| Author | Message | ||
     4cammer |
Made the annual trek to the Chicago IMS yesterday with my 11 year old son. Some observations: -Buell had a hell of a cool display, with very friendly area dealer reps and factory guys. I could have stayed there all day. My son commented on how, with few exceptions, the Buell guys were the only reps that actually seemed to like motorcycles. Thanks for the shirts! The display was full the whole 4 hours I was at the show by the way. Hope that converts to sales. -People that whine Buell uses old, outdated switchgear should take a look at the current Japanese offerings. Wow do they look cheap. Don't get me started on the lousy cable management and exposed wiring. Buell beats them easily. The XB is an old design in bike years, but still looks great and well engineered. -Moto Guzzi deserves to stay Moto Guzzi and not just a part of a scooter makers portfolio. The Griso and V7 exude personality that most bikes can't. The Guzzi/Aprilla display was staffed with bike guys that knew the product. Cool. -Ducati, yes you make cool bikes. But you really need to get over yourself. That display is getting old, especially with all of the posers having their underfed model wannabe wives taking their pics on the new 1198S. Please expand the floorspace to allow those that want to see the bikes actually see them. The sales reps were cool and full of info though. -Harley Davidson. The much smaller display was easy to notice, as was the lack of enthusiasm of the reps. It is called sales. Get used to it as you might actually have to sell the bikes now instead of taking orders over MSRP. Where is the base Sportster for those over 48" tall? Take the XR1200 engine and shoehorn it into the old 1200R format. Better yet, lose 100 lbs..... -MV, where were you? Did I miss the display? HD should leverage this marriage as much as possible. -Honda. Wow. You have nothing for me. -Suzuki, Yamaha. Ditto. And I hate squid sales guys. -The VMax is fugly and way too huge. They had 3 there. Most likely the last 3 I will ever see. 18,000?? Ha! -Kawasaki. Now is the time to pass the other Japanese manufacturers. Cool bikes in almost every segment. -Victory. Nice, really nice bikes if this is the segment you like. Fit and finish is just crazy good. Hope to see a 20th anniversary bike from you guys. -KTM, nice display. The orange is getting a bit much though. RC8 is one ugly bike. Sorry. I'll take the single pot Duke. -Jason Britton, from the Speed bike show, is one cool guy. Very approachable. I still hate his show though. -The vintage display was really good this year and I met Mike Seate who writes for Motorcyclist and started Cafe Racer magazine. Cool fella. And even bigger in person. A lot of cows died for his leathers.... Can't wait till next year! | ||
| Skinstains |
Nice review, I went to the NYC show and hated it. I have gone every year since they started having it in NYC unless I was out of the area. The only booths I checked out were the Buell and the KTM booths and I did like what I saw at both of them. I might not even go next year. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I was there on Friday for about six hours. I also spent some time in the Buell booth watching the new videos and sitting on the new 1125CR. They had the version with the high handlebars and that was very comfortable as compared to the low bars. When I first saw the 1125CR at the Harley 105th., they only had it with the low handlebars and I didn't like the feel of it. I had to lean over to far to reach the handlebars, but with the higher, it felt ok. I found a couple of deals and made a couple of purchases. I was disappointed in the Yuasa booth because they couldn't tell me which battery would fit my Ulysses and I'm going to get a new battery this summer to play it safe since my will be three years old. None of the other motorcycle booths really did anything for me but I did notice that Chicago Cycle was selling 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa for $7995.00. That price will excite the younger crowd with it's performance. | ||
| Midknyte |
but I did notice that Chicago Cycle was selling 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa for $7995.00 hey, that's cheaper than the funeral | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Ducati, yes you make cool bikes. But you really need to get over yourself. That display is getting old, Are you talking about that quasi red room they create? If so, it is too small and a huge $ waste. As someone who worked as a tradeshow manager, I shudder to think of the expense of the "room" |
