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Progressive Show in Dallas Jan 3-5; Riding over?

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My wife and I went last night and enjoyed the show. Yes, a little thin throughout but still worth the effort and time.

Biggest surprise was how much I liked the Harley Pan American. Looks way better in person. Front end treatment still a little heavy handed but not so much so that I wouldn't consider the bike. After all, I'm a KTM homer and don't like the buggy front end of those bikes. Met one of the Harley guys who was part of the project. Young guy who came to Harley without having any love for cruisers. There's hope! Biggest questions now are how heavy and how much.
 
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You guys that have been there: where is the free parking lot?
 
Or you can train it in, but it's a bit of a hike from the station. I wanted to ride but part of the purpose of today's visit is to get kiddo to sit on some bikes and figure out what's next. He doesn't have cold weather gear and I didn't want to be riding in the city with him on the bike either, so we drove and paid the price for parking.

We had pretty much the typical show experience. Disappointing manufacturer turnout, gaudy hideous overdone show bikes, vendors aggressively hawking their products, not a good enough viewing area for the stunt show that we couldn't see anything, the smell of popcorn, and low and behold, something new...

A new rider riding area for people to learn on electric bikes. Soon as we started walking by, I could see it happening even before it started. Rider getting a push start, gets wobbly, starts to fall to their left, somehow straightens back up but now headed toward the middle cones, blows through then and then the sound of an electric motor winding up as the rider shoots toward the barricades and crashes big time. Barricades did their job but the folks on the other side of the barricade freaked, froze, and just put their hands out as if that'd stop a speeding motorcycle. It was a good opportunity to reiterate to Jakob, who had eyes big as dinner plates seeing this, as to why I force him to do the boring drills over and over so they are automatic.

Dear Suzuki. If you want me to buy a Strom, this is the way to do it.

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Jakob sat on the DR-Z125L. In the end, it seems this one is in the sweet spot for sizing him out. He's got a look on his face like "But dad, I'm a Honda guy, I've already owned two of them." This was the first bike he sat on.

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So we went over and sat on the Honda.

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Yea, with proper riding boots, and his growth rate, we'd have to buy a new bike by mid summer. He also fit the 85's but I'd rather him be on a more sedate 4 stroke for his personality and have the bigger front wheel for our type of riding.

I did some dreaming of my own....

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I first need to actually ride the DRZ in my garage before I can contemplate replacing it with something more expensive.

Ok, found two custom bikes that stood out to me from the rest of the painful to look at show cruisers.

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Jakob got to build his own custom bike in virtual reality.

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All in all a good time was had by both of us though. But if I'm being honest, and if Jakob could pick anything from the show to be his own, it's probably this one that he's doing an imaginary donut in.

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They had it behind a box. No touching and it was hard to get a good angle for photos.


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copb8 said:
My wife and I went last night and enjoyed the show. Yes, a little thin throughout but still worth the effort and time.

Biggest surprise was how much I liked the Harley Pan American. Looks way better in person. Front end treatment still a little heavy handed but not so much so that I wouldn't consider the bike. After all, I'm a KTM homer and don't like the buggy front end of those bikes. Met one of the Harley guys who was part of the project. Young guy who came to Harley without having any love for cruisers. There's hope! Biggest questions now are how heave and how much.
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I agree on the Harley, I talked to the same young guy. Sadly he had no info at all. Just a bike in a box to look at. All the specks won’t be out till the fall.
 
Get your tickets online. My buddy didn't listen to me and spent 40 minutes in line. According to my buddy that owns Adventure Moto KTM/Husky the sow has Increased pricing and a lot of vendors and dealers are backing out. Vendors row was as little as I've ever seem. The only bikes that stood out to me was the Suzuki pictured above and the KTM e-bike. The bicycle company GIANT was there with their e-bicycles and that was my most enjoyable experience. My wife said I need to exercise more and told me to bet a bicycle. Will have one in my stable by the end of the month. When she see's the checking account I'll let her know I got a new bicycle! Gotta love it!
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Tim Scholz said:
I agree on the Harley, I talked to the same young guy. Sadly he had no info at all. Just a bike in a box to look at. All the specks won’t be out till the fall.
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Yes, the Pan American thing looked better in person than the photos, but that's a pretty low bar. I still think its homely (but I'm sure it has a great personality :lol2:) but maybe when I can look at it in closer detail, I'll see its hidden beauty. Is it coming out this summer as a 2021 model? I can't recall.
 
Dahveed said:
Yes, the Pan American thing looked better in person than the photos, but that's a pretty low bar. I still think its homely (but I'm sure it has a great personality :lol2:) but maybe when I can look at it in closer detail, I'll see its hidden beauty. Is it coming out this summer as a 2021 model? I can't recall.
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I’m not a Harley guy but like the idea of supporting an American brand. It’s a little wears to show a bike at a show and have no information. I asked him it’s weight. Can’t tell you. What’s its hp, can’t tell you. What does it sound like? Honestly I like the sound of a Harley. He said typically Harley does not do pre showings they just put it out there when it’s available. Well maybe that’s smarter than not having any answers when you are showing me the not ugly but not awesome machine.
 
Dahveed and Tim Scholz..thanks guys for the info. HD in a box. and no info about the bike. Not impressed HD. Maybe they'll have it out of the box here in Chicago.
 
jhansen said:
Dahveed and Tim Scholz..thanks guys for the info. HD in a box. and no info about the bike. Not impressed HD. Maybe they'll have it out of the box here in Chicago.
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Not likely since the young man said it would be in the fall. But keep us posted.
 
Not sure why folks want hard numbers on a prototype. It'll be much different when it finally comes to market from a one off in a glass box. Heck, they actually let us ride the prototype live wire's and they've changed quite a bit between then and production.
 
The Bronx looks cool but bet it would be a hot right leg ride. So the Vstrom looks just like they always have. It is a road bike with a good paint scheme and knobbies and dirt pegs with highway begs that they have fixed so it won't even be smooth on the road and mess up the paint and body work and huge wind screen on the sand and rolling rock dirt. How many wannabes will but this thinking they can off road on a 500 plus pound street and at the best smooth gravel road bike. I have had two. Can a young expert offrider make them look good off road? You bet but I doubt is is their bike of choice for doing so. That yellow rectangle headlamp bike is pretty and expensive. Probably 17-18K out the door. Poof..... instant dual sport / Starbucks machine.
 
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Brought the kiddo. IMO, the Suzuki Katana was the ugliest thing there.
 
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