If a single word could be applied to the fifth annual V-Twin Expo by Easyriders, it’d be “BIG” — as in big engines, big rear tires, big crowds, and for the vendors and participants, big money.
There was a cornucopia of bikes, parts, accessories and apparel all geared to helping dealers meet the ever-increasing demand for bigger, better and more outrageous customized V-twin cruisers.
“I’m like a kid in a candy store, man,” one participant blurted into his cell phone at the Expo, which concluded Monday.
At second glance, however, the show at Cincinnati’s Albert Sabin Convention Center, looked more like a Halloween trick-or-treat night for adults, sans the costumes, than a candy store. Participants were going booth to booth, carrying plastic bags and small carts, all asking the multitude of vendors for the next treat to tempt their customers.
To underline just how lucrative this market is today, the Expo’s producers said there were 888 booths with exhibitors from all 50 states and 12 countries. Just moving around the Expo on Saturday morning meant simply swimming with the stream of humanity.
Besides the gleaming hardware, there were also plenty of vendors offering everything from biker vacations and insurance to hundreds of other items that might be of interest to the singularly focused crowd.
An overriding theme to this year’s show appeared to be big 300-series rear tires and right-side drives for big twins, as evidenced by the number of vendors selling everything from individual pieces, to kits, to assembled machines.
It's more than a styling theme. This trend is also functional.
“You can center the motor,” explained Gary Munoz of Vallejo, California-based Chopper Guys, Inc., just one of the vendors offering this setup.
On the big twin engines powering the custom cruisers, the primary drive comes off the engine on the left side and feeds the clutch and transmission. The final drive, which comes off the output shaft of the transmission, is also on the left side, but inside the clutch. That means as the rear tire gets wider, builders have to keep pushing the primary drive out to make room for the final drive.
By switching to right-side drive, builders can get away from “hanging everything off the left side of the bike,” said Munoz.
Customers’ tastes dictate what builders, like Munoz, have to build. In many cases, functionality doesn’t just take a back seat. It gets off the bus completely. The right-side drive puts a bit of functionality back in the equation.
Below, you’ll find just a few of the more eye-catching products that caused participants to stop, stare and say holy ...
Looking for a way to keep your custom, belt-drive twin cool without an ugly, bolted on radiator-style oil cooler? Check out this primary drive cover with an integrated oil cooler. Tauer Machine, based out of Mankato, Minnesota, makes this system, which the company says can drop oil temperatures by about 25 to 35 degrees.
The system also allows for the oil filter to be mounted onto the inner primary. Oil flows to the cooler/cover via the mounts, which have check valves inside, so when you remove it you don’t spill oil. Prices range from around $400 for just a cover, to over $2,000 for a complete system including the pulleys, belt and clutch. Bryan Clancy, with Tauer Machine, said the system is designed for open primary belt drive Harleys and customs only.
For more info visit www.tauermachine.com
