Once the Super Bowl hits the boob tube, you know it's also time for the final leg of the motorcycle show season. This year the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Dealer Shows come in February, while on the consumer side, the last stop on the International Motorcycle Show tour happens in Daytona in March. So how did it go this year?
As we sorted through the pile of show releases on our desk we came across some random notes from the Detroit Auto... er, sorry - North American International Auto Show. What's that got to do with motorcycles? Yea, that's what I thought too. But the more I read, the more parallels I picked up. Chief among them was that (though they'd just suffered through their industry's worst year EVER), auto insiders say many manufacturers could be on the way to a big rebound, touting new markets like India and China to pick up the slack from the lagging U.S. side. I also learned that People's Republic surpassed the US auto market as the biggest consumer of vehicles last year, the first time the U.S. hasn't been the uncontested leader for this position.
So while the motorcycle industry has also been in a major slump this year, the annual bash of biker bigwigs, innovative steel and two-wheel enthusiasts that is the IMS series held some hope for 2010's bike market - even if said party unfolded on a smaller scale than previous years.
The International Motorcycle Show, which for nearly 30 years has rolled across the land touting the latest and greatest in two-wheel tech, is making its final stop for 2009-2010 at the Daytona Beach Convention Center on March 3rd (through the 6th). Along the way, the show had close to 10% fewer exhibitors at some of the stops, and missed key players in others.
But the public didn't seem to care about that, because they still came. Attendance at the Dallas and San Mateo, CA shows was down just 3.5% from last year. So there's continued interest in bikes, but people just don't seem to be buying them. Sales through the first nine months of this year were down 43.7% from the same period a year earlier.
What's driving the attendance at the show are "new models," said Robert Pandya, a spokesman for the IMS series. "This is still an enthusiast-driven business, and anything that's new and exciting is definitely a draw." Over 69,104 eager attendees flooded the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, keeping the New York International Motorcycle Show floor bustling with activity throughout the weekend. The eighth stop was the largest show to date on this 12-city 2010 Tour.
That's pretty good news. Let's hope it also means we can parallel the rebound the auto guys are experiencing...