AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building to Remain Suspended for 2022
AMD Magazine owner and World Championship of Custom Bike Building owner Robin Bradley has announced that there will NOT after all be an 'AMD' Finals staged at the Cologne, Germany Expo in October 2022.
The 'AMD' program will therefore remain suspended for the foreseeable future "as we examine options for the future of the event program - options that represent a viable, sustainable and future- facing formula."
Evaluating the history of the 'AMD', Bradley says: "When we started to get involved in lending our magazine name to supporting custom bike shows in Europe in the 1990s (with Custom Chrome), the best years of the custom parts and accessory market were still to come. As the custom build market burgeoned in the 2000s, the AMD World Championship (as the event had become) thrived. It certainly did much to change the structure, staging values and profile of the custom motorcycle show scene. I am proud to be able to say that most would subscribe to the view that it did so for the better of the market and provided a timely and much needed injection of integrity - especially where class structures and judging have been concerned.
"There is no question that the 'AMD' remains a popular and powerful concept that is admired worldwide. It has proven to be a viable and valuable showcase for the design and engineering excellence that has always existed, and still exists, within the international custom motorcycle market.
"An important part of our mission has been to 'spread the word'. There was a large element of 'singing to the choir' about the custom show industry before the 'AMD' program gave it a focus that a wider public could relate to. It became essential that custom bike builders the world over were able to reach a wider audience, and we are very proud to have played a part in achieving that.
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| Dima Golubchikov of Zillers Garage in Moscow - seen here with 'Insomnia' - his almost entirely handcrafted, turbocharged Yamaha SR 400. Dima remains the reigning AMD World Champion Custom Bike Builder at this time. |
"What was once niche has become mainstream, and the effects had been able to be seen increasingly in the sales being achieved by the major OE manufacturers the world over in the past decade, and in the direction of travel that motorcycle design continues to take.
"Our mission now is to consult and rebuild the 'AMD' concept with a viable, relevant, future-facing formula that is sustainable in both financial and timescale terms. Whether or not such an event program can ever be evolved to be environmentally sustainable, or sufficiently so, remains to be seen.
"Initially that isn't the primary objective and, of itself, that is a whole other debate - one that affects all the shows and events in our industry and affects everything we all do. To start with the bigger story is to create the platform - then it can be retro-engineered, once we understand what it is we are driving.
"Our focus in the short-term will be to find an event formula that can be staged on a long weekend rather than the week-long undertaking that builders and dealers have been presented with at an expo such as INTERMOT; and at a venue (or maybe venues) that can nonetheless deliver on the quality of event staging that has become the 'AMD' hallmark.
"That formula will also need to be one that recognizes, indeed showcases and promotes the new school of design, engineering and performance excellence that the PTW industry needs to see to prosper if two wheels are to take their place as a transport solution whose time has come.
"The trick will be to do that without throwing away our market's heritage and, so far, I think that the versatility that we built into the 'AMD' formula from the start has proven to be robust enough for it to achieve that - we will never forget to dance with the girl who brung us!
"Finally (for now!), I want to pay tribute to Koelnmesse, the Cologne, German exhibition center that organizes INTERMOT, and to the IVM, the German motorcycle industry trade association that owns the show.
"Both have been outstanding partners who have dug deep and done much not only to allow the 'AMD' to prosper - and achieve many of its objectives - but also to help provide a platform that has allowed the custom motorcycle industry itself, and those making their living from it, to prosper, build their businesses and build futures for their families and lifestyles for their customers.
"Regardless of how the future of the 'AMD' now plays out, I for one will always regard having been able to play a small part in showcasing our market's creativity and craftsmanship as one of my greatest career achievements."