The main attraction of this show held annually in London’s docklands is the chance to swing a leg over bikes you could never (baring lottery wins, inheritances or pension lump sum payments – see later comment on the hair colour of most punters on the BMW stand) afford to buy which I did unashamedly – well actually I was rather self conscious on the BMW stand. I discovered that unlike some fellow bikers, my feet did touch the ground when astride the highly coveted 1200GS Adventure (it was so big). Apart from motorcycles, of course, there are miles of jackets, boots, gloves and helmets supposedly at knock down prices. Sadly I wasn’t in the market for any of this kit though I was tempted by shiny new versions of slightly tired items I had at home under the bed, such are the delights of consumerism. All I did buy was a tub of beeswax for a tenner which I must remember not to search out on the net and find that I was fleeced. I did actually want some. My main foci were the BMW and Triumph stands and I felt entirely at home at the latter as of course I own one. Climbing onto the Tiger it was reassuring that I could reach the ground on this high machine and the new (shiny black) Sprint ST was rather comfortable. Maybe I could be persuaded to replace my year 2000 model with a nice new black one some day. It was beautiful and comes with hard panniers installed….. It was so shiny… I think I can hold my head up being a Triumph owner.

Going back to BMW, I was rather excited to see Charley Boreman on the stand and managed to snatch a blurred pic of him as he was about the only person nearby without white hair.

What I found very cute were the men (often not spring chickens) who persuaded their (presumably) wives to climb on the back of these touring machines and the small children who sprawled over immensely large, powerful and expensive machines.
Worth a comment finally were the numbers of people visiting on crutches and the MCN ‘babes’ who were impossibly thin (some looked like they had had their bottoms amputated) who were posing for photographs.