Mama Tried Motorcycle Show

The Mama Tried Motorcycle Show attracted over 100 bikes to a warehouse in Milwaukee just a few blocks from the Harley Davidson Museum. In fact, there were a couple of bikes at the Mama Tried show that would not have been out of place in Harley's showcase.

Mama Tried is a three day event that brings together bike builders of all types. The bikes are displayed on an upper floor of a warehouse that is a perfect venue for these creations. There are choppers, hill climbers, drag bikes and antique motorcycles. The weekend also includes a night of indoor flat track racing at the BMO Harris Center in downtown Milwaukee. There was ice racing scheduled for Sunday, but the unseasonably warm weather forced its cancellation.

I arrived in Milwaukee shortly after the venue opened late on Sunday morning and found a parking spot several blocks away. The area around the warehouse is becoming gentrified and some of the other former warehouses advertised loft apartments for rent. Locals sat outside nearby restaurants enjoying the sunshine as they waited for a table to open up. Motorcycles were backed up to the curbs, an unlikely site during February in Wisconsin.

Upon entering the big old building I was impressed with the ambience and how it seemed the perfect place to display these heavily modified bikes. I was reminded of the scene in the Discovery Channel's recent history of early years of Harley Davidson and people working on their bikes in an abandoned warehouse.This seemed like just the place you would find people who could earn a living making things with their hands.

The first display I visited featured Harley racing machines. One of them was the new flat tracker based on Harley's XG 750 Street. The new racer will be facing off against an equally new entry from Indian this summer in the America Motorcycle Association's Flat Track race series this summer. Their first head to head meeting will be at the Arizona Mile on 13 May. There were several examples of this bike in the show. One was at the Vance and Hines exhibit as V & H provides the exhaust system for the racing editions of the XG 750.

After spending a few moments imagining the new Harley racebike tearing up the Springfield Mile, I walked into the vendor area. Along with the usual suspects like Vance and Hines and S & S Motors, there were a lot of vendors I had never heard of. They were all there to provide items that promised to make your motorcycle different from anyone else's. Exhausts, pegs, various types of lighting, and engine upgrades were all on offer. One thing I noticed was that most all of the vendors are selling shirts, hats, and other items with the company's name and logo. There is a big market for these and the companies make a good percentage of their profits selling the merch.

But the real attraction of Mama Tried is the ingenuity builders demonstrate when using any of these products. It was a 180 degree turn from what I saw last week at the Chicago Motorcycle Show. In Chicago the manufacturers exhibited bikes that were engineered to within an inch of their lives and then test marketed to a particular demographic. Only after what could be years of development did the bikes see the light of day. These bikes were the product of one person's imagination and his or her determination to bring the motorcycle from dream to reality.

Some of the owners were available to answer questions and talk about their creations. They varied from bikes that used off the shelf parts to some that looked to be made with whatever parts happened to be available at the time. No matter how they were pieced together, there was a story behind each one. One of my favorites was a BMW airhead that had been massaged by Analog Motorcycles.

Mama Tried has only been around for three years , but it already has the feel of an important event for builders and riders. It is an opportunity for builders and potential customers to get together in an informal environment and share ideas. It is through those conversations that imaginations are fired and dreams begin to become reality.

Chicago Motorcycle Show

The winters in Wisconsin start early and seem to last longer than really necessary. But each February motorcyclists get the opportunity to bask in all things related to their two wheel passion at the International Motorcycle Show (IMS) in Chicago. The IMS is a traveling show that begins in Long Beach, CA, in November and makes five stops before the final show in Chicago. The event brings together motorcycle manufacturers and vendors that produce motorcycle clothing and accessories. There are representatives from various motorcycle clubs, insurance companies, attorneys, and chamber of commerce types encouraging riders to visit their neck of the woods.

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.