New bikes galore as more than 100,000 fans flock to Motorcycle Live at the NEC

When Royal Enfield CEO Siddhartha Lal said we’d be surprised by the new Interceptor INT and Continental GT 650 parallel twins that are due to go on sale this year he wasn’t kidding – and they drew the fans like a magnet at the nine-day Motorcycle Live extravaganza at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre in November.

In one of the bustling display halls, Yamaha celebrated the 20th anniversary of the R1 YZF.

Other stands that gob-smacked the audience included those showing off brand new Brough Superiors, Triumphs and Nortons – in fact more than 40 leading motorcycle manufacturers unveiled their 2018 models, and special features included a Yamaha R1 YZF 20th anniversary display, a full restoration of Kevin Schwantz’s Suzuki RGV500 and a celebration of 25 years of the Honda Fireblade.

In the spirit of Munro, this sleek streamliner graced the Indian stand.

The Indian Motorcycles stand had live music and a brilliant ‘Spirit of Munro’ streamliner, Kawasaki’s Team Green hosted daily appearances of racing stars on stage and KTM displayed a brilliant range of racing machinery in its ‘Ready to Race’ showcase.

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Triumph, Carole Nash and the nearby National Motorcycle Museum added to the atmosphere with regular start-ups of Moto2, MotoGP and classic racing motorcycles.

Read more in January’s issue of OBM – on sale now!


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