As planned, an STN delegation went to see the Calgary motorcycle show 2008.
Some STN members met up at Kings restaurant to fuel up with lunch, then proceeded to the motorcycle show. Unfortunately, due to several cancellations, only ZED and KLRChickie showed up.
So, here's a trip report for all of those that couldn't make it.
Since it ended up being just the two of them, they did what they normally do at the show. KLRChickie sits on all the bikes and ZED takes pictures of her on them.
The first booth at the door was Ducati.
Tricolore Monster
Notice the very slender waistline of the 848
KLRChickie really likes Monsters
ZED checks out the Hyper-motard. Think he'll have to try riding one in the spring.
Big silly hooligan fun!
ZED also checks out the Sport1000. That would be a cool toy.
There was also a working cut-away of a 4-valve desmo engine.
Then it's on to the rest of the show.
No MC show is complete without a few hundred custom choppers. This is just a tiny sample.
Then there were these Benelli things
The antique display was pretty good. A couple of gems were a not too terribly old Ducati and this Triumph.
I guess if you're a motorcyclist AND you like the cold you could try one of these out.
There were several companies that make custom bikes
We lost track of the number of Trikes.
This is the drive shaft from the rear wheel of a Ural to the wheel of its side car.
Even the other booths were using Monsters to advertise their goods.
At the Guzzi booth there was a Norge and a couple of Brevas, but not the new Stelvio.
In the Japanese section things were pretty boring. Not much new, but some very good deals. The big four were offering discounts and cash back deals. Some dealers were also offering huge discounts! Some of the High end bikes were $3000-$5000 off of their normal prices. Good thing ZED bought his Ducati ST3s in August or a new 2006 FJR would have followed him home from the show for about 2/3 of list.
Also interesting to see that the number of bikes from Asia not by the big four were even more than last year!
Seeing KLRChickie on a Busa is funny though. Not really her thing.
In Honda land, things weren't much different. Same old lawn mowers and snow blowers.
They did have this new creature. I forget what it was called and the writing on the tank was so stylized that it's unreadable. One thing about it though. It's a heavy pig! You notice the weight just trying to get it off the kickstand. Not completely sure what its intended purpose is. Maybe it goes with the marine engines as a boat accessory.
They had a 125R in race trim. It looked cute!
ZED continued his motard inquest at the Suzuki booth. The DRZ400SM is only 295lbs. (but it only has 34hp, and people say the KLR is underpowered)
One surprise at the Yamaha booth was that the traditional XT225 is now an XT250! And, as a bonus, it has BOLD NEW GRAPHICS! Same crappy suspension as KLRChickie's XT though.
Of course KLRChickie had to check out the 'new' KLR. Still bummed that they didn't do much more than a dress-up kit. Same Crappy rear shock, lack of adjustable front suspension, and no 6 speed.
Among the other exhibits was a section devoted to kids sports. They even had an indoor track setup. (slippery surface for it, but I didn't see anyone quite fall)
In Beemer land there were some slightly different faces.
The R1200R was interesting. It had the Paralever suspension (or whatever BMW calls it). Very interesting. A very upright bike.
Even BMW is making a motard these days.
KLRChickie wasn't impressed with the 1200GS
They had the new F800ST. It looked interesting. Unfortunately this individual seemed to have set up camp on it for the duration of the show and had no intention of getting off!
(Please take note people and be courteous so that everyone can get a chance to see the toys!)
They had 3 or 4 of the new HP2, but they all looked like this. You weren't allowed to actually check them out.
The Harley booth had some old and some new.
The new Buell 1125 looked better in person than in pictures.
I'm pretty sure this was the same black machine that was there last year. It's easy to tell. It's the only one that wasn't chromed all over.
The Harley booth was showing how strong their drive belts are by suspending this bike with them. That's about 15,000,000lbs supported by what looked like two small rubber bands!
KLRChickie assures us that she's not about to take up a cruiser habit.
KTM land was interesting. In addition to the Super-Duke on display, KLRChickie liked the 990 Adventure, while ZED was playing motard again.
All in all it was a fun day. ZED is still very happy with his Ducati, and KLRChickie is interested in trying out the Buell and the Monster one day.
Hope you enjoyed the the tour of the show.
