Quail Moto enters its fifth year with new tweaks on classic bikes.

Somebody invited a moped guy to the motorcycle party. 


But the vehicle he’ll share with audiences is as anticipated as any coming for the fifth annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering, a celebration of motorcycling heritage and performance in all categories – from custom choppers to zippy street bikes – fueled by gourmet barbecue lunch by the Quail Lodge kitchen alongside Louis Roederer Champagne, Stella Artois beer and live entertainment.


Designer Adrian Van Anz says his very first motorcycle – he did Derringer Cycles’ slick 1920s-style bicycle mopeds – was inspired by 1960s and ’70s bad boy romanticism, when tough guys wore leather jackets and smoked cigarettes as they rode.


“It was coming out of that [Marlon] Brando era and into that Playboy era,” he says.


Van Anz, 33, is the backbone of AVA Velocity Works in Los Angeles. The presentation of the 250 Swift will be a world premier.


“I’ve always loved early ’60s Grand Prix-style racing bikes,” he says. “It was a wild period. I liked the aesthetic of the entire sport then.”


But there were downfalls to the smaller bikes, says event founder Gordon McCall.


“They weren’t the best mechanically,” he says. “If you wanted to have more fun on them and speed up, you worked on it and customized. Big bikes were meant really only for serious pros.”


Hence Van Anz has an unprecedented hybrid: a small, light bike that performs like a bigger one – something that replicates the vintage look of older bikes like the Honda CB-100 or a Triumph, but with the mechanics of newer machines. 


“It’s a little sports racing bike that is street legal,” he says. It will also weigh under 200 pounds. “I can literally pick it up and turn it around in my garage.”


Though the engine size is larger than other bikes this size, Van Anz argues it will provide a good balance for the rider. It also will be the first – and smallest – bike in an eventual production line.


“It’s engaging to throw the bike around at 40mph,” McCall says. “The bike is light and the rider is really connected to the road.”


Van Anz says the Quail – with 250 bikes being show to a few thousand spectators – was the ideal place to debut.


“It brings an eclectic crowd of motorcycle fans where you have completely different crowds on different bikes, but who all respect each other,” he says.


This year will also welcome Santa Cruz manufacturer Zero Motorcycles debuting its 2013 line of all-electric bikes, and the inaugural edition of a “Legends of the Sport” series, starting with Monterey resident and three-time 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Wayne Rainey, who won the U.S. Grand Prix in that class three consecutive years at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where Turn 9 is named after him. 


THE FIFTH ANNUAL QUAIL MOTORCYCLE GATHERING takes place 10am-3:30pm Saturday, May 4, at Quail Lodge and Golf Club, 8000 Valley Greens Drive, Carmel Valley. $65, $15/children 12 and under. 877-734-4628, www.quaillodgeevents.com