As this edition of AMD Magazine closed for press, more than 85 custom bike builders from 30 different countries had confirmed plans to enter over 100 bikes in the five classes of the 13th AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building at INTERMOT Customized, Cologne, Germany, October 3-7.
By far the largest number of entries is to the Avon Tyres Freestyle Class, from which the 2018 Avon World Champion Custom Bike Builder will be chosen by the competitors themselves.
The largest total field ever seen at the ‘AMD’ was in its second year when it was co-staged with the 2005 Custom Chrome Dealer Show at Big Twin West at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas. With some shops entering as many as five bikes into the same class, the rules were refined to restrict total entries to two bikes, with only one in any given class, therefore we’re unlikely to reach this artificially high number of competing bikes again.
As the downturn took its effects on the domestic U.S. builder community and the Freestyle Class formula started to showcase the changing nature of the custom industry, the event moved to Europe in 2013 (after seven years at the Sturgis Rally) and has seen its popularity and competitor numbers growing annually ever since.
The move to INTERMOT in 2014 and the creation of INTERMOT Customized in 2016 has made the ‘AMD’ the highest attendance custom bike competition in the world. The results of that popularity have been dramatic and immediate with record numbers of competitors set to field over 100 bikes for the first time since the ‘AMD’ was established as an independent show.
Verified as genuine ‘runners’, World Championship bikes are always among the best builds seen anywhere in the world in its biennial cycle, with at least half of the bikes making their global debut at the ‘AMD’. With most of Europe’s major custom parts and accessory distributors, many of the leading custom shops, builders, vendors and OE manufacturers set to showcase their custom market offers, it looks like all 22,500 sq m (over 240,000 sq ft) of Hall-10.1 at the Cologne Exhibition Center in Germany will be used, which may well make the ‘AMD’ and INTERMOT Customized the largest custom bike competition and indoor expo ever seen.
Explaining Avon Tyres’ decision to sponsor the Freestyle class and the World Champion Custom Bike Building award, Dog Ross, Head of Global Motorcycle Tyre Sales for Avon, said that “as a company Avon is proud of its heritage and, as a custom bike tire market trend setter, we are especially proud of our reputation as the tire of choice for so many of the market’s greatest and most innovative designers and craftspeople.”
Avon’s pedigree as a custom bike tire maker came to the fore in the ‘70s, thanks largely to its work with custom bike legend Arlen Ness. Its Venom product quickly became the favored option for custom builders worldwide. The Cobra range offers extra wide sizes for custom bikes and a number of whitewall variants. Avon continues to work with the makers of the modern classic bikes that form the basis of many custom builds.