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2018 - Custombike Show, Germany

2018 - Custombike Show, Germany

When we walked around the halls this year we took our time to check out every last of the 300 custom bikes in the competition in a solid 18 categories.

There was an S&S engine dropped into the frame sideways, a two storey Sportster tank, a totally stock ’91 FZR Genesis (apart from the handlebars). Crazy. Mad attention to detail, epic experimentation, and dire daftness – they had it all. To grab one of the trophies in classes such as Best Old School, Best Chopper, Best Cafe Racer, up to the more exotic Best Engineering, Best Radical, Rookie of the Year, mediocrity just isn’t the way to go.

Left and right of the bikes there was the usual mix of custom garages and parts specialists. We had the impression that the Harley people weren’t as strong as they used to be. Perhaps the fresh, assertive and biggish displays by Triumph and Indian shifted the perception, who knows. Still, there was enough for us to discover, there were neat custom ideas and TÜV approved hardware which would look good in our own catalog. Apart from that, everything else was the expected clothes stalls, tattoo artists, hairdresser, pole dancing, “Miss Custombike” contest, some striptease, a wall of death, this and that and – a splendidly presented special show of 25 “Hall of Fame” winner bikes of the past 14 years.

We enjoyed the show, which fuelled us right into the pre Xmas wrenching time. We met a lot of friends, had a few beers, saw good machinery and generally had a ball.