Member Contributer Kel Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 I attended a vintage bike race event last weekend at Loudon. Lots of great old machines there getting thrashed on. Mike Baldwin was the MC. Met an interesting man while standing at the fence watching. He was intrigued by my bike and was asking lots of questions. He said jokingly, he'd like to add it to his collection. Looking at him, I didn't think it was much more than maybe a few CB350s. Boy did I mis-read him. His list of Honda's was more impressive than any collection I'd seen short of the Honda Museum in Japan. Everything from Kick-N-Go's to CBX's to NSR's, Cubs, 110's, Original ATC three wheelers, a Motocompo(Google it), Monkey, z50's, Passports, CR750's, the list goes on...and all either fully restored or mint, original. He has a beautiful building with 2 floors to house everything including a great shop and bins upon bins of OEM parts. He would go to dealers and ask if they had any old parts stock they wanted to get rid of, offer them 10k for the lot and take it home and file it. Unbelievable. The really, REALLY cool thing about this guy is.........he's 81 years old. I sat with his son and looked through some pics on his IPad and was blown away. I had him send me this one cause it probably is the only 2 RC's out of Japan with 0 miles in the same room. The NC is a mint low miler, the RC30,RC45 and the RC51 are all 0 mile examples, straight from the crate to here. The VFR750 is a mint low miler. He also had a pristine Vf500F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Mohawk Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 Nice collection, but what a waste to hide these away for no good reason other than to say you got them. If they not ridden, then its pointless IMO, as a unridden bike is NOT a bike at all, just a trophy or piece of mechanical art :( Shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer SamW Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 That is awesome! Looks like he has great tastes in Motorcycles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 22 minutes ago, Mohawk said: Nice collection, but what a waste to hide these away for no good reason other than to say you got them. If they not ridden, then its pointless IMO, as a unridden bike is NOT a bike at all, just a trophy or piece of mechanical art :( Shame. The saying, "A weapon unused, is a useless weapon" comes to mind! Too be honest I have mixed feelings, I love that there are these pristine bikes still around to look at and admire but it is a shame that they are just sitting around not being ridden. Regardless, thanks for posting Kel, he has quite the collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Kel Posted June 17, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 Yeah, I guess I'm sort of in the same boat. Part of me says they should be ridden and used for their intended purpose but that purpose was racing so had these been raced for the last 20+ years, they would look quite different. At the very least, on the street, they would have different tires, brake pads, chains, have nicks, bugs in the radiator, faded windscreen and controls, etc. no matter how well kept. I never saw either bike in the showroom when new(who did?) so it's kind of cool to be able to see what they would have looked like had they been on the floor of your local dealer. The old saying "It's only original once" comes to mind. George is 81 and no doubt can see the end of days coming any minute for him. He will never ride any of his 100's of bikes ever again. Walking among beautiful machines that have brought him so many good memories from many decades past must be wonderful. Kind of like Hugh Heffner... after no longer being able to "perform", I bet he still likes having some beautiful women around to look at to remind him of past times and perhaps for a moment, feel young again. There are examples of these bikes being ridden around the world, I'm willing to let George have these for awhile...and maybe the next caretakers will keep them just as special for future generations to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auron Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Love that picture of Miguel and Linneah, what a fox. The golden age of AMA racing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Someone must preserve clean examples of these man-made machines. Only a few decades have gone by since these were manufactured and in context, that is no time at all. In 100 years, more of these will be gone, and more after that. We can only dream that 500 years from now one of these collector lineages will have preserved these machines. The past failures of man tell us that it probably won't happen, but I root the current collectors on for setting a standard and keeping the possibility alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer SamW Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 Somewhere in the digital realm I have a picture of Miguel next to my RC30 at Road Atlanta holding up the #1 finger. I could have had Nicky Hayden stand next to it, but Miguel actually raced an RC30 back in the day, and I had no idea at the time how far Nicky would go. Knowing that there are a few pristine RC30 still out there makes it a little easier to go ride mine, and I have to agree with Kel's comment about being surrounded by beautiful women, sometime that is enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer slowbird Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 Just gorgeous! What a great collection. Yeah it's sad that they aren't being ridden but I'd rather see them pristine and untouched than on the back of a flat bed twisted and mangled. I wish I could have seen these in person. Thanks for sharing this kel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhenley17 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 You can always restore a bike with enough time and money, guys like him seem to have both. Being all original is cool, but it's little more than something cool to say. Personally, I couldn't just look at bikes like that sitting in my shop. I might not push at track days or commute on them, but they'd definitely be ridden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Mikey Posted June 17, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2016 Bikes? What bikes? All I see are boobs! Sorry, sometimes I can't help it. That is an awesome collection of motorcycles. It's great to see someone with the means to keep these machines as a collection. Riding them a little know and then wouldn't hurt their value IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGEND Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Nice machinery. I've always been an admirer of clean OEM machines complete and not all chopped up to look "cool". The man that owns those bikes can and should do whatever makes him happy. There are times when I'm too busy to ride my bikes as much as I like but when I do make it back home I love seeing my two bikes parked up together in the garage. They may not be showroom pristine but they are mine and seeing them in the garage makes me feel good, even if they have not been ridden in a week or two. May the owner of that collection live long and enjoy the fruits of his labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer BusyLittleShop Posted June 18, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 18, 2016 Stunning!!! did you get a chance to record the VIN of the RC45??? I'd like to add it to my world wide registry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer LangoPTC Posted June 18, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 18, 2016 7 hours ago, LEGEND said: Nice machinery. I've always been an admirer of clean OEM machines complete and not all chopped up to look "cool". The man that owns those bikes can and should do whatever makes him happy. There are times when I'm too busy to ride my bikes as much as I like but when I do make it back home I love seeing my two bikes parked up together in the garage. They may not be showroom pristine but they are mine and seeing them in the garage makes me feel good, even if they have not been ridden in a week or two. May the owner of that collection live long and enjoy the fruits of his labor. Pretty much my thoughts as well. If I ever go out to the garage and the sight of my bike does not bring a smile to my face then I know it will be time to sell. Thanks for sharing the pic Kel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Kel Posted June 18, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted June 18, 2016 6 hours ago, BusyLittleShop said: Stunning!!! did you get a chance to record the VIN of the RC45??? I'd like to add it to my world wide registry... I wasn't there in person, I had him send me this pic and more are coming. 56 minutes ago, LangoPTC said: Pretty much my thoughts as well. If I ever go out to the garage and the sight of my bike does not bring a smile to my face then I know it will be time to sell. Thanks for sharing the pic Kel. I still peek into the garage on my way to the car to see how's she's doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Bent Posted June 27, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 27, 2016 Life WILL move forward with or without us. The past can't be changed. Sounds like someone attempting to hold on to the past when they could be making a great future and present with these bikes. To each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted June 27, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 27, 2016 I think Bent nailed it. My view is these are just beautiful machines sitting around. When ridden they become Motorcycles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRCules Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Nice collection (except for the RC45 ... wink ... wink ... Larry!) . At least I have two of those bikes , the RC51 (a 05) and Dream 50R . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted June 29, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted June 29, 2016 And he has a 51 nice collection ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer BusyLittleShop Posted July 3, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted July 3, 2016 On 6/29/2016 at 10:46 AM, HRCules said: Nice collection (except for the RC45 ... wink ... wink ... Larry!) . At least I have two of those bikes , the RC51 (a 05) and Dream 50R . Hey pudknocker... things going slow back at Speedzilla??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falseneutral Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 George DeCamp,you might better know his son Steve for running Hooters Suzuki among other things. Really,really cool guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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