BARBER VINTAGE FESTIVAL

Perched on an unassuming swath of Alabama countryside about 15 miles outside Birmingham, the Barber Motorsports Complex is a thing of beauty. The 228,000-squarefoot museum, built in 1995, now holds the largest collection of motorcycles in the world. At any given time, more than 600 machines are on display, which accounts for less than half of the total number in its collection, 99 percent of which are runners.

In 2003, the 830-acre Barber Motorsports Park constructed a 16-turn, 2.38-mile racetrack that hosts everything from superbikes to IndyCars. This year was the 13th annual Barber Vintage Festival, running from October 6–8, packing in tens of thousands of vintage motorcycle lovers, riders, and racers from all over the world.

The combination of the attendees and the museum means the park is full of rare and valuable machines being traded, raced, or displayed. It’s not going too far to call it a vintage-motorcycle mecca. And more is added to the festival annually—this year there was a wall of death (and globe of death), circus sideshows, demo rides, freestyle and stunt shows, seminars, vendors, and a 5-acre swap meet. There are also three days of roadracing, vintage sidecars, and motocross. The sights and sounds are epic.

From sunup until sundown for 72 hours, we were amazed by the amount of unusual and uncommon two-wheeled machines we witnessed both on the track and in the museum. There will be hundreds of bikes you recognize and even more that you don’t, and everyone in attendance is there for the same love of two-wheel life. We highly suggest to anyone who loves motorcycles to make a pilgrimage to the Barber Vintage Festival. You won’t be sorry youdid.Formoreinformationonthemuseum, the racing, and the annual Barber Vintage Festival, go to barbermuseum.org. HB