Roy Griffith owns The Turntable Shoppe in Indianapolis and rides a 1972 Triumph Bonneville. Analog music and vintage motorcycles are part of everyday life for Roy and he’s no stranger to the repairs and maintenance that come along with ’em.
Classic European and vintage Japanese motorcycles line the curbs of North Lincoln Avenue in downtown Chicago along with a sprinkling of streetfighters, choppers, bobbers and modern bikes. There’s also a strong contingent of old and new scooters mixed into the Mods vs Rockers event hosted by Ton Up Club of Chicago. While it’s a wonderful bike show, it’s great for people-watching as well.
Vintage motorcycles and scooters are sometimes best experienced with the phone number of an honest mechanic handy. Some motorcyclists don’t mind twisting off bolt-heads and chasing finicky carbs for weeks and there are always those guys who say, “I work on my own stuff.” For us, we can understand trying to save a few bucks on some fixes, but a mechanic whose life’s work is decoding the varying innards of aging European motorbikes? That’s a priceless contact.
We like to find motorcycle shops that hearken back to the good ol’ days where there’s a familial vibe in the air…and maybe a dusty jukebox in the corner. Shops that don’t have to adhere to corporate requirements are usually charming, in a concrete-floor and exposed-rafters kinda way. Even more unique is a shop whose owner is also the head mechanic. Chicago’s ACE Motorcycle & Scooter Co. is such a place.
Every Father’s Day weekend for the past seven years, Larry Fletcher and the Ton Up Club of Chicago have hosted one of the coolest motorcycle and scooter gatherings in the country. If you haven’t attended Chicago’s Mods vs Rockers, watch this video for a mere taste of what you’d experience on North Lincoln Ave and the surrounding areas.
Despite rain clouds rolling in over Illinois Street, bikes of all types rode into Indy for the 5th Annual Rocker’s Reunion. There were Beemers, Brit bikes, Italian motorcycles n’scoots, the Big Four and more. They were stock, chopped, cafe’d, mint, ratted, raked, old and new (see the pics and video below!).
