Showing off : Dealers use rally to feature the newest bike models.

— With thousands of motorcycle riders and people interested in looking at motorcycles coming to Fayetteville for Bikes, Blues & BBQ, the rally is an opportunity for dealers to showcase their newest bikes and their features.

In the parking lot of the Randal Tyson Track Center, for example, dealers offered demo rides Wednesday and displayed some of the newest bikes available for today's riders.

One of the newest brandsof motorcycles on display is the new Can-Am trikes, which are manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products and sold in the region through Bradford Marine and ATV of Springdale. One of the differences in this model of trikes, compared to those manufactured by Honda and other dealers, is they feature two wheels in the front and one in the back.

Tony Young, an employee with Bradford's Little Rock dealerships, said the Can-Am trikes have been sold in Arkansas only since October 2008. He described them as "safe as a little sports car," although they are still classified as motorcycles.

"It is very safe and veryaggressive," he said.

The trikes have a technology called vehicle stability control that prevents rollovers. They also have power steering, a reverse gear and come with standard or semiautomatic transmissions.

"They're ahead of their time," he said.

Peugeot makes a threewheeled scooter with two wheels in the front and one in the back, but Can-Am is one of the first motorcycle trikes to use the format, Young said.

Greg Donahoe, general manager of Heartland Honda in Springdale, said he has noticed that trikes tend to be popular, although his dealership sells models with one wheel in the front and two in the back.

The trike tends to feelmore stable than a regular two-wheeled motorcycle, and it seems to appeal to the aging baby boomer generation, he said.

Donahoe said the down economy has affected sales some, but the dealership is still doing OK, and it seems like business is starting to pick back up.

"We're doing OK," said Joe Smith of Bill Eddy's Motor Sports in Fayetteville. "We're down a little bit, certainly, but it seems to be coming back."

Some other styles of motorcycles that seem to be popular are touring bikes and cruisers, Donahoe said.

"The touring is very popular - like the Honda Goldwings," he said.

Smith said cruisers and sport bikes seem to be the most popular styles among the brands Bill Eddy's sells.

"It's always between cruisers and sports bikes," Smith said.

Sales for off-road bikes, or dirt bikes, have actually gone down, he said.

Tony Lee, of Greenwood,who described himself as a lifelong motorcycle rider, said the main thing he has noticed about motorcycle styles is nearly every company has a bike that is designed to look like a Harley-Davidson.

Lee was planning to take a demo ride on a Kawasaki Voyager Vulcan, which is designed to resemble a Harley cruiser. He said he might consider buying it because it is less expensive than a comparable new Harley, although it still won't be the same.

"Everybody wants them to sound and look like a Harley-Davidson, but it's still not a Harley-Davidson," he said.

In the same way cars of today have more features and accessories than their counterparts from decades past, today's motorcycles also offer a variety of features and accessories motorcycles did not have years ago.

Rider Eric Wadman, of Lenexa, Kan., said today's motorcycles seem to have more comfort features designed to make a long ride easier.

"I like the touring bikes," he said.

Donahoe said many of the trikes the dealership sells, for example, come with GPS navigation systems.

Also, many bikes use fuel injectors instead of carburetors, Donahoe noted. Some bikes also come with liquid-cooled engines instead of traditional aircooled engines.

"The engines are a lot bigger than they used to be," Smith said.

"The technology is phenomenal," Lee said.

It was actually as recent as 2003 that some new motorcycles still had carburetors, Lee said.

One of the drawbacks to the innovations is that it has become more difficult for owners to work on their motorcycles themselves, and it is expensive to take them to the shop, he said.

If anecdotal evidence isn't enough, government statistics show interest in motorcycles greatly increased starting in the late 1990s.

According to a U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics report on motorcycle registrations from 1997-2007, the number of new bikes sold each year in the country increased every year from 260,000 until it peaked at 892,000 in 2006. In 2007, that number dropped slightly to 885,000 new motorcycle sales.

One brand of motorcycles that was established during the 1990s and was on display near the track center is Big Dog Motorcycles, sold through Rodney's Cycle House in Little Rock. The bikes are manufactured in Wichita, Kan., and have been around 15 years, owner Rodney Roberts said.

The motorcycles are designed to look like custom choppers, but they come with a manufacturer's warranty, he said.

"I call them 'micromanufactured,'" Roberts said.

The company made up to 5,000 per year before the economy went through a downturn in 2008.

Besides motorcycles, two-wheeled scooters appear to be gaining in popularity.

Latroy Wakefield, coowner of Rollout Scooters in Fayetteville, said business has been doing well, particularly for scooters with engine sizes of 49 cubic centimeters or less. Fifty cubic centimeters is the point at which the rider needs a motorcycle permit or license to ride, but the smaller scooters can be driven by anyone with a regular driver's license.

"They're selling like hot cakes," Wakefield said.

One thing the company has been offering through its shop is an upgrade package where roller weights are installed on a scooter to help it get over hills. That seems to be very popular, especially with students at the University of Arkansas, he said.

Scooters today are also designed to look more classy and sporty than the boxy-looking scooters from past decades, Wakefield said.

News, Pages 1, 7 on 09/24/2009

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