98 bikes, 85 competitors, 30 countries
Russian customizer Zillers Garage scored a convincing first place in the 13th annual AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building at INTERMOT Customized, Cologne, Germany, October 7.
With ‘Insomnia’, Zillers’ Yamaha SR 400 based masterpiece, rising star Dmitry Golubchikov takes the coveted title of Avon World Champion of Custom Bike Building for the next two years, and becomes the first winner of the AMD World Championship from Eastern Europe.
Sponsored by leading custom tire manufacturer Avon Tyres, the Freestyle class at the AMD World Championship is internationally recognized as being the premier showcase for originality, innovation craftsmanship and advanced custom motorcycle design and engineering.
In a very broad international spread of top honours, second place and first reserve champion went to Omar Jumiran, all the way from Malaysia for ‘BoneX’, his exquisite handbuilt, race-inspired AJS 350 engined drag style one-off special. Omar qualified to compete at the AMD World Championship as a result of his win at MotoNation, Kuala Lumpur in 2017, one of the international network of AMD’s official affiliate custom bike shows.
Third place and second reserve champion went to Károly Orkonyi from Hungary for ‘Speedster King’, his futuristic 1700 cc handmade rigid.
Altogether 51 bikes competed in Freestyle, with no less than 13 different countries featuring in the top 20.
Fourth place went to Pavel Malanik from the Czech Republic for ‘Beast of Brooklands’, a handmade one-off replica of what itself was a handmade one-off JAP engined racer, of over a century ago, that was built by North London Garage (NLG) in England to hold the then World Landspeed record.
Fifth place was taken by 2013 AMD World Champions Don Cronin and Mick O’Shea of Medaza Cycles (Ireland) with ‘Stechmücke’, a remarkable re-imagining of a 1981 MZ250 - complete with 1920s art deco streamliner styling.
In total 98 bikes competed at this year’s AMD World Championship, entered by 85 individual competitors from 30 different countries including as far afield as the United States, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia and India.
The ever-popular Modified Harley-Davidson World Championship was won by Julian von Oheimb of One Way Machine with ‘Silver Storm’, a 1450 cc 2001 Softail Deuce.
In an extremely high quality field, this year’s Retro Modified win was taken by VM Cycles of Italy, with a 1942 WLA SV 750 cc engined Flathead with a BSA military style M20 drivetrain - almost entirely handmade with stainless steel and brass accessories.
Also flying the flag for Italy, the Cafe Racer class was won by FMW Motorcycles with ‘Hurakan’, an S&S Superstock Avon Tyre-shod 1968 Shovelhead.
In the demanding Street Performance class, the win was taken by Paul Milbourn of the United Kingdom with ‘Titanium V’ - an 1100 cc Moto Guzzi weighing in at just 155 kg.
In an AMD World Championship first, respected German retailer Detlev Louis sponsored a public choice vote, with the win taken by Szajba’s Garage of Poland - a clear choice taking more than 10 percent of the hundreds of votes cast.
Staged as the lead feature at ‘INTERMOT Customized’, the show-within-a-show concept created to showcase custom industry excellence at INTERMOT (Cologne, Germany, October 3-7 2018), the AMD World Championship was widely praised by exhibitors and visitors alike as delivering an inspirational and aspirational show environment that champions the outstanding craftsmanship and innovation of the international custom motorcycle market.
In addition to the AMD World Championship bikes, the 150,000 plus high-mileage riders that visit INTERMOT Customized saw presentations of custom excellence from a wide range of exhibitors that included several of the leading OEMs such as Harley-Davidson, BMW, Yamaha and Kawasaki.
Additional Hall 10 features included displays from popular Sprint race series, a Garage Area featuring customizing, technical and workshop displays, and history and memorabilia from the Ace Café, London.
The 14th AMD World Championship will be staged at INTERMOT Customized at the Cologne Exhibition Center (Koelnmesse) in October 2020.
A complete archive of all World Championship competing bikes since 2004 can be found at the programme’s website, www.amdchampionship.com – the site will be updated with the full 2018 bike photography and tech specs.
Full results are as follows …
Freestyle Top 10
1, Zillers Garage, ‘Insomnia’, Russia
2, Eastern Bobber Custom Work, ‘BoneX’, Malaysia
3, Marusius, ‘Speedster King’, Hungary
4, Pavel Malanik, ‘Beast of Brooklands’, Czech Republic
5, Medaza Cycles, ‘Stechmücke’, Ireland
6, Mannaia, ‘Flying Marla’, Italy
7, Radikal Choppers - 70s Helmets, ‘The Skinny’, Italy
8, Union Speed and Style, ‘SourKraut’, USA
9, Anarchy Custom, ‘Rise of Anarchy’, Romania
10, Roth Engineering, ‘Indian Super Scout’, Sweden
Modified Harley-Davidson
1, One Way Machine, ‘Silver Storm’, Germany
2, Lord Drake Kustoms, ‘Speedster’, Spain
3, PMS Bike, ‘HD3- Spritz’, Italy
Retro Modified
1, VM Cycles, ‘VM 003-16’, Italy
2, Abnormal Cycles, ‘Anniversary’, Italy
3, American Dreams, ‘Iceman Scout Boardtracker’, Italy
Street Performance
1, Paul Milbourn Customs, ‘Titanium V’, United Kingdom
2, Zen Motorcycles, ‘Ducati 900 Turbo’, France
3, MatCustom, ‘Alpha’, Russia
Cafe Racer
1, FMW Motorcycles, ‘Hurakan’, Italy
2, Zillers Garage, ‘Jawa 500’, Russia
3, PDF Motociclette, ‘Quadrophenia’, Italy