31ST ANNUAL BATOR INTERNATIONAL SWAPMEET

Last weekend Bill, Chris and I shared booth space and good times with Wes White from Four Acesat the 31st Annual Vintage Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet at the El Camino College in Torrance, CA. Our revelry involved drinking till 12 a.m. Friday evening, then bedding down for five hours of shut eye. At exactly 5 a.m. Saturday morning, we were rudely awakened by the rumbling of pit bikes and the arrival of the last 50 or so vendors who didn't make the pilgramage the night before. For unititated participants like me, the swap meet experience was an eye opener. Swap vets like Wes have a program that must be experienced to be believed. Here's how it worked: when event organizers opened the gates at 4;30 p.m. Friday afternoon, Wes drove in, parked his truck, jumped on his Sears Free Spirit banana seat bicycle and scoured for fresh merch in the back of every other vendors' rig. Not knowing this was how things are done, Bill and I naively arranged our garage scraps and set up our tents and tables for the action we ignorantly assumed would start on Saturday morning. Suckers! After getting with the program I sold some really sweet Chinese motorcycle tires and used the revenue to buy a really cool skid plate for my '07 EDR special.

Around 9pm Chris and his friend Yuriko showed up on their his-and-hers outlaw choppers. Chris was planning to join us sooner, but his frankenpan had electrical problems. Never one to be outdone by a challenge, Chris got the OK Special and made the 150-mile trek to Torrance for the night's festivities.

Thanks to Wes from Four Aces for showing us the ropes. I'm looking forward to more swapping in the months to come.