Now , that ’ s great when you ’ re really serious about competition , and of course need equipment equal to what your rivals are aboard . Ok , but what about for just goofing around ? I mean , the new bikes are just sooo serious . It used to be so much fun when we didn ’ t have all this suspension , and just getting over a log or through a nasty section sometimes required getting off and lifting the bike , often with the help of your riding buddy . And then we stumbled across a couple of old bikes , and took ‘ em out in the woods . And , you know what ? It was a blast ! It was slow ! It was challenging ! We slipped , and slid , and fell down , and got stuck , and it was really fun !
Now , we didn ’ t just go and toss our new bikes into the dumpster then . No , we were still racing , and that of course required the “ good stuff ”. But those old bike – gosh , they sure were fun to ride . And then something interesting happened . We noticed that other people were also back to riding old bikes , evidently having figured out just what we had . Next , vintage classes started being added to competition events . Cool ! And then wouldn ’ t you know it , full-on vintage-only events were created . And then AHRMA came along , and wow , this is really getting to be something . Events such as Vintage Motorcycle Days and The Barber Vintage Festival were created , and people turned out in droves .
VOL . 5 ISSUE 1 - JANUARY 2021 // PAGE 107