One of the local bike shops offered a bus ride down to the show and I took advantage of the opportunity. Due to some logistical difficulty we got off to a bit of a late start, but soon we were settled into our coach bus seats and on our way. After a few announcements, the trip sponsor popped the Discovery Channel documentary "Harley and the Davidsons" into the DVD player. By time the show was over we were getting off the bus in the covered parking area outside the convention center.
My first stop was the Harley Davidson exhibit. I was hoping to be able to sit on the new Road King Special, but the only example there was up on a kind of a stage. It looked good, but the regular Road King with all the chrome was parked right next to it. At a quick glance it was hard to justify a couple thousand dollars more for the Special when it did not look as flashy as the normal Road King. I sat on the Sportster Roadster, but that bike looks more appealing than it feels.
I was also interested in getting up close to the new BMW 1600B, but it was the same situation as the Harley RKS. It was inside a velvet rope and spinning around. I liked the looks of it, but the price will probably be breathtaking. I did have the opportunity to sit on the S1000RR and S1000R. They both felt good, but either one would be a big change in riding style for me. The coolest thing I did there was put on the virtual reality goggles while sitting on a BMW S1000RR. The VR allowed me to experience riding a track somewhere in Spain while racing other riders. It was my first VR experience and was quite enjoyable.
After a quick sit on the big KTM Adventure bikes I headed over to Ducati. The most popular model there was the new Supersport. There was an endless number of people waiting to sit on that bike, so I will have to wait until one shows up at my dealer. I would really like to test ride one of those. I was looking at the Multistrada and some guy offered to take my picture on the bike, so I took him up on it. It is an impressive bike, but I am not interested in getting rid of my 2011 BMW R1200 GSA.
The other manufacturers do not interest me so much, but I made a quick walk through them all. One cool feature in the Yamaha area was Cooper Webb's 250 motocrosser. He is riding the 450s now, but it was neat to see his old bike.
The apparel and motorcycle gear vendors were about the same as past years. I usually spend some time trying on the Arai and Shoei helmet offerings, but after just purchasing a new lid from Harley Davidson, I did not spend much time on that. Most of the clothing is lower end stuff, although Klim was there this year. They make excellent gear. I would be interested in seeing Sidi bring their boots and Olympia bring their riding gear to the show.
As far as gear for the bike, there were not too many parts and tire manufacturers represented. I was hoping that Cobra exhaust would be at the event. I put Cobra slip on mufflers on my 2016 Harley Davidson FXDL S and have a few questions about them. I would have had a few questions for a Metzeler tire representative too, but they were no shows. My BMW needs tires soon, and will get a new set of Metzeler Tourance Nexts.
I took a little break and went to the restaurant attached to the exhibit hall. The line was longer and slower than usual, but the cheeseburger and fries were as tasty as always. After lunch, I made one more trip through the exhibits and dashed for the exit. The bus was ready and by 4 pm we were on our way home. I dug through my collection of brochures and did a little reading until it got dark. Another DVD appeared on the screen and by the time the credits were rolling on "Wild Hogs", we were pulling into the dealership parking lot.
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