Category: LSR

Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum

By Joe Berk

Time has a way of creeping up on you.  In looking over my list of Motorcycle Classics “Destinations” articles, I was surprised to see I’ve been pitching and publishing stories for the magazine for 20 years.  It all started when a nice young fellow named Landon Hall, MC‘s Associate Editor at the time, saw a few photos I had posted online and asked if I’d be interested in doing a piece for the magazine.  Hell, yeah, I would (and I did).  I wrote a lot of stories on a lot of fun destinations.  I’m not bragging here, folks.  I’m just getting old.

A new editorial staff recently came on board at Motorcycle Classics, and my new editor asked if I could focus more on motorcycle museums.  As a freelancer, I learned a long time ago that you don’t argue with people who buy ink by the barrel, so I set about finding moto museums.  This led me to discover Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum in Pacific Grove, California.  I’d never heard of the Jameson before.  Come to think of it, I’d never heard of Pacific Grove, either.   Both turned out to be pure slices of heaven, as did the ride there and our return home.

Neil Jameson, the man who created Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum.

The story behind the Jameson is a fascinating one, and I heard it firsthand from Staci Jameson Hayes.  Neil Jameson was the man who created the Museum (Staci is his daughter).  Neil is no longer with us, but while he graced our world, he was one hell of a man.  He grew up in Hollister, California, and I found myself wondering if his interest in motorcycles came about as a result of that town’s moto history.  Jameson started as a goat farmer, became a firefighter, and along the way, he became a world class  businessman, investor, and wheeler dealer (Staci told me he was a horse trader extraordinaire).  Neil’s time with us ended in 2021, and during his 82 years on this planet, he was a motorcycle enthusiast, an adventure rider, and a motorcycle collector.

Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum is at 305 Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove, California, directly across the street from the police station and city hall.  Neil Jameson bought the building to showcase his collection in 2010; it formerly housed the local newspaper.

The Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum collection is eclectic.  Many of the bikes were owned and ridden by Neil (including the ’72 R75 BMW that he rode to the Arctic Circle and back).  Some have been restored to original condition; others are in their as-ridden-by-Neil condition.  The restorations were performed by Emma Booton, a woman Staci describes as The Restoration Goddess.  I’ve been to a lot of museums; the restorations at the Jameson are stunning.

Peering into the Museum through the front door.
Another view of the collection through a wide-angle lens. I recently learned that the best photos of a motorcycle are shot at knee height; getting down and back up again to do that is not as easy as it used to be.
Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum has several BMWs. Neil Jameson rode the one in the center of this photo to the Arctic Circle.

As mentioned above, the Jameson collection is eclectic.  For the most part, the bikes are “everyman” motorcycles, the kind you or I might have owned and ridden.  Several of the machines really spoke to me, including a 1982 T140E Triumph Electro.   By the early 1980s, the original Triumph motorcycle company was in a death spiral.  The Electro, an electric start motorcycle, was an attempt by Triumph to counter Japan’s moto success.  It was too little and too late, but it was a valiant and magnificent effort.  The Jameson’s Electro is the first I have ever seen.

A Triumph Bonneville Electro, a gorgeous motorcycle.
The Electro’s colors are magnificent. Note the timing/cam cover casting, enlarged to accept an electric starter.

Japanese street bikes of the 1970s and 1980s are well represented, including several that showcase the engineering accomplishments and marketing experiments of the era.

The Jameson has stunning Kawasaki two-stroke triples, in both 500cc and 750cc flavors.
Let the good times roll: Fiercely fast with acceleration measured on the Richter scale, and handling that could only be described as scary.
Before venturing into big-bore four strokes, Suzuki tried a couple of interesting and unconventional concepts. One was their rotary-engined street bike.
Just in case you missed the point…
Kawasaki had air-cooled big bore two-stroke street bikes; Suzuki chose water cooling for their 750cc two-stroke triple. This bike was affectionately known as the Water Buffalo.
Trust me on this: The Suzuki water-cooled two-stroke triple is a mechanical engineering work of art.

Think CHiPs:  Back in the day, the California Highway Patrol and many local law enforcement agencies used the Kawasaki KZ1000P police motorcycle.  West of the Mississippi River, Kawasaki owned the police motorcycle market (Harley police motors dominated the police market east of the Mississippi).  Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum displays a Kawasaki KZ1000P, and the motorcycle didn’t have to travel very far to get into the collection.

The Kawasaki police bikes are beautiful. Their performance was considerably better than Harley’s, with better acceleration, better braking, higher top speed, and run-flat tires.
Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum’s police Kawasaki came from the Pacific Grove Police Department, which is directly across the street from the Museum.

There’s a Bonneville Salt Flats bike, too.  It’s a 1965 Honda CB-160 streamliner.  My father’s first motorcycle was a 1965 Honda CB-160.  I’m pretty sure this one is faster than my Dad’s bike.

A small-displacement Honda streamliner.
Another view of the Honda LSR bike.

As mentioned above, Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum has a great collection of British motorcycles.    BSAs, Bonnevilles, and Nortons were the hot ticket in the 1960s, and all three are well represented in the Museum.

A BSA Firebird Scrambler. BSA had this hot rod; Triumph had the Bonneville. The 1960s were a glorious time for British motorcycles.

My two favorite motorcycles of the many beautiful machines on display in the Jameson are the Triumph Electro described above, and an absolutely stunning Ariel Square Four.  Ariel based the Square Four’s engine design on two 500cc twins in series, and the result was a visually-arresting motorcycle dominated by its engine.  Finished in a deep maroon livery, the Museum’s Square Four is an amazing specimen.

An Ariel Square Four, a massive and impressive motorcycle.
A tighter shot of the Ariel Square Four engine. This is a beautiful machine.

Pacific Grove, California, is a nice little town bordered by the Pacific Ocean, the Del Monte Forest, and the City of Monterey.  We rode out to the lighthouse and watched huge waves crashing into the breakers for a bit.

Looking down Forest Avenue, standing in front of Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum. That’s the Pacific Ocean out there.
Land’s end on the Monterey peninsula.

We fell in love with Pacific Grove, the coastal community in which Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum is located.  Everything about the place and everyone we met made us feel like we belonged there, including Staci and her husband, Russ.  The town just feels comfortable and it’s a place we’d like to visit again.    We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Toasties, which was surprisingly reasonably priced (especially considering the area).  I’m told that Pepper’s Mexicali Café’s burritos are world class.  Both restaurants are within a mile of the Museum (Pepper’s is only a block away).  Our ride into Pacific Grove took us past the Naval Postgraduate School and the Defense Language Institute; the ride back home took us along California State Route 68, California State Route 17, and the Chualar River Road through the Salinas Valley.  It was all magnificent.

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The Salton Sea 400

The date is 18 April 2021 and the event is the Salton Sea 400, an endurance motor scooter event that circumnavigates southern California’s Salton Sea.  The Motor Scooter International Land Speed Federation is the group that put the event together (they do this sort of thing regularly), and I can tell you from personal experience that Alan Spears and the MSILSF crew are a good bunch of people.   I rode a 150cc California Scooter (along with good buddies TK and Arlene) in a similar event around Death Valley a few years ago and it was a hoot.

The contact info is in the poster above and here (and you should register to run in the event).  If you have a scooter and you’d like to run it around the Salton Sea, you might consider participating.

Bonneville Speed Week

Berk and I have a busy ExhaustNotes.us August planned. You’ve already read about his Three Flags tour on the new, untested RX4 Zongshen and I’m finalizing plans for an assault on the Bonneville speed trials. No, I won’t be racing Mini Moto Madness but seeing as how I’ve never been to the salt for Speed Week and I’m not getting any younger I figured this is the year.

It wasn’t really my idea. It was Mike’s. Mike lives on a ranch in Carrizozo, New Mexico. I met Mike a hundred miles north at a little restaurant in Willard. I wanted shredded beef tacos but the restaurant was out of beef. I didn’t want to use up my private stash so I went back to the menu. That’s when Mike piped up and told me to try the pork tacos. I had three pork tacos with beans and rice. I recommend them highly.

Willard is kind of a slow place. The intersection of Highways 60 and 42 is the main topic of conversation in town. Mike and I got to shooting the breeze like all motorcyclists do and it turns out Mike likes to ride dirt trails on his BMW thumper 650. I mean you had me at dirt, you know? We started doing a few rides and then the Bonneville thing came up. We’re going to try and hit a few dirt roads on our way north.

We need to make pretty good time on this trip so Godzilla, while reliable, is too stressed out at 70 mph leaving The Wedge, my Husqvarna 510. The Husky’s fork seals are leaking badly. I’ve bought new seals to install. That should be interesting as I’ve never worked on upside down forks. The clutch lever is broken from a spill I took in Big Bend Park. I’m going to cut the end off a donor lever and weld it to the stub remaining from the original lever. It should make a nice, Frankenstein looking part when I’m through. I know I can buy a new lever. I just feel more at home doing things the hard way. The drive chain is still in fair shape but with 11,000 miles on the thing I’m going to change it as a prophylactic measure.

The tires are new-ish on the Husky but slanted towards street riding and not so good for dirt. Mike’s heavy BMW 650 has decent dirt tires. I’m hoping my bike being 200 pounds lighter will even us up on the trails. I’ll also bring along a leaking plastic jug of fuel so that all my camping gear and clothing will be soaked with gas after 15 miles.

Motorcycle camping is not my idea of fun. Either you carry no gear and enjoy the motorcycle ride only to suffer as you roll around in the dirt trying to sleep at night or you bring enough equipment to camp comfortably and have a miserable ride on your overloaded bike stopping every few miles to repack.

Mike and I will be at the KOA in West Wendover from August 12th to the 14th. If you’re around town stop by and visit us. Bring beer if you want us to be happy to see you. Our campsite is good for up to six people. I’ll have coffee. There will be fire.  It’ll be fun. You’ll see.

The Route 66 MSILSF Endurance Run!

You’re going to like this. It’s an endurance event, but not the kind you might be thinking of. No BMW GS ADV monsters, no Gold Wings, no Harleys, in fact, no motorcycles. It’s scooter time, folks!

Alan Spears, MSILSF honcho and motor scooter madman…my kind of guy!

First, let’s wind back the clock about 8 years. Let’s see, that would put us at about 2011, and that would be the Hell’s Loop scooter run, organized by the Motor Scooter International Land Speed Federation, and in particular, my good buddy Alan Spears. Alan, you see, is a bit different than the rest of the children. He’s an attorney by day, but at night he becomes a superhero dedicated to fighting villains and standing for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Well, sort of. Alan, you see, organizes motor scooter endurance events. I know this because the one I entered was the aforementioned Hell’s Loop, and it was a hoot.

‘Twas a dark and stormy night…nah, not really. The sun was shining but it was freezing as the three of us rode our California Scooters into Death Valley back in 2011 during the Hell’s Loop event. That’s good buddies TK and Arlene out in front of me.

There were three of us, and we were on California Scooters. Those were the little 150cc Mustang replicas you’ve been reading about on the ExhaustNotes blog, the very same ones we rode to Cabo and back. The event was a hoot, and we might have won it, but one of our group forgot their gloves and then we got lost, and then…well, you get the idea. But we did finish, and we did 400 miles in a single day on our 150cc Mustangs. We froze our butts off, too, but what’s an adventure ride without a little loss of creature comforts? You say you want proof? It didn’t happen if there are no pictures? Hey, there’s that one above and here are a couple more…

Flat out on my 150 somewhere in Death Valley. Note the Baja decal on the windshield.
Filling up in Panamint, at $5.19 a gallon. Those little bikes got nearly 100 mpg, so I didn’t care.

All right, so where am I going with this story?

You can’t keep a good man down, and Alan is a good man. His next adventure is the Route 66 X-Treme Endurance 400-Mile run. It’s going to be the 21st of April in 2019, it’s going to be in Arizona, and you know what? I’m working real hard to scare me up a scooter. I want to play in this one, folks. Alan, you be my witness…I’m casting about to find a scoot. Contingent on that, Amigo, count me in.

The Route 66 MSILSF route, scheduled for April 2019. I have got to find a ride…because I want to play in this game!
Part of the Route 66 itinerary for the April endurance event. I’m guessing this is somewhere near Oatman, Arizona.

If you would like more information, you can contact Alan directly at msilsf@yahoo.com. Hopefully, I’ll see you in Arizona next April!

Malls, Munro, Taj Mahals, and more…

An Indian in the cupboard? Not quite. Read on.

I guess I should start this piece by explaining I’m not even sure what the Clifton Club is. After spending several minutes on Google researching it, all I could find is that it’s either a wedding and Bar Mitzvah venue in Lakewood, Ohio, or a series of bling pieces from high-end watch maker Baume and Mercier. I’m going to go with Door No. 2 on this one. It’s the only explanation that makes sense in the context of what follows.

Let me back up a step. Yesterday I chauffeured the ladies to Fashion Island in Newport. It’s a very trendy shopping mall in a very trendy part of So Cal (think Neiman-Marcus, Nordstrom’s, French poodles, BMWs, and the like).  For me, a visit to any shopping mall is torture, but it keeps me in good graces with the rest of the clan and builds up goodwill points for the next collectible firearm purchase, so it all works out.

Anyway, while the girls were shopping I wandered into a high-end watch store (think Rolex and armed guards) and I noticed, of all things, a motorcycle. A new Indian, to be precise, in the middle of the store. I’ve never ridden an Indian (new or vintage), but I always thought they were beautiful motorcycles (again, both new and vintage).  I’m not a big cruiser guy, but if I was, I think I would buy an Indian. They are good-looking motorcycles, and my buddies Joe Gresh and Duane both hold them in high regard (and that’s a powerful endorsement).

While I was admiring the Indian, a sales guy approached me (my new good buddy Eduardo…Eduardo, I think, is a particularly elegant name).  Eduardo saw my confusion (a motorcycle in a jewelry store?), and he explained that Indian had a marketing partnership with Baume and Mercier, a high-end Swiss watchmaker.  It all centered on Burt Munro and his record-breaking land speed record activities.  Indian.  Baume and Mercier.  Burt Munro.   Ah, it all came together.

The Baume and Mercier Indian watch. $3900, and it could be yours. Motorcycle not included. It is a beautiful timepiece.  It’s part of their Clifton Club collection, and if you wear it, you could be a member, too.
Indian got it right.  It’s an OHV engine, but the valve covers are designed to emulate the flathead design of the original Indians.  It’s masterful, I think.
There’s a lot of room in those freight and setup fees.  Don’t ever pay what any dealer asks for in these two categories. Read 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM, available on Amazon.com, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Do these marketing partnerships work? I suppose they do. More than 20 years ago, Ford teamed with Harley to offer a special limited edition F-150 pickup with Harley decals.  As near as I could tell, the decals were the only thing special about that truck, and the only thing limiting the edition was how many they could sell. I had a lot of fun teasing a friend of mine who owned both a Harley Bad Boy (yep, they actually had a model with that name) and the limited edition truck. I drove a ginormous Tahoe and I rode a Suzuki TL1000 in those days.  I told my friend I was going to put Suzuki decals on the Chevy and call it a TL-Ho. Good times.

Anyway, the Baume and Mercier watch I saw yesterday was cool (at $3900, it should be), and the Indian was beautiful. I hope the deal works out for Baume and Mercier, and for Indian. I pondered the Harley and Ford partnership mentioned above; I’m guessing nothing came of that, as the two companies seemed to have parted ways.  Then I remembered that Bentley, the luxury British carmaker, has a partnership with Breitling (Breitling is another expensive Swiss watchmaker).

I wondered…what’s in it for the companies that strike up such partnerships, and what’s in it for their customers? I don’t think there’s any kind of pricing advantage or free gear package, so what would be the attraction?  Is it simply living a branded lifestyle (you know, for insecure rich folks who need something more in their lives)?   Or is it somehow making a statement about one’s wealth?   Look at me!  I drive a Bentley and wear a Breitling!

That got me to thinking…would a marketing partnership work for other brands, and in particular, would such a partnership work for less expensive motorcycles and watches?   You know, look at me!  I ride an RX3 and I wear a Timex!

What if you could sell a new motorcycle and give away a free watch with it? I’m thinking of China bikes, India bikes (not Indian Moto, but bikes actually made in India), and maybe Thai bikes.  It might work if you included a free watch with each new motorcycle, and it would cost essentially nothing. I visited the Canton Fair in Guangzhou last year and I’m on their email list now, so I get all kinds of offers from Chinese manufacturers.  You can buy new Chinese watches for $0.62 each (and if you’re thinking they are low quality, you need to think again and maybe research where what you’re currently wearing is actually manufactured).

The branding and theming opportunities might be fun.  KLRs are made in Thailand…suppose you got a free milk-crate-themed watch to match your KLR’s topcase?  The KTM 390 is made in India; perhaps you could include a Taj Mahal themed watch with each new 390 (isn’t that what the “TM” in KTM stands for, anyway?).  Think of all the marques with models, engines, or major components manufactured in Thailand, India, and China…Hawk, SWM, CSC, Royal Enfield, BMW, Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Honda, and more.  You can see the possibilities.

Yeah, this could work.