2015 SEMA Show Recap

NOW ON BLACKTOP TV:
Recap Trailer of the 2015 SEMA Show

T-Bone, Billy, Travis and John run the show to find new trends, and meet new friends.

Whew! What a crazy week that was. Billy and I left a bit late from the homestead so we didn’t get a chance to stop at KC’s Fool Service Garage museum on the way out to the SEMA Show. Next time. We arrived in the valley in time to check-in and get our media passes for the show start the next morning.

We set out with a couple of missions: Find cool new products. Discover trends in the industry and help some of our design and marketing clients to get exposure.

I rolled up early to set up our banner and hit the New Products awards breakfast. Congrats to Shawn Gibson for their Best New Powersports Product, their 2016 Yamaha Dual Exhaust. We will be presenting highlights on many new products from the SEMA Show in the coming weeks. C10. What’s with all the Chevrolet C10’s? Dang. They were all over the place, in every hall. The big ticket item for aftermarket parts these days I guess. We will be sharing some of our favorite rides from the show like Mark Johnson’s gasser: The Tire Fryer.

We didn’t notice any other big trends going on besides the influx of C10’s. A lot of the same products from two years ago, however with expanded line offerings. Almost every motorcycle in the show had one of them big stupid wheels up front. Sorry to offend, but these bikes are like cartoons. I haven’t seen one with a big 300+ rear wheel yet, but I am sure that is coming soon. My prediction on the future trend in motorcycles will be a reversion to the baggers of the 60’s with all the lights and accessories on them. They will be welcome with open arms here at Blacktop away from these crazy-ass “choppers”.

Yet I digress, for this show, the most outrageous the more appropriate. It is Las Vegas after all. It was a nice respite however, when we ran into a mild custom or subtle restoration among the clutter of craziness.

We met some great people, collaborated with awesome friends and mourned at the loss of an icon. There was a cloud over event as we all thought about how George Barris touched our lives. It was two years ago when I watched him get inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame. This year I am grateful for my friends Sheila Perkins and Dennis Gage for inviting me to sit at their table as Dennis was inducted this year in the SEMA Hall of Fame.

We hit each mission and will be sharing the results in the near future. We will be installing a Kleinn Air Horn on my Harley, and a sweet Custom Autosound system in the ’56 and more. Stay tuned.