MCN Scottish Motorcycle Show 2008

Well hello everyone,

Sunday saw myself, Em, Blair and Kirsty heading off to the bike show at Ingleston, Edinburgh. The weather was touch and go, and I managed to convince B that the car was a safer option. He didn’t need much convincing though and it seemed more like the other halves that were wanting to bike it rather than us!

Anyway, early start and we arrived at the bike show little after 9am. We had booked our tickets online so got them for £13 each instead of £15. We then trudged along the hilariously long footpath to the main show, passing the go-karts and globe riders as we went. We grabbed a quick tea/bacon roll at the Charge-What-We-Like burger van and headed in. As soon as I got inside the first set of doors I could see the orange glow of what would be KTM, and having talked with B excitedly about the RC8, I told him in about 10 seconds he would wet his pants. He didn’t quite wet his pants, but the RC8 looked gorgeous. It was great product placement from KTM as everyone immediately flocked to the RC8’s side.

(Blairs Picture)

One thing that I was hoping with the bike show would be that the joe public could sit on the bikes and I wasn’t dissappointed. However the RC8 was so popular we started at the other KTM’s, in particular the bloody gorgous KTM Super Duke 990. I am in love:

This is B on the Duke. I have always liked the look of the Duke, but was worried that the ironing board looking seat would be dodgy, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really comfy and the bars were quite wide, offering a more aggressive riding position which I love. The whole bike felt superb and I can see myself perhaps looking down the KTM SD road when I get my stuff in order. Stunning. Blair was even more captured with the Super Duke 990R, which again, was amazing:

We then proceeded around all the stands, drooling over all the shiny metal on show. We had a wee pore over the HP2 beemer, but didn’t really spend all that much time there; BMW’s are a bit overpriced and adventury for what we are in to. The HP2 is gorgous though:

Heading down the middle of the place I saw the HD-Buell sign and knew that I would soon be on a downer, all the Buell’s were there including the new 1125R. I made a concious effort to sit on the XB12Ss and it was amazing how at home I felt again. After stroking the Buell a few more times we moved on, Blair noting the XB9Sx Street Cross as a favourite.

Ducati, with the 1098R on no-touchy display was a draw for the crowd, and I had a wee seat on the 848, which was beautiful but you could tell it was unforgiving due to the instant race tuck riding position.

Suzuki was next, and along with the 2008 GSR 600 in god-awful red and gunmetal, the B-King was the main attraction for me. Having a sit on the GSR first though, I noticed the ABS logo on the clocks. Perhaps a standard feature on the 2008 model, but not really needed. Blair checked out the wheels, which reportedly show up the dodgy manufacturing of them, but B didn’t seem to worried about it.

Emma had a seat on the “bike with a built in kitchen table.” AKA the B-King. The tank on this thing is laughably wide, but even still, the bike instantly feels comfortable, and with Emma taking a wee seat on the pillion pad, she even commented that it was quite comfy. I doubt Em would share that sentiment after an hour of riding, but it was more comfortable than first thoughts.

There were a few custom choppers dotted around the show, with the highlight for me being the AC Cobra tribute chopper at the Carol Nash stall.

We had a look at the rest of the stalls, Yamaha failing to show the MT range at all, which was pretty disappointing, and Honda failing to show the absolutely breath-taking CBR1000R, but did have a poster…which was nice.

K was checking out all the 125cc bikes as she is thinking about doing her CBT. The Honda was her favourite, offering up a nicer riding position and the seat height ideal for her size, allowing her to put both feet flat on the floor. The Yamaha 125R was nice, but very heavy on the wrists. B and I joked about the wheel sizes, with the Honda 125cc having a thinner rear tyre than our GSR’s front.

The Triumph was a nice stall, but set in another hall, not really allowing the majority of people to instantly see them. But the Speed Triple was devestatingly beautiful, single sided swing and glossy black paint. Lovely.

The Aprilia was ok and I had a seat on the Shiver 750. Very similar to the KTM Super Duke but not quite as nice.

We had another go around the manufacturers, then around all the wee stalls. There was a stall that was selling hand drawn Valentino Rossi pencil canvas things, and they were fecking amazing. But £200 seemed to be a bit much, even though they were limited edition (I think out of 95). Blair took the guys card and I think he might end up getting one. Whilst he was checking out a bike stall I went and sat on the Ducati 848, and then got a call from Blair. He said he was at a stall that had Furygan and Icon stuff. Me and Em headed round and there it was. The Furygan Orona. I had wanted this jacket since I first laid eyes on it in an old MCN, but for love nor money couldn’t source one. So you can imagine my dissappointment when they only had the white one in Medium….but they did have a L Black one, so I tried that on and I liked it a lot. £125 and it was mine. I’ll post pics up later tonight.

We were all pretty hungry and didn’t want to waste £40 on 2 sandwiches, so after checking out how much the karts costed (£10 for 10 minutes), we decided to leave it and head home to prepare ourselves for the MotoGP Race 1.

All in all it was a great day, and I loved seeing all the bikes on show, and even more so the ability to get on it and get your feet up. It allowed a greater impression of what it would be like, instead of the showroom scenario of not really knowing how it will feel with both feet up.

Anyway, I am going now and will post up some pictures later of my jacket (which has an aluminium layer in it, like the mountain survival bags for heat preservation…cool or what!)

Thanks for looking folks!

Gordon