Spokane bike show brings out inner beast

As the Inland Northwest Motorcycle Show and Sale kicks off today, it likely won’t be filled with crowds of young, long-haired rebels.

According to surveys of last year’s attendees, most of the chopper watchers will be middle-aged, middle-class family folks.

“We’ve gone from being a renegade society to the mainstream,” said show organizer Steve Cody. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re working in the steel mill or you’re a doctor or a lawyer, a few weekends a year you get to put on the leathers and go for a ride.”

Surveys last year revealed the average showgoer matched up with the average bike owner: about 43 years old, married with a home and making more than $40,000 a year.

But, it might take a doctor’s income to ride away with some of the bikes at the show.

Lit by carefully placed spotlights, a 1098 S Ducati took the cake for the most expensive motorcycle on Steve Beaudry’s 5,000-square-foot show area.

The $26,000 Italian sport bike was already sold and merely on display at the show by Post Falls-based Beaudry Motorsports, but there were plenty more sleek European models to peruse.

Just because sport bikes have a younger look doesn’t mean only adrenaline-filled 20-somethings are buying them, Beaudry said.

“The sport touring segment is really growing,” he said. A 56-year-old that Beaudry knows in Newman Lake has bought four sport bikes, some to collect, others to ride. Some of Beaudry’s bikes can go for as much as $130,000, a price range that only customers like movie star Nicolas Cage have ever reached, he said.

But, be it a 16-year-old wanting a dirt bike or a lawyer buying a Harley-Davidson, motorcycle enthusiasts from around the area will descend on the Spokane Convention Center to gaze at shiny chrome cruisers and aggressive street bikes.

Going to the show for some is a chance to dream, while others may drive away with a new bike, Cody said.

“People spend four to five hours down here,” he said. “It’s a motorcycle community. It’s as much a social event as it is a show.”

Workers were busy rolling the bikes into their spots and booths were going up Thursday afternoon before the expected thousands arrive. Last year 11,000 people attended, Cody said.

The show is expanding into the new convention center exhibition hall, doubling the space for motorcycles, he said.

Several national award-winning bikes will be on display, including a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed bike made to look like a skeleton.

It is “one of the coolest bikes I’ve ever seen,” Cody said.

Contests include a show-and-shine competition pitting some of the area’s finest custom bikes against one another.