Bike Show - Excel - The day I achieved invisability.

Ride-outs & Events
1

I went today I really wished I had stayed at home. I hadn’t been for a few years, but I thought I’d give it another go.

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the purpose of the show for the exhibitors to make sales etc? I must have visited a dozen exhibits and not one sales bod looked up to even talk to me or asked if they could help, I may as well have been invisible.

Was hoping to speak to the Bikesafe stand, it was well staffed, but I stood there waiting for them to finish their chats and they just weren’t interested. Sorry, but I’m not going to chase people around the floor just to speak to them when they should be chasing me for some custom.

Stayed an hour and decided to call it quits.

I remember, back in the day you used to leave these things with bags of stuff, today, I left with a banana skin & half a bottle of water.

Perhaps it was just me & everyone else will have a great time visiting, but for me it’s the last one I’ll ever go to.

Oh, and the KTM stand didn’t have a SMT on display :frowning:

2

Which SMT was you hoping to see? As far as I know there isn’t one in the current range from KTM.

The days of getting goodie bags is long gone, most of which was rubbish anyway so not a bad thing in my book.
Did you not think to go an actually ask one of the sales staff if they can help you? It was fairly busy in the morning to lunchtime and I can see how someone might of been missed out of all the people who where just sitting on as many bikes as possible just to get their photo taken on them.

3

I was there just after lunch, it was busy but not mad.

I didn’t really bother with the main bike stands, I’ve seen most of the bikes I’m interested in at the dealers anyway.

It was the smaller stands selling shocks, and accessories. Most of them just ignored me when I waited politely for them to finish what they were doing, when they were done they just buggered off and did something else.

I’ve worked at the bike show before and have done a stint in retail and the thing I hated was people butting in when I was dealing with someone else, but I always knew who was next or who genuinely had a question toa ask.

Perhaps that’s not how it’s done nowadays and I’m too old fashioned.

4

I had noticed if you don’t look the part for a certain stand you wont get approached etc.

funny thing is whether its the indian stand, Harley or ducati i could have any of them but that is why i don’t mix with certain people.

How f*cking big were them Indians, massive.

5

Well Thanks for the complement !! :smiley:

6

got to agree with Chris on this one. then they have the cheeks to complaint people shop online rather than visit them, no wonder.

i have avoided these events for many years for that exact reason. not worth the money.

7

I avoid the ‘Shows’ like the Plague…

I find them same old hat most years, no feeebies, over priced ebtry fees, over priced food, over priced parking if you go by car…LONG!

glad its not just me!

8

I was quite eager to go not having been to a bike show yet. Was expecting roomy areas for each company with loads of shops, discounts, models and freebies. What I found was a small-ish area packed full of small shops, some dealers and almost no pretty girls.

There are loads of classic bikes for those who like them (not too fussed personally), loads of choppers and custom bikes plus a few dealers (Yamaha, Honda, Triumph, Kawasaki, Harley, KTM), however, e.g. Suzuki wasn’t there which I was a bit surprised about.
Dealerships did not really seem to have any sales but were rather like showrooms. I went to Yamaha to ask if they had any accessories for my MT-09 and they told me to visit their website :smiley: Duh…

Still, with all that, I’m not disappointed per se as I got to sit on a few bikes that I’m interested in (Fireblade, 899) but after being there for less than 2 hours I felt like I had visited all areas and not found anything particularly interesting.
At least now I know that the new Fireblade is comfy and 899 and ZX10 aren’t (for me) :slight_smile:

Here are a few pics for those who are interested: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oc1n5c7efyqcebx/ANoS0UKqAa
I was trying to snap everything I could get to but with the amount of people constantly jumping on and off the bikes it proved to be quite difficult.

Edit:
By the way, I did get a few freebies. Some from wemoto.com and some from Bike Safe. Signed up for a day for free (normally £45) so not all is that bad.

9

I was there today- it was a complete zoo.

<------------------- I did get a new helmet.

10

I’ve been to the show today and was really impressed with the turnout. Normally the London show is dire and I favour the Birmingham show even though I live 10mins from Excel.

I still think the Birmingham show is superior but the footfall at London is a promising sign for the industry in 2014.

My two cents… Firstly, freebies are a nice to have but in the current financial climate its unrealistic whereas special show offers are a win-win for all e.g. OMC, bike safe, the drill-bit guy.

Secondly, companies like Suzuki or Piaggio (who own Vespa, Gilera, Moto Guzzi and Aprilla) don’t come to the London show because they do not see it as worth their while. Even though Piaggio UK are based in Crawley and Suzuki in Milton Keynes. The average London/home counties customer is far too shrewd/tight-fisted and the rates at Excel too high. Sadly Piaggio were represented by a dealer in the end and at his own cost (BMG in case you wanted to know).

Something I noticed and is worth considering . . . ever other person at the Birmingham show left with something they bought (paddock stand, a cover, helmet etc…) but far far less people at the Excel left with goodies. Are these the “try at show buy online people” ? Are they adding any real value to the industry or sucking the life out? Are they justifying manufacturers non-attendance to shows?

11

I’m in my fourth year of riding, so these shows are still relatively new to me. I enjoyed what was there. To echo other visitors comments, it was a good use of space with the stunt/race show in the middle. Of the exhibitors that were there, I thought they were well presented, with no waffle. Not the biggest, but not the worst. i took my young son with me, so for him it was just right for his first time out, which I thought was important for getting new blood on board. A pleasure to see a few familier faces too. I look forward to next time.

12

Been to a few in the past, including excel, the ‘old one’ at alley palley and Birmingham NEC. Not bothered about heading to any more, unless possibaly if I’m in need of a new lid as theres a normally a much larger choice than your local dealer to choose from.

Quite a lot of the stands selling junk are the same that attend the BSB rounds anyway, Ill save my entrance fee for a BSB round.

13

I was at the show on Friday, thanks to my free tickets from Andrew Habron - very much appreciated.

Hey “chris r”, I can understand what you mean about being invisible. There were a few stands that I walked passed slowly, manned by one person, usually a young woman, to see them sitting down, eyes down into their mobiles phones texting away. They should have been looking to make eye contact with every person that walked passed as they are potential customers.

This is where our American cousins kill us. No, I’m not talking about “friendly fire” in military conflict zones. Customer service, marketing and sales, the Americans really know how to pitch a sale. They have scripts, and they use them, with a smile, and put the onus on the potential customer to see the benefits of their product/service with leading questions. I’ve spent a good few bucks (£1000’s) on a management/sales/marketing course which has helped my business too. I’m just not too pushy with my potential clients, and would not over sell a product or service though.

You know what, go see the film The Wolf of Wall Street, and watch the scene where Leonardo gets a job in a small time, telesales office. Amazing.

I did go to the Bikesafe stand at the very end of the day, I was their last customer. I didn’t realise it was the Bikesafe team at first, I just saw a large banner of a bus lane with a motorcycle in it, and thinking that it was a stand to get all bus lanes opened for bikes, I approached them. They seemed to be a friendly lot, and I bought an open ticket for another Bikesafe event. I’m intending to use it on LB Bikesafe event, whenever that is going to be. I got a freebies bag from them, and the useful thing in it was a V" sponge.

Sometimes, it can serve us to go up to a stand and say treat them like an American consumer would “Hey buddy, what product or service are you promoting here today?”.

14

Probably a stupid question but what is that sponge? I was looking at it for a while and the only application I can think of is to wipe the edge of the visor. Is that what it’s for?

15

That’s right Cypher, it is a very good visor sponge. When you consider all the different, and expensive, visor cleaning stuff that’s available, the V2 sponge is great as it does work well, and takes up so little room. They don’t last forever though, and degrade after about ten rinses.

With bottles of visor cleaner liquid, I find them to be too bulky if I don’t have my tank bag. Plus as a bottle runs out, it still takes up the same volume. I do use both both, but the V2 sponge is so efficient for weekend trips.