NEC Motorcycle Live 2011

Excel is Very Small Show - i Did not go Much on That or The Ally Pally one - I always Liked NEC show and have Satyed ovetrnight in Hilton and Done motor museum after -

 

Frankly, I was a bit underwhelmed... £38 for two tickets on the door plus another £8 to park the car isn't a bargain when added to the £40-odd quid for fuel and food - fortunately I had free tickets. I wasn't impressed having to wait over 20 mins in a windy bus shelter to be picked up by the shuttle either - I could have walked in 7-8 mins if I'd realised the wait was to be that long.

I walked round the entire show in just under 2 1/2 hours - in the door sometime about 2:20, out the door about 4:45. OK, I didn't spend a lot of time poking and prodding the bikes, though I did take quite a few photos, and there was nothing I wanted off the bucket shop stands, so mostly wandered straight past those too... but last time I went we got there at 11am and had barely got round when it closed.

And given the distance that people have to travel, 5 seems very early to shut - and of course tosses the attendees out straight into Birmingham's notorious rush hour. The queue towards the M42/M6 wasn't moving at all, so I went the other way towards Birmingham and was very glad I did... it took maybe 20-25 mins longer to get to Oxford than the GPS was showing for the motorway route (which of course wasn't moving).

Aside from the Panigale (yawn) the only really new bikes that I spotted were the Triumph Explorer, the Honda NC700 range and the 750cc engined Guzzis (which look just the same even if they are totally redesigned around a new motor). There were a few restyle jobs (eg, the 1000 Versys which just looks silly and an 800 Beemer) and some smaller stuff...

And that was pretty much that. I did get to quiz the rep on the Dunlop stand about why my Roadsmarts wore out so quickly (under 4500 on the XJ6) and he was a bit gobsmacked... he wasn't certain but thought the OE tyres supplied to Yamaha were probably a different specification to the tyre Dunlop supply over the counter to customers. I'd figured that out when I realised they weren't dual compound...

Did get a free Kawasaki calendar tho!

 

You enjoyed your day out then?

 

I've had worse...

 

I went in 2009 where it was huge - 4 FULL halls. In 2010 it was tiny (2-3 halls) with hardly anything and very little clothing/suits/helmets etc. We went this year in 2011 and it was not as good as 2009 but much better than 2010. Much more variety of products to buy, new released bikes, more free trials etc.

We plan it as a night in Birmingham for the German Christmas Festival so we don't have to fight the traffic. But I think it only works cause we go with the intention of buying specific things e.g. winter gloves for me, new one piece race suit for hubby, new tyres for his Blade, new helmet for him due to crash. Think if I was just 'looking' it wouldn't be as good.

Great for a group of like minded friends on a day out though when you go on the train and don't have to worry about driving and alcohol!