Clubmans All British Weekend 2012

CLUBMANS SHOW 2012 PICTURES
WHAT A SHOW
We’ve been talking about it for months now. The 25th Annual Clubman’s All-British Weekend took place on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose CA. Sponsored by the BSA Owners Club of Northern California (BSAOCNC) sponsors this legendary show, which is the largest all-British classic motorcycle show west of the Mississippi. This year over 150 gorgeous bikes were in attendance, along with the largest crowd in Clubmans Show history.

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CLUBMANS SHOW 2012 PICTURES
TROPHIES AWARDED BY EDDIE MULDER
Motorcycle racing legend, Eddie Mulder, often an honored guest of the BSAOCNC, and the Clubman’s Show’s official “celebrity”, helped give out the award plaques for the top bikes in several classes. It’s quite an honor to trophy in a field that is not only this competitive, but also so highly specialized. I was privileged to help with the judging, as part of a team of 3 that were assigned 6 bikes to judge. There were, of course, several such teams. The judging process if fascinating & also very challenging. A real eye-opener for me, personally. The tough part is avoiding infusing your own personal tastes into your decisions. But, it’s all good, and the ones who should have won, won, in my humble opinion. But it is, after all, often subjective, especially when there are so many similar bikes that are all so nice.

CLUBMANS SHOW 2012 PICTURES
MORE THAN ONE CELEB
Eddie Mulder was not the only racing legend there on Saturday. I was told that “The Mann”, Dick Mann himself was there poking around looking at parts in the swap meet. I did not see him myself & kick myself for missing the chance. He used to live in the Bay Area, but now lives in Nevada.

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CLUBMANS SHOW 2012 PICTURES
THE RAFFLE BIKE GETS RAFFLED OFF!
This year’s Clubman’s Raffle Bike was a drop-dead gorgeous 1957 BSA Gold Star in near-showroom condition. All year long, the BSAOCNC sells raffle tickets for just $1.00…that’s right, one buck! You can literally own one of these bikes for as little as one dollar, and last year it happened. They winner of the 2011 Raffle Bike literally only bought one ticket, the day of the show. This year, 2012, the winner, David Hunter, actually bought 100 tickets. A pittance considering the roughly $15,000 value of the Gold Star. But, he won it fair & square & plans to send the bike back to Merry Ol’ England, where he’s from originally & leave it there to ride when he returns home to Manchester to visit family or whatever. This year, that “whatever” is going to be the Isle of Man, for which he has already purchased tickets. Ah, what a life!

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CLUBMANS SHOW 2012 PICTURES
A TEAM EFFORT
As we did last year, the Classic-British-Motorcycles.com (CBM) team showed up early, and set up our booth complete with white backdrop, professional lighting and talented young photographers, graphic artists and associates. Together we took eye-popping photos of 26 classic British motorcycles and promoted our site to an adoring public. But we also added something new this year. A wide-format color printer allowed us to print 13″ X 19″ color prints of the bikes within minutes of taking them. Many a proud owner went weak in the knees when they saw them. All in all, the show was a success for CBM, having promoted the site, taken some fantastic photos, and even made a little money selling prints. The deal is that I will take free photos of any bike at this show in & send them 6 digital images via email, in exchange, I own the photos & they can buy prints at the show if they wish (optional, and very reasonable). So, let’s see some pictures already…