2015 Progressive International Motorcycle Show

Written by Tania, Video

Tania and I hit up the 2015 Progressive International motorcycle show today at the Jacob Javits center. I’ve been to the Auto show a few times, but this was my first appearance at the Motorcycle show. I have to say I really like the motorcycle community.

Upon entry we saw some custom-built motorcycles and some custom painted canvases. We came at 9am in the morning and were one of the first few people there. We started with Honda and made our way around the entire floor. There were a lot of bikes, some interesting customs and even old vintage bikes. I saw a 1979 Honda CBX bike which caught my eye. I think it was the first 6 cylinder bike I have ever seen. I never even thought 6 cylinders on a bike was possible. The bike was manufactured between 1978 through 1982.

Next up was Kawasaki. I showed Tania the H2 and H2R. Those are probably the best track bikes that Kawasaki makes. The build on those machines was really sweet. It was very aggressive, had a single sided swingarm, minimal fairings and a nice chrome finish. I wish I knew more about what was “under the hood” so to speak.

Shortly after, Tania mounted her first bike. It was the Kawasaki Vulcan and she shoved it. I’m not really into that class of motorcycle, but she liked it because it was big and felt safe. I think we went to Suzuki next and then walked over to BMW. BMW had a Virtual reality installation powered by the Oculus Rift. The demo was on an BWM S-1000R motorcycle. Shifting gears / turning the wheel had no feedback. The setup was just a video playing through a 3D virtual reality headset where you had to mimic what you saw playing in the video (to get the utmost effect of being present on the racetrack).

The next manufacturer was Triumph. I was hoping to see my Street triple, but they only had the Bonneville on the floor. I must say I love the bike. It was comfortable, sized well, felt like it had a god suspension, and most of all the seating position was not hunched over. Tania sat on the bike and loved it too.

We had a go at some helmets. We stopped by Arai and I have to say I was not pleased with their helmets. I’m sure they are great, but the fit was not right for my head. Bell on the other hand had a great round oval shape which it my head comfortably. I was also impressed by their Transition face screen which turned dark after a UV flashlight was aimed towards it. This is helpful because there is no need to carry two face shields (One for day and one for night riding).

All the way towards the rear of the center there was a motorcycle stunt show. Jason Britton and Ian Gaines were performing various stunts from bunny hops to headstands on their bikes. Really interesting to watch. My camera lost battery power at this point, but I managed to capture a few short clips.

Though I didn’t see my baby (Street tipple), outside in the show, I managed to run into her on out way back to the train station.