Vintage Motorcycles at Half Moon Bay CA
May 5th 2007

Photographs taken by Vintage Focus at the Legend of the Motorcycle May 5, 2007
On CD as 1500 JPEG photographs to view on your computer
On DVD as a slideshow movie of 1300 photographs with background music

This show is officially known as the Legend of the Motorcycle - International Concours d'Elegance. This was the 2nd year of this now famous event on the grounds of the Ritz Carlton Hotel at Half Moon Bay, California. This is a picture perfect place overlooking the Pacific Coast just a little south of San Francisco. Not an event for the casual visitor with a $65 entrance fee for this 10am-4pm May 5th show. But for any vintage motorcycle enthusiast lucky enough to be in the area on May 5th it was money well spent to see so many great motorcycles in such a beautiful place.

The featured marques were Excelsior, Henderson, and Vincents but there were 16 classes of motorcycles to be judged so no matter what your favorites might be you were likely to find an example. Unfortunately the Excelsior and Hendersons were judged in the Hotel Courtyard which I totally missed in my walks around the grounds. But I did photograph just about every other vintage bike in the show or ridden in including most of the 41 Vincents on dispaly and a few others ridden to the show and parked on the street.

To even be accepted for judging was an honor so all the motorcycles lined up on the lush lawn were important examples of motorcycle history. The aristocratic atmosphere could be enjoyed if you had money to burn or ignored (except for the $65) if you just wanted to enjoy the motorycles. If you arrived early you were free to roam the grounds until 10am. Although it was a beautiful sunny day there was a constant breeze so you were never really hot and in fact dressing in riding clothes was just about right. These photographs will give you a good view of most vintage bikes in the show and ridden in and parked on the street. If a bike had a label there is a closeup of it and usually 5 views of the bike. There are also many photographs of the grounds. If you wonder what it was like to be there these photographs will give you a pretty good idea.

The CD is like a big folder of files. You put the CD in your computer and bring up the CD and click the first photo to view it and then your software should allow you to move forward and back and display it as a slide show. You will be able to see lots of detail and do close ups. If you want to see lots of details you would want the CD. Most cycles are shown with 5 views but sometimes fewer views or just a single shot of a bike and rider. The CD has 1500 photos on it in 1280x960 jpeg files.

The DVD has the photos presented as a slideshow movie with background music and transition effects between the photos. If you want to just set back and enjoy 90 minutes of the motorcycles and show grounds then you want the DVD. They are organized the same so it is not hard to go back and forth between CD and DVD if you have them both. The DVD has around 1300 photos which is slightly less than the CD because of space limitations.

Sample Photos

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