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Cologne Fair

Intermot: Custombike World Championship trade fair

What is allowed is allowed

Premiere No. 1: For the first time, the best converters in the world showed their latest works at INTERMOT. 81 machines from 22 countries competed against each other in what is now the eleventh world championship of customizers. Premiere No. 2: In the end, a BMW won. From Belgium, not from Berlin.

W.As a visitor to the trade fair in Cologne, he eventually had enough of off-the-peg machines, found a welcome change in the custom bike show of the US dealers’ association AMD (American Motorcycle Dealer): 81 machines were parked there, all of them unique, all of them thought out and built in the finest handcraft and with mostly the finest materials, often deep inside the oil sump. The only requirement for the builder to compete in the battle for the title: the engine must start and the motorcycle must be able to move on its own. How long or how far? Doesn’t matter.

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New products: custom bikes

Intermot: Custombike World Championship trade fair
What is allowed is allowed

A favorite was quickly found

The winners of the individual categories are chosen jointly by all participants. Each applicant may assign a certain number of points to twelve motorcycles, excluding his own. A favorite was quickly found: the “Nurb’s” by Freddie Bertrand alias “Krugger”. The Belgian had already won the coveted title in 2010. Four years ago it was an idiosyncratic interpretation of the road racer with a V-Rod engine, but the focus of his current creation was also on the drive – although, or perhaps because, it was completely standard: the BMW six-cylinder from the current K 1600 was otherwise in this form none on the note. Krugger designed a completely new framework around the power plant. Technically, the rear single-sided swing arm with cardan remained the same, but was re-clad with frame tubes and aluminum panels to match the rest of the look. Up front, the Belgian invented a Duo-Telelever fork with a single-arm wheel suspension and packed the whole thing in a sheet steel chassis in Art Deco style. Hidden in it: the radiator, so that the mighty six-cylinder can display its muscles as openly as possible. The complex vehicle electronics remained, including all driving modes and the ABS, which now pass on its commands to huge Beringer single-disc brakes in the 21-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels.

The contrast to the second-placed “WSA” chopper from the Finn Veikko Sikkio could hardly have been greater. He had created a narrow, filigree two-wheeled work of art out of aluminum and stainless steel. The 800 cubic V2, outwardly reminiscent of a Knucklehead engine, is cast in-house, as are the dainty brass carburetors, the 19-inch wheels, the frame, the tank and so on are forged.

The Italian Francesco Bella took a completely different approach when he connected the 500 cc twin cylinder of a Fiat with a Rivera Primo gearbox, which is offered in the USA for refining Harleys, using various wheels, belts and rollers. The finesse that Bella also imparted to all other details of his “Abarth” earned him third place.

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