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est. 1993
T H E # 1 B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E A M E R I C A N V- T W I N A N D C U S T O M M O T O R C Y C L E PA R T S I N D U S T RY
“Custom Culture” to headline the V-twin
action as AIMExpo heads for the market’s
backyard in Columbus, Ohio
ith Harley-Davidson
and
Indian
Motorcycle as anchor
exhibitors for the
V-twin market, as this edition of
AMD Magazine went to press,
more than 95 percent of available
booth space was sold with five
weeks to go, and the expectations
for a record V-twin market dealer
and consumer attendance was
growing.
The timing of AIMExpo means that
both Indian (seven weeks) and Harley
(three weeks) will have a brand-new
opportunity and timing cycle to give
their 2018 new models an expo
environment public debut almost
straight after their launches – this is the
first time that either OE has had such
an opportunity, and no doubt a major
factor in their decisions to embrace the
combined “European style” trade ad
public attendance show profile that
AIMExpo has brought to the U.S.
powersports industry.
The 2018 Indians were on show at the
Sturgis Rally, but despite some key
dealer and embargoed press sneak
peaks of parts of the 2018 line-up at
Sturgis, the much anticipated new
W
RMOT
TE
Harley models (on which so much
depends for the Motor Company) were
only getting their dealer-unveil at their
Los Angeles dealer convention at the
end of August.
While it remains to be seen what
decisions show owner MIC Events
(Motorcycle Industry Council) makes
for the long-term after the existing plan
to move on to Las Vegas in 2018,
there’s no doubt that the ‘critical mass’
broad
enough and deep
enough
effect that will, in all likelihood, be seen
at Columbus, could have a dramatic
effect on the long-term shape of the
market’s show cycle.
MIC Events Senior Vice President and
powersports industry trade show
veteran Mike Webster and former MIC
Chairman and Cycle World publisher
Larry Little have both pointed to the
location that Columbus brings to the
prospects for the show.
In May, Webster told AMD that “some
STROM
41 percent of powersports dealers and
50 percent of the U.S. population reside
within 500 miles of AIMExpo Presented
by Nationwide’s new location in the
City of Columbus.”
He went on to predict that “the ease of
access to this central location offers all
potential attendees - consumer and
trade, V-twin, ‘metric’ and the broader
powersports industry - the opportunity
for a one-stop expo opportunity to
engage with all its customers like never
before. The game has changed!”
Headlined by the Championship of the
Americas (COTA), the sole AMD World
Championship of Custom Bike Building
Official Affiliate design and
engineering competition for the
domestic U.S. market, its ‘Made in
America’ parts and accessory
showcase, and its “Custom Culture”
initiatives (see also Comment, page
four), AIMExpo has pulled out all the
stops to deliver on the vision of “a
show that is broad enough to represent
the whole industry, and deep enough
to satisfy each sector of the industry,”
as Bob Kay, Custom Culture Director for
MIC Events, put it when we spoke with
him as he was headed to Sturgis on his
antique Springer front end 1979 FX!
Noel Connolly's 'Strom' - the first ever
zero emissions E-bike to feature in the
AMD World Championship; 11th in the
Freestyle class last year ...
see more of 'The Shape of
Things to Come' on
pages 32/33
SEPT 2017
ISSUE #218
INDIAN ADDS TO
2018 LINE-UP
ARCH MOTORCYCLES
AND SUTER INDUSTRIES
IN CO-OP DEAL
LEGEND SUSPENSIONS
AND KLOCK WERKS
HIT THE ROAD