together. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend.