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Events

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Events

Sure, our main business is to arrange for speedy delivery of ordered merchandise, to provide support and advice to customers, to organize our warehouse and to attend zillions of other necessities. There are days however, when everything at W&W CYCLES comes to a grinding stop, the Wrecking Crew jump into the saddles of Amerivan V-Twins to hit the road and burn some rubber. Destination: Lake Faak /Austria, Super Rally, Calafell/Spanien, AMCA Meet Dinkelsbühl, etc., etc. Perfect opportunities to put faces to voices and to chew the fat. For us, a beer (or two) down the dusty throat, some good buddies and a little bike talk, is all that´s necessary to let the good times roll.

2021 - Krowdrace, Meissen, D

End-of-season race meeting anyone? Germany may not be world famous for its flat track racing scene, but, keeping well under the radar there’s an active, international group of go fast, turn left aficionados, ready to sling mud and eat dust at the drop of the starting flag all day long was here for one last day of racing. Would you believe they have half mile tracks hidden away in this country?
A multinational group of about a hundred "fast and loud" loving people has come together since 2019 under the "Krowdrace" banner. These folks have been organizing a series of events, in spite of all the spanners the world has been throwing in the works during the last two years. They even managed to attract Harley-Davidson’s forever arch nemesis Indian as a sponsor.

2021 - The Trip Out, Euston Hall, GB

Traditions require sacrifice. That's especially true for regular coverage of Brexitania's most monumental open-air accumulation of Harley related wrenching excesses and Milwaukee metal preservation aficionados: the Trip Out. But, you know, someone has to do it. And it's our man with the best reason to talk about boattail shovels: a boattail shovel.
Started at sunrise, the '83 Shovelhead reels off the miles, interrupted now and then by the usual side effects: minor ignition gremlins, ferry, rain gear on, off, on: Ah, England! To be precise: Euston Hall. A sprawling 17th century Palladian-style estate with church, hall, park, gardens, ponds, bizarre ornamental buildings - nothing could fit here better than the one-man tent of a Milwaukee iron rider.

2021 - Chicken Run, Großheubach, D

We had to pinch ourselves to convince us that this was really true: Real people were going to meet other real people IN PERSON, to talk bikes, beer and decibels in Corona times. At the Großheubach Chicken Run. We didn’t have to think twice and packed our bag.
Großheubach is cut off from the rest of the world by the mighty Spessart forest with its tall pine trees and lonely roads snaking around its valleys and hills.

2020 - SoCal Trip, pt.1, California, USA

Ain't it great when you have the time to see some old friends on the way to a bike show. The other day we went to the Palm Springs Paradies Road Show, in the state of California, USA. SoCal is crammed with choppers and chopper builders, and who knows, you might even meet people who invite you over to their shop.
Anyway, the first stop was yellow. Now, what place in California is yellow to the max? Right, it's Mooneyes in Santa Fe Springs. They had been kind enough to let us send them some brand new parts over from Europe. Among them the Cannonball Stealth Starter electric start system for vintage Big Twins, new engine cases and new 4.00-18 Bates Baja tires, stuff we wanted to exhibit at the show. Big thanks for the support, Shige san and Chico!

2020 - SoCal Trip, pt.2, California, USA

When you're at the Palm Springs Road Show, doing a few miles on the roads outside Palm Springs sounds just right, given that they have plenty of roads to discover out here in SoCal. Let's go, then, to see our old buddy Mario of MB Leathers, who made the move to SoCal from Switzerland a couple of years back. Judging from the size of the flag on his premises, his decision to set up shop in Long Beach, where he performs his leather art now, must have been the right one.

Talking about right decisions: we decide not to miss out on a true gem of automotive history: The Petersen Automotive Museum is only a small detour, and boy, is it worth any extra mile you drive to see it. They're having a special exhibition right now about "Hollywood Dream Machines", comprising many old friends from cinema and tv. They have an actual Batmobile, a Jokermobile and a Catmobile from the Batman tv series on show, they have the Interceptor out of Mad Max and the Probe 16 (AB/4) out of A Clockwork Orange. Other iconic cars make the heart of the aficionado beat faster, such as the legendary Cadzzilla mega-custom, built in '89 for ZZ Top guitarist Billy F. Gibbons, based on a stock 1948 Cadillac two-door sedan.

2020 - Paradise Road Show, Palm Springs, USA

The sky is a blue straight out of a 60s post card, the venue is a hotel complex looking like a Coen brothers Technicolor dream. The parking lot is jammed with hopped up 4 wheeled legends, the courtyard is bulging with Harley choppers assembled with devotion for unusual details right down to the almost real looking pre aged stickers – this is too good to be true.
Right, if it wasn't for our own, very real booth sporting our Cannonball parts, we would have started doubting our sanity. How on earth did we stumble into this dream, or, rather, what did we take to get there. Let's see if we can find out why this Palm Springs event is being called "Paradise Road Show".

2020 - Motor Bike Expo, Verona, I

We shouldn't wonder if a few visitors of Verona Motor Bike Expo went home with seriously sore optical nerves. The sheer number of bikes left only seconds for each if you wanted to get a glimpse of all of them. Which wasn't an easy job if you wanted to look at details too or got held up in fact finding conversations.
Sure enough they call the event "World's largest Custom Motorcycle Event" , and divide it into "Mass Production, Custom Universe, Racing World, Tourism on Two Wheels, Motorcycling Academies, Business Young Guns, and Outdoor Shows". It's kinda hard to keep track of everything happening.

2020 - SWISS-MOTO, Zurich, CH

Taking the mountain air is always good for you, so we grabbed our alpenstocks and went for a little hiking among the Swiss motorcycle mountains, crossed the foothills of aftermarket parts and scaled the precipitous attractions that had been promised. With steady feet we climbed the three storeys of SWISS-MOTO, together with many moto-mountaineers who had decided to attack the numerous summits all at once. The views of the current moto landscape from these dizzying peaks was magnificent.
A monumental Everest of a booth was the Harley-Davidson stand, giving far reaching glimpses of a motorcycling future with their electric LiveWire, which could be tried on for size and even test ridden on a simulator. Also, the prototype Panamerica was on display.
Indian had rope teamed up with the ACE Café to give well earned refreshment to the tired and thirsty hikers.

2019 - HRCS Yokohama, J

If you organize the best indoor show ever (at least in the eyes of the Harley riding community) year after year, you better have a few new sparklers up your sleeves every now and then. And that's just what they managed to do at the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show in its 28th year. They celebrated the 30th aniversary of Japanese pin striping legend Hiro "Wildman" Ishii, and among other things, the customization of bathroom slippers. They had a Pin-Up Girl contest, they had four live bands, they had the parade of all the guests of honour and a lot of other micro events we just plain missed in the short time between 8 am and 5 pm. The prize giving of 30 trophies alone took ages.

2019 - Custombike-Show, Bad Salzuflen, D

If for no other reason than to see two of our long standing friends in action, wrenching against each other at the European Bike Build-Off, this last weekend was the right time to come to Bad Salzuflen and enjoy the Custombike Show.
Winding our way through the halls to the Build-Off show stage, we could easily appreciate that Custombike is fighting with claws and nails for their reputation as a hotspot of international customizing trends. It's all there, and not everything is to everyone's taste. But never mind and stay chill, if you don't like it, just move on to the next bike and be surprised by the wealth of precision-wrenched detail, always good inspiration for the basket case sitting at home on your bench.

2019 - The Trip Out, Clopton, GB

What would be more fitting than a big bowl of porridge at the start of a two-wheeled journey to Brexitannia. The question remains though, why am I doing this – and at four in the morning?
But the ferry has been booked, and the satnav is telling me the way. I don the helmet, start the Shovel, the fire breathing machine slowly warming the cold oil in its innards. After the first rather chilly early morning hours a welcome coffee, fuel and croissant break warms the body again, as does a severe case of fuel anxiety a few hours later near the French border. Friendly natives do their best to help us make the ferry just in time.

2019 - Normandy Beach Race, Ouistreham, F

Les citoyens of Ouistreham are by now pretty well used to the noise of tanks and Willys jeeps rolling over their endless beaches, what with all the memorial days and anniversaries of the D-Day landings going on, Sword Beach being nearby.For a change a bunch of peaceful hotrods and vintage motorcycles filled in to produce the usual pratt-pratt and vroom-vroom. Even our very own Paul with his '41 FL Knucklehead did his best to keep up the decibel levels.

2019 - Roll & Flat, Caorle, I

It's a good family tradition with the 50 Brothers CC to ask their friends to a gourmet feast on the beach once a year.
The specialties that get served up are international top notch cuisine: Well aged prime cuts of the (mainly American) horse power industry, spiced up by their owners according to all known rules of the arts of hopping up, decorating, welding, brazing, grinding, boring out, flow benching, accessorizing and wrenching.

2019 - Veterama, Mannheim, D

One fine Saturday morning a small bunch of intrepid motorcyclists gathered at an ungodly early hour (OK; so it was 7 am) to set out on an expedition to the past.
There was no real plan, but something would turn up, it always does. That's what Veterama was invented for, anyway. If you come to find something specific, you lose out in more ways than one. You spend endless hours and strain your nervous costume, and IF you do find the thing eventually, your money is gone as well. So much better to think of Veterama as a way to spend a few happy hours among friends. Great if you make it there without traffic jams, if the sun shines full power and your first beer is ready for you when you arrive.

2019 - Custom Stage II, Hof, D

Already two years since the last Customizers' East bash. Now they had invited to the 2nd "Custom Stage", to keep their reputation for righteous meets growing. Customizers East (the East in their name coming from a time, wenn their German hometown of Hof was one of the most easterly places in the free world) started as a loose band of dudes iin 1987 nterested in everything wrenchable, not even stopping at slotcars.

2019 - Oelich und Froehlich, Hemmingen, D

You give me a party, I give you a party! It all started at W&W Gladbeck's HonkyTonk Party a couple of years back. Arguments were flying over the finer customization details of a two-wheeler. Possibly Sporty. Accounts differ. The circle of debating experts grew, and soon it was decided, that important questions like this should be debated with even more people, more time, more bikes and more loud noise. One party could never be enough. So, shortly after the 2nd Helter Skelter Custom-Show Pre-Party (see our report) a committee of experts set out from Würzburg on a Panhead, an E-Glide, a Shovelhead, and a custom Kawa to Hemmingen near Hannover. Where Ölich & Fröhlich (could be translated as "oily and fun loving") number 2 was due to take place. A small event in a bucolic setting, lots of room for your tents and a show area, bar, stage, seating and the very recommendable food stall(s). The details made the experts' hearts sing, especially the many custom bikes. It was hard to see where the parking lot ended and the show area began, which tells you something about the quality of bikes on show.

2019 - Punta Bagna, F

June is the time for the highest high, the loftiest ride: Punta Bagna. As if this wasn’t enough for a righteous party, the summit of all the custom destinations was able to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The Magic Bus was there to help the party along, and the cherry on the birthday cake was the brand new S&S motor fresh from our warehouse.
After a 14 hour cruise the yellow Furthermobile scraped around the last hairpin bend and dropped anchor on its by now traditional moorings in Valloire. While others still were setting up their tents, we already surfed on the good vibes of sunshine and the waves of bikes rumbling up the switchbacks. Come evening, the bands tried their best to blow the birthday candles into the next valley.
The Friday saw the action climb new heights, a never ending stream of bikes shook, rattled and roared up from the deep valley below, up at the party zone there was an equally never ending „salut!“, „hello!“, „¡hola!“, „ciao!“ and „bottoms up!“, „Prost!“, „salud!“ and „santé!“.
Time had stopped, the sun beat down, the bands were going all out and the party was boiling higher than the horizon of the surrounding peaks.

2019 - Superrally, Himos, FIN

There are decisions in life that can have long consequences. In this case, the consequences were 2.000 kilometers long one way, 'cos we had decided to go to the Finnish Superrally. After attending the Czech and Polish Superrallies in the past years this year we again rounded up a few of our long distance-loving friends to bring you a few glimpses of what you were missing out on.
Who can forget the first Superrally in 1975, when a couple of European Harley clubs decided to get together once a year, switching countries every year. This time the destination was to be Finland, to be more precise the skiing resort Himos some 250 kilometers North of Helsinki. Yeah, that's quite a few gas stops to make when you start out from Würzburg.

2019 - Helter Skelter, Franconia, D

This was one of the afternoons that leave a hint of Milwaukee iron in the famous Würzburg area wines, together with a decidedly rubbery aftertaste on the palate. The way to the "Helter Skelter" Custom Show Pre Party went through well hung vineyards, as it did last time around. The first wave of tastefully modified sleds coming from Hannover and Fulda missed, as is now the tradition, the right exit to the grounds, while the guys from headquarters had painstakingly planned the route, but still needed 2 hours for the 30 kilometers :)

2019 - AMCA Raalte, NL

The last time we went to Raalte, our favourite cylinder count (2, for those who are new here) was king. But the AMCA this time just went on counting. When they reached the magic number 4, they stopped, and sent out the invitations. Knowing that AMCA stands for Antique Motorcycle Club of America it was kinda clear that there weren't going to be a lot of customized Jap 70s four-bangers in the parking lot. "Four Cylinders" was the word, and under blue skies not less than 50 (that's right folks, FIFTY) US-American four cylindered bikes found themselves parked in front of the American Motorcycle Museum in Raalte, The Netherlands. They were all there, Henderson, Excelsior, Ace, Indian, Cleveland, Pierce …

2019 - Hang 'em hi, Enköping, S

So last year we actually stumbled into this neighbourhood party by pure chance and guided by reflections of sunrays on chrome radiator grilles and endless upsweeps peeping over the hedges when we rode by on our long forked flathead. This year, we intentionally combusted our way to the Strul* MCC's get together in Enköping, Sweden. Which went under the rebel yell "HANG ’EM HI" motto, meaning "High level hang out" or something of the like. The action was happening at the municipal Motorpark, which is situated in a shady grove in lovely Enköping.
It was a family afternoon in every way:tents, children, bike shows without the show stress, sissy bars with pallets of beer, open belt drives, upsweep pipes so long the noise got lost inside :). Most of the stuff on the bikes was home made in Sweden and adjacent countries. The bikes were relaxed. The people: relaxed, nordic and friendly. The night was a long one. We wouldn't be surprised to see some or all of those we had a beer with again at the Twin Club MC's Custom Bike Show in Norrtälje. See you later, dudes! Skol! Prost and Rømpømpømpøm!

2019 - Custom Bike Show, Norrtälje, S

Forks so long that the front wheels can get lost in the fog, a compressed air driven V2, loads of inspired Evo builds, a new category for custom e-bikes and a 1974 show winner back from the tomb. All this can mean only one thing: the Twin Club MC Norrtälje has asked to its Custom Bike Show.

2019 - Born Free 11, California, USA

The things people out there do to their sleds even on a normal day somewhere, is usually pretty amazing. Here at Born Free this goes into overdrive. Or low orbit. Or to the moon. Just to see and appreciate all the more normal takes on classic themes would take weeks, considering the sheer number of bikes on display here in the Oak Canyon Park. Or just being parked in the visitors' space.

2019 - Matchlight, Eindhoven, NL

After checking out the Flanders Chopper Bash in Belgium we rolled a few miles over to Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
The 2nd Matchlight Motorcycle Show is the perfect extension of the Chopper Bash. Outstanding bikes, but this time under a roof. Around 30 machines were on exhibit, many Harleys, but metric stuff as well, lovingly chosen, no, curated.
There was incredible detail to be appreciated, starting at the handcrafted rocker boxes and not stopping with the mile-deep paint jobs, with hundreds of hours spent on getting it just right.

2019 - El Diablo Run, San Felipe, Mexico, Race Day!

We spent last night distributing locally sourced lubricants in our own innards with the expected effect of a non-dynamic start into the day. Think clogged up moped carb. As a logical consequence (logical in the greater context of EDR) today racing was on the agenda. In order to not overload the aching noggins, there was the slow race, with girls driving and dudes on the p-pad. Setting down a foot meant instant disqualification. Yay!

2019 - El Diablo Run, San Felipe, Mexico, Day 2

First and only item on the agenda for today: Breakfast in Mexico! Slipped into Mexico with no problems, stopped in Mexicali.
Had some refreshments in a roadside kitchen where chicken and dog greet each other with “¡Mañana!”. Topped up the fuel tanks (no gas next 100 miles, and a Sportster tank)

2019 - El Diablo Run, San Felipe, Mexico

If you’ve known us for a little longer, or have been hanging out in one of our digital places, you may know that every now and then we pack up and go on a test ride. These notoriously end in unexpected spots, for example a boat on the Southern tip of Argentina, a bottomless mud track in Panama, a frozen river highway North of the polar circle or right beside the laid back birthplace of Daiquiri in Cuba.

It was about time that we went for another test ride: a couple of our Wrecking Crew dudes are doing this year’s El Diablo Run. They start out from San Diego on our Panamericana proven rigid Panhead and our scramblerized late model Sporty. They want to find out how far the knobby Bates Baja tires will carry them, and how the PanAm 60 weight handles the expected high temperatures.

2019 - Flanders Chopper Bash, Belgium

They say it’s best to get out while you’re having fun. Well, the boys and girls of the Flanders Chopper Bash may be on to something here. Even though the sheer numbers were again up from last year’s, the last ever Flanders Chopper Bash was as usual a furious festival of the bygone century’s finest machinery. There were Flatheads, Panheads, Shovelheads and Knuckles galore; Evos and Twincam were mild curiosities, and the rather unreal futurist Milwaukee Eight was as crazy as a unicorn for most. But no surprise here, they had it even printed on their poster: Custom Oldtimer Motorcycle Festival.

2019 - The ONE Moto Show, Portland

When The One Show went live for the first time in 2009, two items were on the agenda:

first, to celebrate motorcycles that had actually been built. Not could have, would have bikes, just plain and simple built bikes, ready to roll. The “one” bike, that someone, in a garage somewhere out there wanted to see the light of day. No matter if small or big, no matter if it had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or six cylinders, no matter which brand – as long as it was there.

Oh, and secondly, that the show would be twice as awesome the following year.

2019 - Okie Dokie Vintage Race, Kawagoe, J

If you missed the december 2018 Yokohama show (boooo!) and like your motorbikes loud and noisy (yeaaah!) instead of spending the day in a crowded hall, you were in for some real comfort a couple of days after the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show. Here comes the Okie Dokie Vintage Race.
It’s a dirt track race with machines that in any other place would stay in the sheltered space of museums. Here the parking lot alone looked as if half of the Yokohama show bikes had been ridden here by their owners.

2018 - Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show; Yokohama, Japan

The calendar is looking thinner than a narrow fork chopper. Which can mean only one thing: The Yokohama Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show is on. The Best right at the end of the year. A few precious hours of chopper bliss. Which looks like this:

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.

2018 - Glemseck 101, D

If you’re going to the Glemseck 101, you know what to expect. Burnt rubber, roaring engines, a load of homebuilt drag bikes, the big brands showing off their latest stuff, great atmosphere. In short, a meeting to warm the heart of aficionados. The only snag is, Harleys aren’t at the centre of events for a change.

Instead, it’s an impressive round up of German, European and Japanese bikes, plus all their incarnations derived from thoroughly mixing all their components, from NORZUKI to completely home brewed sprint monsters. And don’t get us started on the visitors’ bikes :)

2018 - The Noise Club - The Trip Out, UK

In the blue corner: the healthy rumble of the vintage internal combustion engine, exhaling through shorty pipes, if only you could hear them. In the red corner: the infernal wind noise (Arai certainly doesn’t mean “aero” in Japanese) courtesy of Autobahn speeds. It's the umpteenth round, and the referee decides to call time for a much needed gas stop.

Going to the Trip Out? No problem, if you live in London or Manchester.

2018 - Bombs Away in Backamo!

The shrill alarm rings “A-Bombers”!!! Our special “Wrecking Crew” commandos grab their bags and fire up their machines, Sweden bound. “A-Bombers” is the code name for a bunch of Swedish iron lovers who every year gather round them a load of other lovers of American iron, together with their vintage American machinery.

2018 - A as in Awesome

This disused part of Waterloo station is now the home of skateboarding aficionados House of Vans, who have made these railway arches under the tracks their home. Here they celebrate street art, skateboarding, music, BMX, and streetwear. OK, what’s all this got to do with Harleys …
There being a big overlap between the above activities and riding custom Harleys, House of Vans did the right thing, and gave the Assembly Show of custom bikes a temporary home in their awesome subterranean halls for the second time now. There was of course a ton of spraying, styling and skating going on, but the impressive halls, ramps and bowls had no chance against the bikes. They were the heroes for a night.

2018 - Old&PROUD, Pre-84 Meeting, Calafell, Spain

There’s weekends, and there’s WEEKENDS. This one was the latter. The Old & Proud weekend, the not-so-secret-anymore insider’s tip for the owners of Milwaukee tractors to have laid down their first rubber before 1984 is one such weekend, brought to you courtesy of Panheads Spain, Shovelheads Spain and the Valencia Chopper Crew.

And this is how Old & Proud works: take the right exit from the coastal highway, watch out for the “Welcome Old & Proud” banner, find the right forest track through the mountains until you see the sign “La Cantera Biker Bar”. A few more yards of rumbling through the foliage and there the welcome committee is lounging on an old sofa, guiding anything pre-Evo to the left into the old quarry. All others, car or bike, are politely detoured to the parking lot.

2018 - S&S Cycle, 60th Anniversary

Before anyone starts whippin' out their calculators: it's been 60 years now that S&S Cycle was founded.
The first kick was provided by none other than George J. Smith with his 1939 HD Knucklehead which he in 1952 had tweaked a little, giving her a little more bore (that was the easy part), and a little more stroke (try that at home).
These judicious measures helped him to garner a few race wins and a 152.02 mph run on the Bonneville salt. And eventually to form a company that at first with aluminium pushrods and today with everything from carbs to flywheels to exhaust systems helps to make those Milwaukee (just 170 miles from Viola as the crow flies) thoroughbreds a tiny bit faster.
60 years of making Harleys faster, if that isn't reason enough for a righteous birthday bash, then we don't know.
The guests had the opportunity to check out the inhouse museum, the production floors, the warehouse in Viola and the LaCrosse exhaust system production.
At the official friday night dinner company founder George J. Smith again told those tales again of nitro and alcohol from the days before electronic ignitions and injection systems, of historic race tracks and irresponsible speeds. And always there was the vibe of what S&S is all about: more horsepower. Going faster.

2018 - Swimmers Only

They say, it’s a sea. A sea of motorcycles. An ocean of Pacific sized custom madness. Well, let’s dive into Born Free 10 custom show and see, if what they say is true. But you better beware of your senses being drowned in this tide of bikes that swept into the Oak Canyon Ranch, California, the parking lot in front of it, the many parties and events on the days and nights before. And don’t get us started on the whale-sized crowds that flooded in with them.

2018 - Super is Go!

Going on a rally can be fun. It can be a wash-out. Or, it can be super. In this case, a load of super dudes came from all possible directions on their super rides to a super place to have a super load of superfun.
Does that sound right to you? It did to us, so off we went to be part of the Superrally at Bydgoszsz, Poland. Never heard of the place? No matter, it’s nestled between Lodz and Gdansk on the map of Poland and is a long way from where we live – almost 900 kilometers. Too much even for us to ride in one go, so we turned it into a super-relaxed cruise, with the first stop in Wagner town Bayreuth, where we picked up some friends coming from the Black Forest. The night was spent at the Customizers East’s club house, a drink or two included.

2018 - Rockin' da Rock

As the seasons change, summer in Sayoye turns yellow. A mythical transports winds its way from the boiling plains to the cool switchbacks under the clouds, big inching machines swarming round it, piloted by helmeted batallions, whose inner compass is firmly set for weekend fun.
When the altimeter in the ultimate hairpin reads “Valloire/Punta Bagna”, the yellow behemoth crawls to a stop between vendors’ stalls, parked bikes and more bikes coming in. We get a feeling that this party could be BIG.

2018 - No Show Pre-Party

You know, mates are quick to have wacky ideas. Let’s do a custom bike show in a derelict old industrial building, get a few gnarly chops, set them on some shabby chic pedestals … waiddaminit! Before we go to all that effort, let’s do the essential bit first, the pre-show-party. Let’s find a catchy name and a decent location. A location that means actually riding the bikes to!

2018 - Far Out North

Wide open throttle, the bird deflector busily deflecting birds, the Linkert butterfly vibrating in the staccato inhalations of our Big Flathead with its long springer pointed North, Norrtälje bound. The 80 cubic inches are filled with combusting gasoline, the ancient engine pushes the long forked beauty along with tractor-like thrust. The reason for this expediency is that we got held up at the Enköping “Hang Em Hi” longer than we expected. Still, we make it in time to the port town of Norrtälje, where the show opens at 10:00 sharp. Five hours later they already close shop again, the prize-giving being at 15:00. 5 hours to see 240 choppers, bobbers, trikes, Finnish CBR 1000 F baggers, Roman chariots and whatnot. OK, lets see what they have:

2018 - Speedo Al Lido - Roll&Flat, Caorle, I

Rev counters twitching all over the Mediterranean beaches. Riders giving their hosses the whip. Sand by the bucketful, being catapulted into the stratosphere. Si, signori (e signorine), for yet another (six, if you want a figure) time the Boccini Bros and the 50 Brothers CC asked to the Roll&Flat, the sandiest showdown in the motociclismo calendar.
But before everything else we take the ride in Jack’s ’58 Cadillac to the first pre-party of the weekend. Eraclea is the venue, and before you can say “two pizze with everything and molto cheese” we’re on our way back to the real pre-party. Well chilled fluids are in ample supply, the night’s sound track is being hand produced by the UB Dolls, four ladies working the electric guitars, the mic and the drumset, making the gents’ hormones dancing the stroker fandango into the small hours of the morning.

2018 - Fuel for Fantasy

Phew! We were almost relieved to find a few halfway normal bikes among the really well thought out and executed examples of custom machinery in this show of wrenching savvy, antiquated two wheeled transportation and plain good taste. You can tell these dudes think that time can’t be spent any better than in the garage and on the open road. The high percentage of awesome bikes went together well with the venerable venue, which is a complex of former industrial buildings dating from the 1900s, now in use as artists’ studios and event location, close to the shores of mighty Lake Erie. The FUEL Cleveland Show used the main hall, which is filled with artefacts ranging from vintage hoists, cranes and insects to mannequins and huge suspended geometric structures, giving a David-Lynch-inspired feel to the show.

2018 - Choppers' Paradise

With all the buzz around bobbers, cafe racers and scramblers, our long forked big flathead showed first signs of a depression coming on (drooping headlight, sagging sissy bar, clogged up carb) so we decided to bring it to its natural habitat for some well earned reconvalescence among fellow creatures. Sweden. Not only do they have there the longest forks on the planet, they also have the longest days!

So we strapped some gear to sissy bar and rabbit ear handlebars, pointed the long forks due North and kept her wide open until we saw moose in the lane going the other way. Well, almost. With a teardrop tank like she has, you’re well advised to stop at EVERY gas station that comes your way – or it’s teardrops of desperation and a long, sweaty push across endless forests if you haven’t got a reserve can somewhere tucked away. There are plenty of forests on the road to the legendary Norrtälje Custom Bike Show.

But what’s that: long before we’re even near our final destination, the roads fill with hot rods, US cars and: long forked choppers! That’s just what the doctor ordered for our bike. Strangely, she feels more relaxed and revitalized, as if all this had been long master-planned. And lo and behold, just as we pass through the town of Enköping, her side valves a-prattling merrily along an overgrown yard we glimpse through a hole in the hedge chromed fenders, long hoods, Chevy trucks, tanks in bright colours and endless front ends … WHAT THE FORK! We hit the binders, and after some perceived three minutes come to a dusty stop a few blocks later. We turn the long springer around and go back to that shiny apparition in the hedge. And what do you know, a few dudes wave us in and we ride through the hole in that hedge …

We’re not sure if our chopper had a hand in all this, but this CAN’T be coincidence. We park the bikes, get a beer and start chopper spotting. There’s a lot of them already here, and they keep on coming, VRATT-VRATTing and timing gears a-whining, through the gate.

A fine event Hi-Revs CC's and Lynchmen's HANG EM HI is, top notch bikes, nice people. We recommend it. If you’re the dude who wants some good company for his good old Harley chopper, try to be here next time.

The road to Norrtälje will be there tomorrow too, we decide, and get another cold one.

2018 - The Art Stuff

This year’s Art and Wheels Basel made it hard to decide where to go: inside they had this hand-picked collection of jaw-suspension threatening pieces of wrenching art. Outside, there were the terrific visitors’ bikes, parked in the glorious may sunshine. Anyway, the whole weekend was a feast for eyes and ears. Friday night they started off with the arrival of the exhibitors. There was a common dinner, and then it was off to the pre-party in a local place called “Kaschemme”. Even more promising than the club’s name (meaning dive, or gin palace) were the evening’s headliners: The Lords Of Altamont from L.A. and The Hip Priests from Nottingham, UK, throttled up their electric guitars to get those beer bottles really bouncing, the Lords pumping out a dark mix of noise and grungy depression, while the Priests got to it much more sprightly, and possibly even louder.

2018 - Dutch Kick Off

Premiering a major contender in the international custom bike show circuit is never easy. The dudes behind the first ever Matchlight Motorcycle Show got it right first hit though. Just one sec, Matchlight? Because of “Matching Numbers”? No, because Eindhoven used to be a major centre of matchstick production in the last century. Do you see the light? Well they did, as you can see. They found a top venue, lured the best vintage bikes to Eindhoven and the weather played along brilliantly. The former Philips factory was just right to house a skate park, a host of vendors for everything style related, rest areas, much needed refreshment vans and stalls and a smallish but excellently curated collection of custom bike jewels. The „Klokgebouw Cultuurhallen“ turned out to be just the place to be on a Sunday. A one-way-trafic system had been set up, so it was easy for visitors on their bikes to parade around a little and fill the air with the sweet smell of burnt gasoline and hot rubber, to the delight of a youngish audience who had turned up in large numbers.

2018 - Six Town Chopper Show, UK

Some say Six Towns, the others call the town that’s been wrenched together from 6 villages: Stoke-on-Trent. That’s where they have a century old china factory, now converted to an awesome venue, and a few miles over to the left they keep the fine Stoke Speedway. So, what do you do with all that on a weekend in middle England? Right, you organize a chopper show in the factory, and on the day before you lay on a flat track race. Not a revolutionary idea, but a solid premiere for the Six Town Chopper Show.

2018 - Mama's Got It

When roundabout one hundred first rate builders are coming to dance, it must be Mama who called. The Milwaukee, Ill., Eagles Club Ballroom was crammed with visitors swirling around the beautiful bikes, that had been parked on the dance floor. Good for us to have shown up early, ’cos to get a clear view of the bikes and their often marvellous details was somewhat difficult later in the morning. There was excellent inspiration for that next wrenching session to be found, no matter what style. The ballroom was a temporary cross-section of the world’s customizing history, from the almost-as-found ratty Knuckle bobber to the glam-and-glitter chopper, from the 70s racer with Japanese genes (fully faired) to the 1903 French bicycle with an early auxiliary motor.

2018 - One-Derful

We’ve been straining our noggins for years now, still we haven’t been able to figure out, what makes the Portland, Oregon ONE SHOW such a special thing. Sure, it might be the bikes of all makes, that just stand there in dreamlike perfection. Well, they’ve been selected very carefully by the team around Thor Drake of See See MotorCoffee Co. because space is limited even with 59.201 square feet to play with. Every one of these bikes ist just like, you know, the ONE bike you always meant to build. To build with that engine you’ve had lying around in your garage for years now; to build from that basket case you bought from your pal, ‘cos his wife needed the space in the basement; to build from that barn find to make a true believer cry, or from that old clunker that’s been toiling under your weight now for so many years.

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.

2018 - Got Wheels?

Foreversixwheels: it’s grinding the curbs on four wheels and cruising the night on two of them. Fueled by wrenching bikes, music and the urge to skate the days away a few dudes got together and let it rip. For a couple of precious moments we were invited to come along for the ride through this wild and wonderful world round Columbus, Ohio.
After a little welcome party, the next morning at around eleven we got off to “Ride or Die”. Naaah, it wasn’t quite as dangerous as it sounds. The plan was to take the bikes around the city’s skate parks, give the boards a good shake and move on. There were all kinds of bikes, classic Trumpets and late model Harleys, with some Hondas in between, neatly tweaked to accomodate the all important board rack.

2018 - AMCA Meeting 2018, Raalte, NL

Clearly we’re not talking about the endless green pastures where tasty wheels of cheese are being produced, we’re talking about the annual meeting of the „European Chapter of the AMCA“. AMCA as in Antique Motorcycle Club of America. This year’s motto “Export Green” was referring to the typical green paint job on Harley-Davidson’s export models in the 20s and 30s.
But what the AMCA members rounded up at the American Motorcycle Museum in Raalte/NL for this year’s show was far more than just a breathtaking exercise in Harley-Davidson paint history:

2018 - Linkert Attacks, Jars, F

(Barn find of the digital kind)
When our French friends called for us to come again to the Linkert Attack rally to Jars in France, we felt just as Ulysses on his ship must have felt like, when he heard the sirens’ song. So on the kick starters of our ‘37 EL and ‘41 FL we jumped and went off for some 800 kilometers of French country roads. The fine weather made the ride a pleasure, even the numerous French farmers with their huge combine harvesters blocking the road were having a fun day. Overtaking them was a bit of a challenge for our ancient steeds, but on the long farmer-free stretches we breezed along merrily, the trusty V-Twins droning underneath us.
Our traditional last stop before the rally usually is on the terrace of the Restaurant de Rempart in Sancerre, where we moisten our parched throats with a first glass of glistening local wine, grand views over the vineyard-filled valley included. John from England is already here, celebrating his 50th aniversary. Not a normal birthday, mind you, because he is actually 77 already, no, he’s celebrating 50 years in the saddle of Harley-Davidsons. He doesn’t even have a driver’s license for cars. Chapeau, man!

2017 - Harley Days Hamburg

When we take the average chopper rally as a benchmark, this one is definitely different. The numbers say it all: 400.000 spectators lining the streets, there are 8.000 bikes, they have a big, fat, massive parade, 50.000 spectators are crowding in the partyzone. This is one big inchin’ mother of a Harley party, and they know it at the Hamburg Harley Days.
The spacious grounds around the Großmarkthalle are solid with parked Milwaukee steel of all flavours. We take a walk among the thousands of hogs, and enjoy the customizing artists’ efforts to promote custom culture, even when we don’t find many bikes of our favourite vintages.

2017 - The Trip Out, England (Chopper Island)

A wild bunch of raindrops, single digit temperatures, sunshine over rolling parkland, mediterranean trees. In the midst of it all choppers, a sweet little swapmeet, a few merchants selling apparel, beer, tasty burgers. Cool music was on. A great weekend at the Trip Out. For some, it is a trip, and a lengthy one too, to the island in the maelstrom of time: Bentwaters Park, where decomposing planes and hangars are the only distraction during the week. For a few precious hours this cold war relic (complete with museum) was an island of good taste in the sea of customizing liberties.

2016 - Dirt Quake V, England (Dirt as Dirt Can)

So they promised us a couple of hours of dust, dirt and a bunch of lunatics going in counterclockwise circles. Who would not drop everything, load up the truck and set off for one of the finest motorcycling events there is. Ever. Dirt Quake. Bike racing on a dirt track for bikes that weren’t made for that sort of thing. Sounds like proof for our long standing suspicion, that the Brits are several plates short of a complete … um, we had that already.

BEYOND THE DIRT THERE’S FUN.Or the other way round, we couldn’t find out. Anyway, DirtQuake is being organized for the fifth year running now by the very fine crew of Gary Inman, head honcho and impresario of Sideburn magazine. Which is the authority on everything dirt track. Or to put it more general: motorcycling culture of the faster kind.

Of which there was a lot. Across all brands and makes, styles and flavours. Vintage English bikes of course like BSA and Triumph, but also home brewed Vespas, chopped mopeds, hide covered Japanese bikes, Bultacos, Ossas, racing bars, apehangers, shining customs, flat black and rotting 80s wrecks. The riders too were out in style or whatever you call it when a dude dresses up as a frog, complete with helmet. Or as Marge Simpson.

2016 - Roll & Flat, Caorle (Rocking the Beach)

Once a year, on the beach of Caorle, Italy the sandworms and crabs have to be very brave: a wild mob is tearing up the sand, when the '50 Brother CC is having their Roll & Flat beach race. Exclusively for cars and bikes of 68 vintage and earlier.

To take advantage of the training sessions we got there early. Racing on a flat beach Daytona style it's not something you get everyday round here. So we rise early, have a light breakfast and hit the beach track.

The first few meters tell us that this beautiful beach will be no walk in the park with Rudi's '55 Panhead and the '48 Pan from our headquarters. After some chilling on the beach we ride the convoy to main sponsor BCC's party zone. We wash down the excellent fingerfood with even more excellent cold beer. After that we get a glimpse of Boccins workshop, where they do the wrenching with heart and soul. If you're in the area, give the guys a call and see for yourself.

But there’s a race on tomorrow, and we head for the hotel. Unfortunately, we get waylaid by the Mosquito bar. It jumps us with its famous liquor filled chocolates. Deadly. On the other hand, tomorrows racing is just going in a straight line, we’ll manage. We think.

2016 - The Trip Out, England (Trip till you Drip)

A guy setting out on his old Shovel at 4 am on a pitch black morning to check out a bunch of way cool choppers in mid England, listen to a handful of obscure bands and spend the night in his flimsy one-man-tent can only have one destination: The TripOut. But, if that weren’t tough enough, England has more to offer, like its traditional rain. Woe to the man who forgot his rain gear. Like the nice bloke on a rigid Sportster we met outside London at a petrol station. His smart phone had predicted a pause in the rain that had been drizzling away all day, so from his several bikes he had picked the fenderless Sporty for the ride to the TripOut. Big mistake: the drizzle didn’t care what the smart phone said, it went into overdrive. I almost felt guilty in my waterproofs when I saw him slip-sliding around the roundabouts in my rear view mirror, getting sprayed all over and soaked to the bone. Bummer! Double bummer was, when he had set up his tent, to his horror he discovered that his sleeping bag was drenched too.

2016 - The Call of the Spessart Forest

When the Harleysons MC calls, the echo from the forest of legendary bike rallys is a deep rumbling from historic air cooled engines.

Historic too was the reason the call went out to gather in Erlach, Germany. 500 years since the Deutsches Reinheitsgebot (the German law governing the making and marketing of beer) had been set down. If you ever needed a reason to party, this was one of the better ones. Far away from human habitations the Erlach grounds are the ideal meeting place for vehicles that are propelled by the ponderous explosions of fuel mists in dark and voluminous iron tubes. No one to take offence at the loud band, too. Heaven.

Concerning the beer, no mass produced suds from tanks the size of container ships here. Craft beer brewed up by ambitious hobby brewers too is less than welcome here in the homeland of traditional microbreweries. The impressed guests were delighted to find a choice of very local beer varieties, served well chilled from small kegs. Aaaahh! Even the wine afiçionados from France forgot for one weekend their favorite red wine to sample these German delights.

2014 – Kustom Kulture Forever, Herten, D

(A barn find of the digital kind)
Got there early to set up camp. With the bus there's not much to do, though. Rain is falling hard, and the move from the old grounds to the Zeche Ewald in Herten, Germany proves a true powermove. Not long ago the weekend would have been a mega mudwrestling event with weather like that. When the doors open to the public, everything is ready for a first rate bike show – if Old School is your thing. Chopped Evos are pushing the envelope with their "modern" engines, stylistically they fit in perfectly with all the old clunkers. Some 150 bikes of all makes are on display, Harleys, Nippon bikes, BMWs. Not many Limey bikes though. Many booths are selling custom parts, handmade parts, used parts, T-Shirts and whatnot. The Magic Bus provides a nice backdrop for our own bikes, the vibes are relaxed. Bikes are constantly coming and going, a crackling symphony of idling air cooled engines. Just watch, listen and enjoy.

2014 - Speedweek, Bonneville, USA

Meeting people at parties and meetings is the salt in the soup for every true wrencher. A shared beer (one each, to be sure), a little chat about the nightmares in the workshop, a couple of ideas for the next project, and Bingo! You have a plan.
Anyway that's what happened to John and Tom Jørgensen from Denmark. Their plan was to celebrate their 50th birthdays on the racetrack. The first venue was the Orsa Speed Weekend on a frozen lake in Sweden last winter. There they were having fun with a huge iron barbecue, which had loads of combustible power, but speed was lacking. It was however put to good use in securing a steady flow of tasty meat to the hard working W&W crew also at hand at Orsa.

2013 - Headbanging, Finsterwalde, D

(A barn find of the digital kind)
It’s a thursday, the weather report is favourable. We think it would be a shame to miss this weekend’s noisefest at Finsterwalde, way east of Würzburg. They’ll be having a 1/8 mile drag strip set up. Ancient American, Brit and German vehicles (on two and four wheels) are welcome. Rumours speak of cold beer. Always wanted to check out this event. So we grab a Panhead, the Servi-Car and four guys and set out for the Headbanging at Finsterwalde, organized by Hot Heads East.
450 km later we coast to a stop on an ex-Russian airbase, a bit run down, but very cosy. Around us a seething audio mix between percolating V8s, the potato-potato of Harly V-Twins, booming AWOs and the banshee-like shrieking of MZ two-strokes. The smell of burnt rubber and two-stroke oil is in the air. In the hangar, the size of a … erm … pretty humongous hangar, folks are going wild to the music of Rock-a-Billy-ing string instruments. There’s heavy chatting about engines, cubic inches and all the rest, and cold beer is gushing into our highway-dried system. Whoa, better ease off the suds, tomorrow we’re to drive in a straight line still.

2012 - Mooneyes Swapmeet, Tokyo, J

(A barn find of the digital kind)
You can never be too early at a swap meet, especially if said swap meet is taking place in the land of the rising sun. You know you did it right when the sun is still rising while you shake, rattle and roll your way to the 7th Mooneyes Motorcycle Swapmeet in Odaiba/Tokio, Japan.