This year in our Japanese Classic Motorcycle Show we have a special entry.
In fact both, the owner and the bike are special.
Norm Bigelow have been around motorcycles all his life and most of it as a professional. For a total of 30 years he worked at Kawasaki USA’s both in the road racing department during the Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey days and also in the motocross side for Team Green. Now, semi-retired he helps with Pro Circuit’s racing team and is the curator of Kawasaki’s corporate museum called Heritage Hall.
This year, Norm has been inducted in the Hall of Fame of the prestigious Trailblazers Motorcycle Club, an organization that has been around since 1940 and congregates the who’s who of our sport. And he is, arguably, one of the “who”.
Also an avid collector of vintage motorcycles he’s bringing to our show a very special Kawasaki 1984 Ninja 900: the Top Gun-Maverick bike.
“A few years ago Kawasaki agreed to supply product for the remake of Paramount’s Top Gun movie which would feature a small part using the original 1984 Ninja GPZ 900 made famous in the first movie. I happened to have a good running example of a unrestored correct year model and agreed to let the studio use it for the movie. I researched the paint scheme from the original bike and had it copied to be a perfect replica as possible. The bike was then transformed into an aged replica of what would have been the original bike and used in the early scenes in the new movie. On display will be the bike straight from the movie set with all the stickers and patina added by the studio professionals to look the part”- explained Norm.
Stop by the motorcycle display, take a look at the movie “star” and talk to Norm. We’re sure he has a couple of great stories to share…well, maybe more than a couple.
Hector Cademartori
Photo: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com
