Bike Show at Javits

[1967 R50/2]

Here's my commentary on the show at the Javits.

Why do people feel the need to dress up in their riding leathers when it is clear they didn't ride to the show? It's corny. It was friggin' cold! There were only about 30 bikes in the lot, most of them Beemers, yet the indoor crowd was dressed in complete Peter Fonda regalia by the thousands.

Of the displays, what I found interesting were:

1. The new Honda Valkyrie Rune...great LOOKING bike. Any other cruiser would look tame next to it. Can't believe it's actually a production bike and not a concept or a custom. Cheesy Lord of the Rings type video with the bike display.

2. The Triumph Speed 4 looks awesome, if a tad uncomfortable. The new Bonneville paint schemes are definitely an improvement over the previous years. The rest of the Triumph line up was kinda staid.

3. The Buell Firebolt display. I had never seen one up close and personal. The bike is VERY compact and has nice clean lines. Seems to have a comfortable riding position. Right up my alley.

4. BMW Rockster- Of the BMWs on display, this one definitely garnered the most attention. Great looking bike. Because so many parts of it are borrowed from other bikes in the line up, that means there is a instant pool of accessories. Plus, it had dual plug heads which seemed to go all but un-noticed.

5. Lots of big enduros trying to compete with the GS. Don't think any of them pull it off as well, but give it a couple of years and maybe...

Otherwise, really nothing new under the sun. H-D, the Japanese makes and even Aprilia and Ducati all left me cold. It was quite boring. The last time I had been to the show was in 1997. I gotta say, if I just looked at HD (V-Rod exception) and the Japanese makes, you wouldn't have known anything had changed. Superficially the bikes are very much the same.

[Joe]

I agree SOS

What you didn't buy one of the street squid videos? Must of been a dozen different vendors trying to sell their buddies doing extreme stunts and crashing.

[turnerm]

I rode to the show from CT but took off my riding gear before going in. Needless to say, most of the non-riders looked lore like they rode than I did.
The Rune is amazing. Get this, it has an 1100 watt alternator. A Honda rep told me it would price around $25,000 and production would be limited. Dont know how much he really knew though. The front suspension looked wild.

The BMW booth was nice. The stars and stripes painted R1100S's loked amazing. The finish was outstanding on those bikes.

The motorcycle manufacturer booths were interesting, and maybe a few vendors. But other than that, most of the booths were for squids and HD accessorizers. ots of custom squid bikes and lots of squid accessories & videos.
There were tons of HD clothing and accessory booths. I swear, these guys spend more time shopping for crap than they ever ride. What a racket.