“If you want to see extraordinary custom bikes, they are here,” stated one visitor pushing through the crowd on Sunday. “I’ve been here at the Phoenix Hall ever since the event was moved to Mainz and opened to the public and I’ve never seen the same bike twice.” Europe’s market leader in custom parts again has teamed up their show with the AMD European Championship of Custom Bike Building to create one of the best shows in Europe. A hundred awesome custom bikes from all over Europe participated, competing for three tickets to the World Championship at Sturgis, South Dakota in August 2008 and $60,000 in prize money.

“The quality of these bikes is just incredible,” stated Custom Chrome Europe’s President Holger Mohr. In 2008, the show marked the big comeback of the German builders, as two out of the three top Freestyle-class bikes came from Germany and (almost) every other first prize was won by a “made in Germany” custom bike. Top honors and the prestigious European Championship went to Thunderbike at Hamminkeln, an authorized Harley-Davidson dealership, which is well known for their 2006 bike Spectacula.

Second place went to the Sturgis-experienced French team of Riverside Motocyclettes for a stunning one-off low rider that was as radical as the brake system was dangerous (it used bicycle brakes instead of disc brakes!). Nevertheless, this compact bike caught the attention of the other builders who at this show were also the judges. Stunning design, advanced technology, and the most radical choice of tires (Ice-racing nails!) I have ever seen on a custom bike won TGS from Bavaria the third ticket to Sturgis. The Seppster shares the name with last year’s show-winning creation but is in fact a completely new creation with a one-off frame, single-sided fork, and turbocharged S&S 96 cubic-inch V-twin. The Freestyle class again attracted some of the wildest custom bikes from all over Europe, but the Modified Harley-Davidson category, this year with a 31-bike strong field, did exhibit some extraordinary craftsmanship. The Custom Chrome Motorcycle class highlighted the best bikes built from CCE’s motorcycle kits. Again, TGS scored top-honors in this class with their Voodoo Child.

Text: HRF, Fotos: Frank Sander (FS), Guido Lukoschek (GL) and Motographer.de