The International Motorcycle Show 2014

The Progressive International Motorcycle Show came to NYC this weekend. I had gotten used to it being in January as it had for many years. Last year as I awaited it’s January return I found out it had moved to December and missed it completely. Not this year. Also being December, the weather was mild enough to ride there. So with Jillian behind me we rode to the show.

Though I didn’t ride to the show all those previous years, I always noticed it was difficult for bikers to park around the Javits Center. The entire avenue across the venue is lined with cops and their vehicles. It seems like a very unnecessary show of force. I have never seen any problems at the shows here. But more than that it seems like it would be a nice courtesy to make that area motorcycle parking. I mean c’mon it’s winter. There’s not going to be that many bikes. Not only that, today was Sunday yet they were quick to give most of the bikes parking tickets on the south side of 43rd street. Lame.

Fortunately that dude above hipped me to the fact that they were ticketing and gave me his legal spot on the north side of the street.

Now on to the Javits Center and the bike show.

When they first build this monstrosity they neglected to provide a place on the exterior to hang scaffolding for window washers. Duh!

The International Motorcycle Show generally consists of dealers, vendors and of course lots of Progressive advertising. OK by me, I use them as my insurance provider. There are also some novelty bikes like this psychedelic number below.

This one has plenty of foot room.

One thing I wish there was more of is vintage bikes, but I guess that’s a different show. There are always a few here and there like this old sidecar racer.

The sidecar from above.

The people from Indian Larry’s garage only brought one bike with them this year.

They will be moving the garage soon from Union Avenue to North 15th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Larry’s bikes are too cool. RIP Larry.

Indian’s are back with a vengeance! Under new management they are regaining their once stellar reputation as a quality riding machine! And they look so damn good!

There were a couple vintage Indians behind the giant Indian display.

You see a number of MC colors at the show as well. The Dirty Ones are a Brooklyn club that dates back to the 60’s.

This is Makoto Endo. He paints motorcycles using chopsticks as his brush. Very cool.

While checking out this artist’s radical technique a guy next to me tapped me and asked if I rode a Triumph and kept a blog. This has happened a few times now and it’s always fun and flattering to know people dig the blog. Cheers Benjamin! Good to meet you.

In this demonstration below, the guy from Indian Motorcycles was happily rolling through all 6 gears!

This little bike is freaky cool! It’s called the Survival Bike, Black Ops edition made by Motoped. It comes with a crossbow, an ax, numerous knives, 2 one gallon gas tanks and what looked like an empty gun rack attached to it.

There are numerous custom bikes lining the main path through the show. Unfortunately J&P slaps down these ugly carpets under each bike that really detracts from the beauty of some of these fine machines. This guy’s tail light sums up my feeling about the J&P carpets.

Well that was fun. Now off for some gumbo at the Delta Grill.