From my home in Southern California, it’s just a day’s ride to the beautiful Monterey Peninsula on some of the state’s best motorcycling roads, including Highway 1 on the majestic Big Sur coast. Good food and Friday night nightlife in Monterey are just steps away from dozens of budget-to-luxury hotels, so an overnight trip is both easy and enjoyable. Add the prospect of attending a classic motorcycle and full-size motorcycle exchange on the green lawns of a nearby luxury golf course, and you can see why The Quail Motorcycle Gathering has been such a huge hit since its debut. first in 2008.
Lots of enthusiasts flock to The Quail just for the day, so the parking area along Valley Greens Drive becomes a motorcycle showroom in its own right. This year, 3,200 spectators enjoyed 270 remarkable and highly polished motorcycles so arranged on the lawns of the Carmel Valley Golf & Quail Lodge Club, sprinkled with vendors. all kinds of levels. The day-long event costs $55 and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so attendees must keep scrolling to see and do it all.
Led by Gordon McCall, Motorsports Director for Signature Events in the Peninsula, The Quail Ride kicks off the event on Friday (not to be confused with Why We Ride to the Quail, a towed charity ride. two days for the Pediatric Brain Cancer Foundation starting Thursday at SoCal – for more information visit Motovational.org). The Quail Ride is a 100-mile detour around this scenic area, limited to 100 riders, including two Laguna Seca Raceway with its famous Corkscrew team, an experience worth the price of admission.
Advertisement
Listen to our interview with Gordon McCall on the Rider Magazine Insider Podcast
Quail has stocked up to 400 machines over the years, but as McCall said this year, “There are too many bikes.”
“You can’t see them all in one day, and we’re a one-day event,” he said. “So we dropped that amount back. For me, this is the heart and soul of the motorcycle community. We have lots of smaller companies, smaller suppliers and they help make this possible. Just look at this – people are in a good mood. We were ready – enough to hide under a rock for two years. “
Indeed, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the 2022 Gathering may be a bit smaller, but I’m still having a hard time getting into everything. In addition to traditional classes such as English, Italian, Japanese, Competition and Antiques, the event introduces five featured classes. Two-stroke “braaaps” include off-road and off-road racing superstars, like the 1986 Suzuki RG500 Gamma by Matt Torrens of California. Other classes feature minibikes, BMW / 5 Series motorcycles and the Harley-Davidson XR-750, a popular model and one of the most successful race cars of all time.
While it’s a social event, the bikes are the main attraction, and there’s no shortage of fun, cool, and historic hardware to love. Vintage movements equipped with a time earned rust finish or lovingly restored to original condition or better by the best in their field are trending the most, but also includes bikes from some of the icons of the custom motoring world, like Max Hazan from Hazan Motorworks in Los Angeles. Hazan’s wild and beautiful customs 1951 Vincent Rapide won Best of Show, a choice controversial for some because of the irreverent nature of the custom based on famous vintage bicycles.
But more than 40 judges on the committee, led by veteran Chief Justice Somer Hooker, have also awarded the highest awards in many other categories to the near-perfect motorcycles in history. For example, an incredible 1984 Honda RS750, which has been ridden to three Grand National Championships by Bubba Shobert (and Chris Carter of Motion Pro) (and owned by Chris Carter) has been awarded the Spirit of the Quail.
Yamaha has brought in a team of famous flat riders from its racing past, like the 1977-78 Kenny Roberts Racing Specialties MX250, which has a monoshock frame, one of two champion cyclists Jeff Haney has built. won multiple lap records during his undefeated 1978 season at Ascot Park. Arch Motorcycles, the company founded by actor Keanu Reeves, was there with expensive, out-of-the-world production bikes.
The Gathering is also a rare opportunity to try on outfits like airbag jackets from Helite or cool jackets from the Walter Leather Company, and a silent auction backing the Monterey County Youth Museum offers everything Everything from golfing at Quail Lodge & Golf Club to staying at The Peninsula Hotels in Chicago and New York.
“The success of The Quail Motorcycle Gathering this year has been overwhelming,” said McCall. “From the tremendous support of our incredible sponsors to the amazing audiences and diverse performances of remarkable vintage motorcycles and cars, we are very proud of are back stronger than ever and are excited to see what 2023 will bring.”
Me too! Next year, The Quail Motorcycle Gathering is scheduled for Saturday, May 6, 2023. Tickets will go on sale this fall and it is likely that all-inclusive tickets will be limited in number and sold out once. more, so be sure to book your schedule tickets.
For more information, visit Peninsula.com/en/signature-events/events/motorcycle.
