*** Back from the V-Twin Expo ***

[Scramjet]

Great show.  Attendance was a little off.  Maybe 20% to 30%.  Third floor was not used at all this year.

Talked to Eric from HPI for a bit.  Spoke with the guys at T-Man booth for quite a while.  Saw Steve Cole over by WT booth.  Spoke with Andrew from RevPerf quite a bit.  Spoke with True-Track.  FBI has a new drop seat bolt on rear section for the 09 Touring frame that looked interesting.  They also had a 09 touring docking hardware kit that cleaned up the rear end.

BTW, for True-Track - if any of you are experiencing ground contact with the True-Track.  Call them for possible solution.

Met Herko briefly near the HPI booth.  Good to finally meet in person.

Spoke with Axtell for quite a while.  Love the Mountain Motor 10 fin cylinders.

Black Hills Ken and FastFLSTF- nice to meet you in the elevator.

Mike, good discussion at the Need for Speed seminar.

Chris - watch out for those Jack Daniels bottles.

All in all a good show.  Make sure you buy Bike Bright, Wiseco and Cometic (our local mfgs).

B

[nc-renegade]

The show was good for me.  Enjoyed meeting Hoist there and finally met Randy and WFOLarry over at the R&R booth.  Had a lot of good conversations with the folks at Rev. Performance, Zippers, Cycle Electric, Bassani, Feuling and a lot others.

[Steve Cole]

The show was busy and I didn't get the time to talk with everyone but all in all I think it turned out well. Hoist stopped by and we got to talk for a only few seconds it seemed. The place was very busy until about 3:30 then it slowed down and could get a chance to spend some time with people. Herko came by a few times before we could get to talk much. I'm not real good with names but talked with alot of people during the two days I was there.

[Scramjet]

Forgot to mention how AWSOME the R&R display was.  WOW!

B

[Hoist!]

Nice seeing you to nc, and seeing the boys from TMan again. And I'm disappointed I didn't get to spend some time with Steve! Sorry man! But you looked like you had your hands full there the times I stopped by. Always FANTASTIC meeting the folks I talk too. Eveyone's always so helpful. Cept for your occasional asshole here and there, OUR INDUSTRY'S THE BEST!!!

Hoist!

[Hoist!]

Forgot to mention how AWSOME the R&R display was.  WOW!

B

Gice Reggie credit! THE FIRST WITH CASES FOR LATE MODEL TC's!!!! No small feat w/HD's patent crap!!! Kudos to R&R for that!!! Nice talkin to you boys. Got to meet and talk with Doug and Randy there at R&R's too. Spent a lot of time in that booth this weekend!!!

Hoist!

[Herko]

Likewise Scramjet. Was good to meet in person
Was another informative show.

Had more time this year for some good discussions as well as meet...WFO Larry, Steve Cole, Brian at VR, John at Darkhorse, Chaz at Axtell, Marv at Jagg, and many others that I had not met in person before. Went by the RR booth to visit Doug...wasn't there at the time.

Exhibitor count was down but appeared that this was an opportunity for some to jockey for better positions on the main floor.
Looking forward to 2010.

[springer-]

I wish I had a chance to meet more of you. I did manage to catch up with a few.  Had a nice chat with WFOLarry.  Met PosseRider, Puzzled and a few more.  Maybe next year we can plan a better get together and get a group meet scheduled, just a thought. 

[FastFLSTF]

Scramjet, sorry we were in a hurry and didn't get to chat more.  Nice meeting you too.

Had a great time getting back in touch with so many folks.  Too many to name and I know when I start I'll forget someone and they'll feel slighted, but hey, I got brain damage.   

Always good to see JK and Robbie from Zippers, Ron (fellow clam) and Chaz from Axtell, Paul from LRB, Pez from HogTunes, and of course, Mike and the crew from Wild Things.  Many were too busy with real customers for me to feel right about butting in and taking their attention away, like Alan Alvarez from DTT, Brian from Revolution, and UglyDougly who was there with the R&R folks.  Got to visit with some racers/builders like Andy Simon and Armon Furr, Bill and L'il Evil Amy from Bishops, Bill McGrew (the former tech chief for AHDRA) and his wife, Chip from Team HalfFast, Yasu from AIM clutches, and Kent Foltz from Energy One clutches (a great guy who helps a lot of racers from sportsmen through the classes all the way to Top Fuel), and the guys from Rush Performance Pipes who not only have a great product but who also help out the racers and the entire sanction with class and event sponsorship.  Cool to meet new people with good companies like Bill Rossi from Ultracoat and Bill from American Iron.

We also hung out each night with John Matthews from EyeRide riding optics (an old friend and great guy who does a great Flying Nun impression lol) and his friend Vince who has some fantastic custom suspension products (but whose company name I can't for the life of me remember lol).  And of course, it was great to hang with my friend Ken again. 

Many of these folks contribute here and have for years, you just never realize it.  They don't talk down other folks' products or spam their own, they just love bikes and the folks who ride them and make them go fast, stop fast, sound great, or look different.  If they wanted to get rich, they'd be in hedge fund management.  But they like the world we live in as HD riders, wrenchers, tinkerers, tuners, or screw-uppers-and-have-to-pay-someone-to-fixers.      

All in all, a great weekend.