You are 100% correct, i went on Monday and got told exactly that, plus to make things worse got soaked going there and when i went to leave got questioned for 20 minutes why my bike hadn’t got a wristband by two guys who claimed they gave them to everyone parking, obviously clearly on a fag break when i got there then. Underwhelmed by the whole day tbh
Just found this, which is probably the main reason any of us lot would bother going this year. No need to now, so order a cheap burger and stick your feet up!
Went last Sunday with a mate, and yes the new Triumph 1200RR was there and looks pretty nice TBH, reminded me a lot of the new MV 800 Superveloce, cant really see the justification for it being 3K more expensive than the Speed triple 1200RS tho...guy on the stand said it was cos of the new fancy Electronic suspension on it!. Disappointed not to see a V4 Pani on the Ducati stand and as has been said no MV, Aprilia, Guzzi or Yamaha presence but quite a lot of Chinese and electric stuff that looked pretty dire - 'Maeving' anyone?...one of my highlights was getting up close to Slippery Sam on the classic stand, if i had the money and space i would have one!...quite taken by the fantic caballero Explorer 500 too it really looks the part, oh and the new Norton V4 bikes look pretty special too, shame nothing will come of it though there's always hope i guess....on the whole enjoyed the three hours we were there, one major gripe tho was the total lack of mask wearing and 'joke' covid awareness, i could probably count the wearers on all my digits, you have to wear one in a supermarket so why not in a pretty busy location like the NEC?
I went to the EICMA in Milan again this year. (for the 11th time) A great show, huge respect for the covid rules. Everyone had masks, sanitiser on every stand. NHS covid pass to get in. I knew before I went that Ducati, BMW and KTM wouldn't be there, but the show was none the worse for it. It still took all day to get around the stands inside, plus there was lots to see outside. £52 return for the flights. £57 for covid tests. I reckon it cost £300 all in. Maybe over indulged on food and wine I went to the NEC in 2019 and it was ok but done in 3 hours.
The London Show at the Excel is due on 11-12-13 February 2022. Plan to meet up on the Ducati stand at 12 noon on Saturday 12 Feb. Don't know if it will be any better than the Birmingham show, but worth a shot if you live in London/SE England.
Not sure if it's changed (it was 2012 the last time I went), if you were a business owner and could provide some basic info you could get in for free also, I had to queue a little while to validate things but saved a few quid.
Well you would hope Ducati would have the 2022 Pani V4 on the stand and the newly announced DesertX if nothing else.
If you think it's "a bitsa" you clearly haven't actually seen one, or you don't appreciate engineering when you see it...
Had an email back from NEC "feedback team" claiming that they are enforcing Covid checks at the entrance. NO, they are not... "Nothing to see here, move along..." - Boris levels of denial...
Went in 2020, it was alright, again a lot of trade stands and mate picked up a good deal on a new lid but got the impression the manufacturers just don’t bother with a big exhibition effort in the uk anymore.
No, didn't bother me at all. In fact now that the wearing of face masks is compulsory I'm glad I went on Wed.
Mask wearing was not compulsory - or not on the day we attended at least. IF the Covid checks had been carried out correctly at the entrance there would have been no requirement for masks within the halls as everyone should have been checked before entering.
How were they not carried out correctly on your visit? I went on the Thursday and you had to show your Covid pass and then received a wristband when you did so. Not sure what else they could’ve done really?
When I presented my covid pass at the bike show entrance the guy hardly looked at it and was just handing out the red wristbands as quickly as he could. I was expecting it to be scanned and checked to make sure it was genuine. As someone commented earlier it was a joke.
They did not check a single thing on Monday morning. They did not, in any way, check the Covid passes of anyone that I know. One of the people I know who went later in the week mocked up a fake Covid pass on his phone (he had his real one too) that showed his date of birth as 30th February and had a fake QR code on it - he was just rushed straight through, exactly the same as we were... The NEC staff CATEGORICALLY did NOT carry out any Covid checks when we visited...
Went to a gig back in October and in the queue outside they came along the line asking everyone to make sure they had their covid pass and the brightness turned up to max on our phones to limit difficulty scanning them, then when we got to the door they just took a cursory glance at my phone and waved us through, I could have had a picture the mrs tits on there and they wouldn’t have noticed
I went on Friday. Didn’t think much to it myself. The Ducati stand was quite sparse. Non mask wearing didn’t bother me.
