London Day Six

The London Motorcycle Show is on, so we head there first. It’s in the Excel exhibition centre which is way out east past Canary Wharf. It takes a good 2 hours to get there by underground and DLR. The DLR is a total contrast to the underground, as it's confusing and unintuitive. How did London get that one so wrong after decades of experience with the successful tubes?

The Excel centre is huge, and housing multiple exhibitions simultaneously. The motorcycle show is certainly big, although disappointingly the bike displays make up perhaps 10% of the show. The rest is selling gear; helmets, leathers, etc. If I wanted gear, this certainly was the place to be. The selection was so huge it’s hard to describe, and most vendors had show specials on. Alas, I wasn’t in the market.


We got around the bike stands and I tried all the bikes that tickle my fancy, mostly sport tourers. Surprisingly, Harley Davidson weren’t there at all although I wasn't upset. Victory were there, although I didn’t linger long :-) There were quite a few bikes on the BMW and Honda stands that I wouldn’t mind finding under the Christmas tree.

Mr Honda still doesn’t have a Blackbird replacement for me. I think BMW have the best selection for me at present. Probably the K1300S is my favourite, as it’s really the closest in overall design and comfort to my Blackbird but with shaft drive and ABS.


We got to see BMW’s new S1000RR superbike, they had the unpainted carbon fibre prototype on display.


Although Honda doesn't have a bike for me this year, Helen seemed quite comfortable on this scooter. I'll be in BIG trouble for posting this picture.


There was also a collection of historical bikes, including Freddie Spencer’s Honda. Great to see in the flesh after all these years, and certainly it’s still an amazing bike.


The MCN Babes were strutting their stuff, which created quite a gathering of lads. I have to share them with you, right? Here you are then.


After the bike show, we head back into London, where the remainder of the day was burned up visiting the London Eye (which we decided not to go on as the queues were too long) looking for show tickets, and visiting a fabric shop Helen’s Mum asked us to check out.

By evening, we had found tickets to see The Sound of Music at the London Palladium. I had never seen the movie or play before, although Helen had, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not to take anything away from the adult cast, but the younger children did really well on stage. Once that was over, it was time to head back to the hotel.