We sure enjoyed our time at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show, and I had a great time photographing the custom bikes. The concept behind the motorcycle shows is that the manufacturers get to display their bikes, vendors get to display (and sell) their products, and in the midst of all, the aisles are peppered with custom bikes. The audience gets to vote and someone gets a trophy, I guess. I just like seeing the latest trends and the craftsmanship that goes into these customs. Take a look.
A café racer early Honda CB750 Four.Shades of Joe Gresh…an ultra-cool Kawasaki Four.An early Triumph unit construction twin in Gulf Oil livery.This one was very wild. It’s another Honda 750 Four with a Terminator-style, heavy-duty, industrial motif. Check out the air intake on the right.This was a cool headlight nacelle on an Indian. Something different.
I think one of the great aspects of these shows is that the custom motorcycles suggest ideas for future customs. They’re fun to see and fun to photograph. All of these photos were shot with available light (no flash) with my Nikon D810 at ISO 1000 and the 24-120 Nikon lens. There were many more customs than just the ones I’m showing here, but this blog is getting long enough already, and I have other things I want to share with you from the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show. Stay tuned!
One of the best parts of the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show is always running into good friends. Here are a few good buddies we saw last weekend at the show.
Good buddy Pete, who rode with us twice on the CSC Baja adventure rides!Good buddy Steve at the CSC booth, which was absolutely packed with folks taking in the new RX4, the new San Gabriel, the new City Slicker, and the iconic RX3 and TT250 motorcycles. That’s Steve in the background, second from the left. Check out the crowd!Good buddy Marcelo, owner of the Doffo Winery and the MotoDoffo Collection in Temecula!Good buddy Bill, of Butler Maps! I see Bill every year at these events.Good buddies Ash and Pete, of Mosko Moto. These folks make awesome ADV soft luggage!
I always enjoy seeing friends at the Long Beach Moto Show. It’s the best part of the show for me.
Say what you want about the man in the White House, or the former man in the White House, or who gets the credit: The economy is roaring. Nowhere was that more apparent than at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show this weekend. It was packed, and we saw a lot of companies that hadn’t been there before. Triumph, MV Augusta, and more. Things were hopping, and if the attendance and the enthusiasm extend into the marketplace (and I think it will), we’re going to see significant growth in the US motorcycle market this year.
Shoulder to shoulder, the crowds were huge at this year’s Long Beach International Motorcycle Show.
Susie I and went on Saturday (thanks for the tickets, CSC Motorcycles), and it was shoulder-to-shoulder throughout much of the event. It was good to see. We’ll cover this event from six perspectives over several blogs: Friends, new motorcycles, custom motorcycles, vintage bikes, my favorites, and the female models that in the past always seemed to populate the big bucks exhibits (Harley, Ducati, Indian, and maybe a few others). Let’s do the easy part first, the drop dead gorgeous, young, mini-skirted female models who populated prior shows. The bottom line? I didn’t see any. Admittedly, I didn’t visit the Ducati booth (so maybe they had a few and I missed them), but in other booths where female models were usually present there were none. It’s probably a good thing, except for the models whom I’m guessing made good money in years past. Our society is growing up.
Two new bikes talked to me. One was the Royal Enfield 650 twin (a stunning machine); the other was the green Kawasaki 900cc Four with a café racer fairing. I sat on the Kawasaki. It fit me and it felt surprisingly light. Sue chased me off, I think, because she could sense the wheels turning. It’s a nice motorcycle (one I think I would like to own). Maybe it’s just Gresh’s enthusiasm in the Zed’s Not Dead Series, but I formed a bond with that Kawasaki. They say green motorcycles are bad luck, but I’d be willing to take the chance on this bike.
The gorgeous RE 650 twin. The suggested list price is $5799. That’s a hell of a deal.
We saw the new Kawasaki 800cc twin, the other café racer that’s styled like a real motorcycle (i.e., the original Triumph Bonneville). The colors ain’t great in the photos (Gresh commented on that in his Wild Conjecture piece), but in the flesh the colors work (they look way better than they do in the pictures). Instead of looking disjointed, the color mismatch makes for what appears to be a custom bike. Thankfully, the industry-wide craze for flat black bikes seems to be subsiding. This bike looked good.
The Kawi US guy told me the KLR 650 was not available this year and Kawi’s position is that this is a “skip” year, which he thinks might mean they are coming out with a new model for 2019, or maybe 2020. He said no one outside of Japan knows for sure. The Kawi dude said if the KLR does come back it most definitely will not be $6799 (the KLR’s price last year). He thought the price for a new version (if it comes to fruition) will be substantially higher. Their 300cc Versys looked good, but at $5799 it was pricey for a 300 (and that’s before what I’m guessing will be over a grand in dealer setup and freight).
The show was hopping. The economy is back, and the motorcycle business is along for the ride. Stay tuned, folks…there’s more Long Beach IMS coming on the ExhaustNotes blog.
