I recently took a break from cleaning my house, watching my dogs and working on my on scooters to take a little trip down to Moto Talbott.
Rob Talbott and Bobby Whindorf’s premier motorcycle collection features more than 170 iconic motorcycles and scooters from 16 countries, and is located in beautiful Carmel CA, near Leguna Seca for you race fans.
Moto Talbott Collection, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit devoted to preservation, restoration, and education. You can learn a lot just from walking around. Most of the bikes have a plaque with a photo of the bike and the story of the machine if it has one. There are many giro bikes and some bikes in the collection are one off or one of 5 made.
If you’re from the CA central coast you may know Bobby. He was once the owner of Vespa Santa Barbara or more commonly called Moto Paradiso. Bobby is also well known in the motorcycle race circles, He has worked as technician for American Honda’s factory road race (Camel/Smokin’ Joes) and also Honda’s Supercross/Motocross team. In general he’s an all around great guy who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty in a motor. If he doesn’t know something about motorcycles he’s willing to learn.
Rob Talbott, If you know fashion or wine you might have heard his name. But after selling his winery he began following his passion of buy motorcyceles as art. Rob can be found on the CA Moto Melee or at The Quail a Motorsports Gathering this year August 18, 2017. Good luck getting tickets
Depending on what shape a bike is when it enters the collection they decided: Do they just make it run? Do a cosmetic restoration, or a full mechanical restoration? Some bikes are left in their original state, to better convey their history and provenance. All the machines in Moto Talbot can run with about 20 minutes of fiddling from Bobby.
My personal take on the museum. Amazing! Some many very cool machines most of which are way cleaner than anything in my garage. Lots of history. One of my favorite parts of the museum is the Barn find section. They basically made a barn garage out of reclamined material the room was carefully crafted to mimic every collector’s dream: the secret cave that contains enchanting relics from the past. The windows are from barracks that were torn down on nearby Fort Ord. The door is from a 1920 Carmel barn. There’s a Hodaka motorcycle inside, and a BSA Victor—There’s a hand-driven drill press that Robb used when he lived without electricity. Some of the bikes are on loan for a year from racing legends like Kenny Roberts. Some are donated. But the bikes are always changing. So it’s worth going back to see something brand new or something you missed before. Looking forward to my next visit.
Moto Talbott 4 EAST CARMEL VALLEY RD.CARMEL VALLEY, CA (831) 659•5410