American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 215 June 2017 | Page 31

™
Winston Yeh of Rough Crafts,
Taiwan, with his MV Agusta,
“Ballistic Trident”, displayed in
conjunction with Ohlins
Krazy Horse’s Paul Beamish with
one of the many customized
Scouts he had on display
Paul Milbourn Customs with
“Titanium V” Moto Guzzi V11
Celebrating the creativity of the new
wave and Cafe Racer custom
motorcycle culture is at the heart of
‘The Bike Shed’s holy trinity of store,
social and show and, as an event, it
stands alongside the new generation
of events such as ‘The One Show’ at
Portland, Oregon, ‘Mama Tried’ at
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ‘Handbuilt’ at
Austin, Texas, ‘Born Free’ in California
and the Indian Motorcycle sponsored
‘Wheels and Waves’ at Biarritz, France
, rather than being “just another”
orthodox European or U.S. style custom
bike event, at which there is nothing
“craft” about the beers and nothing
salubrious about an experience that
may have gotten us to where we are
today, but isn’t fit for purpose where
motivating and engaging new
generations of consumers is concerned
as we already eye the third decade of
the 21st century.
“This is NOT a motorcycle trade fair,”
Dutch had said prior to the weekend,
“it’s an exhibition in a giant pop-up
member’s club, where everyone is
invited. There’s plenty of space to chill
out and enjoy the crowd, and people
tend to want to hang out all weekend,
soaking up the entertainment and the
vibe.”
Every element of this unique and
privately-run event is hand-picked by
the organizers and the bikes (and
Rocket Bobs’ “Speed Weevil”,
winner of Artistry in Iron last year
PDF Motociclette from
Bergamo, Italy
exhibit booths) are displayed without
ropes or barriers of any kind, “so
visitors can get up close and into detail
with their pictures.
“Every brand, retailer, artist,
photographer and exhibitor is selected
and approved by us. Every barista, bar
tender, burger (or salad box) and coffee
AMD World Championship of
Custom Bike Building winners and
competitors such as Rough Crafts
(Taiwan), Old Empire Motorcycles
(UK), Sur Les Chapeaux de Roues
(France), PDF Motociclette (Italy),
Black Track (Luxembourg), Rocket Bobs
(UK) and others.
However, in many respects the most
interesting development is the
involvement of Indian Motorcycle at a
custom bike show in which we
counted, at best, around ten Harleys
and two Buells. Onboard as an official
partner, Indian gave a UK debut to their
‘Spirit of Munro’ streamliner and Young
Guns of Switzerland’s ‘Miracle Mike’
sprint-racing Scout in advance of its
derring-do at the Essenza Sprint and
“Punks Peak” races at ‘Wheels and
Waves’ in June.
‘The Bike Shed’ is able to leverage
some 647,000 Facebook followers and
105,000 Instagrammers, and Dutch
says that “we reach and engage with
around 5-6 million people in the weeks
of our annual events. Our online social
media reach is genuinely global and
100% organic. ‘The Bike Shed’ main
website serves 700,000 pages a month
to around 200,000 unique users - and
the BSMC is privately owned and run
by family and friends.”
www.thebikeshed.cc
bean is tried and tested, and the
organizing staff are all bike-loving
volunteers and members of the Bike
Shed Motorcycle Club (BSMC). The
event is extremely family friendly, safe
for kids, and enjoyable for non-bike
riders as well as custom aficionados.”
Pro-builders this year included prior
Live art at the Davida booth
www.AMDchampionship.com
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JUNE 2017
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