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European Bike Week attracts many of Europe’s most famous bike builders and some of the most interesting custom machines in the world. Many of these European builders compete at international bike contests, such as Daytona and Sturgis, and in many events and other countries around the globe.  Custom bike builders like Fred Kodlin, Marcus Walz, Holger Schnell, and Fred Krugger are just a few of the top named European custom motorcycle builders who compete and show off their machines at European Bike Week each year.

Motorcycle events and custom bike shows are a couple of primary opportunities for builders to promote their custom-built machines, and increase their popularity in the biker communities. This is also a golden opportunity for builders to increase their sales, which is the main part of their operations that keeps them in business. “We’ve sold quite a few of our custom motorcycles at bike shows and motorcycle rallies,” said Gerhard Remment of the Bike Farm, a custom bike shop located in Melle, Germany. “We’ve also had many occasions when a customer would see one of our custom machines on display and come up and say, ‘Could you build me that same bike but in a different color?’ We do a lot of good business at motorcycle events, and things are especially good at European Bike Week.”

Custom motorcycle parts can also be a major part of any custom bike builder’s business, and most all successful builders have their own special line of custom motorcycle parts, clothing, and accessories. Personally, I’m a bone-stock OEM type motorcycle guy, but I’ve customized many of my previously and currently owned Harley machines with a truckload of aftermarket custom parts. Every biker is not going to buy a custom-built motorcycle, but the majority of them are going to buy some sort of aftermarket custom parts for their original production bikes, so it’s extremely wise for a custom bike builder to manufacture and produce their own line of custom parts. Even though The Motor Company has a pretty thick book that’s loaded with OEM and custom parts, there’s still a lot of competition in the aftermarket motorcycle parts business.

The majority of the European custom bike builders who attend European Bike Week not only display many of their custom bikes, but they also have a variety of their line of custom motorcycle parts and related items available for immediate sale. They also do a lot of on-the-spot installation of many of their custom parts, which gives the rider instant gratification.

Like previous years, the 2010 European Bike Week custom motorcycle shows were broken down into several different categories, so the bikes competed against like-type machines. A few of the different categories included Sporties, Dressers, ground-up custom builds, radical, and old timers.

Click here if you missed Part 1 of European Bike Week.

For more information on visiting European Bike Week and the custom bike shows, log on to www.europeanbikeweek.com