Maarten Poodt wint Koning Zelfbouw 2016

Koning Zelfbouw 2016

Maarten Poodt wint voor tweede maal op rij 

de eretitel Koning Zelfbouw!

De vijfde Koning Zelfbouw was de beste editie, nog drukker bezocht, met nog mooiere motoren in de show en zelfs de weergoden hielpen mee met een stralende zon!

Het MotoPort Hengelo Team maakt er elk jaar weer een mooie dag van en verzet bergen werk om alles goed te laten verlopen. De showroom wordt leeggereden en ’s morgens vroeg komen de deelnemers aan en mogen hun motoren in de showroom zetten. Een laagdrempelige zelfbouw bikeshow die steeds populairder wordt en waar deelnemers en bezoekers graag naartoe gaan. Stands van bedrijven en toeleveranciers zoals IMG Trading, Caferaceronderdelen.nl, Dutch on Wheels, Miller, VG Frames en vele andere waren aanwezig die allen goede zaken deden. Vooral

`The XLR Competition'H-D Iron van West Coast Motors wordt winnaar Battle of the Kings Benelux Finale, Amsterdam 2016

Winnaar H-D Benelux Battle of the Kings Competition 

is geworden

`The XLR Competition - A Factory Outlaw Race Bike by West Coast Motors`

Na een jaar vol spanning werden de inzendingen van de Battle of the Kings wedstrijd, georganiseerd door Harley-Davidson, gisteren in Amsterdam gejureerd en werd de winnaar bekend gemaakt. In een oude barbershop met naastgelegen bar werd een feestje georganiseerd. De Battle of the Kings motoren werden naar binnen gereden en de finalisten wachtten in spanning af wat de uitslag zou worden. 

Soms zijn er wedstrijden waarbij de winnaar al van te voren bekend is. Niet door match fixing of door andere vormen van valsspelen, maar gewoon omdat de winnaar de beste is, die zo’n enorme voorsprong op de concurrentie heeft dat je al duidelijk ziet wie er gaat winnen.

Dat gevoel had ik direct toen ik de eerste foto’s van de inzending van de Battle of the King inzending van West Coast Motors uit Alkmaar onder ogen kreeg. “Dit is de winnaar,” stelde ik zelfverzekerd vast, “Alle voorrondes, jurybesprekingen en publieksstemmingen kunnen ze overslaan Bas, als jullie niet met deze H-D Iron winnen, begrijpt niemand meer iets van

30th Biker Fest Italy, Ligano 2016. Part 1

30th Biker Fest Italy, Ligano 2016 

Part 1

Text and photo's by Horst Rosler

Perfect weather in Lignano and the 30th Biker Fest is GO! Friday, customizers and visitors alike rolled into town to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the "classic" Italia  Biker Event, now hosted in Lignano, the Italian Beach Resort near Triest. The Alps and Slovenia in plain sight, Customizers set up more than 60+ Bikeshow Entries at the Terrazza a Mare and the Eventsite at the Luna Park is buzzing too.

 More photo's of the 30th BikerFest Ligano, Italy after the jump-break

Art & Wheels – Switzerland 2016

 Art & Wheels – Basel, Switzerland 2016

Artists of the Custom Motorcycle

A perfect mix when the weather is as great as that splendid May weekend at the north-west corner of Switzerland: About 100+ "Old School" themed motorcycles lingered outside the Gallery event hall, which is situated almost invisible in a suburb of Basel. But that morning, you only had to follow any particular Harley-Davidson – and it would bring you to Gallery Projektraum M54 on the right side of the Rhine river flowing through Basel. Fortunately, a church and a former school gave room to park the bikes of numerous visitors that came by motorcycle that day. Car-parking was next to impossible.

Text & Photos Art & Wheels Switzerland by Horst Rösler

The one-day show is framed by a party the first day (after-show party grated too!) and a ride-out of the bikes exhibited (!), friends and "Old School" enthusiast on Sunday. This time as far as visiting the CCCP workshop in Malters close to Luzern! For the benefit of those who visited the party on Friday, the show does not open before noon – but is going on  ‘tíll 10 pm. By then the whole block must have recognized that something interesting is going on in Mörsbergerstrasse 54!

 Read more and see all the photo's of Art & Wheels Switzerland 2016 after the jump-break

Flanders Chopper Bash 2016

Flanders Chopper Bash 2016

The Flanders Chopper Bash moved from last year’s location in Axel, The Netherlands, to a bigger venue in Assenede in Belgium. The site in Axel proved to be too small and the Chopper Bash in Assenede has much more space. Friday at noon the first chops arrived, and they kept rolling in! 

Saturday, the campground full of tents and bikes, the bike show in full swing and no coffee. No coffee? Nope after ten o’clock no coffee was being served anymore. Don’t we all need coffee to function properly? The great bikes and music made me forget my need for coffee, sometimes…  Like every year, comfortable couches and seats were spread out everywhere on the grass, relax and enjoy! Although it was quite cold during the day, luckely the weather was not as bad as predicted.

Making our rounds, we noticed that more and more people desperately want to show the world they are’ in the scene’.  No Dickies, Bell, STP, Gulf, Dice, Castrol, Esso, Rat Fink, Vans, FTW, Riding Easy, The Picture Books, Johnny Cash, or other related stickers on your bike, or patches on your (way too newish looking Eat Dust or Dickies) denim outfit?  Chance may be you don’t fit in with the Chopper Bash crowd. Hell, even Flake Kings, S&S,W&W and even MCS are tolerated these days too. Old time favorite Moon Eyes seems to be ‘passé´. A briljant, new one we absolutely love; ‘Hippies Dead – Hipsters next’. Bubble visors, workman shoes and Mexican blankets are optional… Yes, this scene comes with a uniform too. We all want to be different, but we all want to look alike…

The ‘Chopper Bash’ stickers from last years meetings are prominently visual on many bikes, a proud statement that the owner was here before.  And that´s cool, ´cause meetings like these keep the chopper culture alive and kicking. The Flanders Chopper Bash welcomed riders from Scandinavia, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and many, many from England. Wild choppers with long Springer front ends, sissybars reaching heaven and psychedelic paintjobs from the past. Knuckles, Pans and Shovels with long rumbling exhausts. Six bends, double Aris head lights and the coolest tail lights. This is heaven, walking around, talking the shit with other chopper afficionados. Yep, chopper heaven. Choppers Forever, see you next year!

Text & Photography Onno “Berserk” Wieringa - www.madnessphotography.nl       

See all the 340 photo's of the Flanders Chopper Bash on www.madnessphotography.nl - Photo Galleries 2016

Indian Super Rally Lemmer 2016

Indian Super Rally Lemmer 2016

More people than ever came to the famous Indian Rally in Fryslân, The Netherlands. From as far awy as Germany, France and the Czech Republic, the Indians came to Lemmer, even a group of 40 came from the UK, making it a true International Rally.

Silly Games, a bathtub full of foam for the kids and the Ride Out on Saturday were some of the highlights. Located in the northern parts of Holland, this beautiful area makes it perfect for sight-seeing and riding along the Frysian lakes. The North Coast Custom Car Club joined the event and came with quite a few big American cars and trucks, to make the meeting even bigger and noisier! With Tony leading the ride, the Group left from the museum in Lemmer, riding all around ‘Het Tjeukemeer’ a beautiful big lake. The ride went along, visiting typical Frysian villages like Follega, Sint Nicolaasga, Joure and Vierhuis. After a couple of hours the tour finished at the Indian Museum, where the barbecue got started.

  

A visit to the Indian Museum is something you won’t forget! It’s included in the Rally package and Tony’s Indian Motocyles and memorabilia collection is one of the biggest in the world. The campground was full with tents and motorcycles and in the evening, after the BBQ, the band

19th Old School Swap Meet Mecrin/France

Have a burnin' time! Mecrin 2016

Full throttle into Old School madness:
May 1st 2016, 19th Old School Swap Meet Mecrin/France

You don't have to be crazy to ride along the Meuse river in almost zero degrees temperatures, but it sure helps! April weather and December temperatures made the weekend at Mecrin 2016 a frosty weekend – until sunday afternoon when the sun came out. Snow in the Black Forest and on top of the Vosges mountains made the trip interesting, to say the least. But the Party went on nevertheless! And for the 19th anniversary event, "School Bar Atelier" customizer Jean Claude Passetemps and the Boozefighters came up with some very special guest from the French Music scene!

The towns of the Wöevre and the shores of the Meuse have been polished up for the big anniversaries: 2014 - 2018 will see the centennials of what was caled "The Great War" in France – and little did the people know that it would not be the last. The little town of Mecrin was in plain sight of the German trenchline for almost four years and the then President of France, Pointcare, had his house in near Samigny with a big window to look down onto Mecrin and the Meuse valley. 2016 is a very special year for visits, because it marks the 100th Anniversary of the battle of Verdun, just about 40 km down the Meuse river.

As during the last few years, weather was not living up to the usual charme of the first weekend in May, the first sunday traditionally the date for the Mecrin Swap Meet. After being pleagued by bad weather on April 29th and the Saturday, which is the traditional "arrival day" for the clubs and time to party into, if not through the night. Only for the hard-core bikers that night, as the continuous downpour soaked everybody to the bone. Sunday mornings swap meet started slowly, but it would be 'till the noon for visitors to arrive – and not all came for the motorcycles. This years "special guest" attracted a crowd much different than usual, because in