With ten months to go for entries to the 2020 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building at INTERMOT Customized in Germany (Cologne, October 6-11), news of four new additions to the World Championship's worldwide program of Official Affiliate events.
In what will be a busy year of existing events and newly joined custom bike shows, 2020 will see no less than nine affiliate custom bike shows, in eight countries worldwide, with two of them in the United States, all sending their winners, and sometimes multiple qualifying builders, to compete at 'AMD XIV'.
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| The 14th AMD World Championship will be staged at INTERMOT Customized, Cologne, Germany, October 6-11, 2020 |
First up in 2020 (March 5-8) will be a return to the Czech Republic for AMD's Affiliate Program with a new show, The Czech Custom Grand Prix (in conjunction with MOTOSALON - the annual Czech motorcycle industry backed Expo) at Brno - the spiritual home of motorcycling in the Czech Republic (the annual Czech MotoGP is held at the Automotodrom Brno later in the year). Brno is in the south east of the country and is very close to, and easily accessible from, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary, making it an ideal central European Affiliate venue.
The same weekend, around 1,500 miles south, the World Championship Affiliate Program makes a return to Madrid for another new addition for 2020 - Motorama Madrid (March 6-8) at the 1960s all-glass designer loveliness of the Pabellon de Cristal with its spectacular views over the famous Madrid Royal Palace and cathedral.
April sees an Affiliate Program regular, the Moscow Custom and Tuning Show (April 3-4), where Russia's Dima Golubchikov (Zillers Garage) will no doubt be feted as a hero as Russia's, indeed eastern Europe's, first ever AMD World Champion following his 2018 win. Dima won through to the World Championship in 2018 from the Custom and Tuning Show.
Then it is on to Italy for an Affiliate Program stalwart - Biker Fest, north of Venice on Italy's Adriatic coast. A long-term AMD partner, 'Biker Fest' regularly provides the World Championship with multiple competitors - Italian customizers regularly score highly at the 'AMD', and it can't be long before the show hosts an Italian builder who goes on to be the World Champion, such are the high standards of the custom market in Italy.
The following weekend sees a first ever Affiliate show in Brazil - 'Bike & Art' Moto Brasil - in association with the Salao Moto Brasil, at the Parc Olimpico, Rio de Janeiro, on May 28-31. The program had an event in Mexico one year, and there have been two entries from an Argentine customizer before, but this is a South America first for the 'AMD' and a show we are very happy to welcome to the world stage.
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| Larry Moore scored 4th place with the much admired 'Kontrolled Kaos' at the 'AMD' in 2016 |
The same weekend sees a welcome return for the program to France for the Gérardmer Motordays at Gérardmer, near Nancy in North Eastern France on 29-31 May, located in the stunning Parc Naturel Régional des Ballons des Vosges with its exceptional riding.
France is another European market with superb standards of custom creativity and craftsmanship and one that is certain to provide an AMD World Champion before too long. Located very close to the German and Swiss borders, Gérardmer Motordays is ideally situated to also attract top builders from southern Germany and Switzerland.
The following weekend sees the 46th annual Custom Bike Show, Sweden, on June 6. Staged by Twin Club MC, in collaboration with the hugely supportive and motorcycle-friendly Norrtälje city authorities, this is the longest established AMD Affiliate show and is believed to be (by a few months) the oldest custom bike show in the world.
Twin Club celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and located on the Swedish coast around an hour north east of the capital Stockholm, the event regularly attracts some 200 bikes entered in six classes, with competitors coming from all over Scandinavia and northern Europe for what is one of the world's primary showcases of custom motorcycle design and engineering - competitors from Custom Bike Show always do well at the AMD World Championship, and Sweden is one of only seven countries to have produced an AMD World Champion in the program's 13 year history.
The focus then shifts to the United States for the first of our two Affiliates there for 2020. First up is a second year for the always popular Republic of Texas Motorcycle Rally, at Austin, Texas, on June 11-14, followed by a third straight year for the fast growing Cherokee Blue Ridge Run in North Carolina, September 11-13.
Both U.S. shows already have winners slated to enjoy an expenses paid trip to compete in Germany in October 2020 from their 2019 and prior competitions - including a World Championship return for Larry Moore of Moore Customs (Witchita, KS) fame, who won in 2019, having scored 4th place with the much admired 'Kontrolled Kaos' at the 'AMD' in 2016, and Brian Buttera, Buttera's Metal Werx (Lakeland, FL), who won at the 2019 Blue Ridge Run.
They will be joined at the 'AMD' in 2020 by Tim Dixon, of Gas Axe Choppers, TN, who was a World Championship competitor in 2018 and will be another returnee in 2020, having won the 2018 Blue Ridge Run, and Paul Shadley of Shadley Brothers (Whitman, MA), who took second at the 2019 Blue Ridge Run to qualify as an Affiliate Program 'Wild Card' entrant at the World Championship and round out the 2020 'Team USA' to four competitors.
AMD World Championship Affiliate Program winners receive the necessary expenses paid by the show for them to compete at the 'AMD', and our thanks go to all those organizers for their investment in helping to build the future of our industry!