Vancouver Motorcycle Show 2011

The Vancouver Motorcycle Show was held again this year at the Abbotsford Tradex by the Abbotsford Airport.  We've driven out on the Harley only to return in sleet and snow. The weather this year was more conducive to motorcycling. There were quite a few bikes there but what was amazing was how full the parking lots were.  They'd had to open the overflow to accommodate all the cars and trucks.
We drove out in the Ford 350 diesel 4x4 Harley Davidson Edition.  I've got my Honda 230 on the road now but the HD Electraglyde is resting up for the summer riding schedule. It's especially looking forward to the Ride to raise money for prostate cancer research.  Gilbert, the mighty biker dog stayed in the truck to guard it from other biker dogs, like Chihuahas and Yorkies.
The show was packed with this years Ducattis, Harleys, Triumphs, Victories, Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis and Royal Enfields.  It was only 3 years ago Laura took a picture of me on the Electraglyde out here.  I'd say Oprah's Secret had something to do with my getting this bike last year.
We did look at a Street Glyde. A friends wife is away and we think he should get a Harley to surprise her on her return.  It's the manly thing to do.  This year's Harleys were as ever stupendous.
The Victory bikes were looking pretty futuristic.  I'm an old fan of the reliable Hondas and loved looking at their new bikes.  Also liked their quads.
What captured our eye though was the Royal Enfield with side car.  Shales Motorcycle has them now. Shales is  across from the Italian and British Motorcycle Store in Vancouver.  I'm thinking of Gilbert and figuring he'd like a side car. Harley had a side car on display as well.
Given I hunt I was really impressed with the Quads. Polaris had some amazing machines.  As I said I liked the Hondas and have always enjoyed the service at Carter but Yamaha has some pretty impressive quads.  The trouble with the ones we'd most like, covered two seaters with big wheels and tilting box,   is that they won't fit in the box of the truck.  
There were great deals happening all over the place.  Honda has specials on their generators throughout January. It's always amazing the deals that companies offer at tradeshows.  Laura got a superdeal on leather saddlebags for her Big Ruckus.
The kids were careening about out back doing all the racing stunts without death which reflected well on the organizers.
I was interested in the various insurance options.Megson and FitzPatrick had good deals for on road motorcycles while Capri was offering off road packages with liabity insurance as well . The only insurance I actually bought was a special cable lock which has an alarm that would discourage anyone but the deaf from stealing my motorcycle.
The Association for Injured Motorcyclists was well represented. Booths for everything associated with motorcyling were present. One fellow even was talking on his trip across Africa.  We'd bought a Tork blue tooth interbike communicator last year but haven't been able to get it to work because of the poor instructions.  The tech there was very helpful and there's hope Laura and I won't be shouting at each other over the engine noise.  I hate when she's screaming 'don't turn' and I am about to only to, realize that she's seen the semi before I did.
The most spectacular women there were these models that were flown in from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. They are greeters for some performance motor oil.  However I couldn't take my eyes off there faces and the shape of their hot uniforms to actually read which oil they represented. It's got racing checkers on it and I recommend everyone buy so the same girls come back next year.
We have all the leathers so couldn't justify getting any more though Laura was really impressed with all the pink selection which reflect the increasing numbers of women bikers. Laura reads my Mojo biker magazine cover to cover and our favourite columnist is a moman motorcyclist.

All in all it was a fun day outing. When we got back to the truck Gilbert had protected it and was overjoyed to see us.  It's a tough job keeping an eye out for biker yorkies.