Depending on your personal tastes, there may be no better motorcycle destination in North America than Barber Motorsports Park, with its world-class museum, beautiful grounds dotted with whimsical artwork to surprise you, and a fun, rolling race track. And one of the best times to be there is during the annual Barber Vintage Festival.
With that in mind, when BMW staff made plans to introduce its new R 1300 RT to the motorcycle media (review coming soon), they decided to make the 20th annual Barber Vintage Festival the destination. It was an easy call because the festival is also the site of the big BMW Motorrad Days Americas gathering. BMW's involvement and presence are huge.
BMW Motorrad Days Americas took over a big portion of the Fan Zone at the Barber Vintage Festival with displays, entertainment, and more. Photo by Kevin Wing.
Taking in the event, I realized it's been 10 years since the last time we published a bunch of gratuitous motorcycle eye candy images from the Barber Vintage Festival, so here we go with a new selection.
With Harley-Davidson set to bring back the Sprint name on a low-cost new motorcycle, here's a look back at the original. Photo by Lance Oliver.
The BMW Motorrad Days Americas displays, including a pavilion for refreshments and a stage for musical performances, took up a big portion of the vendor area.
Future motorcyclists try on one for size in the BMW Fan Zone. Photo by Kevin Wing.
Those are two AMA Superbike championship-winning BMWs 50 years apart. In the foreground is the M 1000 RR Cameron Beaubier rode to the title for Tytlers Cycle this year. In the background is the Butler & Smith R90S that Reg Pridmore rode to win the first ever AMA Superbike championship in 1976. The R90S was restored by famed builder and tuner Udo Gietl. He led the team that built the 1976 twin into a race bike capable of beating the Japanese four-cylinder machines. Photo by Lance Oliver.
The beautifully restored 1976 R90S that won the first AMA Superbike title naturally had a prominent display spot for the BMW Night at the Museum during the Barber Vintage Festival. Photo by Kevin Wing.
The pro photographers were taking advantage of the brilliant Alabama sunshine and Barber Motorsports Park's whimsical features to take some beauty shots of some of the motorcycles up for sale. Photo by Lance Oliver.
You never know who you might see at the Barber Vintage Festival. World champ Kevin Schwantz made sure to post photos of himself on Instagram with this year's Grand Marshal Eraldo Ferracci and about 50 other people.
Even in the age when you can seemingly buy anything on the internet, motorcycle swap meets like the one at the Barber Vintage Festival are still going strong. Looking for a winter project? Always fancied a Honda CB750? This one needs some love, but... Photo by Lance Oliver.
You can find more than just rusty motorcycle parts in the swap meet. This carried some lucky kid's peanut butter sandwich to elementary school in 1973. Photo by Lance Oliver.
The speedometer you need for your project could be here. Maybe. Photo by Lance Oliver.
The seller was asking $6,500 for this 1999 Excelsior-Henderson in the swap meet. It's undeniably rare. How often do you see one? But is it collectible? Does anyone collect Excelsior-Hendersons? Photo by Lance Oliver.
AHRMA racing puts a wide variety of racing machines on the flowing, natural-terrain Barber circuit. Photo by Kevin Wing.
The sculptures on the grounds are part of what makes Barber Motorsports Park unique. It's easy to see why this corner is called Charlotte's Web. Photo by Kevin Wing.
It's not just roadracing on the main track at the Barber Vintage Festival. From old BSA four-strokes to ring-a-dinger two-strokes, vintage motocross bikes were competing during the Barber Vintage Festival on their own track laid out through the pines. Photo by Lance Oliver.
The spectacular Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum always has more than you can see in a visit. And not all of the collection is on display. Photo by Kevin Wing.
If you don't have a pit bike with you, the best way to get around the beautiful grounds of the Barber Motorsports Park is on the free tram that circles the facility's perimeter road all day. Photo by Lance Oliver.
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