The relatively low-key exhibition had an overall theme of personal mobility, highlighting green technology like electric and hybrid-electric power sources, as well hydrogen-fueled engines. Make sure to check out our photo gallery to check out all the cool stuff from the show.

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The last AMA Women’s Conference took place three years ago in Athens, Georgia, where 1,000 women riders from around the country and around the world motored— well most of them— their way to Georgia. This year’s Conference attendance was no different, quite a feat considering the current economic woes. Keystone, Colorado, a ski resort/town just 90 miles west of Denver came blazing to life last week when 1,000 women motorcyclists from 40 states, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan made the pilgrimage and took over the tiny ski resort town.

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In terms of domination and star status on the American off-road scene, multi-time supercross/motocross champion James Stewart is a star among stars. He’s now left his long-term home at Kawasaki in favor of riding a Yamaha for Team L&M/San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Following “Bubba’s” unbeaten motorcross season, he’s been comfortable on the YZ450F and has already scored victories at the U.S. Open supercross and the international SX in Bercy, France, so he obviously likes his new bike.

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Aprilia

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Perhaps you have a pal who has a lot of disposable income and the toys to prove it, and you’re lucky enough to enjoy an invitation to a luxurious summer home or a day tearing around in a Porsche.

On with the Intermot then. The magic of new model’s unveilings in real time might be gone forever, but there’s nothing like touching the new metal and having all them toys under one big roof. First thoughts?

Honda

Motorcycle.com’s freelance correspondent Tor Sagen interviewed MV Agusta President Claudio Castiglioni shortly after the acquisition was announced. For the Motor Company’s perspective on the deal, Sagen spoke briefly with Bob Klein, Director of Corporate Communication, at Harley-Davidson.

One such company is S&S Cycle of La Crosse, Wisconsin, founded by George Smith Sr. and Stanley Stankos in 1958. Cutting his teeth on the drag strips in the Chicago area, Smith became known as the go-to-guy for parts and techniques to help riders get their bikes down the track and come away with the win. Beginning some 50 years ago with not much more than a set of their own pushrods, S&S has guided itself into the enviable position of king of the hill when it comes to V-twin engine performance.

The history of Cagiva seems to have come full circle in 2008 as it marks the 30th anniversary since Cagiva bought a little factory in Varese from Harley-Davidson. Now that little factory that once produced 40.000 motorcycles a year is back in the hands of Harley-Davidson. Castiglioni is once again aiming at a figure of 30.000-40.000 units in only a few years as a result of the new deal. Cagiva, it seems, could soon be as strong as an elephant again, reflecting its logo.

It’s been about five years since The Motor Company began floating ideas about building a museum to house and showcase their huge collection of motorcycles and memorabilia, which at the time begged the question, “What the heck took you so long?” After all, sometime in the mid-1980s Harley-Davidson was becoming known as the Milwaukee Mint, as sales of motorcycles and their licensed clothing and products began to build double-digit sales increases every year, and they were making money hand over fist.

848, 1098, 696 and 16RR to be exact.

Against all odds, this annual gathering started to attract bigger crowds, special sportbike builders, tuners and power merchants. By 2006, even the big manufacturers jumped into the fray. From 18,000 visitors and some 50 vendors stands 12 years ago, the Padova event has grown into a show with 310 exhibitors and 70,000 visitors, killing in the process the good old Bologna Motor show.

We’ve already given you an inside look into the massive event in our first post from what’s called “the largest powersports aftermarket trade show in the world,” so if you haven’t yet checked it out, make sure you read Part 1, which includes two feature-packed videos.

And among the bazillion square feet of displays is a motorcyclist’s candy story, packed wall to wall with all the great gear and gizmos riders desire. Shame, then, that you aren’t invited. If you’re not a dealer or retailer or distributor or importer (or an upstanding member of the press), you can’t get in.

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The media day in the LBC began with a look at the first radical tuner project of a 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa.

On the other hand, many other Italian names, mainly those making a comeback, seem to be struggling a bit. At MV Agusta/Cagiva's stand, not much was happening, even if signore Castiglioni must have pocketed quite a hefty sum after selling Husqvarna to BMW. Those fine F4's and Brutale's are starting to show their age regardless of the bigger bore motors. With the falling Euro-to-dollar rate, things don't look too rosy for all these high-end niche manufacturers.

KTM's RC8 roadracer looks as angular as the prototype shown several years ago, Moto Morini has a very attractive looking 1200cc enduro-style machine that, well, looks, a lot like the bike it's aiming for: BMW's R1200GS. MV has upgraded the Brutale with a bigger 982cc engine and is offering a blue F4 with the number "1078"  on the fuel tank making it patently obvious the bike's displacement. Other notables include a new 1200cc Twin from Aprilia that's awaiting a chassis and wheels, BMW is offering a new half-pint GS model, and the Honda Transalp lives on... in Europe. Sorry, America. It seems we let that one slip out of our hands years ago, but it seems we can anticipate a 919 replacement. Let's read the rest from Yossef, and see what he saw today in Milan. And be sure to check out our extensive photo gallery for more pics and info.

Whether it's been while talking about the new 1098R's traction-control system or the new 696 Monster's amalgam of trellis frame with alloy sub-frame, Claudio Domenicali, Ducati's current mastermind, just couldn't resist reminding us all that the lessons learnt while crafting the world's fastest road racer (which squarely beat Japan's best) were put to good use in Ducati's 2008 street lineup.
 

For this year's show, Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha all had new concepts to wow the crowd, with machines ranging from futuristic engineering exercises (built as an excuse for each manufacturer to show their superior technological capabilities) to prototypes that look ready to roll off the production line and onto the street any day now. And make sure you also take a look at the accompanying photo gallery for more pics of these cool bikes.

He was a real-deal racer, competing at Daytona racing a fire-breathing Yamaha TZ750 against riders such as the legendary Kenny Roberts. And in case you think Buell’s theme of putting a hot-rodded Harley engine in a sportbike chassis is a fairly new thing, consider that Erik Buell created his RR1000 Battletwin in the mid-‘80s, a Harley XR1000-powered sportbike with modern-day Buell innovations such as an under-engine muffler and shock absorber.

Stortz Performance was there with their new line of street-tracker parts for the newest Sportster model. Excellent stuff! I also noticed a few metric cruisers that had sneaked into the landscape. I'll bet that wouldn't have happened five years ago, but there is an emerging metric custom market that is starting to pick up steam.

Long-time MO European Correspondent Yossef Schvetz just spent some time at the huge EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Italy. Now in its 64th year, the 2006 show had 522,000 square feet of exhibits and was visited by 530,000 fans in six days. Although over 1,000 companies representing 32 countries displayed their wares, the emphasis was on the Italian manufacturers. Let's see what Yossef -- a truly multicultural industry insider who was born in Argentina, raised in Israel and is now working in Milan as an industrial designer as well as a free-lance moto-journalist -- has to say. -Editor.

When you're dealing with big numbers (187,000 registered visitors), size matters. The Cologne Fair must have pressed their size advantage hard in winning INTERMOT away from Munich. On opening day visitors could choose among 1132 vendors spread over 25 football fields worth of quality exhibition space in eight large halls. This left three halls still empty, but maybe that's a good thing as there are limits to what the eye and mind can absorb and what the feet can endure.

Indianapolis. It's a medium-sized city in the heart of the Midwest, known for the Colts, the Indy 500, and college basketball.  Once a year, thousands and thousands of dealers, distributors and others in the motorcycle industry descend upon the town to meet, deal, and find out what's going on.

Another noticeable trend was that of low-positioned, short and stubby mufflers. They were spotted on the new R6, Fazer 1000 and Suzuki's new 600/750 GSXR's. Good to see that engineers and designers understand at last that sterilizing by heat, large parts of the riding public won't advance humanity much. These shorties also look like dead ringers to MotoGP exhaust designs while the required volume needed for proper silencing is more or less achieved through small rectangular silencers sitting under the gearbox. A lower C of G, better aerodynamics and more centralized mass are the official advantages. As said, not much out-of-the-box thinking was seen; the feeling was that most everybody is acting very sensibly nowadays, plain common sense in action.

CYPRESS, Calif., December 6, 2004 ~ It was all smiles for attendees at the recent annual Yamaha Race Team Media Introduction held this year at I-5 MX Park in Gorman, California on December 1, 2005.

28-31 August 2003: On Labor Day weekend Harley-Davidson threw a little party in celebration of their 100th year of making motorcycles. On the order of a quarter million bikers descended on the city of Milwaukee. There were block parties all over the city for four nights. Milwaukee's SummerFest grounds were packed with bands for three nights. Harley-Davidson had a 10,000 bike parade, demo rides, factory tours and what must have been four million t-shirts for sale. Motorcyles blanketed the city. Every open curb or sidewalk was fair game. On the final day 150,000 folks packed an outdoor stage without knowing who would perform. The mystery headliners turned out to be Tim McGraw, Kid Rock and Elton John. It was an event.

Now just so you don't get the wrong idea, Americade is not all about riding Gold Wings and other big touring yachts, though it certainly started out that way some 21 years ago. Back then, it was known as "Aspencade", paying homage to the Gold Wing of the day. But soon the family oriented event began to draw those on all makes and models of motorcycles to beautiful Lake George, nestled in the heart of New York's Adirondack Mountain region.

Some are models available in Europe and/or Japan, but others are prototypes not available anywhere. Americans will notice a number of cool small-displacement bikes missing in their size-really-does-matter motorcycle market. Also included are a slew of naked bikes, as well as a few racers. Enjoy.

At 2 PM, after phone calls from prospective clients, network emergencies, and a case of milk we finally got underway. We chose a rather roundabout route, to try and avoid as much interstate travel as we could. We left L.A. heading north to the Antelope Valley, after which there would be no more freeway until Nevada. We took the Pearblossom Highway east to Victorville, then another two-laner into Yucca Valley. There we tracked down the local Harley dealer (Hutchins' Harley-Davidson, Yamaha & Honda) to get oil for the Buell. As it turns out, they were holding an open house for all those River Runners brave enough to leave the safety of the freeway. After gorging ourselves on free snacks and soft-drinks, we left civilization behind ... and got lost ...