Salon Moto Légende 18-20 November 2011.
By Jean-Nicolas Siebert, AKA Archimedou Paris, France.
The Salon Moto Légende classic motorcycle show took place in the third week-end of
November in Paris. This annual meeting at the flower park of Vincennes opened
Friday at 5 p.m. which is really appreciated by people who just finished their
work week.
About my personal story.
This Friday evening, i was looking for some well restored Kawasaki
Z1000R Eddie Lawson replica and wanted to pick-up some ideas for my own restoration
project. I only found two bikes.
The first one was a fully restored
this bike's restoration was done by a professional dealer. He told me that he
found a old bike which needed to be restored and made the customer follow
each step of the work with pictures. The project was entirely personalized by the
customer. The lucky guy scheduled to come seeing the finished bike the second
day of the motorcycle show. I was impressed by the quality of the restoration
but not absolutely crazy about it. It was very beautiful, but some details would
be different on my bike. Particularly about the placement of the radiator hoses
and the color of some engine covers. The guy told me that this project was sold
to the customer for 14.850€. (France new record price for this model).
The second bike was a Z1000R built for racing only. Some details are
really well done,
Double ignition,
Swingarm with oil tank,
Lockheed brakes,
S1 seat cover,
CR carburetors, cut rotor cover for ground clearance,
and much more!
Unfortunately for me, the position of the bike on the stand was
not good enough to make nice pictures. That was really sad! The guy is on a
french racing motorcycle forum where i am too, so i will contact him to see if he
is interested in posting some pictures about his bike on this site.
Otherwise, there was a wonderful Kawasaki Godier-Genoud exposed.
Alain Genoud and Georges Godier ( both french motorcycle racers ) won the
world champion endurance title in 1974 et 1975 and started making their own
bike (based on Kawasaki) in 1976.
They produced many race-derived bike's
whose the most famous is the “ godier-genoud 1135R ” (Z1000R basis with
1135cc, producing around 120CV for 208kg, with magnesium wheels, brembo
gold brakes and discs, and much more.
This year Yamaha was honored for its 50 years of participating in
Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The brand has started the adventure in 1961 at the
France grand prix. A special stand brought together 23 official race motorcycles,
driven by well-known racers like Rossi, Sarron ( TZ 250 ), Agostini, Read ( 250
RD ), Pons, and Roberts (500 OW 60).
Some of these rider's were presents on the stands like the man who gave
Yamaha's first world champion title : Phil Read.
Yamaha YZR 500 OW 60
Yamaha TZ 750 OW 31
Yamaha TZ 750
In the exhibition, 350 exponents were presents. They could be grouped by
3 categories : - The motorcycle clubs which showed very beautiful restored bike
– The dealers selling old motorcycle pieces – Independent groups whose
members are on the same internet forum.
About the old motorcycle pieces, there was plenty of choice for people
looking for their missing parts.
Some stands looked more like a small junk yard than an ordered place to find the so-desired part.
Kawasaki used this exhibition to show its new vintage motorcycle,
the W800 special edition.
Triumph did the same with its Bonneville model.
Some more pictures taken at the show :
Kawasaki Z900
Kawasaki Z1
Honda 500 four
Yamaha XS 1100
Triumph 750 n°70, won the bol d.or 1971
Magnat Debon BLG 1933
Suzuki GSX-R 750 limited
Kawasaki H1R,
Hope you visit the show next year in Paris, Jean-Nicolas Siebert,