Quail Motorcycle Gathering Sports Twice the Enthusiasm of That Other Show

• There are a lot of car shows in the world, but not a lot of motorcycle shows.

• One of the best motorcycle shows, certainly the most sophisticated, is The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, held each spring in the same spot as the other Quail.

• While the bikes are cool, the conversations are cooler, from regular riders all the way up to racing royalty. Both were onhand last Saturday for the 13th Quail Motorcycle Gathering.

There are many great motorcycle gatherings in the U.S., from the One Moto Show custom bike event in Portland, all the way to rowdy, T-shirt-contest chug-a-lugs of Daytona Bike Week and Sturgis. But none are so, dare we say, genteel and sophisticated as The Quail Motorcycle Gathering. Yes, genteel. While most attendees wear Aerostich, Dainese or Alpinestars, there are some guys, most of them judges, in suits.

And yes, the location is the same Quail in Carmel Valley, Calif. that hosts The Quail A Motorsports Gathering later in the summer as part of the big Pebble Beach juggernaut that bulldozes through the Monterey Peninsula every August. That other Quail event’s official website doesn’t even list ticket prices. The Quail Motorcycle Gathering is a mere $60, whereas the fancy Quail Motorsports Gathering maybe 10 times that much, if you can even get a ticket.

The motorcycle event is far more relaxed, far closer to the real enthusiasm bike enthusiasts share for their two-wheels.

“Almost everyone here rides,” said founder and organizer Gordon McCall, himself a motorcycle rider and restorer.

So, no poseurs.

Indeed, the main thing that’s missing here is any hint of pretension. You could talk to anyone about motorcycles at the show and they’d almost certainly be happy to talk back. Impromptu conversations carried the day. Entrants didn’t have their entries dropped off by handlers and then spent the day on a private yacht waiting to hear if they’d won Best in Show. Motorcycle owners spent the day with their bikes, happily starting them up and revving the engines for anyone who asked them to. The guy who won Best of Show, John Goldman, could be seen smiling away, firing up his 1939 Miller-Balsamo Coroneta and explaining the machine’s intricacies to anyone and everyone.