2018 - Tough Töffs!

If there’s one thing you can usually expect from the Swiss, it’s quiet understatement. Well, here at the Swiss Custom show you might have had to adjust your expectations. At least when bikes (they call ‘em töffs in Swiss German) are concerned. Because after two storeys of stock motorcycles the meticulously parked “Handmade motorcycles” made for an astounding virtual flight over the Swiss custom landscape. Here they have longer forks, scramblier scramblers, longer shocks and lower stances than anywhwere, customized to the extreme just like the 10-foot cruiser with 30” wheels up front and out back.

They might have had

not quite as many machines here as they had in places like Bad Salzuflen or Verona, but the bandwidth of styles was fascinating. The mix of brands and parts is a kick start for wrenching inspiration: They had Suzuki fairings on BMWs, Harley tanks bolted to Yamahas and vice versa. Of a similar mix was the curious public asking questions in our booth. Our Cannonball Pan and Cannonball Knuckle with their gorgeous bodywork did baffle more than one fan of the Milwaukee brand. When asked, why we did it, we just answered: because we wanted to. Even in Switzerland they know: a biker’s work is never done.