Motorcycle Live 2015

[Miti]

It's been many a year since I trecked the long road down to the Bike Show at the NEC Birmingham - more years than I can actually remember in fact...

An old pal of mine on T'Wirral said she was planning to pop along this year. Chris said he was up for it too, so I decided the trip was on...

It was nearly off just as quick.  We set off after work on Thursday and drove straight into the front edge of Hurricane Desdemona (or whatever nonsense name they've come up with).  The blizzard started at Hamilton and the M74 was a complete white-out for 50-odd miles...  After that it was only torrential rain and violent gales, so that was OK...   

When we eventually arrived on T'Wirral, Pam was the perfect hostess and had already ensured the fridge was well stocked with cool ones, so a pleasant evening was had by all...  This resulted in a 'leisurely' start on Friday morning, but the conditions were excellent and we were at the show by 11:00...

The show was very good.  All the big manufacturers, plus some new or resurrected ones.  Lots of traders - unbelievable number selling helmets and none at all selling ladies one-piece leathers (much to Pam's annoyance).

For the first time ever Chris managed not to buy anything at all...  I found that my HJC helmet is albeit obsolete and nearly fainted at the proposed £55 price for a pinlock visor (without insert).  I did buy an insert, a discounted can of ACF50, and a very nice cheese ploughman's roll for lunch though...

We all had the obligatory seat on various bikes... Pam took a basic bike traing course (20 mins) which was a great feature in the show, and we were herded towards the door at about 18:35 (35 mins after official closing time).  There wasn't quite time to check the BMW stand out, but none of us gave a sh*te, so that was OK...   

Took a few snaps....  Well up to my usual crappy standard...

Beautiful alloy frame on the new Ariel Ace - seven separate castings, machined, polished and artfully welded - Lovely!





Honda V4 engine, cementing the Honda/Ariel partnership they started with the Atom.



Metisse...






Chris, Pam and Metisse...




New Indan for 2016 - I think this is the 'Scout'



Same model, different colour, Chris testing the seat for 'Weegie' fart penetration resistance...




Show layout - there was a LOT there...




Pam making the new R3 look good, or vice-versa...




Pam all togged up for the basic training... (damn my poxy phone camers!)




New Thruxton - very nice...




Now this one is a pretty good fit all around...




This would have been good too...



Sweet looking Hardly, Crap looking Photo...




One of Pam's snaps - Looks like something has made this poor old man very happy...



Jeff