Martin's Motorcycle: Washington DC Motorcycle Show 2010

The Washington DC motorcycle show is a great way to start the 2010 motorcycle season. The snow, ice, and cold weather have limited the amount of motorcycling in the area over the last couple months, and we have not seen any hints of warmer spring temperatures. The 2010 International Motorcycle Show in Washington DC brings many manufacturers and a large number of custom motorcycles to the Convention Center. The economy has been suffering over the last year reducing the size of the show. Several significant manufacturers, Suzuki, Victory, Harley Davidson, MV Augusta, KTM, BMW and Aprilia, were not present. In some cases the local dealerships were present to fill in when the factory dropped out.

It is unfortunate that BMW has decided not to participate in either the 2009 or 2010 Washington DC International Motorcycle show. To fill in the gap this year, Wunderlich brought three GS BMWs to show off their aftermarket components. Battleys, one of the local dealers, brought the new BMW liter bike, the S1000RR. Even Cycle World brought in a custom BMW. Catching the BMW factory display requires a trip to New York City. Hopefully, the economy will pick up and we will see BMW in the future Washington DC Motorcycle Shows.

Right near the entrance of the Motorcycle Show were several T-Rex and we also saw the Can Am Spyder. These look like a lot of fun, so I hope a get a chance to try one someday. With two manufacturers, we should see more of these in the future. While riding my motorcycle last year, I saw one going in the other direction. Aside from the staff of the T-Rex and Can-Am displays, I have not had a chance to talk to someone who owns one.

We started with the Ducati exhibit. Unlike previous years, the exhibit is not walled off, so it is easier to see the motorcycles. Ducati brought a bunch of motorcycles including some of their race replicas and a couple of Monsters. The Multistrada is up on an elevated display and several Ducati staff were available to answer questions. Ducati motorcycles were also featured in the stunt show along with two umbrella girls. The Ducati motorcycles are impressive, but the stunt show is a bit more modest. To help the motorcycle get better traction on the smooth concrete surface, the concrete surface is painted with a low tack adhesive that is resistant to wear from burnouts and skids. When riding near the far end, it is clear from the skidding that the unpainted surface is slick for the stunt bike.

Our next stop is the Yamaha and Star display, but we focused on the custom baseball themed motorcycle with fancy vaporized titanium PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) on the chrome parts. The PVD gives the chrome an iridescent shine.

We continued on to the Victory display where many people were browsing the new Victory selection. One thing that really caught my eye was the paint option on the Hammer. This motorcycle comes with red, white, and black suede paint. This paint job is not shiny and has a surface finish similar to suede. It has a prominent warning that taking care of this paint job is difficult and that buffing will result in shiny patches. While this paint job looks awesome, over the next couple years we will see how well it holds up. We really appreciated Chesapeake Cycles in Annapolis filling in for the missing factory group.

We walked through the Wunderlich, Shoei, Achropovic, Ohlin, and aftermarket rims display. These were larger displays with many items to see. The custom graphics on the helmets and the three BMWs tricked out in Wunderlich aftermarket goodies were the highlights.

The Harley Davidson exhibit was quite small compared with prior years. This was clearly not the regular factory display, but rather one of our local dealers. We did not find out which one was participating and are glad they were there to help complete the DC Motorcycle Show.

Honda brought their full factory display and covered a larger area on the conference hall floor. Both racing and production motorcycles were on hand. One of my favorites is the off-road racer with the really large headlights. This makes it look like one of the robots from the 1980s. Each light is adjustable via the handle on top and can be tightened by twisting the handle. Many of the production bikes are also on hand. The 600RR even has painted wheels to match the pattern on the body panels. All sport bikes have a low center of gravity, but it is truly amazing how far this bike can be leaned over and stood back up without any fear of dropping it. The liter bikes also have this characteristic, but the heavier engine makes this a bit harder.

Kawasaki also brought a large number of motorcycles. The main display includes a three tiered wall with circular sections with motorcycles on the inside and outside. Many motorcycles are spread around this display for a hands-on experience. We enjoyed the Washington DC Motorcycle Show and spent a couple hours looking at all the news bikes. Thanks to all the local dealers and factory displays for making the show successful.

The custom motorcycles were a real highlight of the Washington DC Motorcycle Show. The detail on these motorcycles is truly amazing. One even had two LCD screens with the second one mounted over the rear tire. A high resolution version will open in a new window if you click on the pictures below.