American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 222 January 2018 | Page 16

The 2018 show season - a selection
As a follow up to the December publication of our unique events listing Year Planner for 2018, here is
a quick guide to selected highlights from the motorcycle industry shows, events and expo year ahead.
The focus in primarily on the first six months of 2018, but the major events from the second half of
the year are also highlighted, with notable ‘mainstream’ as well as V-twin specific events selected.
January: International
The new year kicks off with the popular UK Dealer Expo opening its doors
for the 23rd time for three days from 14-16 January – a mostly ‘mainstream’
expo it is by far Europe’s largest, longest lived and most successful dealer
show; www.motorcycle-expo.com
A week later Motor Bike Expo (MBE) will
fill four halls at the Verona Expo Centre in
north eastern Italy from Friday January 18 to
Sunday 21. A combined custom and
‘mainstream’ consumer expo, “Verona” has
seen attendance grow ever since its move from Padua in 2009;
www.motorbikeexpo.it
At the end of January, Sweden’s annual show, MC-Massan, returns to
Gothenburg in the south west of Sweden (25-28 January 2017) in its biennial
rotation with Stockholm, the Swedish capital; www.mcmassan.se.
January: USA
The month sees the first of the Easyriders Bike Shows at Sacramento,
California (www.easyridersevents.com), but the big news for the first part of
the year concerns the absence of the V-Twin Expo at Cincinnati after 18 years.
As reported in this month’s cover story, its demise, along with the rise of the
Dealer Events that the market’s two primary distributors host in February, has
massively changed the center of gravity of the spring selling season in Dealer
Show terms – both the ‘major’ spring Dealer Shows have now folded, in the
space of less than five years.
Other January highlights include the second Easyriders Bike Show of the
year at Charlotte, North Carolina (January 20) followed by Nashville, TN., a
week later (January 27).
The same day sees the first of the season’s “New
Generation” of custom events, Garage Brewed,
being staged at the Rhinegeist Brewery, Cincinnati on
January 27 (www.garagebrewed.com); the same
weekend one of the market’s oldest and at one stage
most influential shows takes place in California, the
Grand National Roadster Show, once of Oakland
fame, at Pomona, January 26-28.
The Progressive IMS tour, with its J&P Ultimate Builder competitions,
resumes after the winter break, arriving at Cleveland, Ohio, January 26-28
(www.motorcycleshows.com); the 40th annual Colorado Motorcycle Expo
is at Denver, 27-28 (www.coloradomotorcycleexpo.com).
February: Europe
February sees two largely mainstream shows with the MCN London
Motorcycle Show being staged at East London’s Excel Center (16-18;
www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com) followed by Swiss Moto at Zurich (22-25;
www.swiss-moto.ch); the popular and still growing Motorbeurs at Utrecht
in the Netherlands (22-25) is a mainstream event with significant custom and
V-twin market action (www.motorbeursutrecht.nl).
February: USA
The Easyriders Bike Show tour lands at Atlantic
City, NJ, on February 3 before reaching a crescendo at
Columbus, Ohio on February 10-11.
Highlights at The One Moto Show at Portland,
Oregon (www.the1moto.com) include indoor Enduro
(Friday) and Flat Track racing (Saturday)
from February 9-11; racing is also slated
to feature heavily at Mama Tried,
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AMERICAN MOT ORCYCLE DEALER - JANUARY 2018
Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 23-25 (www.mamatriedshow.com).
The Progressive IMS tour and J&P Ultimate Builder series visits Dallas, TX,
February 2-4; Chicago, IL., for the J&P Ultimate Builder finals on 9-11;
before wrapping up for the season at Washington D.C., February 23-25.
The market’s two major parts and accessory distributors are holding their own
dealer shows in February: Tucker Rocky/Bikers Choice are playing host to
their dealers in Texas on Thursday 8 and Friday 9, with Parts Unlimited/Drag
Specialties setting up shop at the downtown Indianapolis Convention Center
on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11.
March: International
March opens with Motocykl, featuring the Bohemian Custom Bike Show, at
Prague March 1-4, the first of two shows in the Czech Republic in March
(www.motocykl-praha.cz); followed by one of Europe’s most prestigious
custom bike shows – the Radical Custombike Show organized by MC
Pecquencourt at the Salon de la Moto Pecquencourt in north western France,
on 10-11 (www.mc-pecquencourt.com).
At the same time three mainstream shows are being staged in three different
countries in Europe - Moto Madrid (9-11, www.salonmotomadrid.com);
Motosalon, Brno, Czech Republic (8-11, www.bvv.cz); and Moto Days,
Rome, Italy (8-11, www.motodays.it).
Later in March the focus shifts to Asia with InaBike at Jakarta, Indonesia (22-
24, www.inabike.net) and the Tokyo Motor Show (23-25,
www.motorcycleshow.org)
March: USA
The biggie in March, and one of the major events of the year, is of course
Daytona Bike Week, Florida, USA, March 12-21
(www.officialbikeweek.com), which includes the Daytona TT - the opening
round of the 2018 American Flat Track presented by Vance & Hines race series.
Racing features the evening before the 31st annual
Donnie Smith Bike & Car Show at St Paul, MN,
on March 24-26
(www.donniesmithbikeshow.com), with ‘War of
the Twins’ Indoor Flat Track Racing at the Lee &
Rose Warner Coliseum at the St Paul Fair Grounds
on Friday 23.
April: International
Custom Show Emirates is at Abu Dhabi’s National Exhibition Center, UAE
on April 5-7 (www.customshowemirates.com), and this year sees a change of
venue for Motospring and the
12th Moscow Tuning Show
(16-18) to the Moscow Olympic
Stadium!
Africa’s principal motorcycle
event is Africa Bike Week,
staged at East London, south of
Durban, on the coast of South Africa.
There is a second mainstream event in Spain for 2018, Vive La Moto, also at
Madrid (www.vivelamoto.es), a show in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine
(Motobike, 20-23, www.kdm-international.com) and one of the major
motorcycle industry shows of the year, Motorcycle Taiwan, at Taipei, 12-15
(www.motorcycletaiwan.com.tw).
April: USA
The month kicks off with the always popular Arizona Bike Week, April 11-15
(www.azbikeweek.com) followed by Revival Cycles’ annual Handbuilt
www.AMDchampionship.com