Two Wheel Oklahoma Does Dallas

Ducati Diavel was introduced the the US

The 2010/2011 season of International Motorcycle Shows kicked off in Dallas, Texas last week. This year show stops include San Mateo, Seattle, Long Beach, Novi, MI, Washington, DC, New York, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Greenville, SC and Daytona Beach.

Brad and I made the trek down to the Dallas Convention Center to check out all the latest gear, brand new bikes and make a general mess of things.We took the opportunity to test ride a Kawasaki Concours 14 provided by the friendly folks at Brookside Motorcycle Company.

Here's our video report from the show, featuring Brad's comments about his jaunt on the Concours and some highlights from the show...

Courtesy Two Wheel Oklahoma

This year the show planners are promising more bang for your buck. A new title sponsor, Progressive Insurance, was named earlier this year and a custom bike build-off has been added. Traffic did appear to be up from the last two years, and the exhibitors we spoke with were pleased with the traffic. Whether this is an indication of better marketing or a slowly improving economy is debatable.

Interesting New Bikes
There are several new models rolling out that are worth a mention. And much of the news from the Big Four isn't from Japan. European manufacturers and Euro-only bikes are the big news this year.

Ducati used the show in Dallas as their North American debut for their new "power cruiser" called the Diavel. It's a 160+ HP high-style bike that looks promising. And "diavel" is slang for devil in the region of Italy where Ducatis are birthed near Bologna. I'm thinking the bike will go over better than its name.

Honda rolled out two new models- or one new one and an old one from Europe. The little CB250R is set to do battle with the 250 Ninja for the learner bike crowd. It's a looker and the little thumper will be offered with optional ABS and is fuel injected. From their factory in Italy comes the nekkid CB1000R. It's also a looker, and sports adjustable Showa suspension.

Rex studies the accessories available for Yamaha's new Super Tenere

Yamaha also dug into their continental offerings to roll out the Super Tenere. Adventure riders yawn and mumble "It's about time." Memories of the TDM800 will echo as you note the 1200cc parallel twin hidden under the plastic. It's all tarted up with GS-ish things like aluminum boxes and a tall windshield.

The Harley-Davidson stand had three new models plus some cool racing bikes. I was impressed with their exhibit this year- much less leather fringes and more motorcycling. The Super Low is a Sportster for the shorter set and the "new" Road Glide Ultra was at last year's show. We found the XR1200X much more interesting.

Missing in Action
Also noteworthy, but not in attendance at the Dallas show...

BMW: riding high with the success of the S1000RR sportbike, the newest Beemer is a luxo-sport-touring rig with six, count 'em SIX, cylinders. Unfortunately they chose to fly over flyover country.

Triumph: their coolest new bike looks to be the 800cc version of the Tiger. It will be offered in two variants- one more dirty than the other and sporting a 21" front wheel. But once again, they were not there.

Take note motorcycle marketing people- when it's the first show on the circuit you should be there. For the schedule of upcoming shows and locations visit www.motorcycleshows.com.

That's all for now, ride safe.

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