American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 251 June 2020 | Page 22

Timing is Everything - AMD Affiliates in Spain and Czech Republic In a case of remarkable timing, the first weekend of March saw two AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building Affiliate Shows go ahead in Europe (in Spain and the Czech Republic) - just days before the real potential severity of the coronavirus became fully and publicly apparent - that weekend was the last on which any motorcycle events took place in Europe. We are pleased therefore to present our report on them both… Motorama Madrid March 6-8 2020 A FFILIAT E Words by Neil Blaber Pictures by Alvaro Cabezas, custommachines.es One of the newest events to become an AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building affiliate event was Motorama Madrid, which took place at the Pabellon de Cristal, Casa de Campo, over March 6-8. The timing of the event was really tricky - with the concerns about coronavirus already swirling around the Spanish capital, not surprisingly the attendance was down on previous years, but the show still drew an excellent crowd of around 28,000 fans. Spain has always been a great market for bikes at the 'AMD', and the Motorama custom bike show featured 30 bikes from 20 competitors in Custom, Performance Custom and Cafe Racer classes, with prizes sponsored by Custom Chrome Europe. The organizers invited two well known 'AMD' stalwarts to act as judges - Noel Connolly (Flame-Art Design, Ireland) and Lasse Sundberg (Roth Engineering, Sweden), with me in my 'AMD' ShowMaster capacity as Chairman to mediate between them if there were disagreements. The bikes also had to complete a run test on an outdoor circuit during the event in order to be eligible for a prize. Custom class winner and Best in Show was Old Custom Flames' "Setente y Siete" ("77"), a 1977 FLH 1200 Shovelhead, featuring a handmade springer front end and swingarm, handmade gas tank with inset gauges, one-off forward controls and numerous other handmade parts finished in bronze and brass. Builder Ricky C. Lopez won an invitation and travel expenses to compete at the 2020 AMD World Championship at INTERMOT Customized, Cologne, Germany, 6-11 October. A very competitive Performance Custom class was won by TooHard Motor Co with "Throwback", a 1998 Triumph Trophy 1200 scrambler with modified frame featuring a Triumph Daytona 675R swingarm, Öhlins shocks, Triumph Bonneville Bobber tank and seat, and Triumph Thruxton 1200R wheels. Sueca Iron Performance Cycles won the Café Racer class with "Bolt D'Or", a 1982 Honda CB900 with modified frame, custom wheels, Yamaha inverted forks and brakes, Barnett clutch and Öhlins shocks. www.motorama.es Best in Show and Custom class winner was Old Custom Flames' "Setente y Siete" ("77"), a 1977 FLH 1200 Shovelhead. Sueca Iron Performance Cycles won the Café Racer class with "Bolt D'Or". Performance Custom class winner TooHard Motor Co with "Throwback". 22 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JUNE 2020 www.AMDchampionship.com