AIMExpo sees year two attendance growth
Marketplace Events, the company behind the American International Motorcycle Expo, at Orlando, Florida (AIMExpo) have announced a total attendance or this year's second annual event of 18,145 with visitors reported to have come from 51 different countries.
Headed up by former Cycle World publisher and MIC Chairman Larry Little and ex-Advanstar Dealer Expo man Mike Webster, AIMExpo is described as "America's first combined Powersports show" and that at "over 800,000 square feet (approx 74,300 square meters) of indoor exhibit and outdoor demo space, AIMExpo is the largest show of its kind".
In fact, it is the only show of its kind in the United States, and as the first Powersports Industry expo to seek to attract trade and consumer visitors, its mission has been to bring the kind of combined all-sector industry thinking that has been de rigueur at the much larger INTERMOT (Cologne, Germany) and EICMA (Milan, Italy) shows in Europe for decades.
Broadly speaking, the mainstream motorcycle industry in the United States has welcomed the AIMExpo initiative as an alternate to the date, venue and attendance formula seen at Advanstar's Indianapolis Dealer Expo for many years.
AIMExpo says that its 18,000+ attendance was broken down into some 11,000 consumers, 3,000 dealers and other industry professionals and nearly 250 media representatives with the rest being exhibitors and staff.
In total, there were 501 exhibitors, mostly representing 'mainstream' vehicle manufacturers and aftermarket parts, accessory and apparel vendors.
So far, AIMExpo has not yet managed to secure a foothold with the custom v-twin exhibitor community. The annual V-twin Expo at Cincinnati each February remains the dealer show opportunity of choice for them, but Marketplace Events' appointment of industry legend Bob Kay as V-twin Directory could boost the Harley-Davidson aftermarket appeal of AIMExpo.
Kay himself is keen to point out that the mission is not to try to compete with, or replicate, the strictly trade-only Easyriders event, but instead to exploit the consumer opportunity that the venue and date offer.
Marketplace Events have announced next year's AIMExpo date - 15th-18th October.
www.aimexpousa.com
WPS acquires Marshall Distributing
Western Power Sports, Inc. (WPS), which services the V-twin market with its HardDrive parts range, and Marshall Distributing, Inc. (MDI) have agreed terms that will see WPS immediately acquire MDI. CEOs Craig Shoemaker (WPS) and Roger Marshall (MDI) have agreed to the deal after two weeks of negotiations that will see Cass City, Michigan-based MDI become part of WPS Distributing by spring 2015. The two distributors have been friendly competitors for many years, selling many of the same brands, and the move will serve to further strengthen WPS’ position within the powersports industry.
“We’re excited to continue the long-term relationships the group of fellow enthusiasts at Marshall established throughout the years,” said Craig Shoemaker. “Like WPS, Marshall has a long and rich history in the powersports industry, and throughout their many years created lasting relationships with industry leading brands. Like Marshall, our dealers are not only our customers but many are like friends and family. I am excited about bringing the two together.”
“The merger of the two companies will benefit our dealer network by providing the same quality service with the added advantage of a broader product line for the dealers to choose from,” said Roger Marshall who started manufacturing snowmobile windshields 46 years ago, the same year WPS started selling aftermarket snowmobile parts.
The immediate future will be business as usual at Marshall, with its Michigan and New York distribution warehouses continuing to fill daily orders; and inside sales, customer service, and tech support staff staying in place at its Michigan headquarters. WPS will begin the process of merging Marshall’s outside sales force with the existing WPS sales group over the next few months, with a goal of completing the merger as seamless as possible.
WESTERN POWER SPORTS
Boise, Idaho, USA
Tel: 208 376 8400
dealer@wps-inc.com
www.wps-inc.com
AMD World Championship matures as a bellwether of the market's future
FOR anybody reading my comment this month, it would be a good idea to do so having read my review of this year's 11th annual AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building elsewhere in this edition.
Following our decision to move the Championship to Europe, and subsequently to embrace the opportunity that last year's Big Bike Europe gave us to stage the event at the INTERMOT expo at Cologne, Germany, the Championship program is now in the clichéd position of having taken ten years to become an overnight success.
The ten years that got us to this point were necessary in terms of time served to earn the opportunity to embrace what has been the primary objective all along.
Namely, to allow custom bike building, and those who seek to make their livelihoods from it, to break out of their past and embrace the new future that the industry was always going to have to start facing up to.
Even before the impacts of the downturn it had started to become obvious that endless recycling of the design and build values of the past would be no more viable as the 21st century unfolded, than the values of pre-WWII design and performance was to the boomers who embraced Captain America and the Billy bike.
The recession has been the final impetus behind changes that were already in play when the custom build market peaked around May 2006, but in so dramatically accelerating these changes, as so dramatically throwing the changes in motorcycle ownership and riding expectations into such sharp contrast with the past, the impacts of the downturn have coincided with the beginnings of the emergence of a new generation of riders for whom the pre-internet world is as strange as pre-hydrocarbon-burning eras were to 20th century consumers.
The combined effect of the social, economic and regulatory changes that are at play will render the so-called "traditional" custom v-twin bike building market obsolete unless the industry finds opportunities to show its wares to the millions of buyers for whom traditional custom bike values, references and events are alien, and unless it finds ways of tuning its "offer" to meet the expectations of those buyers.
Those who have had the patience to follow my ramblings throughout the last ten years will recollect that I was among the very few to be pointing to the ultimate demise of the custom v-twin market as defined at the time, right at the point where it appeared that its then seemingly unstoppable growth couldn't possibly be reversed.
In certain circles that made me deeply unpopular. Those who wished to see the custom market campaign for "dirty law" exemptions, and who sought to impose a cookie-cutter of design and engineering conservatism on a market originally characterized by innovation and individualism, now stand starkly exposed as the future-trend nay-sayers they always were.
Quite apart from the massive audience of genuine riders that we were able to take the custom industry to at INTERMOT, the news about the standard of design and engineering that was evident at this year's AMD World Championship in Hall 10 at the Cologne exhibition centre reverberated around the OE and parts and accessory booths of INTERMOT's other five halls like a shockwave.
The twin-fold objectives of giving builders access to an unprecedented audience in numerical terms, and of allowing the mainstream international motorcycle industry to see just how far custom design and engineering has travelled, have been achieved in spades.
Far from sneering dismissively at the custom market, the major mainstream motorcycle manufacturers are now tumbling over themselves in almost unseemly haste to get a share of that action, and to sign up custom bike builders so that their ideas and grass-roots understanding of what the riders of the future will buy can feed into their own showroom offerings in the years to come.
There are many things that those who have been involved in the AMD World Championship program down the years can be proud of, but not least among them is the already stupendous archive and record of custom bike design and engineering evolution at this critical time of change that our determination to fully photograph every bike in competition has now become - in the guise of the bike registry at the event website.
We have been exposed to many anecdotes down the years about the influence that the AMD World Championship archive is having, and indeed this year was no different, with one young custom bike shop owner becoming a first time World Championship competitor as a result of seeing the World Championship bikes online as a teenager, and dedicating his life to one day being able to come up with a project that, as he put it, "was worthy."
We have always maintained that we are merely the facilitators of a showcase, but a showcase with a mission and a purpose whose real importance would only become fully apparent when the custom motorcycle market had to face up to a world that had changed around it.
We are now in such a world, and when this year's photography has been uploaded, the 11th annual AMD World Championship will be seen as the one at which the impacts of changing demographics, the downturn and regulations will finally have passed top-dead-center, and at which an altogether new suite of rider references and expectations started to take ownership of the future of the industry.
Paul Devine appointed VP Sales at S&S
PAUL Devine has been named as the latest addition to the management team at S&S Cycle, where he is joining as Vice President of Sales. His background in the industry includes time spent in positions at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Buell and SuckerPunch Sally's.“I couldn't be more excited to join the S&S team,” said Devine. “As a rider and powersports professional, it’s a dream come true. I am blown away by the company's 56-year history of innovation, its talented and dedicated team, and the unsurpassed quality of its products. Over the coming months, I look forward to meeting our customers, dealers and distributors. With their help, we will work to expand the S&S brand and spread the message of Proven Performance industry-wide. We want to re-energize our markets and advance awareness for the excellent value proposition that is S&S Cycle.”
S&S CYCLE INC
Viola, Wisconsin, USA
Tel: 608 627 1497
sscust@sscycle.com
www.sscycle.com
Matchless set for return to motorcycle manufacturing
HISTORIC British motorcycle brand Matchless Motorcycles, which was formed in 1899, is set to return to producing bikes with the launch of the Model X Reloaded.
Matchless, which ceased production in 1966 when the brand was purchased by Norton Villiers, is now owned by the Malenotti family, who resurrected the name in 2012 with the launch of the clothing line ‘Matchless London’, managed by Michele Malenotti.
At the forthcoming 2014 EICMA exhibition Matchless will celebrate its 115th anniversary by presenting the Model X Reloaded, a design inspired by the company’s original Model X produced over 80 years ago.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
This new model has been designed by Franco Malenotti along with the Matchless design team. Malenotti has previously collaborated with manufacturers such as Honda, Morini, Ducati, Bimota, KTM and Aprilia, drawing historical models such as the 1000 Laverda Jota, the 1000 Laverda RGS and Morini 500 turbo amongst many others.
He has also designed various accessories and clothing, collaborating with Shoei, Oakley, JT Racing, Millet, Lewis Leather, Dainese and finally Belstaff, where he was creative director from the early ‘90s until 2011.
Malenotti has based the Model X Reloaded around an S&S X-Wedge V-twin engine with a capacity of 1,916cc. This is being housed in a frame that integrates the oil tank and has a pull system rear suspension matched to a ‘Castle’ type fork with hydraulic shocks.
The bike will roll on spoked wheels created in co-operation with Borrani; the front will be a 16in, and a 17in is being used at the rear.
To cater for rider comfort, the suspended seat can be height adjusted from 740mm to 800mm, the handlebars are adjustable for height and angle, and the foot controls can be set in one of two positions.
www.matchlesslondon.com
S&S HI-4N, Thunderstroke air cleaner and Frankenstein engines
ALTHOUGH it is difficult to believe, it is already five years since George Smith, son of the founder, acquired the Crane Cams motorcycle product line for S&S Cycle. The company has now announced that it is to cease marketing product under the Crane Cams name at the end of this year.
However, they will carry forward a few Crane motorcycle line products under the S&S brand, and one of these will be the legendary HI-4 multi-function performance ignition for Evo models.
Ubiquitous in its time as the 'go-to' aftermarket ignition for Evo engines, the S&S HI-4N has built on that pedigree, and is still widely regarded as the leading choice for 1984 and up Big Twin performance ignitions.
Featuring an improved kick-start algorithm, which is designed to make starting as easy as points, single-fire and dual-fire functions are built into the single one-piece machined aluminum module. This replacement for the previous line of HI-4 ignition modules ships with a single fire coil and 8.5mm double silicone premium quality spark plug wires.
The BCD switches, with solid detent and legible marking, allow easy and repeatable adjustments of mode, advance rate and rev limit. The flexible wiring harness is said to make installation easier and initial timing marks allow precise adjustment and reinstallation.
The housing is designed to reduce vibration and improve heat dissipation and reliability, and features integrated sensor covers to provide protection during installation.
October and November are always busy months at the Viola, Wisconsin S&S facility, as the new product cycle and new-build season get underway. This year has seen the company running promotions for their dealers on their 'Frankenstein' V100 (polished and black) and V117 engines.
The 100cc V100s have a 4" bore and 4" stroke, a Super Stock ignition, Super E Carb, 585 camshaft and non-roller style rocker arms.
The V117 is a 4 1/8" bore and 4 3/8" stroke Super G fitted 117 incher, finished with gloss black cases, polished diamond-cut cylinders and gloss black diamond-cut heads.
S&S continues to develop product offerings for the new generation of Indian models, among the latest being an S&S air cleaner for the Thunderstroke 111 engine.
Suitable for 2014-15 Chieftain, Classic and Vintage models, S&S say their kit delivers an increase of 5hp with a washable cotton gauze K&N high-flow air filter that has twice the stock surface area for a 37 percent increase in airflow.
Engineered to preserve leg clearance, the durable billet aluminum body is available with show chrome quality billet cover options.
S&S CYCLE
Viola, Wisconsin, USA
Tel: 608 627 1958
sscust@sscycle.com
www.sscycle.com/indian-air
JayBrake calipers and forward controls
JAYBRAKE, now a SuperTrapp brand, has introduced Dual Series brake calipers, which are designed with two equal sized pistons. The company is offering a shallow back version for low clearance spoke patterns with larger diameter rims. Front applications require brackets for mounting, and the calipers are available in polished aluminum, chrome or black finishes.
The JayBrake J-FL forward controls are machined from steel and billet aluminum and mount directly using the stock mounts, pivot points and the master cylinder. The J-FL controls fit ’09 and up Baggers and can be used on bikes with or without highway bars fitted. The controls are available in chrome or black and can be matched with grips and pegs that are also available from SuperTrapp under the JayBrake label.
SUPERTRAPP
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Tel: 216 265 8400
jaybrake@supertrapp.com
www.jbrake.com
Schampa "FaceFit"
OFF-ROAD and on-highway riding gear specialist Schampa has come up with what owner and designer Andy Myers describes as "the next generation in rider face-wear".
His Patent Pending "FaceFit" system takes the classic face-mask scarf and adds ergonomics and technology to how it fits. A flexible, lightweight, adjustable Neoprene internal reinforcer that "remembers" the fit contours of the face allows the rider simply to press the scarf to create a molded fit that massively improves the seal around the nose and mouth to protect against wind, dust, pollution, sand and all the other airborne hazards of riding.
Andy says that "when used in conjunction with eye-wear the effect it has on the breath even helps reduce fogging. I made some of these for myself, and have been doing tens of thousands of miles with them. Then I figured, well, if it works for me, it could work for everyone!"
SCHAMPA
Chandler, Arizona, USA
Tel: 480 899 6458
amyers@schampa.com
www.schampa.com
