Cycle World San Mateo Motorcycle Show Report
Thumbs Up for Yamaha, Thumbs Down for Suzuki, and Other Tidbits

December 21, 2008 - My wife and I made the trek down to San Mateo to meet up with Dale Walker and the whole Holeshot gang at the CW Expo, and it was interesting to say the least. All the major manufacturers were pretty much there, as well as a host of other smaller vendors for parts and accessories. Before you ask - there's no pictures. Our camera was DOA.

Most of the displays this year were toned down quite a bit, not as lavish as previous iterations of the various MC shows. I’m sure the economic pinch affecting everyone is the culprit. MC sales have been down a bit, so it’s being felt at the shows accordingly. Despite the cut-back everything was still pretty nice. I made the rounds, and tried to talk to the various Reps when I could, here’s just a few highlights...

Suzuki had a tricked out Big-Rig, and pretty much every bike they make there. Coolest thing was the three pre-production 2009 GSX-R1000's - extremely nice bike, and actually mildly comfortable (as far as sport bikes go). It seemed like it might be a little top heavy to me, but without riding one, there’s no way to be sure. In any case, its going be one hell of a bike (should be hitting the dealers in March). They had all the cruisers there as well. The new Boulevards are pretty bitch'n, the M109R particularly is absolutely gorgeous in-person, I was impressed with the build quality.

I wanted to talk with Suzuki about typical Suzuki things and motorcycles in general - but unfortunately, when I was introduced to the Factory folk, well… that didn’t go so well. They were basically cordial, but very frosty - I’ve had better luck talking to a brick wall. It was disappointing to say the least. It might have been nice to get just a little Factory interest for the Members on the site. I can only conclude that Suzuki has little to no regard for the DR/DRZ and Bandit/GSX Community. “Thoroughly disinterested” pretty much sums it up.

The Yamaha display was cool, nothing too fancy, but they had all the bikes. They had a 2009 R1 to sit on as well. It’s a great looking bike in person, and the ergonomics are surprisingly nice for a sport bike (don’t get me wrong, its still sport bike ergonomics). I had a great chat with the Factory Rep, very cool guy (all the Yamaha guys were cool). We talked a bit about the new R1's cross-plane crank setup, and some of the improved performance/handling characteristics. Yamaha is supposedly making sure that the bike is going to be readily available to dealers at launch (hitting dealers in February), unlike previous R1 releases where dealers were getting 1 or maybe 2 (and of course, raping the hell out of customers with the additional markups). Hopefully that wont happen this time around. In any case, the new R1 is definitely on my short-list for my next purchase.

Nothing real new at the Kawasaki or Honda booths, but the Reps were really nice. The current ZX-10R got a lot of attention, as well as the ZX-14 (very nice displays for both those bikes). The current line of Hondas was represented well at their booth. I’ve never been a real big fan of the CBR line, but the new CBR1000RR has my immediate attention. It’s a beautiful bike, and it has some great performance features now. That’s another one my short-list now.

One mild surprise was at the Harley booth. They had an XR1200 on display, to sit on, etc. Dale and I were taking a close look at it, and it’s a little different. Harley seems to have a strange attitude about the bike though, like it’s more of a ‘novelty item’ than a motorcycle. Kind of disappointing, as the bike actually shows some thinking outside of the usual Harley box. On a related note, the Buell booth was ‘uneventful’. I rather like what I see in the 1125R, but I didn’t get far there. The rep (not sure if he was Factory or not) seemed distracted easily, so I wasn’t able to garner any tidbits on the bike.

Ducati had a really nice display set up, tasteful to say the least. The highlight was the Desmosedici RR on display – its one beautiful bike! For the price, it should be. If you want a Moto GP, $70K will get you there. If there was a Ducati Factory Rep there, I couldn't find him. Bummer.

Overall, the Expo was fun. Most of the Reps I met were super friendly, and were genuinely enthusiastic to speak with me. I made some new friends that day, and swapped a lot of business cards. I know some of them were a little ragged after doing that show for 3 days, but all in all it was a great crowd.

Griff, Maximum-Suzuki.com

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