The 2017 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club Show at Daytona Bike Week

Twenty Seventeen's Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club event held in Eustis, Florida was a sparse yet earnest affair. Held during Bike Week ever since I can remember the entry list always waxed and waned depending on wind direction but moving the AHRMA Daytona vintage motorcycle races to October and eliminating the vintage motorcycle auction at Stetson University's basketball court has seemed to dampen enthusiasm more broadly.

What remained was a slim-ish selection of choice Japanese iron parked inside a large fairground building. Surrounding the building were vendors selling mostly Harley-Davidson parts. As an experiment I should start marking that Harley stuff in some obscure way: I swear I recognize some of those parts from twenty years ago. The few Japanese bikes up for grabs were priced for a stronger economy, like a basket LC350 in rough shape for $1500! I didn't see a single bike I would purchase but then I'm notoriously thrifty.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I enjoyed the show and the bikes on display were clean examples. There was a Penton 125 6-Days signed by John Penton, a sweet Kawasaki 350 3-pot screaming meany next to Honda’s milder 350-4. The show is free to attend which is a rare thing during Daytona’s Bike Week and the weather was beautiful.

In a perfect world I’d like to see show participation stepped up, more Japanese-part vendors and a wider selection of food trucks. The VJMC holds their show very early in the Bike Week schedule. Things are just getting started and the VJMC is already over. I’m thinking moving the event towards the heart of Bike Week action may increase the rolling stock and attendance but even if VJMC does nothing I’ll keep showing up. The VJMC show is one of those undiscovered Bike Week gems happening all over the Daytona region. I’ll see you there next year.