London Bike Show

Thanks to MCN's offer of 2 for 1 for the first 1000 people per day and kids under 10 for free.

I have obtained 2 tickets for £14 to attend the London Bike Show.

Sadly it is too late to apply for press acreditation even with a week to go, as the London Office of this event is alot more stricter than the Brum office.

So the James clan will be in attendance to the show. Also Stacey can return the trousers she got from the Suzuki Clothing stand and replace them with a mens size.

So I will be doing a short report of this event.

Nice one matey looking forward to the pics and report

When you was a kid, and your mates had all the latest gear, gadets, toys and bikes, and there was you saving up your weekly paper round money for that one thing that you had your eye on, and at last you finally saved up enough money, to go out, purchase and hand over the money to the cashier with your hands shaking and the joy of excitement that all your early mornings delivering papers in the rain had finally paid off.

Only for it to be spoilt when you take the item home and find that it is as not that great as others make out.

Well today that happened to Stacey, Adam and myself.

Yes we attended the London Motorcycle Show at Excel in the heart of the London Docklands.
This show had replaced the Ally Pally Show (of which returns this year as a private run event) that used to be held at Wood Green in North London.

This attendance was not exactly made on the spur of the moment, but more as a family day out, and Adam's first taste of a Motorcycle show.

MCN were offering 2 for 1 entry on the 1st 1000 entries per day. So a quick call to the booking office secured the 2 tickets for £14.

Another quick look on National Rail obtained us single tickets for both journeys for 2 Adults and 1 child on a Family and Friends pass for £52.50 and an all day 4 zone tube ticket for £11 for all 3 of us.

We left Nottingham on the 06:28 train and we had arrived at Excel just after 09:15.

As we had general admission tickets, we still attended the press suite to get a press pack.
The press officer was a very young girl, and basically didn't care less who came through the door, because there was a side door that went straight into the bike show.

With press pack in a hand and a quick grab of a chocolate breakfast pastry, we walked through the side door into the show.

At the NEC show, Stacey obtained a pair of Suzuki Hurricane trousers, however they were not suitable, so a few email exchanges with Adrian at Topshot aka Genuine Suzuki Clothing, we were able to pickup a suitable pair at this show.

After sorting that out, it was time to look at the bikes........ Well bikes was somewhat of an under estimate.

Now the press pack actually states that the 2009 show is the biggest ever..... Ok where is Suzuki....?
The only manufacturers present were Bimota, B M W, Ducati, H O N D A, Triumph, H D, KTM and Victory.

K*****i and Y****a were not even present, however dealership George White where present with a few Suzuki GSX-R's, a Y****a R1 and a couple of K*****i ZX6's. It looked more like a used bike section of the dealership.

Now for those who have been to the NEC shows within the past 2 years will know that the show is held in different areas to where it used to be.

Hall 3 of the NEC is a small hall and has be used for the bike clubs and the artists. The whole of the Excel show would have easily fitted into Hall 3. We walked around the show twice within 20 minutes.

The show represented more of a market with cheap leathers with a mix of a few well known suppliers of aftermarket parts and accessories.

To my surprise, another well known Bandit accessorary company had a very large stand which was attracting alot of attention, and were fully stocked with bike parts, not a T-shirt or several pints of beer in sight !!!

A couple of items where purchased in terms of the latest Oxford 42L Tail pack at a bargin price of £45 and a couple of Suzuki Stickers which hopefully might come useful on my Baglux tank cover.

Stacey and Adam were very disappointed and Adam, the poor chap, was not impressed that Suzuki wasn't there.

So we left, 1hr 20 minutes we were present for... So we decided to do a bit of sight seeing. On the tube we went to Embankment and a relaxing walk along the river to Westminster, then past Parliment Square on to Whitehall to show Adam Downing Street, then in to Horse Guards to see the Blues and Royals change over guard.

Our train back was at 17:15 and we still 4 hours to kill. So it was back on the tube to the Elephant and Castle and we visited the Imperial War Museum. Entry is free. And one of the greatest pieces of motorcycling history is currently being exhibited at the museum. And a bit of local history for me as the bike was built in my home town of Nottingham.

Yes it is Laurence of Arabia's Brough Superior. This bike was the actual bike that he raced against a plane along Lincoln's A15 to Bracebridge Heath.

It was also the actual bike that killed him. This I'm affraid was the only exciting highlight of the day.



So folks... The NEC is still the best UK bike show for value for money followed by Stafford and the BMF shows.

For our southern members, we really do feel sorry for you... Because there was more bikes in the surrounding motorcycle parking bays in London than there was at the show of which contained plenty of exotic varieties.

This is one show that we will never do again.. Even if I applied for press accreditation.

Nice one matey but for best value has got to be any that the club attends where you can get in for free..LOL