The Advanstar 2003 /2004
Cycle World International Motorcycle Show

Long Beach, CA, Dec 12-14th, 2003: The Advanstar produced Long Beach Motorcycle Show is round two of the Cycle World International Motorcycles Shows which take place annuallyin a tour across Americato major cities over the winter months. The Long Beach Cycle Show ranks with our own FastDates.com sponsored Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show as one of the two largest consumer shows the largest on the West Coast. Held at the Long Beach Convention Center, it is central to a large motorcycle community and many of the industry magazines. Ducati felt this would be the perfect opportunity for two major show events: the first U.S. unveiling of the Sport Classic motorcycles, and the first public appearance of Eric Bostrom as a Ducati AMA Superbike rider.

Ducati chief designer Pierre Terblanche unveils his new Sport Classics, the Paul Smart 1000 (upper left), the GT1000 (upper right and bottom left0, and the Sport 1000 (lower right) all powered by the new DS1000 2-valve air cooled Desmo engine. Ducati has now announced all 3 models will go into production. Click pictures for bigger views.

Prior to the show’s public opening on Friday, members of the press were on hand to witness the unveiling of the SportClassics. These vintage inspired motorcycles combine classic Ducati style with modern performance and reliability. Michael Lock, CEO of Ducati North America, gave a brief introduction to Pierre Terblanche who designed the SportClassics. Terblanche simply described his creations as “Great looking bikes that go like hell.” Although these bikes are only prototypes, Ducati is using both the Los Angeles and New York motorcycle shows to gather feedback and opinions from the U.S. market. The public is also invited to take part in the market study available at www.ducati.com/sportclassic/.

Eric Bostrom highlighted Saturday’s show as fans anxiously anticipated his arrival. Direct from his vacation in Italy, Bostrom greeted fans and signed autographs at the Ducati display. Bostrom is racing a factory-supported 999R with Ducati Austin in the 2004 AMA Superbike series. Fans were happy to see him for the first time on a red Ducati 999R. A consistent line kept Eric and the Ducati display busy through the afternoon and he returned Sunday morning to continue autographing.

	See more of theGuzzi 1000 at MotoGuzzi-USA.com

Top Right: Yamaha had their newly revised 2004 R6 on a rotating pedestal within spinninh metal hoops. Our favorite bike of the Show was the new Moto Guzzi 1000 Superbike. It may never win a race, but it sure was beautiful in its red bodywork, Ohlins works suspension, Brembo brakes, and a hand fabricated aluminum swingarm.

All the Japanese manufactueres had their new 2004 model 1000cc Superbikes on display. You could bounce on the Kawasaki, yamaha and Suzuki, but Honda only had one lone example their new 2004 CBR1000RR Fireblade in a roped off display in their exhibit. Aprilia unveiled their new limited edition RSV1000 Nera Superbike in a questionable promotional giveaway presentation to "Friends" TV star Matt LeBlanc on Saturday. Complete details of all the new 2004 Superbike models are in the Pit Lane News New Bike Index.

West Coast Choppers does a Honda V-Twin Sportbike The most intersting bike in American Honda's exhibit was this unique Honda V-Twin custom sportbike built by Jesse James of West Coast Choppers fame. It looked pretty interesting until you got to the rear suspension and noticed the shaft drive monoshock swingarm was held up by an unpressurized rubber air spring blader and damped by an afterthougt Ohlins steering damper. Then it looked pretty ridiculous, particularly for the $120,000 Honda reportedly paid Jesse James to build the bike

A rubber dougnut spring damped by an Ohlins steering damper look rediculous. Click to enlarge.

Other than Ducati's Eric Bostrom, no other factory racers were in attendance at the Long Beach Show. American Suzuki did have an example of Matt Mladin's 2003 National Championship winning GSXR1000 in their display, but the bike was missing its rear shock. Honda had Miguel Duhamel's RC51 Superbike.

MV Agusta had a nice simple display featureing their new Brutal 750cc naked bikes, and their current 750cc Superbikes. The new MV Agusta 1000cc Superbike is still about 6 months away from production, forcing us to miss our entry in the 2004 World Superbike Championship.

The next International Motorcycle Show will be in Denver on December 19th through 21st. The SportClassics can next be seen at the New York show on January 2nd through 4th. 

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