2003 Vancouver International Motorcycle Show

by Randy Vogt

I realize that attending the Vancouver International Motorcycle Show is an obsession with me. I go every year with anyone who will go with me. In the last few years, I've attended with my girlfriend, my dad, my brother and my adult son. I even used to go every year when the show was in Vancouver, BC. In those days, if I didn't have some biker buddies to cycle to the show with me, I'd take my baby sons in their strollers and we'd make it a Dad-n-lads' day out.

At the 1984 show, I fell in love (red 900 Ninja) and at the 1990 show it was love at first sight (black ZX1100). Those were two of the best bikes I ever owned and I'm always on the look-out for my next "honey"...

Now the show is held in my home town of Abbotsford at an excellent facility called Tradex at the Abbotsford International Airport. Tradex is a spacious modern building that reminds me of a hangar so it's perfect for a motorcycle show with displays by 125 companies attended by 30,000 visitors... and the parking is free!

My girlfriend, Pauline, and I spent Saturday morning, January 25 at the 2003 show and just like every other year, I'm glad I went. However, by 10:30 AM when we arrived, the closest parking space was almost a mile away from the entrance doors. That was perfect because our parking spot was close to the end of the mile-long line-up to get into the show! I'm a fifty-year-old geezer who doesn't look like a biker but in that mile-long line-up I didn't see anyone else who looked like a biker either. There were six-year-old kids and little old grannies and everyone else inbetween. The crowd attending a "Sharon, Lois and Bram / Tom Petty" double bill concert would look just like this crowd, and in the enormous parking lot filled with ordinary cars and mini-vans, there were only 20 motorcycles.

Inside Tradex, the booths and displays were laid out very nicely. Because I love motorcycling, I want motorcycling to be popular, and this place was packed with people. It took a long time to get a photo of anything because of the crowd. All the bike displays from the manufacturers were chock-a-block. It was like bikes and people in a sardine can, but the bikes and related products were as attractive and alluring as objects of art. There was an interesting, shiny, brightly colored motorcycle something-or-other beside you no matter where you stood.

All the major bike manufacturers had displays (maybe it's just me, but new motorcycles are so beautiful). Silver seems to be the most popular colour this year for high horsepower Japanese sport bikes that have huge rear tires. Scooters are getting to be almost as big as Goldwings (and that made me laugh!) The pocketbikes were there. There were burger-bar cruisers galore, dirt bikes, 4-wheeled ATVs, and motorcycles as big as land barges so cushy to sit on that everyone agrees they are as comfortable as Lazyboy loungers. The in-line four cylinder engine that used to rule sportbikes is giving way to V-twins, but all the bikes and ATVs are as reliable as the family Buick and 30,000 enthusists paid $9 a pop to ogle, admire, kick tires, and shop. Manufacturers had "no-interest no-payment" credit plans so it was like they were giving bikes away!

There was lots to shop for... all the Shoei, Arai and Zeus motorcycle helmets that I like... and Richmond Motorsports still had a brand new 2001 turquoise ZX-1200 for only $10,900. There were all the usual bike clubs to join, and all the free reading material, plastic bags, and posters you could carry. There was people to see, places to go, speed stuff and speed shops, tires, parts, accessories, oil, fuel, magazines, newspapers, dealerships, suppliers, distributors, leather, t-shirts, electric-heated wear, boots, gloves, clothes, knick-knacks, "Harley" leather living-room suites, trailers of all kinds, novelties, and insurance companies. If this show was held in early December, a lot of Christmas lists would be heavily bike related.

If you weren't there, you should have been. As always, it was a great show and I'm glad I went. Now, I can't wait for next year.

Article and photos by Randy Vogt

Lorne was not able to attend and thanks his brother Randy for this report!

Show info at : http://www.sportsmensshows.com/VanCycle/Media/factSheet.htm