Has anybody been to the show during the last couple of days? Am i getting old, cynical and miserable or would one agree that it's had it's day. It's overpriced when you factor in parking at £15! I fancied new lid, boots and gloves. Bear in mind on day one of the show the few decent clothing exhibitors there had very little choice therefore I couldn't get my size and or colour in the brands and style i wanted. Came away with some Proskins base layers - top & bottom. Also some Oberon foot pegs for my 899. I felt the show was under represented in terms of bike manufacturers, that said I guess this is indicative of lots of exhibitions nowadays, manufactures would claim they haven't the margins available to allow them to invest in exhibitions like they once used to. Even the Honda stand was scaled down somewhat from previous years. The Ducat stand was good, had a nice 1199 and 899 in race paint/prep for the TO Challenge Cup. When I lived in Cheshire I always visited the NEC show which was good in many respects, did anybody visit it this year as well as Excel? I'd be interested in comparisons, maybe I went to the wrong venue! Anyway rant over- NEC next year.
of course it depends on your expectations but I felt the same after going last year - sorry to hear it hasn't improved.
Check the labels in your pro skins. Last year I bought some at the MCN bike show and they were ladies leggings from Next with a pro skins iron on transfer
Really!! I'll check, however, they were purchased from the Proskins stand. Did you re- purchase any genuine versions, are they any good? I'm still using a set I purchased from Aldi, 3 years ago, they're not bad actually- super cheap.
I bought them from the genuine pro-skins stand. I decided not to waste any more money and bought some genuine Skins instead. I bought them for muscle compression rather than warmth and the ladies leggings weren't tight enough.
Well the NEC was good in 2013 and there were some good deals to be had if you asked about a bit. Nearly all the manufacturers were there to showcase horribly designed bikes and Ducati had a nice big stand with top totty to put them all to shame.
Are they any good ? Yes I think so like you purchased from Proskins stand. Previous Proskins still using and they must be 8 years old and thats doing 10K miles/year. Did check internerd before going to show to check price and did think some of the retailers on ebay are dubious! Show OK but will not go next year do not think its worth the money.
Went there on Friday, Don't like it when they put the big show jump display in the middle of the venue to take up space because there is not enough stands there when it used to be in a separate hall, I don't go to a bike show to buy boxer shorts or special cloths that are good for soaking up water when you defrost your fridge freezer what the crap is all that about. Best London show was the Ally pally many moons ago with lots of stalls good verity of bike stands and a lot of eating areas with somewhere to sit.
Went to both Excel and NEC last year. Excel was disappointing, for the reasons previous posters have given (not many manufacturers, little decent stuff on sale, small so in and out rather faster than I'd hoped given the entry fee) - didn't go this year as a result. NEC 2013 was very good - much better than I remembered from a previous visit.
Went to Excel yesterday and it was a lot smaller than the NEC with less manufacturers and a pretty poor selection of clothing/specialist stands. The NEC wins no question. Thankfully it was a great catch up with some mates and had a curry and a few beers afterwards so a good day out.
I went on Friday and if you take it at face value,it is a good day out. I thought it was better than the NEC, at least Ducati made a bit more effort and got a few more bikes on the stand.yes there were few brands missing, but overall there was enough to fill most of the day. If you want more go to the Milan show or the German one, but then you are into flights and hotels and it all gets quite expensive.
I haven't been to a bike show in years.I cant see the point of paying to go into a showroom.Plus Im a miserable git.
no suzuki stand i wanted to look at the v strom !! ..i knew about the parking charge from few years back i found a free parking space just over the footbridge last couple of years ....but 10 quid for burger and chips piss taking barsterds !! and they are crap !! few savings on the helmet i wanted but not in the colour i wanted ..not enough clunge about !
I went to the NEC in November and the Excel yesterday. As has already been said, it was a good day out but very disappointing in terms of what was there. I wasn't going to say this until today anyway as you don't want to piss on the people who are yet to go. I agree the 'Revolution Show' in the middle of the main arena was pants. Previously it has been in another arena and ok you might have paid an extra fiver to see it but it was a good show. The latest version was like an all male punch n judy show. There was nothing there that really wow'd me and not even a main stage like previous years and I did not see any clunge either ;(
