Going to Milwaukee is like visiting family. Since we are based just south of the Wisconsin border, the state’s biggest city is home to many Analog fans. The show gives us a chance to get out of the shop after a long winter of building and test out new products, displays, and builds that we have been working on in isolation. People often call the October-March period our ‘off-season.’ Well, I’ll tell you right now that 3 years running, this has been the busiest time for us in terms of new product testing and new build creation. So the Mama Tried weekend is a nice way for us to step away from all our hard work and talk with our fans.
While the 60-70F degree weather brought out a ton of people creating lines that wrapped around the show building, it did also mean that ice racing on Sunday was again cancelled. Show coordinators have given us Flat Out Friday in lieu of the weather-dependent Sunday event, and I have to say I don’t really miss the ice event. Flat Out Friday has some of the best side-by-side racing I have seen in any motor sport event in some time. New to the event this year was a Grom/Z125 specific race and a change of venue to the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Yes, the same place where the Milwaukee Bucks play. This event is serious business. If you haven’t gone in years passed, I highly recommend making it out on Friday for the race as it is one of the highlights of the show weekend.
Throughout the so called ‘off-season’ we develop and test as many new products as we can to constantly improve our Analog Motor Goods offering. Mama Tried gives us a chance to show off those new ideas in person. One of those ventures is a partnership with Cone Engineering. With representation from the exhaust gods themselves within our corner, it was a great way to show off the new Triumph and BMW exhaust systems.
The show upstairs is as unpredictable as ever: decaying knuckle-headed Harleys, 6 foot tall A-frame choppers, an immaculate pre-unit Triumph bobber, a dual CB750 SOHC-engined drag bike (please don’t make me tune the carbs- please!), and the usual mix of heavy hitters in the non-Harley custom game. This eclectic mix is part of the draw of the show. To me, all bikes are good bikes even if they don’t fit the Analog design brief. It isn’t hard to see the amount of work that went into some of these builds, and that requires respect regardless of the style.
We brought two BMW Airheads this year and gave one of them away. The AMA BMW R75 GS we built for last year’s show had run its course and collected raffle entries across the country. The AMA in all their generosity chose us to build their giveaway bike and we got the chance to see all the ticket stubs of those who entered and finally pick the winner. Bill from Pennsylvania, I hope you ride the wheels off that bike and enjoy it while you do!
It’s great to see a show in Milwaukee run by some awesome folks to be given the national attention it deserves. While the lines are growing, we keep thinking that means next year we will be seeing more and more of our fans and pushing ourselves to bring you the best we have to offer year after year which is something we always strive to do. Check out some additional photos below of the event and see you next year!
Great images, Grant!
Thanks!