1937 Rudge Sports Special and 1938 Rudge Ulster

belonging to Andrew Bosson of the Canadian Vintage

Motorcycle Group’s Great Pine Ridge Section

– Holly Varey photo.

    Ah, Paris on the last weekend of spring. The smells from the outdoor cafes, the views from the tour boats on the Seine …
    Oops, wrong Paris. This one’s not in France, but Ontario. And the smells will be of motorcycle exhaust, and the views will be of vintage bikes. That’s because on the weekend of June 18-20 the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group (CVMG) will hold its annual National Rally at the fairgrounds in Paris, Ont., just north of Brantford.
    This is the 21st such rally since Paris became its permanent home in 1990.
    Formed over the winter of 1968-69, the CVMG now has more than 2,000 members in 30 sections in every province except P.E.I. and Newfoundland-Labrador. The membership owns more than 7,000 motorcycles covering 200 makes.
    Peter Salter, of Welland, Ont. is media co-ordinator for the event and says up to 500 members – many bringing more than one bike – will participate.
    Like vintage car shows, there will be a judged Concours d’Elegance on Sunday as well as a show ’n’ shine. But the two-wheelers also can participate in a vintage reliability run, field games and a vintage trials demonstration.
    Salter says there also will be flat track and speedway racing (at additional cost) Friday night at the Paris Speedway adjacent to the rally site.
    Registration opens at noon on Friday, June 18 and is $30 for CVMG members, $40 for non-members. It includes access to the rally grounds, participation in rally events, including a free breakfast on Sunday, and free camping for the weekend. You also can register online at www.cvmg.ca, and at last count well over 400 people had signed up.
    Day visitors are welcome at $5 per person, per day, which will admit them to the rally until dusk but will not allow for participation in rally events other than as spectators. Salter says day visitors will be able to make purchases at the swap meet – which runs from Friday noon to Sunday noon, offering everything from vintage parts to restored motorcycles – but will not be allowed to bring items for sale.
    “We could have as many as 1,000 day visitors, but the number depends largely on the weather,” he says.
    There will be a wide variety of British, European and Japanese makes represented – most of them dating from the 1940s and ’50s. This year the featured marque is Rudge, which made popular motorcycles in Great Britain from 1910-39. Rudge bikes enjoyed considerable racing success, winning the Isle of Man Senior TT Race as early as 1914.
    When sales manager Graham Walker rode a 500-cc bike to victory in the 1928 Ulster Grand Prix, the sportiest of the company’s three models was renamed the Rudge Ulster, one of which won the 1930 TT Senior. A beautifully restored 1938 Ulster, owned by Andrew Bosson, will be one of the Rudges on display.
    An annual membership in the CVMG is $35 and includes the club’s 40-page monthly newsletter. Club president is Bill Hoar, who will be at the rally but won’t be riding one of his own bikes all the way from Ponoka, Alta. Instead, he’ll be borrowing one of Peter Salter’s vintage motorcycles, the oldest of which is a 1950 Vincent Rapide. Salter says Vincent once built the world’s fastest standard motorcycles (for road use) from 1937-55.
    The oldest motorcycles in the CVMG date back to 1903. But unusually for a group devoted to vintage machinery, there are no age requirements for members’ motorcycles. In fact, you don’t even need to own a bike to join.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com