AMA Vintage Days 2021 at Mid-Ohio - trip report

The AMA Vintage Days happened this past Friday-Sunday at the Mid-Ohio racetrack.

The swap meet was enormous - larger than in previous years - but to me it seemed a little lower in quality than in 2019. Most bikes that I saw were rather... optimistically priced, and a lot of the parts were quite rough. There was a beat-to-heck XT250 (dented tank, thrashed gauges, parts missing) for $1200. OTOH there was a '76 KZ400 with an interesting homemade single-carb intake manifold. Despite the air-fuel charge needing to make THREE 90-degree turns on the way into the cylinder head, the seller claimed the bike ran. (I did not start it.) It was more reasonably priced: it was originally $800, but by Saturday afternoon it was marked down to $400. One lucky fellow had a beautiful '82 GPz550 on a trailer: I caught up to him and confirmed that he had just bought it but didn't ask him how much he paid. The only thing I bought was a 1960s CL160 (I think) tank for a Frankenbike project.

At the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) area, we had a fair amount of foot traffic on Friday (except during a brief sprinkle of rain). Saturday was busier: some new members joined the club and I sold some t-shirts and hats. On Friday I spent at least 20 minutes talking with a guy who is restoring a DT125; he was on the hunt for a correct mirror and was looking everywhere for the three-tuning-fork logo. He stopped back at the VJMC area on Saturday, grinning from ear to ear and holding up the mirror he had finally found.

Saturday afternoon I got to spend some time sitting and chatting with slmjim + Z1 BEBE. That was enjoyable and cemented my opinion that they're darn nice people.


Did anyone else make it to Mid-Ohio?

Did anyone else make it to Mid-Ohio?

Absolutely!  I agree that some things were unreasonably high but I think that’s to be expected at a swap meet. A lot of vendors left on Saturday because they had already sold everything they’d brought (based on conversations I overheard). From a KZ perspective I think there were lots of good deals to be had, with a least four vendors specializing in them. I picked up a set of Mikuni RS38 flat slides for a song (which I will be rebuilding and selling since they are way oversized for the bikes I’ve got), a KZ900 cam cover for $15 ($60+ on eBay lately), a couple of clutch adjuster covers for $5 each ($25+ on eBay), a complete but disassembled set of VM28SCs with a new KZ900 seat cover thrown in for $200, a Kerker canister exhaust in excellent condition for $300, etc.  I think the “open secret” is that you have to arrive on Thursday to get those sort of deals. By mid-Friday most of the really good stuff was gone. There are a variety of “legitimate” ways to access the place early, volunteering at the facility being one of them (my route). 

I did bump into Slmjim a couple of times as well. I think I was unsuccessful in persuading him to buy the good condition (not perfect, but complete and well above-average) ELR for $12K. I was surprised that it apparently didn’t sell.

wrote:

Saturday afternoon I got to spend some time sitting and chatting with slmjim + Z1 BEBE. That was enjoyable and cemented my opinion that they're darn nice people.

 

Aww, shucks...  Appreciate the kudos.
It was a pleasure for us as well chatting with you.  Z1BEBE is always happy to chat with a 'fellow' forum member.  slmjim got to speak geek at a motorcycle swap meet, something rare indeed!

We succeeded in selling The Wounded Z.  Love/hate conflict about that.  Love the selling price; we had $22,000 on it and, let's just say we're very happy with the cash price we settled on with the Japanese buyer we've sold to in the past.  It sold before it even came off of the trailer.  He just looked at some numbers & date codes.  Didn't even start it.  Cash on the spot.
Hate that it's going overseas, but the only offers we got for it from CONUS were lowball.

That ELR was calling our names.  Nice bike, and would make a wonderful backroad scratcher.  We considered it, but right now we're looking for something like a Suzuki RV90 for our next project.  We want something for infrequent swap meet use, that's fat-tired & easier to handle on gravel than our old moped with it's very skinny tires, and something we can ride two-up if needed.  An RV90 checks all the boxes.  We saw a rough RV90 that was way overpriced, and our offer was rejected.  That bike was being loaded onto the seller's trailer when we left.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

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Absolutely!  I agree that some things were unreasonably high but I think that’s to be expected at a swap meet. A lot of vendors left on Saturday because they had already sold everything they’d brought (based on conversations I overheard). ... I think the “open secret” is that you have to arrive on Thursday to get those sort of deals. By mid-Friday most of the really good stuff was gone. There are a variety of “legitimate” ways to access the place early, volunteering at the facility being one of them (my route).
 

Yeah, I arrived Friday morning and didn't get out into the swap meet until probably 2:00 or so. Next time maybe I'll drive in on Thursday and hit the gates at 0700 on Friday.

When you say "at the facility", do you mean you had a volunteer role with the track? Don't want to ask you to divulge a trade secret or anything.

wrote:

It was a pleasure for us as well chatting with you.  Z1BEBE is always happy to chat with a 'fellow' forum member.  slmjim got to speak geek at a motorcycle swap meet, something rare indeed!
...
That ELR was calling our names.  Nice bike, and would make a wonderful backroad scratcher.  We considered it, but right now we're looking for something like a Suzuki RV90 for our next project.  We want something for infrequent swap meet use, that's fat-tired & easier to handle on gravel than our old moped with it's very skinny tires, and something we can ride two-up if needed.  An RV90 checks all the boxes.  We saw a rough RV90 that was way overpriced, and our offer was rejected.  That bike was being loaded onto the seller's trailer when we left.
 

Woohoo, geek speak!

If you can't find an RV90 (or RV125), maybe you could look at the Yamaha TW200 or BW200. The TrailWay has tires about 7" wide while the BigWheel has tires like an ATV would have - much more balloony. The Yamahas don't seem to be as popular as the RVs so they might be more reasonably priced (or priced by more reasonable people than the RV90 seller).

I’m a corner worker for the road races.  I used to do it more frequently back in the 90’s at WERA and AMA races; mostly at Nelson Ledges and Mid-Ohio but occasionally elsewhere. At this point I only do it one day a year - the Sunday of VMD. It can be a lot of fun/excitement and they are always looking for more folks to come out and learn how to do it. If anyone is interested they can PM me and I’ll put them in touch with the right folks.

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I’m a corner worker for the road races.  I used to do it more frequently back in the 90’s at WERA and AMA races; mostly at Nelson Ledges and Mid-Ohio but occasionally elsewhere. At this point I only do it one day a year - the Sunday of VMD. It can be a lot of fun/excitement and they are always looking for more folks to come out and learn how to do it. If anyone is interested they can PM me and I’ll put them in touch with the right folks.


It is a lot of fun !!
 I used to do it and other jobs at our local sportsman track  (  Waterford Hills  )
Which lead to  being part of the Detroit Grand Prix  thru the SCCA.
All Great memories
Dave
 

I got to volunteer at Laguna Seca a couple of times (checking pit passes). Twice I was at turn 11, which was an excellent place to be.