Background: A few months ago, my brother-in-law (and lifelong friend) Alex mentioned his company, All Balls Racing, was sending him to EICMA in Milan, the largest motorcycle trade show in the world. I gushed in envy, in response to which he asked me to join him. I can still recall distinctly his exclamation, “It would be totally crazy to rent bikes in the middle of November, right…?”
“Yes-“ I logically replied, as riding around in a foreign country in the middle of the winter just sounded dumb, not to mention incredibly uncomfortable. But I made inquiries to friends, which turned into correspondence with companies, and as September turned to October, and October into November, the temperatures in Northern Italy were hovering in the high 60’s / low 70’s, perfect for motorcycle riding.
Most of our routes...
I had reached out to HP Motorad, and MotoTouring.com, but I received a rather lackluster response from both outfits, with unenthusiastic email responses coming around 48 hours after my inquiries.
Originally we had wanted Italian bikes, ideally Ducati Scramblers, but as the forecast for the week after EICMA loomed in the mid 40’s we decided heated grips would be necessary.
Milano's famous Duomo
I was worried we had left our reservations too late, but the last day of EICMA I managed to get in contact with Claudio of CIMT.IT, who had two brand new 2015 BMWs for us, an F800GT and a F800GS, and the heated grips would prove to be the saving grace of the trip. Our costs were about $230 for three-ish days, and $0.20 / per km after that. Including insurance, we paid about $400 each for one of the most incredible experiences of our lifetimes.
Or at least that's what the vendors at EICMA tend to believe, as every major manufacturer hired models to showcase and pose on each of their bikes
The new Suzuki’s 2015 return to MotoGP racing, GSX-R1000.
This girl looked pretty happy on a cafe racer-ed BMW K Bike (I think).
Love it or hate it, the MV Agusta Dragster is definitely unique.
I don't think I've seen girls this pretty riding cruisers in real life, but Victory owners can dream...
The new 2016 Multistrada 1200 Enduro
New Ducati XDiavel. Note how far the footpegs are forward.
This Ducati DesmosediciRR MotoGP bike actually belongs to Andrea Dovizioso.
There are a ton of these small displacement Chinese makes which I've never heard of before, like this Sanyang "Wolf."
A sporty BMW S1000RR.
This Moto Guzzi MGX21 is based on the Audace and El Dorado,
but it's only a concept bike so far as I know.
I think Kawasaki's bikes were handled by their Monster Energy Girls, like this one on a 300ph H2R.
Yamaha R1M, along with David Checa's GMT 94 (Yamaha R1)
Dani Pedrosa's 2015 Repsol Honda MotoGP bike (number 26). Interestingly, Marc Marquez's bike was stripped of it's number and decals, and sat abandoned in a corner, whereas this motorcycle was the main attraction of the Honda booth.
Yeah, I'm pretty bored by Hondas as well...
MV Agusta had one of the best booth's, and we'd find out later in our trip that this Veloce is actually used as a police bike!
SWM (Speedy Working Motors) is a small Italian brand, manufacturing street and off-road bikes.
The Benelli girls were right across the way from Alex's All Balls botth.
Ducati's new entry-level racebike is now a litre-bike (...shaking my head a little).
Ducati booth at EICMA
I have a number of friends with 899's and most of them agree it was plenty of bike, but Ducati took the 899 engine and bored it out to a 959cc displacement, increasing the horsepower from 148 to 157.
This awful looking exhaust will only be present on the Euro models, as American imports will have the typical exhaust, ending at the bottom of the scoop.
The Panigale is a beautiful bike, but Ducati's "bigger is better" mentality (1300cc anyone?) doesn't always seem to be the most original innovation.
2016 Multistrada 1200 Enduro
Ducati's new enduro/offroad crossover bike is powered by the 1198cc Testastretta 11° V-twin equipped with DVT variable valve timing for 160 bhp and 100 lb.-ft. of torque 2016
The new Multistrada Enduro looks cool, though who but a rich playboy would really take this bike in the dirt?
At the same time, if you want to go adventure-touring in style, this Ducati is the way to go.
2016 DUCATI XDIAVEL CRUISER
Honestly, the XDiavel was a little weird, with my feet about parallel to my hands in riding position.
However, Ducati's first foray into the cruiser market brings a belt-driven Testastretta 11° 1198cc V-twin, enlarged to 1262cc, with 156 horsepower.
2016 DUCATI SCRAMBER FLAT TRACK PRO & SIXTY2
Ducati's new line of 399cc Scramblers is all about the youth market.
The new Ducati Sixty2 Scrambler will conform to Europe's A2 regulations, making it attractive to young riders with only a junior motorcycle license.
Even though the Pantah-based engine only puts out about 41hp, the pricetag will only be a few hundred dollars less than its bigger brother.
However, most of the people I talked to assured me there was plenty left in the engine, and easily tuning the new Scramblers was going to be part of the game.
The Scrambler brand is also an accessory / fashion line now, and the marketing was in full effect, with the booth constructed out of several stacked shipping containers,
with games and branded collateral everywhere.
2016 Monster 1200R
The new Monster 1200R is the most powerful naked bike ever built by Ducati.
At over 160 horsepower, this will rip on the street, though there isn't too much added to the 1200S.
Just got into Milan after a long, LONG journey from JFK to Istanbul to finally Milan for EICMA. Surprisingly, security was incredibly relaxed (in light of recent events), though I always make a point to dress formally to travel. I was through booking and Airport security in New York in less than 15 minutes, which left me about three hours waiting for my flight.
The flight wasn't bad, about 9 hours long, but I've had a really busy week and I'm only a few hours of sleep a night, and then I had another three hour wait till my connecting flight to Milan. I'm visiting some great friends in Turkey on the way back, so a flight through Istanbul was the best route.
Finally, I arrived in Milan Malpensa airport, where I don't recall even going through customs. I didn't have to declare anything, nor did the Airport security even make eye contact (nor even speak to me) after briefly looking at my passport and waving me into the city. A high speed train connects Malpensa to the center of Milan, and for 12 Euros you can be in the center of the city in 50 minutes, and finally hooked up with my brother-in-law, who works for All Balls Racing, manning a booth at EICMA.
The architecture in Milan looks grand and impressive, though right now I'm mostly excited about the motorcycle show tomorrow!
