09/06/2008 by info.

Given the current state of the custom motorcycle industry, closures are a sad state of fact….. however I’m really sad to hear that Kim and Cheryl Suter have decided to call it a day. I’ve always enjoyed looking at their creations and know they have a good reputation within the industry. The industry will certainly be poorer for losing them….

Good luck in all your future endeavours.

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09/06/2008 by info.

Flying Choppers from Finland have won a bike freight expenses contribution to compete at this summer’s 5th annual Official World Championship of Custom Bike Building (OWC) by winning this weekend’s (June 7) Custom Bike Show, Norrtelje, Sweden.

Organized by Twin Club MC, Custom Bike Show is the OWC program’s Scandinavian Championship of Custom Bike Building, and is believed to be the oldest established custom motorcycle competition in the world.

Hugely prestigious in a European context, the event pulls competitors from all over Scandinavia and the rest of Europe and is a one-day ride-in show staged in a downtown City Park in a model of community collaboration with the City authorities.

As ever, the standard of the event reflected the tastes and styles of custom design and engineering in that part of the world. This was the fourth year that the event had been an Official Affiliate, and the winner’s prize (given by Twin Club MC) is worth some 5,000 euro (nearly US $8,000) with additional prizes of some 3,000 euro (approx US$4,700) each for second and third-placed winners to compete at the annual Official European Championship.

This year saw Peder Johanssen of Hogtech (Sweden) take second place with the bike that he has built for the S&S Cycle 50th Anniversary celebration at La Crosse, Wi., at the end of the month. Peder will then be keeping the bike in the Unites States to also compete at the OWC.

For the first time, though, two bikes tied for third place, and the builders will share the prize. Swede Lasse Sundberg scored with his 40 inch over, Redneck-framed chopper that featured twin dual updraft carbs on an Indian Power Plus engine. He tied with Anders Goeth’s very tidy ‘Speed Bob’ bobber, which all points to the incredible diversity that this show produces and that the OWC Affiliate program promotes.

The event itself drew excellent crowds on what is the National holiday weekend in Sweden, and saw outstanding weather and excellent support from several Europe-wide parts and accessory distributors, including Custom Chrome Europe, Motorcycle Storehouse, MotoSpeed of Sweden, and Redneck Engineering’s Sweden-based European operation.

www.custombikeshow.se

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