Dream Bike: 1931 Excelsior-Henderson

Seriously?   A 1931 Excelsior-Henderson?   That’s my dream bike?  Well, sort of.   This was a bike that had its day well before I was born, and you might wonder:  How did it come to be my dream bike?

The story goes like this:  In April of 2006, my good buddy Marty and I rode to the Hansen Dam British Bike Meet here in southern California.   It’s a cool event that happens once of twice a year (the next one is this weekend, as a matter of fact).  The Hansen Dam meet is a photo op on steroids, as the classic British and other bikes that show up are incredibly beautiful.  I’ve been going for years and I have a lot of photos to show for it.

Anyway, the events run like this:   The bikes all gather (typically around 400 or so show up), and after everybody socializes and oogles the bikes for a couple of hours (that’s oogles, not Googles), most of the bikes leave for a big ride through the mountains.   On advice of counsel (that would be Marty), I never went on the ride.   To hear Marty explain it, these are old British bikes, and riding in that parade involves a lot of dodging and weaving to avoid oil spills and, you know, pieces of old British motorcycles. We always wait for the mass exodus to leave, and then Marty and I bail.

That’s what we had done on that April morning back in 2006.   Most of the older classics had left and Marty and I were just about to saddle up and go home when this really classy old bike rode in.  I was intrigued by the bike, it looked to be all original, and I snapped a quick photo when it rolled to a stop…

I was totally focused on the bike and I was snapping away with my little Sony Mavica (those early digital cameras were awesome).  I hardly noticed the rider…even after he took his helmet off.  But then…wowee!

Yep, it was Jay Leno.   At first, I was the only guy there taking pictures.  I asked what the bike was and he told me:  A ’31 Henderson.   Where’d you find it, I asked.   “I just got it.  This 92-year-old guy called me from Vegas, said he was getting a divorce, and he needed cash fast…”

I thought old Jay was pulling my leg, and then I saw the video I’ve included below.  I guess that was a true story.  Go figure.

Jay was pretty pumped up about the bike.  I think it might have been the first time he had it out.  He told me the bike was running 70 mph on the way over, and he pointed out the speedo telltale to prove it (Mr. Leno talks about that in the YouTube below, too).

Hey, but that’s enough of my yapping and keyboard tapping…check out the photos!

I sort of remembered Jay telling me the bike was a ’36, but I guess my memory is fuzzy.  I found a video online and it’s a 1931 model.   The video is cool, and I’m including it here for you to enjoy…

I’ve seen Jay Leno a half dozen times or so at motorcycle gatherings here in southern California.  He really is a nice guy.  There’s no pretentiousness or arrogance at all, and no security entourage.  It’s just Jay, a fellow gearhead.  I remember talking to this nice elderly woman at the Rock Store souvenir shop and she told me Jay was a nice guy.  She went on to tell me that most of the other celebs who show up at the Rock Store were (to use her words) “real assholes.”

When Jay arrives at an event, he is swamped with folks wanting photos and autographs as soon as he takes his helmet off, and he always goes along with the requests.  The pattern I’ve observed is that the attention lasts 15 or 20 minutes, folks get their photos and autographs, and then the King of Late Night Comedy is just another one of the guys wandering around checking out the other bikes.  I’ve got a few photos of Jay over the years, and it’s always a treat to see him.  I came home and told everybody I knew about seeing Jay Leno the first time it happened, and hey, maybe he went home and told everybody he knew about seeing me.  I’ve seen Jay Leno at the Rock Store, at Newcomb’s, and at the Hansen Dam events.  I even bumped into him once at Warner Brothers, but that’s a story for another time and another blog.

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