We were able to park right outside the door and.....parking was free for bikes.
There was also a coat check available so we were able to leave our gear in safety and walk around in comfort.
We got there a tad after ten am and left about 5:25pm. If it hadn't been for having a plan to meet some people for dinner at 5:30, we would probably have stayed even longer.
It's amazing how fast the time went. We were there for over seven hours.
My electric gloves suck! I got the first pair replaced. The second pair don't work either. I found the booth of the Canadian distributor to ask them about the gloves. He told me there is definitely a problem with the gloves I have. He said because they were bought at a Harley dealer, that the gloves would have been made to Harley specs and that is why they aren't working with my Yamaha. The output is different.
So, he told me I should go back to the dealer and make them take the gloves back. I will attempt to do tomorrow. The gloves barely get warm. When I got home last night, my fingers were cool to the touch.....even after being inside the gloves for over a half hour.
I bought some special boot socks, a sleeping bag, a new helmet and a new light bulb to put in the headlight. It's very bright and is designed specially for motorcycles with an anti vibration feature so the light bulb will last longer.
I didn't find any tires.
I enjoyed sitting on some of the bikes to see what I could potentially upgrade to when I think I am ready to finance something.
There were some stunt riders showing off their moves. There was also a kiddie riding clinic. Children 6-12 could get suited up and learn to ride a little dirt bike. They were having a blast.
I ran into my previous instructor and had a chat with him. I find it quite remarkable that given how many people I am acquainted with that were going to be at the show at the same time I would be there, that I never ran into a single one.
Now, what was my favourite? It's a toss up between the Kawi 900, a Victory with an awesome paint job, a Blue and white Harley that looked so darn good, Honda 1300 in a periwinkle blue...oddly enough, I wasn't too impressed with the new Yamaha 1300. The handlebars were quite a stretch for me on one of them.
The other one had a different style of handlebar, which was better, but the handlebars trned at such an angle that a tall guy who was there sitting on it, found that the bars interefered with the tank and his legs.
I think they might have to go back to the drawing board for that set up.
A novel scooter was presented there. It has one rear wheel, but 2 front wheels. With a 250cc engine it can carry 2 up on the highway at 120mph.
Not that we have anyplace we can ride that fast around here anyway....It was expensive for a scooter at close to $8,000. However, if a person gets to a point where they can't manage on a real motorcycle anymore, this would be a good compromise.
It had a cool cupholder.
