Personal Experience/Opinion - International Motorcycle Show NYC 2012

**shavkatsi12** · 01-22-2012, 12:01 AM

So, went to Motorcycle show today 01.21.2012 in NYC.
Have to say ahead I personally expected much more from this show...
I planned to get a few things done there.
First one is off course to gaze and sit on some of the hottest bikes - new S1000RR (btw blue one looks incredible with carbon fiber), Ducati Panigale, new 848 streetfighter and some others, they listed Aprilia, MV Augusta, KTM as exhibitors on the flyer and on the web site, however there were no Aprilia, MV Augusta or KTM booths, their bikes were only in "Dream Pavilion" - one MV Augusta - F3(R), one Aprilia RSV4R Factory and one KTM RC8 (trackbike)...

wtf? That was one big disappointment... however I get to check out F3 and Aprilia, and KTM...
My second task was to talk to Bazzaz people there to get to know the Z-Fi unit I ordered and ask a few questions about their self mapper - their represantative knows everything about their systems, spoke to him for about 20-30 minutes - definetly learned a lot!!! And where were DynoJet??? hmmm...
At BMW booth wanted not just take a look at new S1000RR, but also ask some questions. During conversation made a few discoveries (at least they were to me) - stock AFR, with stock exhaust is 14.1, Akrapovic exhaust was designed around HP race kit (which has it's advantages) and stock ECU IS capable of self adjusting (as stated by Taylor Made) but, to a certain degree, as long as O2 sensor(s) are intact. That was the third...

Then there were some custom built bikes which were great, some with nice clean lines, some were unique, actually here I should say show had a little suprprise - they had FOH (Full of Hate) custom built street fighters by Roman Levin. These awesome bikes built from ground up. Roman is great bike builder, check out his website FOH Cycle Fab - Custom Motorcycle Fabrication, Custom Paint, Carbon Fiber Bodywork and More

One of the cool things there was, Kawasaki Design a Bike stand...
Kawasaki Design-A-Bike | International Motorcycle Shows

Also stopped by Yamaha (miss my FZ6N) and Honda booths to compare FZ8 and CB1000R, liked Yamaha more, felt better then Honda (at least standing still). Actually BMW F800R felt the best... very comfy...

Triumph booth was great, lots of interesting info and their representatives actually were talking to you, unlike in Ducati booth

Harley Davidson had a training on how to lift HD if it felt on the side as well as the bike which had rear wheel on rollers and front one hold still - they let people try it out...

There were a few more motorcycle manufacturers there: Victory, Hyosung, Indian Motorcycles (thought they bankrupted...), can-am etc but I didn't get to them...

Out of exhaust manufacturers (for non cruisers bikes) seen only Yoshimura, but they were part of never changing Suzuki's.

Checked out some helmets, gear - Shoei, Arai, Bell, HJC and Scorpion, btw some of the lids were priced nicely...

Wanted to try to get Paul Jr (and his team) autographs, but the line was huge and I needed to go anyway so, didn't happend...

Smage Bros Stunt Show was good, nothing special thought...

Oh, btw, now I understand why all those insurance agencies give out such high qoutes - they need money for the show... too many insurance girls, big booths...

And since I was from night shift and had to go back to night shift I left early around 1pm with hope to get home earlier so I could get at least a couple hours of sleep...

I didn't take many pictures, however theonce I took will post later. In case if someone was on the show in NYC or other cities feel free to post your pics as well...

HyperM3 · 01-23-2012, 12:26 PM

I was there yesterday as well. Every year the show seems to get smaller and smaller. Very disappointed with the turnout of the Euro manufacturers like you said.

I thought some of the custom bikes were awesome, Ill post a few pics later.

Really liked the new dash and new plastics of the S1000RR. Got a couple of my buddies to sit on the bike and they are really considering it now. The new colors(blue, black/red/white) were actually really much nicer in person than in pictures.

Sat on the MV F3 and I thought it was really comfortable. Very sexy bike. Boring instrument cluster though. Lots of plastic surrounding it like it wasnt finished off.

Couldnt sit on the 1199 but walked around it a few times. Looked really nice but not comfortable for street use.

Wasnt really impressed by the booths but I did get new ear plugs made so that was fun.

Heres a few pics of custom bikes I really liked: