™
R
OU
NOW IN
2 Y 5 EA t R h
T H E # 1 B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E A M E R I C A N V- T W I N A N D C U S T O M M O T O R C Y C L E PA R T S I N D U S T RY
Harley and Indian to exhibit
at AIMExpo, Columbus,
Ohio in September
n what may prove to be an
“industry critical mass”
development for AIMExpo
Presented by Nationwide,
following its move (for 2017) to
the Midwest from Orlando,
Florida, both Indian Motorcycle
(and the Slingshot reverse-trike)
and Harley-Davidson are to
exhibit as the 5th annual show
heads towards being a sell-out in
exhibitor terms.
“At this time, some 75 percent of the
available floorspace is contracted,”
Senior Vice President, MIC Events,
organizers of AIMExpo Mike Webster
told AMD Magazine when we spoke
with him in May. “Some 41% of
powersports dealers and 50% of the US
population reside within 500 miles of
AIMExpo Presented by Nationwide’s
new location in the city of Columbus.
This central location and ease of access
offers all attendees the opportunity to
engage with the greater powersports
industry like never before.”
From a manufacturer’s point of view the
timing is perfect as it offers an
opportunity for new model year
I
launches to be shown to a consumer
audience soon after the ranges have
been introduced to dealers.
AIMExpo is trade only for its first two
days, September 21/22, followed by
two public/consumer days at the
weekend, September 23/24; a schedule
that provides the North American
powersports industry with a similar
expo formula to the one that has been
commonplace at world leading
motorcycle industry shows such as
INTERMOT (Cologne, Germany) and
EICMA (Milan, Italy).
Polaris already announced its intention
for its Indian and Slingshot Motorcycle
Division to participate in May, with their
Motorcycle Division President Steve
Menneto commenting that “AIMExpo
provides both Indian and Slingshot with
the ideal platform to reach and engage
with the North American market and to
showcase each brand’s new model year
line-ups.”
He went on to say that “additionally,
the city of Columbus is strategically
situated within the sweet spot of our
consumer base, as well as our dealer
network, making it an ideal location to
showcase our products to key
constituencies.”
However, no formal announcement had
yet been made by either AIMExpo or
Harley-Davidson themselves about
formal “Motor Factory” corporate
participation as this edition of AMD
went to press, but their plan to do so
had been published on the show
floorplan on the event’s website -
Columbus based longest continually
operated American Harley-Davidson
dealership AD Farrow (these days a
three store Greater Columbus area
Group) had already signalled its
intention to support AIMExpo almost as
soon as the move to their home city had
Continues on page 8 >>>
Sjors and Rolf van Der Heide's revolutionary Aprilia V4 engined
superbike; in AMD World Championship terms it doesn't come
much more 'Freestyle' than this - pages 32 - 34
RMOT
TE
JUNE 2017
ISSUE #215
FREE
WITH
THIS
ISSUE
WORLD’S FASTEST
MOTORCYCLE
BOUND FOR BOLIVIA
INDUSTRY EXTRA