The 2010 Long Beach International Motorcycle Show

Southern California is famous for numerous things:  Hollywood, great beaches, blondes, earthquakes and rush hour traffic.  SoCal also happens to be hallowed ground for the sport of motorcycling.  It's home to a few famous and historic road racing and motocross tracks, the US headquarters to the Japanese "Big 4" manufacturers, and a bevy of aftermarket companies.  The Los Angeles area is claimed to be the largest single market in the world, so yes, motorcycles are a big deal here and the show at Long Beach is the most important show of the 12 city Progressive International Motorcycle Shows tour.  There were North American debuts from Triumph, BMW and Ducati, a bike builder custom bike competition, a stunt show starring Jason Britton and special appearances by Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies and various other moto-celebrities.
A lot has already been written about the bikes that made their North American debuts because they made their world premiers at Intermot or Milan, so I'm not going to rehash what has already been said, but instead I'm going to give you my take on what I saw at Long Beach.

Rant On What's New At Intermot

This is a very exciting time of the year for me.  My free moments are spent on mostly European motorcycle websites trying to get a glimpse of what's being introduced for the next year.  A lot of times, you'll find me on a website trying to decipher Italian.  So, the first major show of the year has hit in Cologne, Germany and here's my take on what's been introduced so far in no particular order:

Ferrari Link to MV Agusta F4 Development

In the early development days of what we know now as the MV Agusta F4 motor, Ferrari was heavily involved in it's design. The motor they were working on was basically four cylinders taken from the 1990-1992 era Ferrari formula one car motor. This car was not very successful, Alain Prost called it a garbage truck (and was then quickly fired for the remark), so it didn't take long for the engineers at Cagiva to change the design looking for horsepower.

Riding Impressions: The 2010 Triumph Line Up

I recently had the opportunity to sample just about all of the models in Triumph's 2010 model line-up at a recent demo truck event at Go AZ Motorcycles in Scottsdale, AZ (which happens to be my day gig). Missing from the demo fleet was the Sprint ST.  The explanation I received from Triumph's area rep was that something new was coming and that the current model's inventory levels are low, so it made no sense to promote it.  So, the new model is the 2011 Sprint GT.
Triumph's model line up is very strong for just about every type of street riding a person would want to do.  I also found that most models were very versatile enough for many uses.  Here's my take on the bikes I rode:

Riding Impression: 2010 Harley-Davidson FXWG Dyna Wide Glide

I really hadn't ridden a Harley in a long time.  I owned one 20 years ago and have found that they had progressed very little with the newer ones that I had ridden.  With the Dyna frame that was introduced some time ago, Harley made an improvement in quelling some vibration.  The Twin Cam 88 motor was slightly more powerful and smoother than the Evo it replaced.  Suspension and brakes still left a lot to be desired.
The 2010 Dyna Wide Glide that I had the opportunity to sample at Arizona Bike Week was a pleasant surprise!

Riding Impression: Can-Am Spyder

I had the opportunity to ride a Can-Am Spyder RS last week during Arizona Bike Week.  I'll have to say, I cam away pretty impressed!  I've been pretty curious to ride one since they were introduced a couple of years ago by Bombardier, makers of Sea-Doo, Ski-Doo, Lear Jet and Can-Am ATV's among other things.
I'll have to admit that I didn't have my hopes up too high after having ridden the BMW powered GG Quad a few years ago.  Though the GG's specs and workmanship looked impressive, it had an unnerving quality of tracking every imperfection in the road.  Along with working very hard to keep it straight, it required muscle to turn.  

Sneek Peak: Ducati Multistrada 1200S

I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak at the new MTS 1200S yesterday in Scottsdale.  I'll have to say that I came away fairly impressed from what I saw.  The one on display was the S Sport Edition with gobs of carbon fiber everywhere.  The S model also features electronically adjustable Öhlins suspension.

2010 Daytona 200

Well another Daytona 200 is in the books this past weekend and I will tell you that this is about the 4th year in a row I haven't bothered to watch it. The 200 has come a long way from what is in my opinion its high mark in the mid '90's. Unfortunately, it has come a long way in the wrong direction! Ever since going to a Superbike format, the 200 has perennially seen entries from the AMA regulars as well as top contenders from World Superbike and even MotoGP. The pinnacle for me was in either '95 or '96 (I don't recall the year exactly) where we saw Carl Fogherty, Troy Corser, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Doug Polen, and Scott Russell all compete in the race. The factories thought this race was important enough to enter their top riders. Before going to a Superbike format, Kenny Roberts, Spencer, Lawson, Wayne Rainey and others were regulars on two strokes. Hell, even Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood would ride the 200!