Grand National Roadster Show

It was a pretty good haul for Team Cycle World at the Grand National Roadster Show, big daddy of the West Coast custom car scene. Among the 450 or so hot-rods, kustoms, concepts and jalopies on display at the Pomona Fairplex were 40 or 50 motorcycles.

"Vukie," my 1947 Triumph 500 bob-job done up as a tribute to two-time Indy winner Bill Vukovich, took first-in-class. Our latest project bike, the "Web Surfer Special," built with as many eBay, garage-sale, dealer-takeoff and back-of-the-garage parts as possible, was second in that same class. The class? Track Bike, never mind that both are street-legal and do not meet the "Motocross, Off-Road, Scrambler" description in the rulebook. In silhouette, both do look like dirt-trackers so maybe that was the judges' reasoning.

Anyway, a trophy is a trophy, and pretty grand hardware they were, too, if maybe borrowing a little too heavily from the Bowling League School of Design. I gave Richard Pollock, builder of Web Surfer, the second-place statue; Vukie's builder Wes White and I may have to work out some kind of joint arrangement for the top trophy.

Biggest prize of the weekend—a trophy and $3000—was handed out in the AMBM class, or America's Most Beautiful Motorcycle. Winner was a neo board-tracker built by Christian Dotson of Dotson Design, an outfit that caters to custom-bike and hot-rod clientele. This was Dotson's second AMBM award; his "Swingshot," a Panhead-powered bike featuring forkless, hub-center-steering front suspension, took top honors in 2007.

About this year's gold-getter he says, "The bike is powered by an 84-inch reproduction flathead Indian motor by Kiwi Indian. The wheels are 23-inch in the front, 20-inch in the rear with a 200mm tire. Virtually everything else was designed, engineered and fabricated by Dotson Design. The tapered tubing utilized in the fork legs and swingarm came from vintage automotive suspension components. The engine oil is contained within the frame, along with the wiring for the lighting in a separate conduit. The leaf-spring suspension was derived from previous Indian designs, and incorporates adjusters to dial-in ride height."