Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Well... that was a waste of time
Sound Rider (where I'm advertising my motorcycles for sale) asked me a week or two ago if I wanted to bring my bike(s) down to show at this Marketplace event they were planning for today. I said to myself, it's free, and it's marketing exposure. Why not?
Just in case SR pulls that page (I would), this is one of the paragraphs:
We've once again invited some of the most innovative manufacturers and vendors in the Northwest to come out and show the people what they've got. You'll see the latest in clothing, touring gear, bikes, electronics and more.
Cool, sounds good to me. Next to it is a photograph showing a huge hall, with people, motorcycles, displays and so on, going on for hundreds of yards. It's pretty impressive looking. Looks like one of the annual International Motorcycle Shows, in fact. Fabulous!
As I've so skillfully foreshadowed, it was anything but fabulous. It was, in fact, held in a small parking lot attached to Cycle Works in Renton. The used bike display area contained no more or less than five motorcycles: two sidecar rigs (which immediately attracted all attention, to the detriment of the other bikes there), a scooter, my bike, and a poorly blinged-out CBR600.
Instead of the "latest in clothing, touring gear, bikes, electronics and more" we had the Sound Rider store (with some interesting stuff, I'll admit) and a booth promoting service dogs and motorcycling. Or something. Aaaand, a lot of empty parking lot.
I encountered Tom Mehren, head mover-and-shaker at Sound Rider, and said, "what happened to all the vendors?" He replied, "yeah, we didn't charge them any money to join in, so they all bailed -- they didn't have any incentive to come. We're not going to do that again." I bet.
The turn-out was impressive, too. I probably saw a total of 40 people walk by my bike (and I was there most of the time, since there was nothing else to do). Maybe 5 people actually stopped and read the little sheet I'd made up and hung on the handlebar (and a huge thank you to Cycle Works for letting me laminate that, and use a rubber band -- it sounds trifling, but it meant a lot to me after getting to Kinkos just outside of business hours twice in a row).
The sheet ended up being a hassle, since I discovered that Xerox (nee Tektronix) wax printer printouts don't actually perform very graciously under the heat of a laminator. Yeah, it turns out the reds just completely dissappear, leaving you with a picture which looks like it's been soaking up UV for years.
I ended up being situated next to a nice but slightly quarrely couple trying to sell their Goldwing sidecar rig. It was great being able to leave my stuff there and wander, but I grew weary of the tit-for-tat arguing pretty quickly.
Add to all this that I didn't get much sleep last night (had to have the bike there by 9), and neglected to pack any sun protection (having assumed it would be indoors) and I was one unhappy camper.
I hope SR gets their marketing game together for next year, but I'm unlikely to be attending.
And now, for some high-quality naptime.
Posted at 13:28 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater