It's November - Time for the International Motorcycle Show!

[babblefish]

It's November and I'm starting to get excited for the arrival of the International Motorcycle show! Can't wait! Who's planning to go?

http://www.motorcycleshows.com/

Dallas, TX...........Nov. 13-15, 2009
San Mateo, CA.....Nov. 20-22, 2009
Long Beach, CA....Dec. 4-6, 2009
Seattle, WA.........Dec. 11-13, 2009
Novi, MI..............Jan. 1-3, 2010
Greenville, SC......Jan. 8-10, 2010
Washington, DC....Jan. 15-17, 2010
New York, NY.......Jan. 22-24, 2010
Cleveland, OH......Jan. 29-31, 2010
Minneapolis, MN....Feb. 5-7, 2010
Chicago, IL..........Feb. 19-21, 2010

[Skootz Kabootz]

We've got a ride going from LA to the Long Beach show.

[ericalm]

I'll be at Long Beach at the very least, possibly for a couple days as I may help out at the ScooterGirls booth. I may go to SF or another location, too. Still undetermined.

Skootz, you should see if Mike needs help! I think Genuine/NoHo/Corrazo may be teaming up for a large space.

[polianarchy]

I am BOUND and DETERMINED to make the NYC show this year. Every year, something has happened to make me miss it. This is my year! See y'all there.

[ellen]

If you are ordering tickets online, use the promo code scooterdiva and get $3 off each ticket.

[polianarchy]

If you are ordering tickets online, use the promo code scooterdiva and get $3 off each ticket.

Again?! AWESOME. Thanks so much!

[irishtim]

Going to Cleveland's in January. (Likely NOT riding!)

[C2]

I got a postcard from Progressive about the San Mateo, CA show. The promo code "PRO10SM" get's you $5 off each ticket. Online only... but you can get a Latte with the extra money your save:

motorcycleshows.com

C2

[babblefish]

I got a postcard from Progressive about the San Mateo, CA show. The promo code "PRO10SM" get's you $5 off each ticket. Online only... but you can get a Latte with the extra money your save:

motorcycleshows.com

C2

Cool! Thanks for the heads-up. And, parking is free for motorcycles and scooters.

Edit: I just tried the promo code and it only offered a $2.00 discount plus there is a $1.00 service fee which means it's only $1.00 off the ticket price. But, if you're counting your pennies, $1 is $1.

[Mike @ NoHo Scooters]

We don't have a booth. Corrazzo does not either. From what I have heard, Kymco will be absent as well. Don't know about Genuine. Its way too expensive for us to get a booth on our own.

I'll be at Long Beach at the very least, possibly for a couple days as I may help out at the ScooterGirls booth. I may go to SF or another location, too. Still undetermined.

Skootz, you should see if Mike needs help! I think Genuine/NoHo/Corrazo may be teaming up for a large space.

[chloefpuff]

It's not looking very scooter-friendly this year. Doesn't seem to have a Scooter Pavilion. I knew last year was the one to go to, with the great scooter boom of 2008!

[babblefish]

It's too bad that some of the scooter manufacturers won't be showing up due, I assume, to tough economic times. But, it's a double edged sword, really - don't go and save some money, but then your product is not in the public eye which may lead to fewer sales. I was hoping to see the new Kymco line-up, too.

[Mike @ NoHo Scooters]

For a small booth they wanted like $7000. Figure in the extra costs and it gets expensive in a hurry. I do LA Derby Dolls, which costs $65 and it's in an area where I sell a good number of scooters. I also did the two day Sunset Junction Street Fair, which cost something like $900 for the booth. That's in Silverlake where we sell tons of scoots.

I can only imagine the cost for a manufacturer to have a large booth at every IMS show.

[ericalm]

Yup, Bradford told me Corazzo isn't going this year. Can't believe they're charging that much for a booth. It's insane.

I'm still going to check out helmets, gear and other stuff. Hopefully they haven't priced out too many companies.

[babblefish]

OK, so I went to the motorcycle show....the only thing good about it was that parking was free (rode my scoot there) and I didn't fall down
when I almost ran a red light (skidded about 4 feet - brakes work pretty good ) on the way home. There were only 8 manufacturers there:
Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, BMW, Harley, Star, Ducati - and most of them didn't bring their entire line. Last year, several manufacturers
offered test rides out in the parking lot, this year it was only Yamaha.
The only scooters shown were from Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki.


There were some OK deals on helmets by Nolan, HJC, Icon, Soumy (I don't even want to tell you what I thought that name was when I took a quick glance at it!), etc.
There were also some deals on jackets, gloves etc., but that's about it.

The vintage motorcycle displays were pretty good:




I liked the BMW R1200GS adventure bike, but I looked like a hamster sitting on it (I didn't take this photo):


But I reaally liked the new Ducati Hypermotard 796 mainly because I didn't look too much like a hamster sitting on it.


Some of you will like this one (it's only $12,399) although the build quality is a bit lacking:


...and then there was this beast:


Sorry if the photos are a bit blurry, I didn't bring my tripod.
I don't want to discourage anyone from going - the show may be better in different parts of the US.

[rsrider]

From what I've been hearing, the show is a dud. The place is pretty empty and there isn't that many displays. What use to take you a day to go through now takes you a couple hours. The MC biz is in the crapper, and next year you'll be hearing the sound of flushing.

[babblefish]

Oh, I don't know about that. The economy has certainly put a damper on things, but I don't think the interest in motorcycles is getting less. If anything, with money being in such short supply, a smaller vehicle would make a lot of sense. I just think the motorcycling industry is missing a great opportunity to promote itself.

Although small, I did enjoy myself at the show and I certainly didn't regret going. If we all decided to not go, wouldn't that perpetuate the decline of the shows? Why would manufacturers want to show-up if no one cares?

Which brings-up an interesting observation: when I was parking my scoot in the motorcycle parking area (there were quite a few), I didn't see one other scooter there. I was the only hamster - what's up with that?

[CorazzoDesign]

We lost $6000 on our trip down last year. It was nice to see folks, but the reality of the customer is that they are there for "screaming deals" on a lot of the stuff that did not move at local dealerships over the course of the year.

Overall, it was an extremely disappointing experience. The scooter pavillion sponsorship cost Geico $1,000,000. I doubt they were interested in doing it again, the pavilion was awful and did little but pander to a market that people finally were paying attention to.

Considering the scooter market is down 40% this year, no one, dealers, distributors, manufacturers has any $$ to do stuff. Just be thankful that the ones that are still around, and alive and kicking are smart enough to choose where they spend their resources very wisely.

To give you guys a sense of scale, as of January 1st this year, there were more scooters on dealer floors than sold in total in 2007. Deliveries from the major manufacturers that were out of scooters for months last year, all came late in the year. I know many dealers that were out of scooters for 3 or 4 months. They all ordered big, and then the economy stopped dead right when they got them.

Good on people like Mike from NoHo and David and Lynda from Sherman/Thousand Oaks, for keeping the doors open. Go buy stuff from your local dealer if you want your dealer around next spring.

Cheers
Bradford
President
Corazzo

[ericalm]

I've enjoyed going to IMS the past few years but must admit I've never actually purchased anything at the show. The main reasons I've gone? Good excuse for a ride with the pals; check out the new scooter models; check out motorcycles (other than Aprilia and Guzzi) once a year; look at and try on a ton of gear; hang out with riders who come up from San Diego and other parts of SoCal.

From what I've heard from the San Mateo show, the only scooter company on hand (aside from Yamaha, Honda & Suzuki) this year is Lance.

[Skootz Kabootz]

From what I've heard from the San Mateo show, the only scooter company on hand ... is Lance.

I just know there's a joke in there somewhere...

[babblefish]

I actually didn't see Lance at the San Mateo show.

I would have thought the promoters of the show would realize there's a down economy and reduce booth fees to help those companies that are financially hurting. Doing so would make the show more successful and make the $15 entrance fee more palatable for addendees. Those greedy SOBs would probably cut off their own feet to feed their fat arses. Maybe I'll write an email to them and explain basic business sense to them.

CorazzoDesign: If it makes you feel any better, I didn't buy any winter gloves at the show because I'm planning on buying them (Corazzos) at my local scooter dealership.

[polianarchy]

Who's going to the NYC show? Me! Are you going on Friday? Use this coupon: http://icanhaz.com/IMSFRI

Are you going on Saturday or Sunday? Use ellen's code posted above to save $$$

I'll see y'all on Saturday! STOKED

[ericalm]

Tell those ScooterGirls you know me! It will help impress them with the breadth of my scooter peeps network.

Also, they're quite friendly.

[ScootLemont]

I did the Chicago show last year.... not very good from a scooter point of view.... but I plan on going again this year...
a bad day looking at scoots & cycles is better than a good day at work

[polianarchy]

ericalm, o ya totally!

ScootLemont, it's gonna be even less scooter-y this year, but it's also the first year I've been able to go! Something always comes up. I'm gonna try & test ride stuff. I'm also looking to take 1290582 photographs. Maybe I'll even bring my tripod OMG

[ellen]

I'm gonna try & test ride stuff.

No test rides in NY. I guess they don't want people zooming up and down 11th Ave and the West Side Highway

[illnoise]

I've stopped going the last couple years, it's kinda expensive (even with the discount), I'm not sure why you're paying THEM to be advertised and marketed to all day…

And it's all choppers, sportbikes, leather, and carbon fiber. and this year it's more stripped down than ever because of the economy. Plus by the time it gets to chicago, it's all ancient history.

Triumph's never there, Piaggio/Aprilia/Guzzi seem to only do it once in a while, and the vintage displays used to be great, but I think those clubs have been thinning out every year, last time I went there were only 6 vintage bikes.

I'm even having a hard time mustering the excitement to go to DealerExpo. But that's out of town and there's drinking, so I'll probably do it, ha.

Bradford better do DealerExpo, the 2strokebuzz hospitality suite last year didn't quite compare to Corazzopalooza of years past.

[ericalm]

I actually may be going to Indy for Dealer Expo. Problem is, it's Valentine's weekend.

FWIW, Triumph is at IMS this year. Norton and Royal Enfied are also there. The Enfield Bullet FI is pretty dang nice.

[polianarchy]

ellen, thank you for saving me bringing my riding boots & gloves. But, DAMMIT, I was really hoping there would be some test rides. I wonder if Washington DC does them? I figured a test "ride" to be around a course in a parking lot, really.

illnoise, you said the same thing about the Scooterworks showroom, and I had a blast. SO THERE! I'm still a n00b! I've never had a chance to go to an IMS, I know for a fact there is one dealer who I'm STUPID-STOKED to see (GoGo Gear!), and it's in NYC, which is my happy place. I figure I'll spend part of the day at Javits, and part of the day shooting digital pictures in Midtown. Whee!

[pocphil]

The Cleveland show is this weekend.

Kymco - No massive booth this year - see below
Piaggio/Guzzi/Aprilia/Vespa - out
BMW - out
Triumph - out (but they haven't shown up in years)

Kymco is paying for a portion of our booth.
Royal Enfield is paying for a massive slice of our booth.
Genuine is paying for a portion of our booth.
SYM still hasn't paid us for the booth we did for them in July.
Piaggio has refused to pay for any of our booth.

Even in a recession economy when people aren't buying motorcycles, they still have $20 in their pocket to go to the show and window shop. Last year was definitely a DOWN year and we still had 45,000 people through the doors in 3 days. The number of our customers who said they saw us at the show definitely justifies the expense and effort.

Our booth spaces are 10x10 each and cost around $1500 each with expenses. For a manufacturer to lose 45,000 people (2 wheel enthusiasts) in one weekend because they don't want to spend $1500 seems ridiculous.

Even with the manufacturers buying in, our booth will still cost our shop over $4500. We consider it money well spent. We've certainly spent more on advertising that wasn't so proven in the past.

[ericalm]

Triumph was at the Long Beach show this year…

I think it's hard to say if it's "worth it" for a dealer to come out to this particular event this year (or any). In the past, the Long Beach show has had large displays from the manufacturers to draw people in, but these didn't necessarily direct would-be buyers to specific dealers. Because we have so many dealers in the area, it didn't really make a lot of sense for a single one to set up their own booth instead of working the various manufacturers' displays.

This year, the IMS in general had much lower appeal for scooterists or those looking into scooters because the only scooter company onhand was Lance. Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki were there but the scooters had much less play than the past couple years. Also, the scooter pavilion of the past 2 years was gone.

I think coming up with different approaches and revenue streams could make all the difference between survival and failure for a lot of shops this year, though. For some, IMS may make a lot of sense. Others may find that participating in more focused, local events works better.

[polianarchy]

Triumph was at NYC too, FWIW.