Passes & Canyons Blog

Contrary to previous announcements, the PIMS will not be coming to Denver this year.

I had reported back in December that the Progressive International Motorcycle Show for Denver had been moved to June but, with that move, would happen. Here’s the update: No, it won’t.

The promoters sent around word last week that with the rate of Covid vaccination not as rapid as hoped, they don’t feel it will yet be safe in June to hold this year’s event. Here’s their statement.

We wanted you to be the first to know that we have updated the 2021 schedule for the all-new Progressive IMS Outdoors series. Unfortunately, we had to make the tough decision to cancel the Denver event that was slated to kick off the tour in June. Considering the timing and vaccination progress across the country, we felt that it would be too soon to hold the event. We hope to put Denver back on the schedule in 2022 and look forward to serving you and your community again.

Another one bites the dust.

Sooner or later we’re going to be getting back to normal. But when? I know my listing of upcoming motorcycle events in Colorado is just as brief at this moment as it was all last year. Right now there are only three events on the listing, and they’re all competitions, i.e., racing.

Biker Quote for Today

Your world can fall down around you but as long as you’re in the wind it won’t make any difference.

At the Progressive International Motorcycle Show.

One of the fun things about being a member of a community of like-minded souls is that you run into old friends and acquaintances when you go to events. That was definitely the case for me recently at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show.

At one point I was just walking through the crowd, looking around for anything interesting, when suddenly I was face to face with Alisa Clickenger. I’ve know Alisa now for about 10 years and I hadn’t expected to see her there but I probably should have. I met Alisa during the Adventure for the Cures event put on up at Keystone by Sue Slate and Gin Shear. Alisa was one of the riders. Since then Alisa has ridden solo to the tip of South America and most recently organized the Sisters Centennial Motorcycle Ride, which came through here in 2016.

Alisa is now promoting her latest project, the Suffragists Centennial Ride, another coast to coast event tied in to the passage of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote. Basically all of Alisa’s endeavors are aimed at empowering women by getting them on motorcycles and realizing their ability to take charge of their own lives.

So Alisa was there. Then I saw a tall, long-haired guy I recognized but took a while to place. It didn’t take me long, though, to realize it was Dan Ballard, who runs Bitchin’ Stitchin’. I don’t really know Dan–I’ve only met him once–but he was one of my very earliest advertisers here on the Passes & Canyons website. I didn’t say hello but it was like, oh yeah, I know him.

Next I ran into Mike Langello. Mike is a member of the RMMRC who I never quite met on a ride we took “together” a couple years ago. We were all headed out to Alabama to the Barber Motorsports Museum but Judy and I left separately from the group and then got snowbound in western Kansas for three days. We never did meet up with the group but I was in contact the whole time with Mike, who was leading the ride. I finally met him in person at an RMMRC meeting about a year later.

Finally, I was tired and wanted to sit so I chose a bench with space next to this other guy. We got to talking and of course asked what each other rode and when I said I have a 1999 Kawasaki Concours he replied that he had had two of them. He got the second after he “wadded up” the first. This guy, Phil, asked if I had been involved at all with the Concours Owners Group (COG) and I said I had just for one year, twice. Phil had been very active in that group and I realized he did look familiar and I must have meet him a time or two way back then.

Talking with Phil was fun. It was like we were part of a fraternity where we both knew the same things and could talk without needing to provide details or clarification. He said he had had two ’99 Connies and I asked, “The burgundy one?” He replied yes, but you know what some people call it, don’t you? Yes, the “Barney bike,” referencing Barney the purple dinosaur.

I told Phil the best thing I got out of COG membership was assistance at a Wrench & Retch where a couple guys helped me install some highway pegs I got from Murph after he came out with the design that allowed you to mount them without cutting holes in the body work. I’m betting there are at least three items in that statement that you don’t understand but Phil needed no explanation, he knew exactly what I was talking about.

The bottom line here is that it’s nice to go to these things and run into people you know. When I was working full time as a motorcycle journalist I used to go to lots of events and most of the time I was all by myself, didn’t know anyone, and I’ve never been really good at meeting people. I spent a lot of really solitary days in the thick of large crowds. That’s something I don’t miss.

Biker Quote for Today

Life is about finding out who you are while enjoying the journey to get there.

Yeah, you really need to get a bike that fits your size.

The Progressive International Motorcycle Show always features some cool custom bikes on display, just to have eye candy. Here are some of them.

With that expensive paint job you have to wonder if this bike gets ridden.

I hope you’ve got your sunglasses.

Notice that front wheel vs. the rear wheel.

Yeah, you’re definitely going to look over that windshield.

Now we’re going a bit minimalist.

OK, this one leaves me a bit cold but I guess some people would think it’s cool.

Last one. Sorry the image isn’t sharper.

What more is there to say? Here’s the quote of the day.

Motorcycle Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: You’ll have to come rescue us when we run out of gas on the other side of town.

Right this way to the motorcycle show.

The Progressive International Motorcycle Show (PIMS) came to Denver this past weekend and of course I went down. PIMS doesn’t generally come to Denver but I had been to the show some years ago in Greenville, South Carolina, so I was interested to see how it compared. Somehow it didn’t seem as big and there didn’t seem to be as many people as in Greenville.

No matter. There was still a lot of interest.

One thing I had not seen before that seems to have become widespread is the use of rollers to allow someone to actually ride a running motorcycle right there on the spot. The motor is running, the drive wheel is turning, you’re just not going anywhere. What I didn’t understand was where the exhaust was going because I didn’t see any hoses hooked up to the exhausts, only fans presumably to disperse the fumes.

Of course exhaust was not an issue for one growing segment of the motorcycle world: electric bikes. One fairly large area of the exhibition hall was set aside as a riding track that was part of the Discover the Ride program. This program aims to introduce new riders to the world of motorcycling. There were a bunch of Zero bikes to be ridden but there were also some Yamaha power-assisted bicycles, actual mo-peds.

Introducing new riders to electric motorcycles.

Then in the opposite corner of the hall was a much smaller track for kids on kid-sized electric bikes. Most of them seemed tentative but having fun, although there was one boy who truly knew his stuff. He was zipping past the others at full throttle, sliding his inside foot on the curves, clearly not doing this for the first time.

I was surprised to see that Moto Works Denver had a display. I did a blog post on Moto Works Denver in August of last year and their community garage program. I mean, this is a big deal show and there are plenty of small, independent shops around but they don’t have booths at PIMS. I talked to the guy, who was not King Browne, the guy I spoke with for the post in August, and he said PIMS had approached them because they wanted to promote the community garage concept. So, cool. I support the community garage concept, too.

Of course all the manufacturers had their large spaces, showcasing all their new bikes. Plus the folks selling helmets and other gear. Over in the Honda area I was particularly interested to see the new model CB1000. When Honda introduced this bike some years ago it was styled to evoke the old CBs and it didn’t look all that different from my own 1980 CB750 Custom. Well, the bike has apparently sold well enough but the styling has moved on. This latest CB1000 looks totally modern, no signs of retro. Still a nice bike, though.

I’ll be focusing on specific pieces of PIMS in my next few posts. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

He was a crazy biker in a motorcycle ridin’ daredevil show. — Nanci Griffith

Checking out the new Victory motorcycles in Greenville, SC, in 2011.

I got confused and made an assumption but then finally got it all straightened out. Denver’s long-running Motorcycle Show and Swap (now called the Colorado Motorcycle Expo) will be held as usual at the Stock Show grounds, on February 1 and 2. However, for the first time this year we will also have the Progressive International Motorcycle Show going on at the Colorado Convention Center on January 17-19. Golly, golly.

At ABATE meetings we had the usual “are we going to do a booth at the show and swap/expo this year” discussions. In the course of those discussions it was mentioned that the expo had new ownership. This is new, new ownership because there were new owners who took over just about five years ago.

So when I heard that we were going to be hosting the Progressive International Motorcycle Show–at the convention center, no less–I assumed the ownership change meant the expo had been subsumed into this big deal event. But then I started seeing promos for the expo. Huh? I did some searching and found out we’re getting both. Oh my gosh.

I have to tell you, I’m a lot more interested in the Progressive show than I am in the expo. For one thing, the expo is held at the Stock Show grounds and that is highly inconvenient. It’s an out-of-the-way place and about the only way to get there is to drive/ride. And then you have to pay to park. Getting to the convention center, for me at least, will mean getting on the light rail.

But more than that, the Progressive show has a lot more to offer. Back when I was writing for Examiner.com I made a special trip to Greenville, South Carolina, to attend a Progressive show. (It didn’t hurt that my parents lived in South Carolina, near Greenville, so I visited them and stayed at their place.)

The show was impressive. They had new bikes from all the manufacturers, gear from all the gear companies, a lot of demos and special events, and all in all was a very good event. And I’ve wondered for years why they didn’t have one of these here, but figured that they figured it was hard to compete when there is already an established event (the expo). Well, anyone who has been paying attention knows the expo has been having its troubles the last few years so perhaps Progressive decided it had an opening.

I guess I’ll be going to both. I’ll probably spend some time working the ABATE booth at the expo and I’ll definitely go downtown for the Progressive show. So much more convenient than flying to South Carolina!

Biker Quote for Today

It must have been that wild-eyed, silver-tongued schemer
A girl like Jody don’t think for herself.
Him and that Harley and his damn Jalapeno
Smokin’ that stuff’ll make you hurt yourself. — Bonnie Raitt