Vintage motorcycles turn heads wherever they go.

That’s partly because they’re often mouth-wateringly beautiful, of course. But it’s also because they’re so rare.

Sometimes you’ll overtake a classic bike on the road as it rattles along in its own time warp. Or you might get to drool over a few at a specialist bike show.

But last week, I damn near overdosed on rare classic motorcycles. I got up close and personal with more than 300 vintage motorcycles under one roof.

Indian motorbikes have a cult following in a most surprising place … a little town right at the bottom of New Zealand.

Invercargill is pretty much the last stop on the way to Antarctica.

For most of the year, it’s home to around 50,000 people (not counting hobbits).
But every November, the population explodes for a weekend, as 20,000 motorcycles roar down the wide straight streets of this sleepy little town.

Welcome to the Burt Munro bike rally.

It’s a joyful celebration of Indian motorbikes – and an annual tribute to a local motorcycling legend.

For some women, helmet hair may as well be herpes.

It’s an embarrassing disease – and even worse: it’s on full public show.

But helmet hair is actually not an incurable virus.
You can fix it with a hairbrush in about 7 seconds.

I get it every time I go motorcycle riding.
(Helmet hair, that is – not herpes.)

At first glance, Fast N Loud seems to be all about the 4 wheeled machines.

Richard Rawlings’ crew of misfit mechanics clearly have magical powers – but they apply them mostly to cars, right?

They can transform rust buckets infested with rat nests into low riding, sleek works of art that customers line up to buy.

But every time I watch an episode, I’m not thinking about the cars.

Because at Gas Monkey Garage, motorcycle themes are everywhere…

The motorcycle garage gods know where we all live.

They’re watching us, alright.
And they like nothing better than a good laugh.

What a shame that we’re their favorite joke!

Head out to the garage to do some motorcycle maintenance, and you can hear them chuckling already.