Harley-Riders Rock Budapest!
Words and pics by Horst Roesler, www.motographer.de
Slated as what observers are saying was a long four-day festival of all things 'Bar 'n Shield', Horst Roesler reports that festival fatigue had set in by the time the final afternoon came round.
"The modern sports stadium environment Budapest's Puskás Aréna Park around Hungary's largest soccer stadium provided superb facilities as there never was a shortage of toilets or other facilities, and the facility afforded comfort on a hot weekend in the air-conditioned show hall.
The "Custom" component of the event was divided into three sections, the indoor Custom Gallery as part of the indoor hall exhibition, Friday's Ride-In Bike Show and the Industry display booths with a high-quality display of great modified and customized Harleys from all over Europe.
Hosting the press attendance - some 230+ asked for credentials for the event - went smoothly in terms of getting the credentials, even though confirmations came late, but getting information or photographic access to key main stage events proved to be more difficult than at other and previous H-D events.
Visitors complained of long lines, unnecessarily long lines in my view, and Harley's appointed organizing sub-contractor committed that most heinous of event 'schoolboy/girl errors' by running out of merchandise at the Rally Packs and Merch retail points.
By the final day the public and visiting Harley riders had almost completely vanished from the event site, starting to pack at 3 pm and the custom bike show disappearing by 4-5 pm. Which is understandable at an event in a far eastern part of Europe.
However, Harley report that the faithful were offered a choice of more than 50 bands on five stages on four evenings - including international acts such as Airbourne and Wolfmother from Australia, Larkin Poe from the USA, The Picture Books from Germany, British rock band The Darkness and Glenn Hughes performing classic Deep Purple as the top act on Sunday.
VIPs included Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of Harley-Davidson, and Karen and Bill Davidson, great-granddaughter and great-grandson of William A. Davidson, one of the company's four founders. To the applause of appreciative spectators, more than 7,000 motorcycles rode in the parade through downtown Budapest.
There was, of course, a large exhibition of the new Harley-Davidson models and several classic Milwaukee bikes, including some of the Motor Company's most important creations. As part of this expo, the new CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide models were shown for the first time in Europe.
More than 70 Harley-Davidson bikes were test-ridden on the streets of the Hungarian capital and in the surrounding area. Special options included two-hour Pan America on- and off-road rides and free tours of up to 300 kilometers in length, led by experienced regional road captains, who took them to some of the most scenic spots in northern Hungary. A British visitor won the main raffle prize - a strictly limited Heritage Classic Anniversary edition.
Countless custom bikes were on display, and on Friday the most creative conversions from eight countries competed in the Harley staff judged ride-in-custom bike show supported by Metzeler.
More than 50 custom bikes from all over Europe - show winners and newly built Harley-based projects - were invited by Custom Gallery Coordinator Ondrej Hruza from Czech Republic. Ondrej was also responsible for the excellent 115th Anniversary custom bike display in Prague five years ago and had stepped in at a late stage to plan and organize the Custom Gallery.
One "unofficial" highlight of the first day was Custom Chrome Europe's unveiling of a CPR-built "Speed Bob", when Ivan Vukoja, the Custom Chrome Europe Team and the future owner of the themed custom Street Bob, uncovered the stylish creation at the CCE booth just next to the event's main stage.
Friday's "Ride In Bike Show" classes included "Classic", "Sport", "Tourer", "Cruiser", "Radical Custom" and a very creative selection of custom Pan Americas populating the "Advanced Off Road" class. The "Radical Custom" allowed almost everything, even off-brand engines.
Ivan Vukoja, builder of the CCE/CPR "Speed Bob" took second prize in the "Cruiser" class and the "People's Choice" award - quite a success for the Croatia-based builder who had only finished the bike that week! A RevTech powered custom bike by Dadak Custom won "Radical Custom" and the "Best of Show" award went to a stylish Race Bagger built by Marco Sonnino of Italy.
The Awards Ceremony for the four-day indoor Custom Gallery took place on the main stage on the Saturday evening, and was compered by AMD Approved Custom Show Coordinator and World Championship ambassador Onno Wieringa, with Karen and Bill Davidson making the presentations.
With many of Europe's parts and accessory manufacturers, distributors and dealers - independent custom shops as well as authorized dealers - information on customizing options was widely available; the 120th Anniversary brought the "main players" of the European custom scene to Hungary to meet riders from all over Europe.
Leading vendor professionals judged the prestigious Indoor Custom Gallery Bike Show. The selected jury of experienced custom bike specialists from the industry and press had the honor of selecting the top-five bikes with vouchers vouchers of € 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 were handed out to the top three places.
The variety of styles was outstanding and also covered a long timeline of show-winning customs that Ondrej Hruza had pulled together. This trophy ceremony took place inside the H-D display hall in front of the assembled customizers and exhibitors.
The "Public Choice" was a Walz/Augustin Motorcycles "Prototyp" Dragstyle Lowrider featuring lots of carbon and gold plating with a Rotrex centrifugal supercharged S&S engine. Augustin Motorcycles is the German company that keeps the tradition of the original "Walz Hardcore" custom bikes alive, and also had their own Augustin-branded show bikes on display.
The judges' choices saw Peter Penzenstadler (Penz Custombikes, Austria) in fifth with his sheet metal Bagger creation "Razzle Dazzle", one of the few Bagger type customs in the display, with "Arcadia" from DMC Toys 4 Men from Italy in fourth.
Second place and a pretty extreme custom was "History" by Vito Klemencic of VK Custom Works from Slovenia. His Flathead-based masterpiece was especially created for the 120th Anniversary and was more "Art-Bike" than meant to be ridable. A tribute to the history of Harley-Davidson as well as to the history of customizing, the extreme Chopper featured numerous "one-off" details and ideas.
Top honors and € 5,000 went to Italian customizer Mirko Perugini of "Gallery Motorcycles" fame - his 1920 J motor was enclosed by one of his high-class one-off rolling chassis with unique suspension and outstanding craftsmanship. Finished just two days before the show, the bike is fully dedicated to 120 years of Harley-Davidson, including the 103-year-old IoE engine.
Summing up the weekend, Kolja Rebstock, Regional Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is quoted as saying: "This was an incredible festival. It underlined the enormous appeal of Harley-Davidson and perfectly embodied the Harley lifestyle: we're about much more than just motorcycles. On behalf of Harley-Davidson EMEA, I would like to thank the organizers of the event, the Sportmarketing Agency Kft., the city of Budapest and of course the people of Hungary for supporting our synthesis of bikes, music and entertainment and for giving fans from all over the world a warm welcome. Our next major European event will take place in Faak, Austria, where we will welcome all bikers from September 5-10 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of European Bike Week."
Indoor Custom Gallery Bike show
Top honors and € 5,000 went to Italian customizer Mirko Perugini of "Gallery Motorcycles" fame - his 1920 J motor was enclosed by one of his high-class one-off rolling chassis with unique suspension and outstanding craftsmanship. Finished literally two days before the show the bike is fully dedicated to 120 years of Harley-Davidson, including the 103-year-old IoE engine.
Second place and €3,000 went to "History" by Vito Klemencic of VK Custom Works from Slovenia. His Flathead-based masterpiece was especially created for the 120th Anniversary and was more "Art-Bike" than meant to be ridable. A tribute to the history of Harley-Davidson as well as to the history of customizing, the extreme Chopper featured numerous "one-off" details and ideas.
€2000 was handed to Hazard Motorcycles for their great Carlo Riva and Ferruccio Lamborghini inspired "Ghisarama" in third place - created as a tribute to the traditional "Riva" luxury boat manufacturer.
"Arcadia" from DMC Toys 4 Men from Italy came fourth.
Peter Penzenstadler (Penz Custombikes, Austria) came fifth with his sheet metal Bagger creation "Razzle Dazzle".
The "Public Choice" was a Walz/Augustin Motorcycles "Prototyp" Dragstyle Lowrider featuring lots of carbon and gold plating with a Rotrex centrifugal supercharged S&S engine motor.
Ride in Bike Show
The "Best of Show" award went to a stylish Race Bagger built by Marco Sonnino of Italy.
Ivan Vukoja, Croatia, builder of the CCE / CPR "Speed Bob" won the public prize and took second prize in the "Cruiser" class.
A RevTech powered custom bike by Dadak Custom won the Radical Custom class.