mc expo...

went to the northeast motorcycle expo this weekend... overall, the expo was okay... from a show perspective, they had a lot of variety in vendors - harley, ducati, honda, victory, suzuki, and some customs. they also had the usual merchandise vendors - leathers, parts, trailers, shirts, etc. sometimes it just seemed so chaotic there. but what really made it fun was my brother and in-laws decided to go with us.

i have to admit, the main draw of the expo, for me, was russell mitchell of exile cycles. i've always been a fan of his building style. so, when i have the chance to meet and talk to him, i try not to pass up the chance. of course i probably end up sounding like babbling idiot...

while i was talking to russell, he mentioned that he's heading down to daytona bike week to build another bike in a week. he said they're going to be taping the build for a show on tlc. wish i could remember the name of the show - it's supposed to air in april. anyway, he's building the bike for john mellencamp. after the build, john and russell are supposed to head off on a ride to the keys. damn - this makes me want to head to bike week even more... not to be this year, though. or for several years most likely...

one of my favorite bikes of russell's is the rx-streetfighter. if i had the cash - which i never will - this is one bike i would love to have...






one of the ducati dealers had the new 1098 at the show. pretty cool looking bike. was nice to actually see one after reading all the raving reviews.



what i can't figure out is what's leaking of of this bike....



saw a couple other "rides" that look like they might be fun to own...




not really much else to report from the show...

bike show...

well, didn't do any riding this weekend but i did manage to attend the mid-atlantic cycle show at dulles expo center. mainly went to see russell mitchell from exile cycles. we got there early since we had other things to do during the day. it wasn't crowded, but i don't know if it would have gotten packed.

so we get there, wait a couple minutes for the doors to open, get in and head straight for the exile booth. i was planning on wandering around and "stumbling" on the booth, but my wife had another mission - find russell. what the heck, i'm not a hard one to convince... we deciced to start at one end of the building, scanning the aisles until we find him. as we're walking, our son, who loves motorcycles, wants to sit of every bike he sees and doesn't quite understand why he can't... so we're pulling him along heading to the end of the building to start our search...

as luck would have it, exile was in the first row... now the only problem with getting there early is that sometimes the builders aren't there yet - i'm figuring they like to party and stay out late... so we look at the bikes, loiter around and finally ask when russell might get there. they tell us he's on his way in. of course, as we're looking around, our son is desperately trying to climb on the bikes and we're doing what we can to keep him off. finally, one of the ladies working with exile says he can get on a bike. as he's climbing on russell's pure sex bike, a guy working for exile comes over and says he's got a better bike to put him on. he walks him over and helps him get on the trike. he was so thrilled to be on the trike.


well, before we knew it, russell showed up. he was busy getting some music cranked up. i missed the opportunity to see what was on his playlist, but it started with abba's dancing queen. not quite what i would have expected and it made me curious as to what else was on the playlist.

my wife wanted to get a couple exile shirts. i had to hit an atm to get some cash, which took a little longer than expected and was an adventure in itself - which will be the story of another post. anyway, while i was gone, i left her to talk to russell, which might have been a mistake since she thinks he's so hot. no need to worry though, when i (finally) got back, i found she hadn't even talked to him... anyway, we finally purchase some shirts, talk to russell, get some pictures and autographs.

(me doing my best russell impersonation)

here's our son trying to pick some money up. apparently russell thought it would be funny to glue some money to the ground and watch people pick it up. our son couldn't figure out why he couldn't get the money off the floor. russell was chuckling at him. he did manage to pry a penny up, which made him happy he didn't leave empty-handed...


after visiting exile, we checked out the rest of the show. stopped by d.c. cruisers to buy a raffle ticket for a mini bike. it would be really cool to win the mini bike - especially since they're only selling 100 tickets. but i'm not holding my breath... so we walked around the rest of the show. overall it was mediocre. it was smaller than i expected. not as many builders, but more vendors. not crowded, which was nice. after about two hours, we saw all that we were going to see, so we headed out...

here are a couple other pictures from the show...

oh yeah, russell marlowe...

in an earlier post i mentioned that i would tell you about my experience meeting russell marlowe...

it started as i was looking at some of the bikes russell had on display at the rally in raleigh. as i'm looking at one of the bikes i hear someone say, "if you knew what i knew, you wouldn't be wearing that shirt." the comment caught my attention, so i look around to see who was talking. it was russell marlowe... and he was talking to me as i was the only one standing around. (if you read my earlier post, you will remember i was wearing my exile cycles shirt.) so i asked him what he meant by that - and he just repeated his comment. after making his comment, it was like i had to pry information out of him. he was being cryptic but his basic message was russell mitchell was not a very nice person. i told him i met russell mitchell at myrtle beach this summer and he seemed like a very nice guy - not that i thought i would convince russell marlowe. he said that a lot of the bike builders don't like russell mitchell - when they're all at an event, most of the bikers go out to eat together and russell mitchell is eating by himself.

so i turn the conversation to bike building, asking more about his bike without the down tube. as we talk, he tells me that he's turned down all these bike building shows; biker build-off, build-or-bust, etc. he said they were too commercialized for him. then he starts getting cryptic again and tells me about a tv show he's done that will be airing soon. he did this one because it's more educational. i asked him what he meant by more educational - more about actual bike building, the mechanics of a motorcycle, the history of motorcycles. he wouldn't elaborate. so again i was left feeling like a dentist, trying to pry information from him. after a couple more minutes of chit-chat, i moved on...

i guess i have mixed impressions of russell marlowe. he does some good bike building - several of his bikes have won competitions, including his latest without the down tube. while these new choppers aren't necessarily my style of bike, i can appreciate the creativity and effort that goes into building one of these bikes. props to anyone who can build a motorcycle - i hope to one day... i'm impressed by russell's ability to build a motorcycle. but as a person, i'm not so sure. i walked away wondering if his feelings have been hurt because he hasn't been on one of these national bike building shows and therefore isn't as well known... i don't know... and i guess it doesn't really matter to me...

contrary to what russell marlowe tried to tell me, when (or should it be if??) i finally get ready to build my own bike, i'll probably end up with one from russell mitchell/exile cycles. i like russell mitchell's style in bike building and for the brief time i talked to him, i like him...