The Paris Motorcycles and Scooters Exhibition 2011 |
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File under Exhibitions France
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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The Paris motorcycles & scooters exhibition, formerly known as the "Mondial du Deux Roues", but now called the "Le Salon de la Moto  " used to be one of the big international motorcycle shows. Alternating with the German Intermot every other year, the "Mondial" used to be an event which saw many international visitors and many motorcycle manufacturers launching new motorcycles.
But after a 4 year hiatus, the organizers decided to relaunch the show, and IMHO, made the mistake of placing it in the calendar after EICMA. And since Eicma is world's biggest and best motorcycle exhibition, everything pales in comparison. Most new stuff will have been shown in Milan, leaving only crumbs for the other expos.
The "Le Salon de la Moto" opened its doors, kind of, to the press on Tuesday. I'm used to aggressive and obnoxious security staff, and the Paris one was no exception, but I'm not used to that from the exhibition organizers, which was the case for Paris. I almost walked out even before the event started.
The exhibition is very small, almost provincial. It took me 45 minutes to walk every lane in the 3 halls, compared to 60 minutes for one of 8 of Eicma's halls. You can imagine the difference, 45 minutes for the whole French exhibition, compared to 1 hour for only 1 of 8 halls at Eicma.... you do the math.
Here's a photographic impression of the exhibition:
The exhibition was held in 3 halls, one of them split level.
There were several stands that were still empty, with no products or displays, and that at opening time.
Even the Michelin man was lonely in between the rubbish.
The GPA Helmets stand was wrapped up, but then I think that was part of the display itself... kind of arty..
Moto Guzzi were showing their new V7 motorcycle....
.... while BMW showed their brand new C600 Sport scooter.
Russian Ural had a nice stand with several nicely painted sidecar motorcycles on display.
Definitely something to lust after..
One of the biggest stand belonged to the French Ministry of Interior, with the national police and the Gendarmerie displaying their vehicles and riding simulator.
Yet another moped that looks like a "real" motorcycle, the 50cc Peugeot MK7.
Triumph had a rather nice version of their popular Bonneville motorcycle decorated in the Ace Cafe decals.
One of the slowest motorcycles, but still one of the sexiest, the electronic Solex, the e-Solex .
Suzuki had a rather bland display, just several rows of motorcycles and ATVs.
One of the last French motorcycle manufacturers, Sherco , showed off their electric off-road motorcycle.
The SE Electric is a water cooled 220V, 300 Amp electric engine.
The electric Sherco weighs only 102 kilos, and can be charged to 100% in 1 hour.
Indian LML (Lohia Machinery Limited) make scooters based on Piaggio and Daelim clones, but with their own touch and colors.
There was also a rather large display of classic and vintage motorcycles at the end of the exhibition.
Unfortunately, since I was there pretty early, there were very few demo girls. In fact, these were the only ones I saw. From colleague reports, later on there were a few more...
All-in-all a disappointment for me. But then after Eicma, all show pale in comparison. The organizers would do better if they want to be an international show again by a) telling their staff to be more friendly, and b) open before Eicma.
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