By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Motorcyclists from beginners to seasoned riders can test their safety skills and learn new ones Saturday and Sunday at the Route 66 Motorcycle Safety Awareness Expo in Joplin.

A range of educational programs, a bike show, a fun ride and a picnic are among the weekend’s slate of offerings at the Joplin Athletic Complex, 3301 W. First St.

The Route 66 Vintage Motorcycle Association, an organization that meets in Joplin, is promoting the event. Jon Lowe, president, said the local group for a couple of years had been contemplating an event aimed at helping riders be safer on the road.

The association sports about 70 members who ride back roads and trails, and restore vintage bikes. “We’re an eclectic club because of the diversity” of members in ages and backgrounds, Lowe said. “What unites us is the preservation of old motorcycles.”

Lowe himself has been a motorcycle enthusiast since he was a boy riding on the back of his uncle’s bikes. He entertained his urge to ride before he was old enough by reading motorcycle magazines, and he was further inspired when he saw photos and a magazine article about a desert racer built especially for actor Steve McQueen. That motorcycle is now being reproduced, and Lowe said he finally will get to live his childhood dream because he bought one of the 300 replicas of the McQueen bike he doted on so many years.

Restoration work

When Lowe sold his business, Miner’s Ice, about 1 1/2 years ago, he decided to devote himself to his motorcycle hobby for two years, and he’s been restoring rare or vintage bikes since then.

He bought one out of a barn that, after some research, turned out to be a Kawasaki model that was designed for research and development. There’s only one other like it in the world, Lowe said. Once his is rebuilt, he will debut it in October at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Ala., which Lowe described as one of the world’s premier museums for vintage motorcycles.

Among his collection, Lowe owns a 1932 Rudge, a 1963 BMW and a 1974 Triumph.

Motorcycles of all ages and rarity — modern and vintage — will be on display Saturday at the expo. Awards for the entries will be presented during a picnic scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday after a fun run on Old Route 66.

Safety skills

But safety and the use of gear and helmets to help riders stay safe are the overriding themes of the event, Lowe said.

Riders from beginners to the experienced can test their safety skills on a driving course that will open at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and at 9 a.m. Sunday.