WI International Powersports Dealer Expo
By Scott Rousseau
GNONNATI, OH, FEB. IS-I?
ver been frustrated when you walk
into your local motorcycle dealership
---' to order the trick aftermarket part for
your bike that you saw in Cycle News only to
learn that he has never even heard of that
watchuma-gizmo? If that happens to you,
then chances are your dealer missed the
Interl)ational Powersports Dealer Expo at
the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center.
Over 610 aftermarket manufacturers and
several of the cottage or specialty OEMs displayed thousands of new products at the
1997 version of the show. Although attendance figures were not available at
presstime, some 11,516 attendees - representing approximately 62 percent of all
powersports dealerships worldwide - visited the '96 show, and that figure should be
considerably higher when the '97 figures are
published. While the Harley-Davidson
aftermarket once again appeared to be the
strongest represented at the expo, the mix
appeared to present more balance than in
years past.
This edition of the show, a $]0 million
boon for the city, will be the last, however,
as the '98 expo moves to Indianapolis, Indiana which can better accommodate its
tremendous rate of growth. Here are just a
few scenes from the fu:lal Cincinnati expo. l~
,
,
(Left) The hot bike of the show had to be this Denny Berg-built Honda Valkyrie, which
attracted practically everyone into the Cobra booth. Check out the trick-looking velocity
stacks and triple exhaust pipes on this dragster.
(Below) With its baseball theme, Custom Chrome got our vote for trick booth of the show.
(Right) Tucker
RockylNempco's
massive outpost
covered the center of
the main floor. The
MSR and Answer
product lines, which
Tucker Rocky owns,
were also housed
here.
(Far right) Would you
believe It's a V-Max?
Two Brothers
Racing's German
distributor shipped
the machine over to
be used In the TBR
display. It was one of
the highlights of the
show.
