For the weekend of Feb 12-14, Spokane, Washington held its seventh annual Inland Northwest Motorcycle show.
The Globe of Thunder was a hit with visitors.
For some of us there was a little fear of what the show might bring since 2009 was such a hard year for motorcycle dealerships in the Spokane area. Due to the hard economic times we lost a lot of local dealers and shops last year, such as Spokane Yamaha, Shumate Harley-Davidson, D & B Suzuki and a few others. Even with fewer local businesses, the 2010 show floor filled out nicely from the remaining dealers and shops.
There were some amazing looking bikes on display. Harley-Davidson and Victory both had huge showcases as well as Triumph, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki. The glimmer of polished chrome was almost blinding at times. And there were a handful of custom creations that were a huge draw for the spectators.
One of the highlights of the show was the Globe of Thunder, where a couple teens did some death defying stunts. All dressed in motocross gear, the two boys rolled their bikes inside the 12x12-foot steel globe and rode circles around each other. At one point I even watched them having a thumb war while riding circles in the cage. They put on a good show and the crowd loved them.
Sound Rider hosted a couple seminars each day, and it looked like they had some good attendance. NW Classic Antique Motorcycles had a nice spread with a couple dozen cool-looking classics. It was a popular place to stop and enjoy the views of some motorcycle history.
Local radio station KKZX held a Bike Off and gave out some great prizes to some deserving custom bike owners who had entered the competition.
I was working our booth for
Spokane MotorSchool and had some of the most amazing opportunities to talk with folks about rider education and safety. We were able to sign up new, existing and returning riders for classes to either get endorsed or just freshen up their street skills with one of our multiple level skill offerings.
I have not seen the official numbers for attendance, but if the first night’s 45-minute wait in line just to get a ticket is any indication I think we had a good turnout. Saturday was the best when it came to weather for the show and bikes turned out in force to line the streets in front of the Spokane Convention Center.
It was a great time - three days of bikes and gear - what could be better, right?
