• by Karl Greenberg , January 3, 2008

The 27th Annual International Motorcycle Shows, as the name suggests, isn't so much a show (like one of the big autonomous auto shows) but a tour. The Toyota-sponsored event has just about every motorcycle manufacturer, as well as customizers, accessorizers and others touring their products to 13 U.S. cities from October through February.

Advanstar Communications, Inc., which runs the event, says last year's series attracted nearly 600,000 attendees.

At the New York stop, held at the Jacob Javits Convention center last weekend, some 700 motorcycles from 19 brands were represented. But the press tour on Friday cut an interesting swath across the floor, from a $40,000 street-legal superbike by Ducati to Piaggio's "Vespanomics" pitch touting scooters as the solution to auto congestion, gasoline conservation and global warming.

In between was Kawasaki's unveiling of the 2008 version of its popular Ninja 250, a $3,400 rider-friendly sport bike redesigned to look at home beside Kawasaki's flagship 2008 ZX-10R.

Suzuki showed a version of its Hayabusa that was designed by a clothing company, Lifted Research Group, which came up with a striking white on green motorcycle with see-through wheels and illuminated logos that looked like something Apple would design if it expanded into superbikes.

Piaggio, which makes 10 Piaggio and Vespa scooters -- including the three-wheeled MP3 launched last year -- has been focusing on scooters as social engineering.

Paolo Timoni, president of Piaggio's U.S. arm, said that the issue for scooters as a breakout in the U.S. market is that consumers don't understand them. "Scooters haven't been embraced as transit," he says, adding the company decided last year to launch an ongoing effort to change that both with consumer marketing and through efforts to change public policy through outreach to policy makers.

"We launched a campaign on the benefits of our products, both for individuals and communities," he says. The company's three-pronged effort included meeting with mayors around the U.S. to push for two-wheeled parking and lower parking fees for scooters and doing research to back up its claim that scooters get 70 mpg or more, cut CO2 emissions, and are as safe as cars.

Says Timoni, "The last step is getting the message out to the public." He says that, besides outdoor ads and free-scooter parking promotions in cities like New York, the company launched a consumer-content campaign where Vespa and Piaggio owners were encouraged to make video testimonials about how scooters were a boon to their lives and post them to Vespanomics.com.

The largest U.S. bike company, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, which sells more cruiser-type bikes than any other company by far, will run several events next summer that celebrate the 105th anniversary of the company, its owner's group and the use of Harleys by police departments.

One of the summer Harley events will be a concert featuring Aerosmith and Kid Rock at Miller Park, commemorating the 25th anniversary of H.O.G.(the Harley-Davidson Owners Group.) The Aug. 28 event includes comedians, a ride-in motorcycle show, stunt riders and motorcycle drill teams, exhibits and promotions.

Also on tap is a nationwide tour starting at 105 dealerships around the country and converging on Milwaukee in August, where the company will hold four days of parades and events for cops, owners arriving on bikes and others. Also next summer, the company opens the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee, a three-building affair will include bike displays, archives, a restaurant and a river esplanade.