So many bikes, so many gadgets.

I left the house around 8:30 AM full of excitement and anticipation. I was heading to Wing Ding ’08! Wing Ding is the national gathering of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, of which I am a member. Not really an active member, but the idea of a convention floor full of vendors was just too much to pass up. Coupled with Wing Ding ’08 was only 120 miles away in Greenville, SC and I was off.

Cruising down I-85 it became immediately obvious that something was different. As soon as I accelerated onto the highway I started seeing Wing after Wing and I was still 100 miles away. As I got closer to Greenville I became 1 of 100’s of Wings. It was incredible.

Now, my Wing is set up for the long ride. There is nothing on it that does not have a purpose. No item that could break and cause a problem. Some take a different approach as you can see from this picture.



The parking lot of the convention center was full of Wing’s. Wing’s with sidecars, wings with pin stripping, Wing’s with crazy trailers like the one in the picture above (yes, that is a fully functioning trailer). A quick trip past the registration booth for a day pass and I was in. Vendors here I come.

I had thought about what to do on my way down. My plan was to completely walk the floor and see what was being offered before pulling out the Visa card. Who knows what I would find. My plan worked as I quickly realized the vendors could be categorized into Junk and ‘Need to Revisit’. The Junk vendors were the small, mom and pop vendors selling clothing, jewelry and other stuff that is more about a fashion statement than riding. The ‘Need to Revisit’ vendors required a stop by the hot dog stand to plan my strategy.

At exhibits I attend professionally you talk to the people who walk by, swipe a card and then hope they will be receptive to a follow up. Not at Wing Ding. If you find something you like you buy it and either walk over to the UPS booth and have it shipped or….go get your bike, ride it onto the floor and have it installed! This causes walking down between the exhibits somewhat interesting as you may have to jump out of the way as an 850lbs bike is passing you. There were 3 lifts with 6 people working flat out fitting new Dunlop tires. There were bikes being fitted with lights, windshields and shocks. People were buying helmets and then going over to the sound suppliers and having headsets installed. I quickly found myself going to the booths with the most number of bikes lined up for something to be fitted. What was the hot item?

The hot item seemed to be pin stripping (no thanks) and lighting. Lighting that would decorate the bikes – no thanks. I use my amps for GPS, Satellite radio, cell phones etc. So, I started to look for some things that would improve my comfort on those long rides. I found three things:

1. Helmet Hook. This is a small ‘T’ shaped device that allows you to lock your helmet to the bike without putting it in the trunk. This is a really useful device when touring as your trunk is normally full and you have to decide what to do with your helmet.
2. A ‘no sweat’ cooler. This cooler can sit in your trunk for hours and not sweat. This is a good thing as a sweating cooler will cover everything in the trunk with moisture – not good when next to you laptop.
3. Two straps – this requires more explanation. I was looking at a cup holder and trying to figure out if it was really useful. The problem I have is with my helmet there is little room for a tube to come in and supply water. I was watching one being installed and noticed three hooks coming out of the rear seat. What was that about? I asked the bike’s owner and soon realized that it was something I needed. The hooks replace a luggage rack (I don’t have one) but allow a rear pack to be securely strapped to the bike. It was so simple it was incredible. 10 minutes of searching the vendors and I had what I needed.

Total bill, including day pass: $75.00

Smiling I walked around the 1,000’s of bikes in the parking lot and looked at all the different configurations, gizmo’s and paint schemes. A quick walk back to my bike, shopping bags stowed and I was back on I-85 heading home.

I can’t wait till my next trip.