Day Trip to Cleveland IMS Show

Day Trip To Cleveland IMS Show

On Friday January 31st some friends and I made our yearly trek up to Cleveland, Ohio to checkout the annual Progressive International Motorcycle Show show at the I-X Center there. Compared to previous years and recent patterns here in the ’Rust Belt’, the weather was pretty decent for the trip. Meaning we had temperatures above freezing and it wasn’t snowing or sleeting. The only problem we encountered was staying to long inside Harley-Davidson Biketown in Austintown

before heading next door to the Quaker Steak and Lube for lunch. We arrived just after they finished up the Lunch Buffet which we had been looking forward to. Instead we had to settle (?) for a delicious burger. The Lubes may known for their wings but their burgers are awesome too.

We arrived at the I-X Center just after the doors opened at 4 PM. We like to get their early on the opening day so we can avoid the big crowds, but it looked like this year we weren’t the only ones thinking that way. After meeting up with my old friend Jeff Najar of Biker Pros, we went into the main show area and I headed straight to the J&P Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show. There’s always some awesome machines entered into the UBCBS events and this was the case again this year.

After perusing the custom bikes I roamed around between the Indian, Harley and Victory displays. In each area I took the time to sit on and check out how the touring

models of each brand felt. Not that I’m in the market for a new bike, but the real reason was because I’m still recovering from a bout of pneumonia and needed to take a few rest breaks. What better place to take a break than on the seat of a brand new motorcycle, right? Especially after the weather we’ve had here in the Great Lakes region. A side bar to that is that I got to meet some really nice people that were manning the displays.

All too soon we were heading back towards our homes in Pennsylvania, after a brief stop at the King’s Restaurant in New Castle, PA for a slice of blackberry pie of course. Everyone had had a good time looking at all the new bikes and motorcycle products, I got to see my friend Jeff Najar again and my friend Roger finally broke down and bought a new helmet, a real helmet, not one of those plastic reproduction he had been wearing. It was a good day.

If you’d like to checkout a Progressive International Motorcycle Show you still have a couple chances left for this season. The next show is February 7 – 9th in Chicago, Illinois and then it’s on to Seattle, Washington on February 14 – 16th. BTW look for a future post coming soon from Jeff Najar with the results and lots of images from the Cleveland UBCBS show.

Post and images: Sam Kanish