[bigjames]

"I saw at least two people slip on the oil patches under the bikes."



So much for objective reporting! Awful strange that MY Harley, the one that has 175,000 miles on it ,doesn't leak oil but some jerks just want to keep the myth going. My 2003 Harley does not leak oil either....



As a matter of fact, neither does my Beemer.....

 

[3793]

Nice report ! That MC show doesn't come within 300 miles of NH, but we have smaller scale versions featuring the local dealers. I went once and then realized that I could save the price of admission by simply visiting their stores.

 

[056]

Waah! Waaah! Waah!

You made fun of my Harley, and that's mean! They are all perfect, and never leak oil, and you're just jealous!!

We're such an oppressed minority, and there's so few of us, and nobody ever says anything nice about our bikes, and nobody understands us!! Waah! Waah! Waah!

 

[13630]

"Squids were piling on the sportbikes like a fumbled football."



One of the funniest things I've read in a while, and an amazingly accurate description of these shows. The Long Beach show was exactly the same.



I agree with you completely on the 999 comment- anyone who hasn't seen this bike in person, try to. It looks a million percent better in the flesh. A truly underappreciated motorcycle.



The one thing that impressed me least about the Kawasaki booth at the Long Beach show was the build quality on the bikes. I don't know if their show models were hastily assembled, or what, but the exposed wiring on the Z1000 and the new Vulcan 1600 Classic were horrible.



I was kinda stoked to get a chance to see the Rune in person, until I actually walked up to the turntable display it was on. You have to see it in person to realize how big it really is, and how bad (IMO) the styling actually is.

 

[obandoj]

Are your arm chaps getting frayed yet?

 

[Ken_Packard]

Lemming Ramblings and Trials Accolades

With the weekend packed well in advance, but not wanting to break my 7-year track record of attendance, I fibbed the boss and left work early on Friday for the show. Fighting the urge to sample strange, the checkbook stayed in my desk drawer.

Got there at about 4:10, and mindlessly shuffled forward with the rest of the cattle for my $11.00 cranial injection of compressed air.

You are right about the parking fee. Crimony! With the purchase of a mere 3oz. of over-priced domestic hopps/urine I'd have spent a two-year subscription to MO, and I hadn't even gotten in the joint yet.

The benefit of hotnutting to the show early was that the crowd was relatively small. At 5:00, I caught the trials show, which I had never seen before, and it was AWESOME. If you've never seen it before, go check it out. I was amazed with the skill required to perform the manuevers and found myself debating what would be worse...lowsiding at the ton or higher in full gear on a racetrack or falling off the 25-30 foot platform on which the former World Champ from Finland was deftly maneuvering. BMXing on major steroids executed by a rider with a speicialized skill set that we mere humans can only dream of, I'd say.

Haunted by the SV1KS, it did me no good to see her in person, and the heavy petting permitted at the occassion only made matters worse.

At least I was able to show my bike key at the Suzuki booth and get my "Free Gift"...a tee shirt so small that it's only real use may be for a nice set of arms chaps.

 

[rsheidler]

Thanks Longride



Very well written. I feel like I actually was there, except without having my feet trampled, having to drink expensive crappy beer, and p!ssing away the $22 to get in. Not to mention the travel cost to get to one of them -- closest they get to me is still 6-8 hrs driving time away, so add in the overnight stay. Damn, this MO subscription is really paying off;-)



I could never understand the concept of a bike show where you can't sit on the bikes (special exhibits like the Rune, racebikes etc obviously excepted).



Anyway, good job.



Bob

 

[rsheidler]

Uhhhh.....you DID understand that LongRide was joking -- since he has 2 [email protected]#leys himself?



Of course, maybe you were also joking and I am a putz ;-)



Bob

 

[sarnali]

Me and a couple of buds RODE to the Seattle edition this year and had a blast, free parking for M/C's and a big enough venue that you could look/touch and bounce on everything there, 'cept the Rune, I think they had the same Speed Triple there that you're talking about ,longride what a cool bike, the Moto Guzzi's impressed the hell out of me, I still think the Scura is an option loved the Buell's, kinda small for my fat ass but a nice bike You could sit on the Victory Vegas, I think they have a winner in that one, The "Indian" was a joke, my buds got a'47 Chief along with his ZX9, not to impressed with the arm chap version. AND I got a pair of new Sidi On roads for $129 to replace my hammered out JR rhino's all in all a kick in the ass, Maybe you should move to Tacoma LR, The Harley's didn't even leak!

 

[KowV12]

I got in early thanks to Ma Kaw, coffee and roll`s (left over from the previous show).



How could you miss the `Tomahawk'. I had a long conversation with the designer/builder.

Production `bike' will have single front wheel to be legal as a motorcycle. It has been ridden a total of 100 miles!

 

[Buzglyd]

I did the Long Beach show in December. Honda had two or three Wings to sit on so maybe some dorks dropped them a few too many times and they put them off limits. I'm not crazy about the Rune-way overstyled.



Longride I like the pipes on the Z1000 and the Orange paint. I was kind of thinking one of those would look good in my garage.



Did you check out the Aprilia Tuono at the booth? Sweet ride for sure.



I like the 999 and think it's awesome in person. Very Bullet-train looking. The ST4s with ABS is cool but I'll wait until it's restyled before I part with my ST4.



I understand that Harleys don't leak oil. That's a getaway device after you knock over the toll booth and want to ditch the cops. Real bikers don't pay tolls.



Bike parking at the show was free and of course being SoCal in December we rode of course.

 

[wwalkersd]

Geez, James, didn't you read the "who is longride" post? Two out of his current three bikes are H-Ds. He's making fun of Harley-bashers. It's a joke, son!

 

[wwalkersd]

"Victory: Most models displayed in such a way to prevent sitting on, or signs and a person standing there to prevent sitting on."

Whassup with that? At Long Beach, you could sit on anything. Hell, people were sitting on accessorized Vegases (Vegi?) that were up on stands and nobody seemed to care. D'ya suppose they had too much damage by the time they got to Chicago?

I demo'd the Buell XB9S Lightning in Long Beach. The ride was rather too controlled to really get a feel for the bike, but it was certainly tiny, and fun, and felt like it wouldn't be hard to lose my license on.

 

[Neal]

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder...I went to a small Baltimore show and really liked the looks of the z1000(in orange).It was the closest the Japanese bikes came to the Italian beautys......but I spent most of the time drooling at the Guzzi LeMans...I NEED one.I must admit the ducati 999 is beautiful,but this old beat body is way past that stage. its funny,the Victory guy almost FORCED me on a dressed out flamed job,even aftwer I told him I wasnt in the market.....I must fit the profile. Most of the ice around my garage is melted.....but the next cold wave is coming,i may never ride again!!!!

 

[sarnali]

Yeah, the Victory guys did the same with us, almost picked us up and put us on the bikes, I thought it was cool, but the Speed Triple had my name all over it, I thought the Kawasaki looked better in person, too. I could have walked out of there with 1/2 a dozen bikes, The $15 hot dog and coke was a bit much.

 

[rsheidler]

I bet what happened was that the Chicago organizers heard about what a pain in the ass the MOridians were at Long Beach and Seattle, and on learning that Longride, Ken, Scott and others were planning on attending the ChiTown show, decided a change in policy was in order.



Bob

 

[sarnali]

I do recall them checking our names against a master list,,,,, Hmmm