Ihave . Yes , seriously , already ! It had been so long since I have been able to even contemplate a road trip that I had booked our travel itinerary on receipt of the AIMExpo / Las Vegas news before the day was out . Does that make me sad ? Maybe . But for sure , after 18 months ( and counting ) I accept that I really do " need to get our more "! It ' s not that I necessarily think that the reimagined AIMExpo ( January 19-21 , 2022 - in association with Tucker Powersports ) will necessarily be an earth shaking , epoch defining event in and of itself , but coming 10 days after a return to Louisville for the excellent Parts Unlimited and Drag Specialties NVP Dealer Expo , the critical mass of energy and opportunity that the two will create as the world ( hopefully , finally !) draws back the shutters should make for an excellent market dynamic . Don ' t get me wrong . I think the changes made to the AIMExpo format - the change back to a classic legacy-style , old school three-day dealer only event - and the added momentum of hosting one of the market ' s majors , may not feel like ' new news ', but don ' t forget that events have prevented the concept from being tested yet . Pre-pandemic business fortunes and cycles made the market dubious about the likely prospects for the formula when initially announced . At that time , it was being viewed through the lens of a market in trouble . Given what has happened since , I don ' t think we even knew at that stage what trouble really looked like ! With everything crossed and prayers to Mammon for a good following wind , it is to be hoped that the sense of momentum that is returning to our humble little corner of global capitalism sustains and that the twin events do indeed go ahead as planned . Barring being flooded out by yet another wave of disease and pestilence , it will have been a long and difficult journey to be able to get to the point of worshipping in the temple of business opportunity again , and I for one just can ' t wait to go to that church ! On paper , the dynamic of independent trade show with added powersports industry distributor dealer gravitas has always been one that has had its obvious attractions . ' Back in The Day ' when sales were flowing like milk and honey and all the distributors competed to out-support each other at the two rival spring dealer shows , the need for such a collaboration was not there , and anyway , would have felt ' inappropriate '. Now though , with distributor shows having largely replaced the familiar independent expo landscape that did so much to shape our industry , I gladly associate myself with MIC CEO Erik Pritchard ' s remarks about bringing the industry together . Kudos too to Marc McAllister , the president of Tucker Powersports . There are those who will point to the laws of declining cash flow as drivers for his decision to share the responsibility for the success of Tucker ' s primary season starter event with a third party . But that was then , and now is now . Viewed through the lens of 2021 , the decision now looks courageous and more of a rescue of AIMExpo than of the Tucker Dealer Expo . The truth is that it may not save Tucker all that much budget anyway , but it
the potential was always there
certainly saves its vendors and dealers a whole bunch and gives AIMExpo added ' beef ' - so I say ' nicely played ' Marc . What I have found striking is that within days of the twin expo announcements - AIMExpo / Tucker and Drag / Louisville - there was a palpable sense of both relief and positivity in the reaction of those I spoke with about it . Everyone wants to ' get back on the bike again ' and meet friends like long-lost distant cousins - I sense the bars and restaurants of Las Vegas and Louisville will be quite happy to help the motorcycle industry spend its money ! The longer the challenge to the normal conduct of business has been going on , the more difficult it gets to fire the old engine back up again . With hurricane force winds of change headed our way , a return to in-person opportunities to do business , make plans , reignite old partnerships and create new ones can ' t come soon enough . As the MIC has been trying to do through its Zoom seminar and keynote sessions and other initiatives , it is critically important that the industry does indeed " come together " and pick up with a Version 2.0 of the ' how to deal with the future ' playbook that had only just started to be written when the lights went out . Through that darkness , we have had the rare privilege of being engaged in an endeavor that now more than ever looks futurefacing and opportune - and that also adds to the sense of excitement . Whodathunk it back in the dark days of March and April 2020 that we would still have businesses still be doing business , and in fact be engaged in a line of business that now truly is part of the solution rather than part of the problem . The potential was always there for that to be the case , but as the first reports of life after lockdown started to emerge in May 2020 , there was an initial sense of shock , then surprise and finally scepticism as to whether it could sustain - is the powersports industry that lucky ? But sustained it has . Indeed , through the lens of hindsight , it now looks entirely logical that it has done so . Motorcycles as the ultimate socially distanced transport solution - it all seems so obvious now , but years , decades even of an industry feeling under existential pressure from regulators , environmentalists , changing demographics , downturns and changing attitudes to the ownership and riding experience had left their mark . The industry entered the pandemic bruised and battered , but has emerged with renewed opportunity . But hey , as we have been pointing out here at AMD , this year with our series of pieces on the potential benefits of the connected transport future for motorcycles and other upcoming technology challenges , maybe we are now eyeing a newfound freedom to be optimistic that , to paraphraze Janis Joplin , is born from having nothing left to lose .
Robin Bradley Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world . com