BikingPhotos by Tigger

Tigger – specialist in event and motorcycle photography, available for hire and all photos for sale The International Motorcycle and Scooter Show - November 2003, NEC, Birmingham, UK (click thumbnail for full image in new window)
Despite adding in the words "and Scooter" into the title, bikers throughout the land will always refer to this as "the NEC bike show" and again will always be split in opinion as to whether they like it, or loathe it with a vengeance! With some 1000 square metres of retail space being sliced, one was expecting less 'clearance’ and more 'promo’ and that’s exactly what you’re getting and for the good too; but then I’m happy enough to grab my bargains for the year at the BMF Show. After bothering to travel to the NEC and stump up the ever increasing costs for the entrance fee, car parking, programme and catering you want to be impressed! Yes that’s one thing I instantly noticed was the absence of the glossy thick programme, for years it was free and you would get one shoved in your paw on the way in and again on the way out in case you’d thought you’d got away with secretly dumping it once you’d been round the halls once! This year it was £3, but you did get £1 off the uninspiring show t-shirt if you wanted one of those too. The large majority seem to get round by asking the stand holders.
	The overall appearance of the show stands have been upped with far more gloss and girls and less cut price bargain rails. As usual the manufacturers went to town with huge stands, free posters, lots of girls and the full model range to swing a leg over and scuff the tailpiece. Honda seem to have a good looking smiling red shirted member of staff for every punter, Rossi's MotoGP title winning race bike and their new Fireblade launched with very exciting technical sounding electronic automatically adjusting steering damper which is actually a rather mundane piece of black plastic below the handlebar mounts. Whilst all the press battled for the free beer I asked their British Supersport rider Karl Harris to come for a pose and the models finally started to relax. Honda got the prize for the best food on press day, shame they’d let the trade in by then and you had to fight the rabble for it!
The new R1 styling, inspired by their YZR-M1 MotoGP machine was quite breathtaking with the designer even taking the concept down through the swingarm for a change; Olympic athletes Ben Challenger and Iwan Thomas are both keen motorcyclists and Yamaha had given them a free R1 obviously in return for the publicity so they were hoping that a few days on the Yamaha stand might land them the 2004 model they were both trying out! Onto Kawasaki, their first all-new super sports bike for 10 years the ZX-10R, hang on that can’t be it, it’s tiny, the front end’s smaller than the 750 I owned and those groovy wheels, well those spokes are the same width as the model’s ribs and there doesn’t seem much to those wavy discs with more holes than a doily. Oh far more exciting than the R1.
	Triumph mmm lots of mature gentlemen prodding the Thruxton 900 60's style cafe racer and the large chunky Rocket III. Didn’t do much for me, maybe I’ll come back in 10 years time when I’ve slowed down a bit and might appreciate them more? Mr Imola himself GP winner Paul Smart unveiled Ducati’s new Sport Classic range, classic 70's styling with added modern technology and Northern lads done good Neil Hodgson and James Toseland have both graced the stand to sign autographs for their zillions of fans.
World Superbike Champion Neil had wife Kathryn, new baby Hollie and gran along for the day, not that they got to see an awful lot of him, Neil said to us he was glad to be getting out of World Superbikes as he could see the downhill slope they were on especially refusing him extra passes for races. Huge crowds jostled for autographs as they signed hats, shirts, posters, backs and even babies!
	Suzuki. The epitome of gloss. Every year without doubt the best girls. Last year’s twins on the telly were surpassed by 4 leggy lovelies, apart from Miss Fidget they didn’t take a bad photo. Ex BSB Champion John Reynolds gives such good value for money year in year out, may not win every year (he did break his collarbone on the 1st round this year but still came 2nd in the championship) but he’s presentable, happy to pose all day and answer endless questions.
A rather ugly Hulk made up the quota swinging from the bars of the caged Hulk bike competition prize. The new GSX-R 750 actually has a new chassis for next year and 'revised’ engine and you can buy the 600 version and your mates would hardly tell the difference from 10 paces.
	The girls are back for the weekends too!
Custom Extreme - oh my good lordy!!! ... I could spend an hour here easily. This is what can be done if you have enough time, patience and good old cash. Divided into 2 sides of Mirror Group magazine’s Streetfighters and Back Street Heroes there are 2 dozen machines spanning all the major custom show winners of this year and some complete loonytune machines including a turbo Katana and a drag Hyabusa capable of over 230mph. The Destiny Cycles Harley’s have to be seen to be believed and even more fun is listening to the punters completely in awe of the incredible engineering 'oh he can’t possibly ride that can he?’. Yes every machine is taxed and tested and ridden to shows this summer -I saw them! They still look at me slightly skeptical though!
Over in the old catering area is a revamped Race Paddock incorporating a stage, huge screens, catering and race support trucks. BBC commentator Steve Parrish runs a Question of Sport and interviews with famous racers plus timed challenges to remove a rear wheel in under 90 seconds to win a VIP trip to the British GP. Michelin, Shark and Alpinestars race support trucks and works bikes have set up camp with Triumph Valmoto TT winning race team and a special Yamaha R6 Cup display. The Shark Racing Service truck offers you a helmet service by their GP technicians whilst you watch the racing on the big screen or the crazy Swedish road movie next door -highly illegal stuff! Right over the other end of the 6 halls reigning multiple World Trials Champion Dougie Lampkin is riding up an in-door waterfall and over a number of impossibly high obstacles joined by a couple of nutters on bicycles Cyclo Trials Champions Ot Pi and Cesar Canas. The ‘double quarter pipe jump’ according to the commentary saw the guys level with the punters on the back row of the stands!
If you’re new to the scene then The Devitt DA Try A Scooter Area offer visitors (over the age of 16 unfortunately) to try out the latest scooters under supervision of a qualified instructor round the back of the Race Paddock. Helmet and gloves are provided and no-one will laugh if you fall off but people rarely do they tell me. The more experienced may like to visit the Touring and Leisure Feature at the Show and marvel at some of the amazing biking holiday destinations like USA, New Zealand, Russia, Spain and India plus of course the European champagne and mountain tours closer to home.
	Harley-Davidson, well watching the terribly good looking dancers I have to admit they were really terrific with a thumpingly good soundtrack but it epitomises everything that I despise about Harley and their entry level licensed trademarked toilet seats. The twenty year old with gelled hair in a BIKER shirt in a skater pose giving out free stick-on tattoos afterwards, s’OK mine are real mate. Let’s go round the Buell side and talk to their nutter stunt rider Craig Jones, see what he’s smashed up now! Even with the retailing curbed there’s still loads and loads to buy I can’t think of anything that I didn’t actually see there and the prices were still OK, there seemed to be a few islands of more smaller stands every so often in the middle aisles instead of being relegated up the back all the time which made for a more interesting walk about.
Freebies are a bit thin on the ground this year but luckily Carole Nash are on hand to out do everyone with their free calendar, keyrings and dodgy pens (one in 3 work OK I found so take 6 to be safe!), early birds get a free mug too, lots of stickers from everyone else and TWO mag’s bag. You get a free bacon butty if you buy a copy of Wednesday’s MCN and bring the coupon. Honda’s waterproof back pack bag is a quid but handy to leave your hands free to stroke new models and take photos - the photo mobile phone inventor has a lot to answer for as hordes of blokes gather round the girls waving their phones around trying for a good shot then blocking the aisles as they text their mates. Buy a quid raffle ticket from MAG to win an R1 and the NABD stand for the amazing pink Beach Bastard trike. Don’t have a shave before you go as there's a stand there with lycra lovelies giving you a close one and a moisturise for charity - they do heads as well if you’re already cropped short! Superbike and Fast Bike magazines -not far from the close shave girls both have pole dancers along with a Trinity look-alike on a win a Matrix Ducati.
Carl Fogarty is due this Thursday with his new Foggy Petronas signing Chris Walker on Saturday 16th. Listen out for the tannoy telling you which famous peeps are there that day. TWO magazine have a small stage, worth asking on passing if anyone’s turning up that day. It’s now £6 to park the car if you don’t take advantage of the secure undercover bike park, where you can leave your riding kit with Riders for Health for a £1 donation to the charity who provide aid to remote areas of Africa through motorcycle-riding medical staff, warm up with a hot drink from the catering and have a go on the special mini-moto machines which are scaled down replicas of the major race bikes. Emulate your hero on these high revving, 2-stroke engines which give a potential top speed of 60 - 70mph. Running on wheels just six inches tall you can achieve outrageous angles of lean and really wear your new knee sliders in! I'm working on the BSH stand (so stick your head in and say hi when you're passing peeps) or I'm out taking photos. Red curls and I've got a shirt which says ' smile :) bikingphotos.com ' in yellow on it. Oh and we all like jaffa cakes - intensely.
BUY PHOTOS - Re the photos and review of the NEC bike show – all high resolution photos which will blow up to poster size are available to buy at £5 each or you can purchase 350 photos covering the whole event on one CD for £10. CD includes – the best of the new bikes, lots of top girls, Harley dancers, Neil Hodgson, Carlos Checa, Sete Gibernau, Carl Fogarty, Chris Walker, Steve Byrne, John Reynolds, Karl Harris, Niall McKenzie plus others. Please add £1 postage, phone orders office: 0121 244 1067 Mon-Fri 9-7, chqs to Motorcyclegifts.co.uk, PO Box 11604, Birmingham B33 8WS. For trade use please contact me for rates. [ Home ] [ Events ] [ Products ] [ Contact ] [ Back to Top ]