Motorcycle lovers gather for all-European show

Motorcycle lovers gathered around Dick Mann under the cottonwoods in Fuji Park on Saturday for the BMT Vintage Motorcycle Swap Meet. Mann, 69, was the first rider ever to win championships in all four types of American Motorcycle Association racing.

"There's not much bureaucracy here, just a bunch of motorcycle enthusiasts," he said. "This is one of my favorite events."

The annual BMT show happens the third weekend of July each year. This year about 40 show bikes were registered.

While Mann told stories about winning the grand national championship in both '63 and '71, about 1,000 motorcycle lovers spent the day trading parts, talking shop and kneeling in the grass looking at engines.

The bikes on show Saturday were all European or British. Triumphs, Panthers and BSAs from England, Bultacos from Spain and an Austrian Puch were all highly polished, reflecting faces in chrome.

"We are the last British- and European-only show on the West coast," said organizer Mark Topping of Eureka, Calif. Topping is the "T" in BMT. The other two organizers are Mann and Chuck Bulwinkle -- both from Douglas County.

Topping thanked Carson City and the parks department.

"The parks department staff have been extremely helpful," he said.

No one profits from the event, Topping said.

"We do this because we should," he said. Bulwinkle, Mann and Topping hope to make enough to seed another show next year.

This year was the ninth annual.

Do they plan to shoot for 10?

"We're shooting for 25," said Mann with a laugh. Mann said since he retired he only works on motorcycles for half days -- 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

He was born in Reno and has lived in Gardnerville for 10 years.

"I was going to grammar school in Reno before the war --EW-W-two, that is," he said.