Saturday came across like the first day of summer should. Sunny and warm T-shirt riding weather. I fired up the ride and headed down to the Western Powersports Swap Meet on a bargain hunt and demo ride mission. There were no real deals, but a not bad turn out and I got to try out a Yamaha 1600 RoadStar. What a sweet ride. Smooth, a ton of torque, and comfortable, if a tad tall. It definitely needed some pipes to give it some bark, but a really, really nice bike.

Sunday was even better. My buddy Jan came by in the morning and after a quick coffee we headed down to the Classic & Vintage Swap Meet and Show N’ Shine. It was a little cloudy and cool in the morning, but the weather held and even got better as we headed toward Tsawassen. When we got there at about 9:30, the line up was already around the block and the parking was at a premium. Fortunately the line moved pretty fast, considering the amount of people.

First, we hit the Swap Meet. There were rare and new manufactured stuff for just about anything. There was even a guy in Victoria that makes aftermarket body parts for old Vincents and Triumphs. I found a great deal on some gloves and goggles.

Then we hit the Classic Bike section. They were celebrating 100 years of Vilocette, so there must have been about 20 of those on display, along with classic Indians (including one of 15 that were used in Eisenhower’s motorcade) and even a steam powered bicycle. I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera.

Once we had exhausted the inside, we headed out to checkout the bikes in the parking lot. There must have been close to 500 bikes. There was everything from exotic customs to vintage rare one-of-a-kinds, to the rattiest of the rattiest. A few that stood out in my mind were a huge BMW (at first I thought it was a Triumph Rocket) with nitrous bottles in the tank and billet custom everything. There was a Flathead (yes, Flathead) Dyna rat-bike that looked like it must have been pushed there (obviously built with parts from a trash bin), and a new Honda Rune. My buddy thought the Rune was from some sci-fi movie.

Although I missed the Chef (next time, Andy), I did run into a fellow IAer. SVLonestar was there with his sparkly turquoise 1400 with silver flames. He was just leaving when I recognized his bike, so we only had time to introduce ourselves. What a sweet chopper! The metalflake looks an inch deep. After hearing his drag pipes, I’ve decided to fully uncork. Amazingly, 1400s were conspicuous in their absence. I saw one other 1400 (a burgundy one) and an 800, and that was it besides mine.

After the Swap Meet, we grabbed some grub, then rode out to see George, a friend recovering from some surgery. Then we put another 75 miles on our bikes before we found our way home.

The only problem with excellent weekends like that is the Monday mornings. I did ride to work this morning though, so it’s all good. Even after two cups of coffee I’m feeling pretty mellow. Life is good. I may just make it through the week.