Show is Friday, December 17 4:00pm - 9:00pm
Saturday, December 18 9:30am - 8:00pm
Sunday, December 19 9:30am - 5:00pm
Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802

My fiancee (SWMBO in training...heh) and I are heading over sometime Saturday AM, driving the Honda Element from early Xmas visit with Mom in L.A. Maybe see you there?

Also, found a coupon for online ticket purchase at $11/person (adult), use code "SH2011" for the discount.

That is tempting, very tempting....

I plan on attending Saturday......I was going to ride but rain is forecast.

Bump....

It's cold and drizzly here, and supposed to just get worse over the coming week-end. Looking forward to some moto-stimulation, checking out the new models, wandering around, and having some fun at the show. Work's been a total burn-out this week and I need to get my mind somewhere else. See you there!

Will be there Friday at 4 for the opening.
Took a half day off...meet the guys at hooters for wings and swill some beer, wander over to the show and kick it around for a few hours.

Wonder if they'll have the new triumph there...

I'm going just not sure sat or sun.

Los Angeles Times' story on this show here: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1217-motorcycle-show-20101217,0,5256698.story

Interesting article. See ya there Saturday morning....

Well, that answers the question as to why one can't find a 2010 Versys at their dealer, and why we've been buying new leftovers for almost two years. I knew the industry was down but did not realize it was 50% - WOW.

I wonder if Piaggio not coming includes their other brands, and no KTM. Why bother going???? Just kidding. The new Triumphs will be there. I can sit on a new tiger. :D

I'll DEF be checking out the new Tiger too. I never had one in mind when picking my handle here, it was in reference to the hope of not crashing and feeling like I'd been tigerpawed. I've been batted around some, but have avoided the major @ssclawing so far.:D

The show was fun, spent 4 hours wandering through.
The new tiger is definitely a winner. The reps claim it kicks the F800 in performance (not surprised), the BMW rep I know says they are not worried (not sure what that means). Would like to see a professional test comparo. Seems it's at least a couple of thousand less than the bimmer.

The new duc deso-whatever is actually much nicer in person than the photos. Sitting on it is a huge surprise, it feels super light. They did their design work on that one, CG must be super low. Seems like the back tire is a foot wide. Appears to be a boulevard cruiser with muscle.

Some great gear buys for sure.

Kawi had a full-dressed V on display. Based on how they fit the new hand guards on I think I will add Pro-Bends in the same manner.

The new Honda CBR250R is a hoot. My son liked it pretty well. Hard to find a brand new motorcycle these days for $3999 MSRP.

Unusual for so-Cal was the rain. The poor stunt rider guys couldn't even perform - no traction for wheelies and stoppies. Oh well.

All in all a very fun night out with the boys.

Yeah, fun this morning. My gal said something like "not my demographics" and begged a departure to hunt up lunch after forty-five minutes, while I wandered around amid a great mix of riders from leather harley guys to old school mechanics, touring and ADV'ers, and curious n00bs. I took some photos but my camera batteries died early.

The Tigers were awesome - major drool material. Ducati had a sweet booth, and folks were checking out the Versys and other K's. Two K riders braved the rain to put on a show at 11am. I was amazed they could still do many of their tricks given the wet pavement and falling rain. Some balls of steel on display there. One guy I swear almost wheelied over...must have been right at the tipping point and managed to get the front wheel down with a big lunge. Amazing - I'd be on the way to the hospital.

Lots of stuff for sale, good buys, raffles, contests, some hot booth babes, plenty of "cocktail bars" on the periphery with more folks than I'd guess pounding beer on a Saturday morning, heh. It was mellow and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Nice bikes showing for a custom/restoration contest, and some other very interesting custom builds scattered around. I confirmed that SHOIE medium size fits...and I'll have a Snell 2010-certified helmet on my shopping list next year as the 2011's come in and retailers make me offers I can't refuse.

Demo ride area was quiet - not many wanted to play in the rain in the convention center parking lot.

Really glad I went, and anyone in SoCal who is looking for something to do Sunday morning...head on down. Parking is $10 for a cage which is a gotcha, but they do have security monitoring the parking area, which is nice.:clap: Motos park free and there's a gear check inside for your stuff if you brave the rain to ride there.

Have Fun!!!

You guys out there are lucky, the local bike show in western mass takes place in feb. and seems to be more about customs and choppers than real world bikes. A few dealerships usually show up, but it seems to usually cater more to the cruisers. Lots of harley stuff, leather chaps and jackets, and patches to put on your leathers. Nothing really in the way of overpants, or mesh safety gear. It would be nice if at least some of the customs were cafe' bikes in stead of choppers and busa's with extended swing arms and tires to fat to turn with. I would like to see the new kawasaki w800, and mabey some bonnie's.

Wish you Guys had a few pics we could look at.... Cheers.

Midway down the show site page is a slide show of attendee pics. Gives a good 'overall' of the goings on.
http://www.motorcycleshows.com/LongBeach

There were quite a few celebs signing posters, Nicky Haden was there Friday night for an hour or so, we got his signed poster. And yes, the Ducati booth is always the tops of the show. They have the cutest models too.

There were three seminar pits, you'll see a couple of them in the slides. Nicky spoke Friday night, an interview about his current racing career with Ducati. Another seminar was fitting your bike out for adventure riding, another on maintenance, and etc.

Every brand has a cruiser bike model, and Harley had a big booth there, so there's lots of that crowd. But there are a lot of sport bike riders in this region, a lot of offroad, and even a few of us non-standard standard riders as well. BMW sells very well in so-Cal.

You know the song 'It never rains in southern california...' well it's true except for this weekend - downpour expected for four days. There was some good footage of the stunt riders there in the rain. Not much of a show compared to what I saw up at Laguna Seca at the MotoGP races this last summer. Them guys are nuts - extrememly talented stunters.

Enjoy!

Think I'm going to brave the rain and make my way down there today (although I'll do the cage with this rain). Anyone else headed there?

Here's some photos me and she took on Saturday. Sorry, they aren't very good, but they might show a few things you wouldn't otherwise see.

http://www.kawasakiversys.com/forums/album.php?albumid=266

Thanks for posting some pics. I had planned to attend but a cold bug threw a monkey wrench into the works........*$#@!

Some cool pics in there.
definitely diggin on the Tiger!