Motorcyclists have had a lean time of it since the pandemic, in terms of shows to attend involving the whole motorcycling industry, like the much-missed AMID Motorcycle Expo, which is why AMID’s latest initiative, in close cooperation with Red Star Raceway, was so welcome.
Taking place over the weekend of the 27/28 January, attendees who enjoyed the free entry to the show at Red Star were treated to new model displays by the likes of BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, Suzuki, and Yamaha to name a few, plus there were some motorcycle accessories/gear on display from DMD and Autocycles.
Riders who booked with Suzuki also got to attend the Suzuki South Africa “Rider Safety Day“—a classroom and practical training program to uplift road riding skills and safety. Cancervive was also in attendance, flying the flag for cancer awareness, whereby early detection can save lives.
Given the fact that it was all arranged very last minute, ‘Red Star’ and AMID were very happy with a two-day attendance figure in the region of 1,600 people. The organisers were keen to stress that this first edition of what many hope will be an annual event was very much a fact-finding exercise to gauge the appetite for such a show. From the feedback received, it appears that all parties are hungry for such a show and lessons learned this year will be incorporated into future shows.
One consistent request was for demo rides to be made available on the track and, as Red Star has extensive land around the circuit, an adventure/off-road course could be laid out as well. This was a distinguishing feature of the AMID shows held at Kyalami and proved to be very popular, the importers were quick to appreciate the fact that a brief ride on a model was far more persuasive than merely looking at a static display.
On the whole, the response from attendees was positive; free entry was a good idea and offset the distance that some would have had to travel and it appeared that people were simply grateful to have the opportunity to see the majority of new models available in one place. For those who attended and left slightly disappointed, please remember that this is just the beginning of what all interested parties in the motorcycle industry in SA, including the customers, hope will become as much a fixture of the motorcycling calendar as any other well-established two-wheel event.
Thanks must be given to Quinton and all the staff at Red Star for generously donating their time, energy and, of course, the Red Star facility, to the cause. Thank you also to Arnold Olivier of AMID and, naturally, all the importers and accessory suppliers who committed similar time and energy.
