That was the message displayed on one t-shirt as the 7th Annual V-Twin Expo hit Cincy February 3-5, and the forecast was pretty obvious. It’s back to baggers as booth after booth featured what it takes to get Granpa’s sled past the rope line. Paint, pipes, bags, fairings, seats. Even talk of open belt primarys — of course with floorboards — all with one goal in mind. Reclaiming some degree of practicality without sacrificing style. And with all the additional real estate, paint’s got a lot bigger canvas to take advantage of.

It was a mixed crowd that flowed into the Duke Energy Center, some nervously eyeballing a stubborn inventory of chops while others seemed confident of the emerging era of big bikes. Overall not a lot that was new, some familiar faces missing, some new faces hoping to catch a break.

Most unique newcomer had to be the Crocker line of authentic replicas heading south out of Toronto, cast aluminum gas tanks and all, hanging out in Accurate Engineering’s booth. Favorite tech was BDL’s nifty little EFI, a true plug and play. Runnerup was the Nolan Bluetooth helmet series, followed by TecMate’s innovative TestMate mini, a much needed solid state battery load/voltage tester that could really save a lot of grief by giving you a heads up before the battery croaks.