|  | Topic : Americade 2018 |  |
| | | PapaSmurfMC | | Chaac |  |  | | Reg. Date | : | 03/10/2013 | | Posts | : | 871 | | Location | : | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
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| | Posted : 13 Jun 2018 - 04:00 Post title : Americade 2018 | | | Got back from Americade last Friday; was there Mon - Fri. The weather was not the best this year, raining at least a little every day except Friday, so you just keep your rain gear on and get a little wet. Despite the management's hand waving and hype, it's definitely shrinking (but still worth the trip). Triumph wasn't there, but then hasn't been for a couple of years but the real surprise is that HD didn't show. Previous years they ran a huge demo area. This year's demo area was dominated by Indian; just you calm down there, Dave. Indian had a bigger tent for people waiting for their rides than some of the other vendors had for their demos. Another cutback was that they didn't supply touring maps of the area with registration, like they had in previous years.
Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Suzuki, Honda, BMW, Slingshot, Motor Trike and Yamaha were also doing demo rides.
The demo area also hosted shows by the Central Florida Precision Drill Team (and a few others) and the Phil Smage Stunt Show, although minus Phil since he crashed his landing attempting a UTV distance jump record on May25, leaving him with broken ribs, collarbone, and fractured vertebrae. Two of his buddies from the Marvel Universe Live show filled in for him.
The Expo (vendor area) was split up this year into two sections, not for reasons of organization but for reasons of geography; they apparently lost access to the larger area used in previous years and tried to make it sound like they planned this all along. Nobody seemed to like it and probably also for geographic reasons, the Vintage Garage display was jammed into the vendor area.
Here's [the more scenic] shot of the smaller strip of vendor space; the bigger vendor area was about a block away. The vendors were pretty much identical to previous years with a noticable absence or two, like Twisted Throttle.
There were some pretty decent seminars ("Americade University") and I got to hear/chat with Ken Condon ("In The Zone") and Dave Hilgendorf (editor, Motorcycle Consumer News).
Then there was the Warrensburg Bike Rally, only about 7 miles away, which is always a lot of fun; more like a motorcycle-themed carnival, complete with Elvis impersonator and Wall of Death.
The Wall of Death show is classic Americana. They'll grab a dollar from your hand as they go around and they do the "death race" with two bikes at once on the wall. All three of these guys had a huge grin on their face as they went around. Can't say I smile like that at my job. 
I got some riding in the Adirondacks in but not as much as last year; the weather wasn't as cooperative. I got out of there as the NY crowd flooded in (Friday) to party. Hd the usual encounters with HD pirates (you know, HD owners with brand new HD pants, HD vest, HD leather skull cap) with their plump passenger wearing a leather motorcycle jacket (no armor) with embroidered skulls while carrying a little white purse. 
Thursday evening I rode out to the closest gas station to fill up my tank and top off my tires. I'd just finished topping off my tires when an HD pirate pulled up behind me; I had some time left on the air pump so I gave it to him and handed him my pressure guage (a dial guage with a bleeder button) to use. He put a lot of air into his front tire and eventually mumbled something like "that should be enough". I asked him how much the front takes and he didn't miss a beat. He said "I don't know". I was polite and didn't laugh; got to set a good example. So I showed him where to find the pressure label and it said 30 lbs for the front and I told him he should check it. First, he tried to insert the bleeder button into the air valve. After that didn't work, he figured out the only orifice on the guage must go over the valve. It read 40 lbs! I told him he really should bleed off 10 lbs. He bled off some, I didn't check how much. That's who shows up on Friday.
Covered about 650 miles. Even with the rain, a good trip.
| 2013 Blue Marble Haze Thunderbird 1600 ABS
2009 Black Bonneville A1 ("Mag")
Buncha farkles
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| | | Hornet | | Jupiter | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 05/05/2013 | | Posts | : | 1,294 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 13 Jun 2018 - 14:37 Post title : Re: Americade 2018 (Re: PapaSmurfMC) | | | Thanks Papa for the report and pictures !
| You'll never be first but you might be next
2014 Commander
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| | | PES | | Chaac | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 03/01/2009 | | Posts | : | 927 | | Location | : | Tulsa, OK, United States |
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| | Posted : 13 Jun 2018 - 19:59 Post title : Re: Americade 2018 (Re: PapaSmurfMC) | | | Yes thanks for your pics and report. I've always wanted to attend that. Read about it in biker magazines for years. It is in a pretty part of New York.
| "Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul."-author unknown
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| | | PapaSmurfMC | | Chaac | | | | Reg. Date | : | 03/10/2013 | | Posts | : | 871 | | Location | : | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
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| | Posted : 14 Jun 2018 - 03:30 Post title : Re: Americade 2018 (Re: PES) | | | Yeah, it's great riding in the Adirondacks in the early summer (when it's not raining) and easy to slip over into Vermont or even up into Canada. So many twisties with practically no traffic. Slight downside is an abundance of wildlife; lots of deer crossing warning signs and I had to dodge a turkey this year.
| 2013 Blue Marble Haze Thunderbird 1600 ABS
2009 Black Bonneville A1 ("Mag")
Buncha farkles
| | Post edited by PapaSmurfMC on 14 Jun 2018 - 03:36 |
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| | | MtnRider | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 25/04/2018 | | Posts | : | 26 | | Location | : | Colorado, United States |
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| | Posted : 14 Jun 2018 - 15:30 Post title : Re: Americade 2018 (Re: PapaSmurfMC) | | | Wow, looks a lot different than it did in the 80's. I attended for about 6 years in a row.Thanks for the pics
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| | | bnz433 | | Jupiter | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 10/06/2011 | | Posts | : | 1,842 | | Location | : | Clifton Park (Upstate), NY, United States |
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| | Posted : 19 Jun 2018 - 17:55 Post title : Re: Americade 2018 (Re: PapaSmurfMC) | | | Sorry about the weather, Papa! Was a downright TREAT at the Bennington Triumph Bash the week before, though!! Hahaha
HD lost the space, and the organizers tried to up the rent for less footage, so they passed. I think their local dealer, Spitzies, was up there, even if not right in town. There's usually another "subset" just north on Route 9 in the town of Warrensburg, too!
The guys from Twisted Throttle should have been there. I saw them at the Bash. Jeff Rose was the regional Triumph Rep for years, and last year jumped over to Twisted. He's got a camp up on Lake George, so I'd be dumbfounded if they didn't have something, somewhere????
BTW - next time you make it up, drop me a line! I'm along the way, ya know! Exit 9 on I-87. Got plenty of room, beer and it's only a 30-40min sprint up to Lake George!!
Jamie
PS - Of course you'll pick the Bennington Triumph Bash next year, right!?!?!
| Bennington Triumph Bash - 31May-2June 2019. Home of the (tied in '14 & '15) US RECORD T-BIRD FLOCKING!!!!!
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