Motorcycle Live 2023 at the NEC

[Mr Moofo]

The M 1000XR. I was kind of curious
27K !!!

The base model Ford Focus is £28.5k

It doesn't have anywhere near 200bhp.

Okay - on that basis, I'll buy one !
Actually the white one with the carbon pack is 23k ish

[G.P]

Me,GP junior. IanB and Doug (Buzzlightyear's dad) went yesterday. IanB manged to blag some complimentary tickets, which was nice.
@Dodgy69 - Kept an eye out but didn't see you!

It was the first time we'd been since 2019 so a decent gap to make it more of an event. We all had a good day, another mate whod we met up there was pissed off as there was no Moto Guzzi (no Piaggio in fact).

my 2p:

BMW Stand - really liked the look of the 1300gs and they had plenty on the stand so you didn't need to queue for age to have a sit on one. The F900 GS looked really good too. They also had loads of space for the all derivatives of the R18 which were wierd and wonderful. all the big bikes had plenty of extras on them and they all seemed to be around £22k! Had a sit on the mad looking E-scooter, it looks even better in the flesh than it does on the pics. Who would have thought a pressed steel wheel would look this good?

Triumph Stand: - I was really impressed with the new 400 speed and 400x they looked really well put together and for £5k I reckon they will fly out of the showrooms. The new 1200 Scrambler (Non XE( is slightly lower and something I'd look very seriously at if I was in the market for a new bike. the qualiity of the paintwork and overall finish on all the range looked top class especially compared to the Jap stands.

Ducati Stand: The Desert X is a lovely thing and the Panigale V4R is a work of art (which it should be for £38k). Apart from them and the new 698 single thing, not a lot to see really. they've tidied up the Scrambler range but they are becoming a bit too ordinary given all the competition in the "scrambler" space.

Norton: - Looking a lot more professional in the post Garner era (how that guy escaped a custodial sentence is beyond me). THe silver and black V4S tribute to the Rotary racebike is a thing of beauty and all the bikes on display looked like proper quality products unsurprisingly there were no Price lists..

Honda: Only visited to see the new Transalp which was, as expected, completely underwhelming but well put together and a logical replacement for my aging Tiger 800. Under £10k too. If I was still in all year round commuting mode it would be a serious contender.

Indian: - some nice variants on the FTR which I'm liking more and more each time I see it in the flesh. Their cruisers are impressive if you're into that sort of thing.

Royal Enfield: - really good stand with every permutation of every model on display, The new Himalayan 400 was geting a lot of attention. Now its got 40bhp, water cooling and some rudimentary tech it'll probably do really well. If anyone watches Itchy Boots on YT, she's been running pre-prod version for the last month or so and really likes it.

Other highlights were the massive increase in E-bikes. If I had a 5 mile urban commute I'd be all over one. Lots of other nice customs and things around the place too. Will probably leave it for a couple of years before going again. Good day out though.

[Dodgy69]

Didn't see Aprilia either.

[mangocrazy]

Didn't see Aprilia either.

Pretty sure they're part of Piaggio group.

[G.P]

....stuff...

What did you think of the XSR retro stuff?

As a bloke who was around for the Exup and suchlike I thought you might be interested in this new version?

I thought the XSR racer thing was almost fantastic but there is Something about the proportions that isn't quite right. love the colour scheme.
Don't really like the other retro XSRs - the frame is too dominant for most of those styles in my IMO.

[G.P]

Its subjective, dynamically it'll be ace and if you like it go for it. I'd probably got for putting bastardised track plastics on an old R6 and giving it the same paint job

The Storm Bee is brill! There are a few moto x / trail / trials bikes out now. Makes so much sense. Do they have removable batteries? I didn't look that close?

[gremlin]

The M 1000XR. I was kind of curious
27K !!!

Mate of mine has one. I asked him what it was like. His answer was 'Fuck-ing-HELL!'

[Yorick]

The M 1000XR. I was kind of curious
27K !!!

Mate of mine has one. I asked him what it was like. His answer was 'Fuck-ing-HELL!'

It's only got 201 BHP. Girl's bike.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

What did you think of the XSR retro stuff?

As a bloke who was around for the Exup and suchlike I thought you might be interested in this new version?

I thought the XSR racer thing was almost fantastic but there is Something about the proportions that isn't quite right. love the colour scheme.
Don't really like the other retro XSRs - the frame is too dominant for most of those styles in my IMO.

Hmm...I really like it but I think I see your point, it's almost brilliant but it's maybe not quite right in some ways that I can't exactly put my finger on.

I plan to have a go and then decide.

I'm still super keen on that Sur Ron Storm Bee as well.

What the XSR needs looks wise is a seat unit that's longer and a belly pan on the fairing, both easy to fix. It will be great to ride, the riding position doesn't fit me, but neither did EXUPs or OW01s, weirdly Yamaha got the riding position just right for me on the YZF750.

[Horse]

Riding on the BMW stand

20231121_182446.jpg (960.55 KiB) Viewed 540 times

[ChrisW]

What the XSR needs looks wise is a seat unit that's longer and a belly pan on the fairing, both easy to fix. It will be great to ride, the riding position doesn't fit me, but neither did EXUPs or OW01s, weirdly Yamaha got the riding position just right for me on the YZF750.

I agree. I keep fiddling with it to see if I can make it what I'd like it to be.

This is the current state but to be honest I'm still not convinced.

[KungFooBob]

Maybe if they gave it the Gaspers paint job from the standard XSR.

[Mr Moofo]

The M 1000XR. I was kind of curious
27K !!!

Mate of mine has one. I asked him what it was like. His answer was 'Fuck-ing-HELL!'

I think I am probably getting too old to use it! A GS would be far more sensible

[Hot_Air]

Riding on the BMW stand

20231121_182446.jpg

Is that what you meant when you advocated “the jump”?

[Horse]

The chap was chucking that thing about in an incredibly small area. He landed from that jumped on the slope and stopped on the hall floor - not much more than a bike length of solid, flat, surface. And the rear tyre was squealing as he rear-steered around the corners of the earth mound.

3:00

[G.P]

The chap was chucking that thing about in an incredibly small area. He landed from that jumped on the slope and stopped on the hall floor - not much more than a bike length of solid, flat, surface. And the rear tyre was squealing as he rear-steered around the corners of the earth mound.

Those were the guys who run the Motorrad off road course in South Wales I think, plenty of skills on show. I still thinking 99.9% of owners off roading is limited to parking on the pavement.

[The Spin Doctor]

Is that the Wurzels?

[Taipan]

Went today. Same old thing really but certain brands are definitely upping their game, nice colours aswel.

Is that Eddy Izzard in the red hat?

[weeksy]

I'm guessing Fuzz Townsend from Car SOS ?

[Sunny]

I got incredibly bored of the bike show, and haven't been for a small age.

I'm likely going this year though, purely because bike shops STILL appear to be really crap at having a range of women's leathers to try on in stock (God forbid you want anything without fucking pink bits), and I could really do with some new ones.

Went yesterday.

Nice to see that they'd got rid of a bunch of the 'tat' stands that it had started getting overrun with, so there were only a couple of heated hand warmer/arthritis bracelet stands to annoy.

On the downside there were very few clothing stands, so I may as well have gone to J&S after all

Did pick up a discounted Innovv K6 camera from the nice chap at Innovv, so that was something.

And it was nice going on a Friday, as you did actually get a chance to try the bikes instead of waiting around in a queue for ages like you do at the weekend.

I got overexcited at the Triumph 400s and ZX4s, but still lusted over the Street Triples the most. I suspect another will be in my future soon enough.