Going back as early as the Nineteen-teens, various motorcycle organizations would sponsor events around the country. Often associated just with the promotion of motorcycling, the events would often be mainly centered around flat track and hill racing. They were called 'Gypsy Tours' because the participants would often ride in from all parts of the country, joining up into packs as they got nearer and camping out at night around campfires, emulating the then perceived life of the Gypsy!
Here is some wonderful archival stuff relating to the long standing Gypsy Tour at Laconia New Hampshire and other locations in New England. These are great old articles and photos.
And here is the July 1955 issue of American Motorcycling, talking about the variety of Gypsy Tour events scheduled around the country, including one for cerebral palsy!
Unfortunately, it was during a Gypsy Tour event in 1947 in the California town of Hollister that a relatively innocent if boisterous weekend was blown out of proportion by the press, and became memorialized in the Marlon Brando movie The Wild One. Biker clubs began to get a bad reputation, a reputation that some Motorcycle Clubs would later revel in, and the Gypsy Tour tradition began to die out.
Perhaps its time to bring it back!
