AIMexpo Columbus 2019

anybody go? Full report needed

 

How long is it going on for ?
Anybody can get in or is it only dealers ?

 

it was thursday-friday for industry only, then sat-sun for the rest of us. i went sat for the first time. was interesting in a way. lots of brands from overseas with a lot less mainstream stuff i'd say... example: there was prob 5 helmet companies there i'd never heard of, yet only saw a simpson booth. the companies i talked to (samco, fren tubo) were helpful and forthcoming with discount codes or swag. random helmet co from italy even sent me home w a tshirt. guess i'm a sucker for free shit!

they had demo rides nearby that looked fun. i should have taken a vanderhall out for a spin, but was hungry and had another event to go to by that point.

 

Was there working a booth Sat/Sun.

Same as above. Lots of brands that are overseas or more obscure. Probably because it's one show vs doing the 7 IMS shows. There was a whole section of asian/indian part manufacturers looking for contracts or distribution. Some stuff interesting, some not so much. Maybe 1/3 of the exhibitors were names that I recognized.

Lots and lots of electric bicycles. Maybe 6 companies or more. Cake had their electric motorcycles which looked good.

Bunch of helmet brands and helmet products never heard of before. One was a GPS module on the helmet that would auto dial 911 if it detected a crash.

Beta, Sherco, Kayo were there, as well as Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki. Harley had a relatively small section. There was a mahindra 4x4 off-roader on display I didn't get to check out.

I read a story where Honda was supposed to reveal two new bikes at AIM, but that didn't happen. Pressed some Honda dealers there and they thought it was the AT1100 release.

The big thing about this year show was about growing the industry and the MIC's big plan to get more people on bikes. The cliffnotes version of the presentation is that we should all be more like Harley and sell the culture and lifestyle and invite non-riding people to motorcycle things. "Bad-ass" in quotes appeared on multiple slides. The MIC didn't seem to have much to say about what they themselves are going to do to help the problem.

There was a builders invitational bike competition. Was a little interesting when someone in charge made the comment that they decided to be inclusive this year and invite builders outside of the chopper world. Watching people go through, the choppers were the only ones that got any real attention. Very few people even seemed to look at the Penton street tracker or the Ducati Moto3 build. Just a reminder that those of us on the metric system are the minority.

Someone in AIM management said that they are planning on staying in Columbus for another 2 years at least. Apparently Vegas wasn't that great (Vegas Bike Week was the same time), Columbus was cheaper for everyone, and they had a bigger turnout from the public.

 

Sounds like they should have stayed in Orlando.

 

that ducati build was rad! it was the only "custom" build i really even looked at lol! loved the detail pinstripe on the rims!

 

That's a bummer to hear about the Duc. I made a bunch of parts for that build, and thought the whole concept was pretty unique.

 

Well don't come in here bragging without some decent pics for the rest of us!

 

Whoops...should have sized those. Missing a couple of parts, but that's the rearset mounts, shift lever (did the rear brake also), rear caliper mount, and front fairing mount.

 

Awesome!

 

You probably don't need to know I got and maintained an erection looking at those.



CNC, Water jet or how on earth? Hand finish or machine? I know nothing about this stuff except it's beautiful craftsmanship thanks for sharing!

 

That Ducati is a stunner. Just WOW!

 

CNC. Waterjet doesn't really leave a clean edge, and of course is limited in what you can actually cut (profiles mostly). The only parts that had any hand work done, was the fairing mount beam, and the face of the rear brake caliper mount. The builder (Tony Prust from Analog Motorcycles), preferred the brushed finish on the face of the caliper mount, but also wanted the toolpath left in the middle of it. The beam was actually a piece of material that he supplied, and it had some scratches that didn't come out in the machining process(had to maintain a dimension), so that got the brushed finish too.

So for all you old time WERA people, the frame on that bike came from Framecrafters, which is owned by the Illg family. As in Randy (old British iron back in the 80's), and Karsten, who has raced a whole bunch of different stuff. The frame came from a Moto3 build for an AMA guy.....Herrin maybe?

 

Where are the photos of the Duc Moto3??

 

I'm fixated on that shift lever. How often do you get to do stuff like this?

 

Better to look at real pics, as opposed to resized stuff allowed here.

https://www.analogmotorcycles.com/builds/1968-ducati-250cc-moto-3/

 

https://www.bikeexif.com/moto3-ducati-250-racer

Pretty often. That's how my shop started out, doing custom bike stuff. Then it's morphed into a lot of industrial and car stuff.

 

If you search for Analog Motorcycles on bikeexif, you'll see a bunch of his projects, and I've done parts on nearly all of them.

 

As much as I hate ORL in general its better than Columbus. Columbus...as in middle of BFE Ohio?

Whats next if bike sales keep falling...AIM EXPO Feb 2028 Bismarck, ND....