American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 175 February 2014

™ OUR NOW IN 1 At 2YEsR T H E O N LY M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E W O R L D W I D E V- T W I N PA R T S , A C C E S S O RY A N D P E R F O R M A N C E I N D U S T RY Big Bike Europe & AMD World Champs in alternate annual deal with INTERMOT F OLLOWING the wellreceived debut of the Big Bike Europe (BBE) Expo at Essen, in May 2013, organizer AMD Magazine has been invited to stage the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building at the internationally respected INTERMOT Expo (October 1-5 2014, Cologne, Germany). The AMD World Championship will rotate between INTERMOT and Big Bike Europe as alternate-annual expos at the Cologne Expo center – the next BBE therefore being in October 2015, and biennial thereafter. Industry reaction to Big Bike Europe was almost universally positive in terms of both concept and organization. However, date issues were a primary factor in a promising but modest first year attendance. Rather than taking advantage of a four week earlier spring date option, the decision to co-join the AMD World Championship with INTERMOT and make BBE a biennial autumn/fall expo achieves three objectives. It recognizes a fall/autumn timing preference that was voiced by many exhibitors. It capitalizes upon the attendance and frequency of the world’s premier international motorcycle October 1-5, 2014 industry event. It reduces the expobudget burden on that (large) part of the international vendor community in Europe that already exhibits at INTERMOT. INTERMOT routinely attracts between 200,000 and 250,000 trade and consumer visitors, from some 117 countries. As such it is by far the best attended international motorcycle exhibition of its kind in the world. “Prior to the initial Big Bike Europe announcement in 2011, there had already been dialog about whether to co-join the AMD World Championship with one of the largest of the established shows,” explained organizer Robin Bradley. “However, the choice of spring or autumn/fall dating was always a 50/50 coin-toss, and both still have valid arguments in their favor. It is only by trying each option out that we can establish the best possible long-term formula for the project. “The mission has always been to provide the custom motorcycle market with access to the largest possible audience of motivated and relevant customers. This has always been our primary driving force, and has informed Continued on page 6 >>> When Pontus Abrahamsson built The Slippery Eel it was never intended to be a show bike, but that didn't stop it placing in the top ten at the World Championship of Custom Bike Building FEB 2014 ISSUE #175 NEWS MaroloTest modular lift program BRADLEY REPORT PRODUCTS