For about a decade, the International Motorcycle Show at Cleveland’s I-X Center was the first motorcycle-related event I went to each year. Even in the show’s waning years, I still looked forward to going. It was a chance to be around many others who shared a passion for powersports and a place to check out new products or services months before riding season started. 

The last edition of the Progressive International Motorcycle Show took place in 2020, and this past weekend marks the fourth year that I’ve spent the last weekend in January at home instead of at the I-X Center. This year, I got through almost the whole weekend without thinking about the show – which begs the question of how much is the show I looked forward to each year really missed? 

For the first couple years after the last show, it felt weird getting to springtime and not having sat in the long line of traffic waiting to get into the I-X Center. And it was something of a rite of passage having to navigate the often snow-and-ice-covered parking lot just to get to the building’s west entrance.  

But there was something special about the walk from the door to the show entrance — looking over the vendors and OEM displays along the way – getting your bag to collect brochures in and figuring out which direction you wanted to go first. 

My favorite part of the show were the seminars. It seemed like most years someone from the Dunlop booth would do a Q&A about motorcycle tires, and someone would ask about rear tires cupping while pulling a trailer with a Honda Goldwing. Some of the presentations from motorcycle racing schools – such as Nick Ienatsch and Scott Russell for the Yamaha Champions Ridings School and Jason DiSalvo for his DiSalvo Speed Academy – offered some tips on braking and bike control I still use when I ride. Backcountry Discovery Route also did a very good presentation at the last iteration of the show. 

Another aspect of the show I really enjoyed was sitting on the new models at the OEM displays. It gave me a chance to figure out what direction manufacturers were going with ergonomics as their models evolved and build a mental database of what motorcycles would be a good fit for me in the future. I’ll never forget being shocked by how high the seat was on the diminutive Kawasaki Versys 300. 

I also remember how much smaller the show got as the years went by. Though I never saw the entire I-X Center floor used for a show, the curtained-off area kept on getting closer and closer to the west entrance each year. Then came the bridal show being held on the other side of the curtain. Though the number of vendors and the floorspace steadily declined, there was still an energy about the event with so many enthusiasts gathered in the dead of Cleveland winter. 

But it’s been four years since the last show, and demand for a revival of the show hasn’t come from my circle of motorcycling friends nor across my social media feeds. Now we have the Piston Power Show – but to me it’s nothing like the IMS show. For the two years I’ve attended the Piston Power Show, there’s just a few motorcycle booths in a sea of muscle cars displays and car-oriented vendors. 

I doubt it’d be possible to recreate the IMS show now that the company that put on that show is on indefinite hiatus. And the summer event Fuel Cleveland has become a new rallying point for the northeast Ohio motorcycling community. 

But maybe, at a smaller venue like the Huntington Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, an individual or organization that knows a lot more about event organizing and planning than me could put together a more locally-focused show that would bring the riding masses together in the dead of winter again.