Table of contents

• Biketoberfest in the USA and AIMExpo in Orlando Trendy in the USA, interesting for Europe?
• American International Motorcycle Expo
• No show booths, but accessories and clothing professionals at work
• Appropriate? Can be, but doesn’t have to be
• Complete training wheels package for the bike
• Heavenly prices at the largest Harley dealer
• From the idea to the product
• AIMEXPO
• Biketoberfest
• Conclusion

Herder

27 pictures

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1/27

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2/27
Tricycle? Nope, a four-wheeler. Americans stand on training wheels. And we hope that this trend will never reach Europe!

Herder

3/27
Police motorcycles have always looked a little different in the USA.

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4/27
Very, very large front wheels have been popular for a long time. Now very, very large rear wheels are also on the rise.

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5/27
Mike was once stationed in Germany (West!) And got something totally mixed up when it came to German fashion trends.

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6/27
Total exotic: This man is neither black nor fat. And still drives a pimped Hayabusa.

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7/27
That’s the way it should be: a fat white man on a fat excavator …

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8/27
… Also with a custom rear end.

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9/27
The trend towards the Harley second engine continues unchanged; Second frameworks have not yet been able to establish themselves.

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10/27
Totally typical: Susan and Dick Smith on a leisurely family outing with Hayabusa and Doppel-X. Leather suit, helmet? What for?!

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11/27
The US-American taste is somehow different.

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12/27
The next AIMExpo will take place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando from October 15 to 19, 2014.

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13/27
Anselm Z. (name known to the editors) hides – to put it carefully – slightly thinning hair under a bandana with an integrated long-hair wig. A megatrend for bald Europeans?

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14/27
Price shock at the world’s largest Harley dealer: HD leather jackets for $ 300, HD jeans for $ 39. Unfortunately not a trend for Germany.

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15/27
… Retirees like to make monkeys in Florida. A new trend for European events?

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16/27
This is what winners look like: Dirk (left) and Stefan with the winning bike of the “2013 Star Bolt Custom Build-Off”.

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17/27
Dear Polo boss, we have discovered a great company vehicle here. That drives ashore …

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18/27
… and on the water over 70 km / h. Please have a look at www.gibbssports.com.

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19/27
Old friends: The polo troop meets Edgar Held, who shows the Americans how good gloves should look.

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20/27
Reversible leather cowl / safety vest as well as tattoo sleeves – both totally trendy.

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21/27
Chopper teams with spiked accessories are really hip.

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22/27
Really angry, please: The brand new Bell Rogue (“rogue”) costs just under $ 250 in the US.

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23/27
Americans love light games. Why not in the form of brake lights on the leather jacket?

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24/27
Don’t be surprised if you can find some pretty silly headgear in one of the next polo catalogs.

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25/27
Passenger handle with suction cup holder – a clever idea for passengers who do not feel like crampons or bench straps.

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26/27
Dogs and …

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27/27
The Biketoberfest 2014 takes place from October 16-19 in Daytona Beach, 88 km northeast of Orlando.

counselor

traffic & business

Report on Biketoberfest USA

Biketoberfest in the USA and AIMExpo in Orlando
Trendy in the USA, interesting for Europe?

Where are trends made? In the USA, of course. And who will discover them? For example, the purchasing team of the accessories and clothing supplier Polo. On-site meeting at the largest US motorcycle fair and at the Biketoberfest in Daytona.

Klaus Herder

02/01/2014

There are offers that you simply cannot refuse. Especially not in the cold, wet German autumn: “We have to go to Florida, the fair in Orlando and then two more days of Biketoberfest in Daytona Beach – you want to come with us?” Anselm (49), clothing manager at chain store Polo, beckons with these magical words. I sold my Harley to Anselm many years ago and he is amazingly still happy with the sweetheart. So Anselm knows about my affinity for US topics and now actually wants to voluntarily get a MOTORRAD editor to keep an eye on his fingers while he is working for five days. And he is not alone with this request: The illustrious polo troop also includes Marketing Manager Dirk (43) and Assortment Supervisor Stefan (44).

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The trip to Florida, which is still very sunny, is surprisingly not a pleasure trip for the boys. “Shopping tour” is more likely to hit the mark, although it shouldn’t be about procuring new goods. New ideas – that is the aim of the tour. The veteran Polo employees should act as trend scouts and explore what is trendy on the North American market and what might be interesting for Europe. A completely normal business trip. The boys regularly make similar trips to the Far East.

American International Motorcycle Expo

The times in which every crap that was dispensed in the USA ends up in Europe with a time lag are long gone, but when it comes to customizing and leisurewear, for example, the market in the United States is often always the Old Europe scene a bit ahead. When it comes to trade fair culture, however, the Europeans are still fooling the Americans. And so our trip to the AIMExpo (American International Motorcycle Expo) in Orlando is a trip into the unknown, regardless of the trade fair routine.

The five-day event, which is taking place for the first time, advertises as “North America’s largest motorcycle fair”, but anyone familiar with the US trade fair conventions suspects that this can be a very relative superlative. The Americans did not even know the mix of trade visitor and consumer fairs that is usual for Europeans, as we have it with the German Intermot and the Italian Eicma. So far, dealers and other trade visitors have mostly met in Indianapolis or Las Vegas; a kind of small traveling trade fair circus moved through the states for end users. The Harley boys traditionally do their very own thing, and so AIMExpo is really new territory for everyone involved.

No show booths, but accessories and clothing professionals at work

The three polo guys and I will of course be on the mat on the first of the two trade visitor days. Or better said: in a huge hall the size of several hangars, in which 392 exhibitors from 49 countries are spread out quite airy.
What is immediately noticeable: The show booths with VIP lounge and show stage that are common in Europe are almost non-existent here. A few – mainly European – exhibitors have quite professional mid-size stands, but the majority of providers prefer the provincial trade fair appearance that is common in Germany: wallpaper table with flag tablecloth plus three partition walls, woodchip, white. Clothes racks and mannequins are already part of the sophisticated equipment.

But the somewhat rustic appearance cannot hide the fact that absolute accessories and clothing professionals are at work here: There are clear and well-founded answers to clear questions – Americans do not need any formalities, Americans get straight to the point. And unfortunately they hardly ever have drinks on the bar for their trade fair guests. Especially not alcoholic, which the Bavarian and glove expert Edgar Held, whom we visit at his stand, particularly regrets.

Appropriate? Can be, but doesn’t have to be

Herder

Really angry, please: The brand new Bell Rogue (“rogue”) costs just under $ 250 in the US.

The polo boys usually scurry through the aisles separately from each other, each devoting himself to his specialty. Clothing specialist Anselm feels confirmed in his assessment that the “urban style” is booming, that cafe racer outfits are more popular than ever and that purely practical equipment is actually becoming less and less important. It should look cool and chic. Appropriate? Can be, but doesn’t have to be. Meanwhile, helmet expert Stefan is being made fun of at the stand of the resurrected US cult brand Bell. Very nasty and very classic helmets will be the big hit in the USA in 2014. And with “classic” is not meant grandpa’s half-shell, but the first generation of full-face helmets from the early 1970s or the classic jet helmet with nasty “bubble visor”.

Dirk searches across all product ranges and always ends up with products that have to do with the two favorite topics of the US accessories industry: light and warmth. The Americans really illuminate and heat anything and everything. Helmets and jackets with brake light function; Handles, gloves and underwear with heating elements in a sometimes crazy design, also with remote control – here it becomes clear that the US scene, in addition to customers who only care about fashionable chic, also has to serve a large number of kilometer eaters and year-round drivers.

Complete training wheels package for the bike

And a lot of more or less plump socias – the range of accessories that are supposed to increase passenger comfort is gigantic. And finds its climax in an almost epidemic spread of tricycles. Or four-wheelers, because if the US senior motorcyclist feels like a multi-track vehicle, he can save himself the complete conversion of his machine. Simply slip the complete set of support wheels over the bike and nothing can tip over. Looks stupid, but it works. 

Herder

That’s the way it should be: a fat white man on a fat excavator.

The three- / four-wheeled epidemic also claims its victims two days later when we relocated the tour of discovery to Daytona Beach, just under 90 kilometers northeast of Orlando. Trade fair theory is one thing, meeting practice is sometimes quite another. And so the polo trend scouts also want to explore in the wild what is popular with North American motorcyclists: three- and four-wheelers. But thank God not only. At the very tech-heavy swap meet around the Daytona International Speedway, the excavators still dominate the scene. So the tourers pimped with gigantic front wheels, mega-high handlebars and wild case constructions, mostly based on Harley-FL of course. However, the over-suitcases are joined by a few, but very noticeable, very bare, almost filigree constructions, the rear wheel of which is in no way inferior to the front wheels of the excavator: very large, very narrow – a new trend? Probably just a variation of the well-known old school and bopper look, but quite remarkable.

A few kilometers further towards the coast we reach Main Street, where the big show is the order of the day. If you take your time and watch the goings-on from the sidewalk and in the middle of the crowd shuttling between T-shirt shops and open-air bars, you will quickly see a clear system. First: The poser offer, which parades down the street at walking pace, repeats itself after half an hour at the latest. Second: Old and mostly fat whites ride Harleys. Often with occupied pillion seat. Second: Slightly younger and often very fat black people drive Hayabusa. Or double X. Gladly also with a no less overweight, almost always self-driving wife / girlfriend in tow. Very important: The Hayabusa / double X swing arm must be mega-moderately extended and chrome-plated. What doesn’t matter, in Florida it usually goes straight for a long time anyway.

Heavenly prices at the largest Harley dealer

Herder

Price shock at the world’s largest Harley dealer: HD leather jackets for $ 300, HD jeans for $ 39. Unfortunately not a trend for Germany.

The knowledge gained for our trend scouts is limited when looking at Main Street, but the polo employees will find what they are looking for in the countless t-shirt shops. Lots of graphics find their way into their digital cameras; Sunglasses, boots and costume jewelry complement the design suggestions saved on the memory card. We still have some time left, and so we visit “Bruce Rossmeyer’s Harley-Davidson” a few kilometers outside of Daytona Beach, which we say is the largest Harley dealer in the world. A truly impressive experience, and that doesn’t even mean the seven-day-a-week workshop service or the in-house outlet center. The prices for accessories and, above all, clothing are even more impressive: Harley jeans for a mere 39 dollars – not in the special offer and only in XXS, but the normal tariff. Leather jackets for 300 euros – paradise for me, not really surprising for the US polo guys. They’d rather grab the camera again and stop here and a little later at the neighboring J&P Cycles – an Eldorado of accessories for V2 youngsters – what American customers put into their wallets. Our Florida trip ends with a fine beer tasting. My personal trend tip: Samuel Adams Octoberfest.

From the idea to the product

Herder

Police motorcycles have always looked a little different in the USA.

How long does it actually take until the flashy trade fair idea has turned into a salable product? And who has to do what for that? Let’s use the example of polo to explain how it all works.

Fairs and meetings are two sources for getting ideas. Feedback from customers and sales as well as information from suppliers (“We have developed a completely new material!”) Are additional. The employees of the Polo range management decide whether the idea is to be pursued further. First question that needs to be clarified: Does the intended product fit into the range, i.e. does it replace a discontinued product, or is it a new launch? Next question: should it run under the manufacturer’s brand name or under its own brand? A framework plan is now drawn up in which it is described in text form how the product is to come onto the market. The master plan is used by the designers and product developers to visualize the matter and to create a production folder in which every detail (buttons, seams, etc.) is described in great detail. The production folder is sent to several potential suppliers, who are then allowed to sample the product as part of a tender. This is about a first prototype, which is mostly still a long way from series production. A decision is now made as to who will be involved as the supplier, and he will receive a correction folder with all the change requests. As a rule, two more samples follow before the product goes into production. This is followed by six weeks by sea from the Far East, and after half a year (product takeover) or one year (completely new development) the idea has turned into a product in the store.

AIMEXPO

Herder

The next AIMExpo will take place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando from October 15 to 19, 2014.

The concept of bringing manufacturers, dealers, end users and media together at a joint exhibition is new in the USA. AIMExpo 2013 was a premiere and with only 13 219 visitors on five days (the first two of which were reserved for trade visitors), it was quite small by European standards – in terms of audience. However, the 400 or so exhibitors showed a very good cross-section of the North American accessories and clothing market. However, pure motorcycle manufacturers were rather in short supply. Of the really big names, only Suzuki and Yamaha (with the cruiser and chopper sub-brand “Star” and a remarkable XV 950 / Bolt conversion competition) were on site. A lot of test vehicles (mostly quads and ATVs) could be moved free of charge as part of demo rides on the huge outdoor area. The bottom line is that the AIMExpo is a success and should be repeated in October 2014. Info: www.aimexpousa.com.

Biketoberfest

Herder

The Biketoberfest 2014 takes place from October 16-19 in Daytona Beach, 88 km northeast of Orlando.

From 1937 to 1991 there was really only one reason for motorcyclists to visit the rather ugly and boring city of Daytona Beach with its 60,000 inhabitants: the Daytona Beach Bike Week, which is celebrated every spring, at which, in addition to the traditional (Harley) meeting, also life was raging on the legendary Daytona International Speedway and on the drivable beach. Since 1992, the numerous T-shirt shops and saloons with the Biketoberfest (originally “The Daytona Fall Tour”) have had a second opportunity to fill their pockets with care. The program essentially consists of “see and be seen” and “stand around and drive around”. The rather rigid surveillance by the police ensures that excessive alcohol and too much bare skin are practically invisible – anyone familiar with relevant European meetings will be more likely to be disappointed. As a nice (and warm!) End to the season, the Biketoberfest is okay. Info: www.biketoberfest.org.
 

Conclusion

Herder

The polo troop.

After five days of the concentrated US accessories and clothing scene, the realization remains that the Americans do not have much, but one essential thing ahead of us: They are much more relaxed about motorcycling and the associated trappings than we do. Not every accessory is checked for TuV conformity at an early stage, so not every biker fumble needs to be protected by protection. The playful handling of the topic and the often wonderfully simple implementation of crazy ideas are fascinating. Please to Polo (and others): Apply!

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