Two major motorcycle exhibitions will be coming in the space of a month of each other. The German Intermot  will start next week in Koeln, Germany  , and a month later, world's biggest motorcycle exhibition, Eicma will open its doors in Milan, Italy .
Unfortunately, Intermot screwed up my paperwork (2nd time in a row now), and by the time they had sorted it out, there was no hotel space close-by, so I'll not be going this year.
What can we expect to see at the two events? Obviously at Intermot we'll finally get to see the new BMW K1600 series. Intermot is in BMW's home country, and you can expect them to put up a good show.
Other companies holding a press conference are Suzuki (GSX-R 600 and 700 and GSX 750 maybe), Triumph (the new Tiger 800 is more destined for a German market then Italian, so I guess they'll launch it here), KTM (we'll probably not see anything new apart from maybe the new 450 Rally and evolutions of the 124 4-stroke concepts), Kawasaki (don't know what they can be showing), Yamaha (I don't think there's anything new, more cosmetic things to existing bikes) and Honda (I think Honda will split its eight world premiers with EICMA).
The most interesting conference will be Ducati. Most press conferences are scheduled for 1 hour, while Ducati's event will last 2 hours. This makes me think a bit.....would Germany be the place for Ducati to launch Diavel, their new power cruiser? If you think about it, the answer is YES. Italy is much more into sports motorcycles, while Germany are more into tourer and dual-sport motorcycles, so I wouldn't be surprised if they launch the Diavel in Intermot, and have something else for EICMA.
Obviously the most import launch at Intermot will be the BMW K1600 series. Too bad I'll not be there for the long financial speeches...
At EICMA, Monday (the pre-press day) starts with two conferences, one by MV Agusta and the other, as usual, by Ducati.
On press day, Tuesday, Honda opens the day, followed by Triumph, KTM, Aprilia (we'll finally get to see the Aprilia Dorsoduro 1200, maybe the Caponord 1200 and the V4 Tuono 1000), BMW, Husqvarna, and Suzuki (plus a few other, of lesser importance). As a side note, the following day Royal Enfield is holding a press conference. It would be a shocker if they presented a new model...
I will be at EICMA, so we'll be bring you the latest from there. In contrast with Intermot who have schedule press conference back-to-back, at least Eicma have left some space in between.
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