The bi-annual TLCMC camping trip to the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival came around this year and with great excitement we booked our tickets when they came out, or some of us did anyway.  Larry, our illustrious leader and chief ride / trip planner made a serious calendar error and booked a cruise for the same weekend.  No problem you would think, go out for a cruise and then continue on to Barber, except this cruise was on a boat and with his wife.  No getting out of that one, matey. Nice one, Larry, LOL.

With a couple of the lads now in Athens and Bolivia... both in the Southeast US I hasten to add, not Greece and South America, the decision was made to drive, but still camp in the usual spot in Campsite B at Barber.  Driving was potentially a dangerous strategy since the last time we went to Barber Mel bought a classic BMW from the swap meet!  Throwing caution to the wind, including potential wrath of better halves if purchases were made, the trio of Dan, Mel, and Dave firmed up plans.  Dave and Mel would drive down on Thursday evening, and Dan would drive down on Friday morning.

Everything was going great until about a month before the big event the weather men proudly proclaimed that 2026 was an exceptional year with no hurricanes at all from the Atlantic side.  Well, that was the kiss of death, and within a couple of weeks they were tracking Isaias, not as a hurricane, but as a tropical storm. That's OK, we can do that... 

The week of the trip the forecast worsened, and Isaias became a Cat 1, then a Cat 2, then a Cat 3 hurricane with a storm track going right over Leeds, AL, the home of Barber.  The storm would be significantly weakened once it made landfall though and would be down to a post-tropical storm as far north as Barber, so off we all went to enjoy the weekend even if it would be a bit breezy and wet on Saturday. That's OK, we can do that...

Dave and Mel pitched camp on Thursday as planned and started exploring the event. Dan arrived around 9:30 on Friday morning and they finished the camp setup. Now I must say there is something about having more cargo space with a vehicle than a bike that seems to invoke some sort of empirical law of physics requiring maximum cargo capacity to be used, along the lines of...

• (Strictly Necessary Stuff) + (All Manner of Unnecessary and Excessively Oversized Stuff) = MAX(Combined Vehicle Cargo Capacity)

 

On reflection we didn't so much have a campsite, but a small village setup.  So, having set up camp the trio set off to explore the event, fan zone, and swap meet.  It was clear very quickly that this year's event was greatly reduced compared to previous years and notably absent were the multiple clubs that usually adorned the spaces alongside the perimeter road.  Entering the fan zone there was a visible reduction in the number of vendors as well.  We grabbed lunch and used the BMW Motorrad covered dining area where a pretty good live band was playing. It turned out the band was from Atlanta, GA, so local boys to us.  We headed over to the swap meet after lunch and things started to feel a bit more like the usual Barber festival we love.  So much cool and interesting stuff to see and resist buying.  

Along the way around the swap meet we came across a beautifully restored 1947 Vincent HRD.  

 

The Vincents are such an incredible piece of engineering and as we admired it we noticed a couple of very interesting features; 1) dual drum brakes

 

...and dual rear sprockets.  But the machine only had one drive chain, on the right side as you would expect, so the puzzle was, why the extra sprocket.  The clarification came from the owner.  Apparently, these bikes were regularly ridden to track days and then raced.  Street final gearing is not adequate for racing, so the rear wheel would be removed and reversed to put the racing sprocket on the right side.  At the end of the meet, assuming bike and rider were unscathed, the process was reversed and the Vincent was ridden home again.

 

Now I must admit, since the 2024 event I have been hankering after a classic four-cylinder Honda, most specifically a 750 Four.  This year there were quite a few and while the going rate was more than I thought reasonable, we had two pickup trucks along with my SUV. The temptation was strong!

In the end I resisted and didn't buy anything at all.  I did however find that Kawasaki Z900s are a particularly attractive motorcycle and my fascination with the Honda may have been usurped.  In particular I discovered the Kawasaki W series of retro bikes, and the 2018 Kawasaki Z900RS (Retro Style).  What a beautiful bike, with all the modern conveniences, most especially fuel injection, so none of vintage downsides of trying to keep 4 carbs tuned and in balance; that has a significant appeal to me with limited time to pursue my primary hobby of choice.

Other interesting finds at the swap meet included a Hercules rotary engine motorcycle...

 

a six-cylinder Benelli Sei...

 

whatever the heck this is...

 

the biggest Cushman we had ever seen...

 

and this gorgeous 1950 Sunbeam S7 Deluxe.

 

Departing the swap meet we went to the Isle of Triumph, the mark being a passion of mine and Dave's.  There we found several interesting and unusual bikes including this modified Scrambler 1200...

 

Moving on from the Isle of Triumph took us to the demo rides paddock.  Here we found the major makes represented, including Royal Enfield, Suzuki, Yamaha, and others. 

Royal Enfield has really got into a brand-new stride all of their own now, having broken away from the legacy separate motor and gearbox configuration that persisted all the way to 2007. Although prices have risen significantly, you still get a lot of bang for your Buck with an RE. At the Royal Enfield demo ride pavilion a couple of bikes in particular caught our eye, including this 650 Shotgun...

 

...and the new Himalaya. It had a very interesting panier configuration with them mounted on front facing brackets ahead of the gas tank.  We speculated that this provided some element of weather-proof and environment protection for the rider's legs.  Either way, it looked pretty cool.

 

As we wandered around the demo area we discussed the incoming weather and whether (see what I did there ;)) we should stay as planned and tough it out, or if we really should act our age and play safe.  We returned to camp having decided en-route that the sensible thing to do was indeed break camp and retreat.  Concern over the wind and the rain in and of itself was not really the ruling factor, but consideration of the aftermath with the camping ground and every soft area of the Barber facility being water-logged was a significant concern.  Likewise driving home through potential storm damaged areas would be no picnic and would seriously put a dampener (see what I did there too ;)) on the whole weekend.

As we broke down camp (considerably quicker than it went up!) we received an alert from the Barber organizers to say that no overnight camping was to be allowed after 7pm Friday, and that all pop-ups in particular were to be collapsed and stored securely.  We had made the right decision and were soon on our way, closing out another great Barber Vintage Festival earlier than planned, but it was fun while it lasted.

Footnote:

We learned that Barber reopened on Saturday morning with abbreviated activities and many vendors returned to complete the 2026 Barber Vintage Motorcyle Festival despite Isaias's worst efforts.

On a clear Friday, Mel and Larry met in Cleveland for a one-night camp-n-ride.  Although the weeks prior were mostly wet, the guys took full advantage of an awesome dry front which provided cool mornings, dry afternoons, and perfect camping.  Richard wasn’t able to ride with us, but drove to TWO in Suches and camped with us.  

The riders enjoyed the very best North Georgia has to offer, and all with very little traffic!... the Richard Russell Scenic Highway, Wolf Pen Gap, then twisty 60 north to Van Zandt’s for lunch.  But since both riders were on adventure bikes, they folded in some nice forest service they hadn’t ridden in years… the Helton Creek Falls (with a couple full water crossings) and the West Wolf Creek forest service connecting Sunrise Grocery to near Wolf Pen Gap.