#1199Panigale

Another thing the interwebs have diluted a tad is SoCal’s local International Motorcycle Show, the one that kicks off new-motorcycle fever in Long Beach, California, every November. Now that we get to see nearly all the new bikes the week before from Milano, it’s slightly anticlimactic. Only slightly, though. It’s still a great place to see everybody in the U.S. bike industry all in one place and gauge their confidence/fear ratio, along with most, if not all, of the new machinery, and to ask each other collectively, ‘How we doin’?’

Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. celebrated its 60th anniversary with a special, employee-focused, three-food-truck event that included the induction of 10 racing legends onto its “Wall of Fame.” From L to R above, Rich Oliver, Wayne Rainey (Broc Glover hidden), Rick Burgett, Jason Raines, Mike Bell, ATV hero Bill Ballance, (Ty Davis hidden), and chief Yamanut Bob Hannah. Keith McCarty’s Yamaha’s Racing Director for Life, is at the right.