Every year all of the companies in the V-Twin aftermarket get together in Cincinnati, Ohio for three very cold days for the V-Twin Expo and a giant Super Bowl party. Initially, everyone gathered in Cincinnati for a show called the Dealer Expo, and it had everything related to the entire powersports industry-dirtbikes, sportbikes, snowmobiles, personal watercraft, etc...and that show actually outgrew the facilities in Cincinnati and moved to Indianapolis. Within a couple of years, the V-Twin industry had grown so much that the folks from the V-Twin Expo decided that we deserved a trade show where we didn't have to wade through all of the dirtbike and personal watercraft manufacturers to find the people building parts we actually care about.
Back in the old days it was kind of a struggle to get to all of the booths that pertained to what we do and see all of the trick new parts we needed to see. I can remember running into people at the airport on my way home from the Dealer Expo who I never saw at the show because there were so many companies there I just couldn't find them.
And now that there is an Expo exclusively for the V-Twin industry, it has made finding the "right" people a lot easier because all of the people in the building are the "right" people. And instead of struggling to make heads or tails of the very few photos we would shoot, now we have to wade through hundreds of great photos and pick the 15 we're going to run. This year's V-Twin Expo was a great experience, and I enjoyed my time in Cincinnati with the folks that I only get to see a couple of times a year. And if you want to check out the 15 new products that we selected from the show, check out page 82.
Until next month, keep the rubber side down.
| TECH ARTICLE RATING GUIDE |
| ABILITY | No problem | Some mechanical ability | Extensive mechanical ability | Leave it to the pros |
| TOOLS | Simple handtools | Comprehensive handtools | Specialty tools | Better own a machine shop |
| TIME | 8 hours or less | 1 day or more | 1 week or more | 1 month or more |
| COST | Less than $500 | $500-$1,000 | $1,001-$3,000 | Over $3,000 |
| OVERALL | SIMPLE | MODERATE | COMPLEX | EXTREME |