The Motorcycle Scene From A First Timer

Article And Photos By: Adam Thompson

the AMCA southern national (swap) meet was held at the Denton farm park in Denton, North Carolina October 16/17th. The meet had been rescheduled from May due to the you-know- what19. It seems that a lot of folks in the motorcycle world were chomping at the bit for ANY excuse to get outside and enjoy LIFE. I called ahead and got info about setting up as a vendor and decided that I needed to have a little adventure. I had the weekend free and had a bunch of leftover parts I wanted to be rid of. I pointed my overloaded E250 van South (300K+ on the odometer!) and made the trek from Virginia to North Carolina.

W h e r e motorcycles are concerned, I am a Newbie, in the best/worst sense of the word. I know enough not to appear to be completely dumb; but at times I can be just ignorant enough to be dangerous. I have wanted to build a bike for many years, but other diversions absorbed

my attentions until recently. I am the quintessential JohnnyCome-Lately. Most of the parts I took to the meet were castoffs from the two bikes I am currently attempting to build. ZERO experience isn’t going to stop me now. I can’t believe I found a place that I can take pieces of my projects, to trade for the start of another! Somehow, I think there are a lot of you readers that can identify. I decided to camp out with my crap for the weekend and see what would happen. And am I happy I did. EVERYONE I encountered seemed to be elated to just get some social interaction with likem i n d e d devotees of all things Two Wheels. The Denton Farm Park is a fantastic outdoor facility, and the staff was friendly to the point of being suspect. I have been to a few different “biker”

events over the years; this was a different animal entirely. First there wasn’t 1,500 different booths selling cheap touristy dream catcher-esque baubles to the seas of wannabes. There were no attitudes, and no posturing. The people that attended this event were there because they were serious motorcycle fanatics. They came to buy and sell bike parts; a LOT of bike parts, not sunglasses and tee shirts. A few times, I snuck away from my own setup to stroll around. The word “Overwhelmed” is an understatement of the emotion I experienced. There were acres upon acres of PARTS. Can you imagine a sea of Knuckleheads??? It was there. ‘Wanna’ see a bike built in 1934? There were two, just over there. Need a Servicar tranny?? Watch your step, jackass. I even spotted Billy and Erin Lane, who had set up a merch and parts booth. Between their sales and their three daughters, they seemed to have their hands full. Another thing that made me chuckle was the dude I dubbed “The Mayor’. He was having the time of his life and had brisk sales of his Mason jars, which according to his sign, were filled with “HAND AND MOUTH SANITIZER”! The hottest action took place almost exclusively between the vendors during setup and the 1st day of the event. Saturday was mostly attended by John Q. Public. I had some decent sales, and I had fun asking people to make offers, only to sell them something ten bucks cheaper. People dug it; I moved a bunch of stuff, picked up a couple of gems, and made some new friends. I fully intend to go back next year. It was just too good a time! (Check back with me later about the duo of newbie bikes I am struggling with... they are looking pretty good, so far. I am 51, never built a bike before...or even ridden one! This is a personal odyssey of epic proportions, not just midlife crisis. Or at least that is the lie I am telling myself)