Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham

NEC Birmingham 30 November 2024

Motorcycle Live an indoor show held at the National Exhibition Centre just outside Birmingham. I went along with the Pistonclick team went along to experience the event on the final Saturday of the week long show. Photographing motorsports track side is our passion so why did we go to this indoor show?

We as a team haven’t been to Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham for a few years so I for one was really looking forward to it as we set off in the middle of storm Bert. The weather forecast for the second major storm of the year to hit the UK was not great on that November Saturday. The Met Office had issued warnings of heavy rain and snow so I planned an early start.

As it transpired we got there in plenty of time with no real issues. Hopping on one of the free buses that will take you from the car park to the main entrance kept us out of the inclement weather. Queuing with what looked like a sizeable crowd we waited for the doors to open and chatted about what we wanted to see during the day.

There was plenty to talk about as the show is large, held over four interconnecting halls with 43 motorcycle manufacturers and hundreds of retailers, there was going to be plenty to look at and hopefully photograph.

Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham is not just a show for motorcycle manufacturers to showcase their latest motorcycles, it’s much more than that. There are days when the British Superbikes Championship, Isle of Man, and International motorcycles racers and teams will turn up.

Black Horse Stage

We decided to go when World Superbikes Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and his ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team mate Michael van der Mark were due to attend. Jamie Whitham was holding court on the Black Horse Stage, Toprak and Michael were joined by BSB rider Leon Haslam. Jamie quizzed them on their winter training programs and future plans.

We already knew Leon was joining Moto Rapido Racing for the 2025 British Superbikes Championship. Leon has history with the big red Bologna machines, his first BSB win was on a Ducati so it will be great to see him contest the championship on a competitive machine.

The one snippet of information from the chat that was a bit of a light bulb moment for me was Toprak explaining his post race win celebration. If you have ever seen El Turco win a race, his signature peace is a massive rolling stoppie which I have been fortunate enough to capture a few times. Apparently Topraks farther was a bit of a stunt rider so Toprak grew up following in his dad’s tyre tracks, hence the amazing control he has on two wheels.

Manufacturers stands

Moving on from the live chats we took in the manufacturers stands. Checking out the new motorcycles and trying them out for size. All of the displayed motorcycles are securely anchored to the ground. letting you try them out. Some of the are even on rolling roads.

One thing that did amuse me was the none riding visitors who had some interesting ideas of how to mount a motorcycle. I felt for the manufacturers as the pristine motorcycles were getting a bit of a beating. Boots came into contact with polished plastic.

Indoor photography

Checking out the bikes is great but I am here to do a bit of indoor photography. General pictures of people and the bikes is a good way to start but it’s the details that I’m interested in. Close ups, boarding on macro photography can give great results and can add some impact images to your motorsports portfolio.

Most trackside photographers at some point will have to do team pictures and photojournalist shots. Getting the chance to practice this with no implications if you get it wrong is great. It will give you the confidence if you need this skill set in the future. The environment at the NEC gives you plenty of opportunities to do this. Riders are available to chat to, sign autographs and pose for selfies.

If you fancy being a race star there was a large area where you can tryout. The ultimate bike simulator had BSB livery motorcycles hooked up to a game’s machine. The riders who qualified with the fastest times are given exclusive VIP tickets to top motorcycle event, nice. I don’t think any of the participants I watched did, most seemed to be riding around in the gravel traps, time to look at something else.

Walking round the manufacturers stands it was obvious that getting a clean shot of the bikes was going to be challenging. The public seemed to have left their sense of spacial awareness at the entrance. However with a little bit of perseverance and a few considerate people it can be done.

EV motorcycles

Or you could head over to the electric motorcycle manufacturers stands where there were a lot less people. It seems that the appetite for EV motorcycles is just not there. This is a shame as there were some amazing machines on display.

The Stark VARG was one EV motorcycle I wanted to check out but the only one I could find was on the GoPro stand. My shooting buddy for the day has ridden one and only has good things to say about them. It was slightly disappointing that I couldn’t get to check it out properly.

Why was there not a lot of interest in the EV bikes? I will put it down to the demographic of the visitors who are mostly men of a certain age. They are happy with the ICE and don’t need Range anxiety in their lives.

However, the one area that EV motorcycles are better than EV cars is the small battery size. The motorcycle manufacturers have been chatting for years about standard batteries that you can swap out when needed. Turn up at the garage, put your depleted battery in a slot, tap your bank card and remove a fully charged battery. Sounds great but how that is going to be implemented and managed I fear is years away.

Live shows at Motorcycle Live

Moving on from the manufacturers stands there are a lot more live shows than I remember from my last visit. BMW were showcasing there off road machines and hawking the BMW off road training centre in Wales. It was great to see the experienced riders jumping and sliding these massive motorcycles around. I was probably not alone in thinking that would be a great experience.

However, reality kicks in when you visit the stand and sit on a huge oversized adventure bike. Most costs as much a a mid priced car. Start to price up all of the bits that will need replacement after you lob it down some dirt track and it doesn’t seem like a good idea anymore. I think I will keep the massive adventure bike I have. It has road tyres and stay on the grey and not on the green.

Photographic Post Script Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham

For this exercise I, like my shooting buddy used the Nikon D500 set to auto ISO and auto white balance. The light in the NEC is different from location to location with flickering strip lights to led spots. Auto white balance works well and lets you concentrate on getting the shot. Auto ISO is not required however, it is my default setting so it was left as it was.

I used the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 AF-S which is a pin sharp lens for DX cameras. However, it has no stabilisation so you have to be careful with using slow shutter speeds. I am comfortable with hand holding very slow shutter speeds so it was not an issue. If you want to get a bit of movement into your images try the following. Put the camera on something steady, this shot was at 3 seconds with me leaning against a wall.

Motorcycle Live is a good event for street and motorsports photographers. It gives you plenty of options to add to your portfolio. It is also a good family friendly event to keep you entertained for most of the day. There are lots of end of season bargains to be had from the many motorcycle retailers. Also the manufacturers stands give you the opportunity to see the latest bikes up close.