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Motorcycle enthusiasts from throughout the Midwest and South are rumbling into Pickerington for a celebration of Japanese choppers.

This weekend, the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum will host Japanese Motorcycle Saturday, an all-day event featuring exhibits, seminars, a swap meet and an unjudged bike show on its grounds at 13515 Yarmouth Drive. Riders are welcome to bring their Japanese cycles to the event, as well.

According to Mark Mederski, executive director of the museum, the event will give visitors a chance to see the evolution of today's most popular cycles, which he said account for approximately two-thirds of all motorcycles on the road today.

"We will have perhaps 40 years of history of these machines in one space," he said.

Mederski said one of the most notable entries on this timeline of Japanese motorcycles is the event's featured bike, a 1960 Honda RC161, which is valued at more than $300,000.

This exotic machine, which is on loan for the show from the collections of the Henry Ford, is one of fewer than 10 of these early factory racers still in existence, Mederski said.

In addition to exhibits, visitors can sit in on a number of forums on maintenance, restoration and appraising vintage Japanese motorcycles.

"The most interesting part, though, as with any bike show, is the opportunity to meet and socialize with other bike lovers," Mederski added.

There should be plenty of opportunities to make new friends, according to Pete Boody, president of the event's sponsor, the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club. He said he expects the show to draw hundreds of riders from a more than 300-mile radius. Boody himself and fellow members of VJMC Chapter No. 1 are coming from Tennessee for the show.

According to Brian Richards, director of the Delaware, Ohio, chapter of the (Honda) Gold Wing Road Riders Association, the fervor for classic Japanese models is rooted in nostalgia, because many riders took their first rides on Hondas, Suzukis and Yamahas.

"The Japanese motorcycles appealed to the common man better," said Richards, who plans to attend Saturday's event. "The prices were more realistic, they were more dependable and you could easily find dealers that could also get you the parts you needed."

Following those early models of the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese models evolved very rapidly in regard to technology, safety, reliability and comfort, which helped build brand loyalty among these new demographics of riders, he said.

GWRRA active members, who ride Honda's flagship touring cycle, now number more than 230,000 and can be found in more than 54 countries, said Richards, who has ridden with his wife, Loretta, through the contiguous 48 states and all Canadian border provinces on a Gold Wing.

Japanese Motorcycle Saturday will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission, which also provides access to the museum, is $10 for the public and $5 for American Motorcyclist Association members.