Baltimore, Sunday Feb 3, 2002
'Why must they hold these shows in the middle of winter?', I ask myself, as I get ready to depart for one of the greatest motorcycle shows on the East Coast: "The Baltimore Bike Show" as we call it.  At my home in Fairmont WVt, it was cold, damn cold, the coldest weekend so far this year, yet we had record breaking temperatures earlier that week, so go figure.  Anyway it was either ride, or not go at all, so thank goodness for my heated vest and heated handgrips.

As soon as I crossed into Maryland, bam!, I was pulled over by an unmarked police car.  He said it was a pretty cold morning to be riding (no kidding), was pretty impressed with my bike (naturally) and sent me on my way with a warning (whew!)
How cold it really was that morning became evident as I later stopped for gas.  I started to shiver as I thawed out, and it was 20 minutes later before I was good to go.  Somehow I wasn't getting my heated vest to work, and my legs - I really needed to put my windbreakers on.   No point at this stage as I had already decended from the mountains; from here on in it would be warmer going into Baltimore.

Getting into Baltimore was smooth sailing.  From I-70, I caught US 40, which seems to be lined with endless row houses (same place that Bob was, on his R1100RS I think).  That lead me to downown in great time, all on the Tiger.  As I looked for parking, there was none to be found for a car of course, but I could squeeze my bike between a truck and the no parking sign.  See, I knew it was advantageous to ride after all.  Unfortunately they didn't give me a discount on the show ticket for riding, but at least I didn't have to pay for parking!

Naturally I had to see what Triumph had to offer.  The 2002 Tiger is the same as the 2001 (as far as I could tell).  But what is new for 2002, is a cruiser.  An obvious HD style, this is one bike the market does not need (BMW has the distinctive 1200C and the Japanese makers have already captured what I think remains in that market).  Personally I'd rather see them bring back the Thunderbird - IMHO a much better looking bike.
 

Triumph

The 2002 line-up on the floor-
The familiar Tiger, unchanged for 2002.
Here I am, trying out a 
Speed Triple.  Remember MI:2?
The classic Triumphs - 
a popular bike to chop.
Bob's BMW - the dealer in Maryland
Bob has a number of vintage BMW's, enough to fill a museum, to make anyone jealous.  The R90S, only made for couple of years (around 1976), is one of the most beautiful bikes BMW ever made.  Just look at that color!  Now check out this 1928 750 recently brought back from Germany in the crate - Bob wants to keep it that way, but believe it or not, it still runs.  And I thought 750's first came out with the /5 model.  Finally, we get a look at a rare East-German made BMW (the plant was located in the Eastern Zone after the war for a number of years).
R90S - yes it was for sale.
A rare 1928 750cc BMW found
recently in Germany by Bob.
A rare East-German made 1951
BMW.   At that time, BMW's
were made in East Germany.
Other British Bikes
A couple of Nortons.  The top one is a '39 Vintage Racer, the bottom one, that classic Commando.  Ask Hank Pfister - a Norton is far superior to a BMW - at least he wrote a song to that effect, and he sings it every time at a BMW rally. The rare Ariel Square Four.  One supervisor I worked with had one of these.

I just realized I forgot to take a picture of Marc Jurus' Motostrada, aka Baltimore Vespa.  Darn!  (I bought my /5 from Alex, under the Baltimore Vespa tent at Carlisle, PA).
 


Incredibly this mollusc and his driver's license are still in one piece!		 The latest from Wisconsin  - squid stunts, all captured  video for you to see.  Everything from standing up on the bikes (ever wonder why the gas tanks are hammered flat?!), to mega - wheelies, to mega - stoppies, to making the bikes do circles and of course laying them down.
 
You could be an expert at building these and never have ridden one! 		 Whoa!  Someone turn down the lights!  There is no shortage of glitz at this show!  Some of these bikes are never meant to be ridden, and if you look at the pipes and odometers - they haven't! 

Heading home....

I didn't want to say too long, since it would be a cold ride back.  Fortunately I figured out the on-off switch on my heated vest, so I was nice and warm enough to make it over the mountains.  Another victory ride for the Tiger.

Copyright 2002, Tigerdude.com
Page created Feb 9, 2002