The Cincy V-Twin Expo has expanded to house virtually anyone who wants to reach into the American custom motorcycle market and take care of biz. There are other shows, like the general motorcycle and even quad show in Indy two weekends later, but Cincy is fervently focused on only the American Custom Motorcycle scene. It's a candy store of anything and everything new in the industry from cams to metal flake paint. News in the industry is at a full throttle buzz for the entire weekend. Guys are making deals, buying shit for their shops, scoring leads, scribbling notes and partying with their brothers.

More than anything this industry, except for a handful of rip-offs, sleaze bags and fly-by-nights, is a brotherhood. We make up a small, dinky percentage of the overall motorcycle market in America and the world. We're not manufacturing high-tech toasters. A major wheel manufacturer once told me that they sell less than one thousand of their most popular wheels each year. That's not exactly a major run of components.

So what happened this year in the hallowed halls of the Cincinnati Convention Center, smack in the middle of downtown, usually coated with a layer of snow in January? I don't know, I wasn't there for the first time in several years.

Sin Wu said, "Don't go baby, I'll take real good care of you here."

I sent a few feeler spies and they came back with the following. The industry was high with optimism, but the MAG Group closed White Bros down after a 20-year history. American Iron Horse has just about shut its doors, but there's always one company coming on strong and another fading away. The crew from Miami Ink is launching a line of motorcycles. The OCC mechanics have hit the entrepreneurial road on their own and kicked-off a shop in Florida called V-Thunder.

There's more. Baker Transmission announced a heavy touring bike seven-speed tranny. Accurate Engineering unveiled Barry's new aluminum-head performance Knucklehead engine and shared a booth with Bikernet.com and 5-Ball Racing, builder of the World's Fastest Panhead. Accurate Engineering built the engine. Bikernet was celebrating their largest month in its 11-year history (340,000 unique visitors) and 70 percent growth in 2007. We also unleashed our new web site Bikernetmetric.com and will share that news with the metric crowd in Indy this coming weekend.

The list goes on. S&S promoted its new CARB-approved engine line and the fact that they bought Flathead Power, so they'll offer improved Flathead components and Knucklehead parts in the near future. You can imagine what a rush it is to walk up and down the aisles and check all the new shit, including Paughco's new board track chassis based on a design by Rick Krost of U.S. Choppers. It's killer to see all the new shit and ponder your next build.

Plus every night there's a party. Here's Rogue's report on the Sucker Punch Sally's Jam:

On to Page 2...