Wednesday 11th August 2010
Freddie 'Krugger' Bertrand is now wearing the World Champions' ring after being named the 2010 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building.
The bike with which he claimed the title was built for Veon Motorcycle's owner Peer Toftner and features a unique electronically adjustable frame system developed by Peer (pictured, left, with World Champion 'Freddie' Krugger) in conjunction with Dutch designer Mark van der Kwaak. At the flick of a switch the V-Rod engined bike can be transformed from a low-riding cruiser with long rake to sport bike mode with a shorter wheelbase and steeper rake. The radical machine even has two sets of foot controls to match each style of riding.
Krugger's win in the Championship follows on from third places in both 2004 and 2005, a 13th place in 2008 and another third last year.
The highest placed domestic builder for 2010 is second placed Mark Daley of Thunder Struck Cycles. His placing reflects the level of engineering involved in the building of the engine in his entry - Sniper. The Indian Powerplus motor used in the bike has had the inlet and outlet ports reversed with the heads welded and machined to allow the correct sized valves to be operated by the reverse grind cam.
For the first time in the Championship's history a builder from Belarus brought a bike to Sturgis and was duly rewarded with third place for his efforts. Yuri Shif, the proprietor of Yuri Shif Customs took inspiration from German '30s race cars for the styling of his long, low bike and then took the German influence even further by joining two early BMW Boxer engines at the cranks. Not satisfied with the engineering needed to achieve that feat he then reversed the rear pair of heads to allow him to feed all four inlet ports via a supercharger.
Having already placed in the top three in the Freestyle Class at the 2010 World Championship of Custom Bike Building it became a double celebration for Yuri Shif when he was called to the stage to receive the Metric World Champion's trophy too, having won the class by a clear margin.
The European domination of the results sheet continued with Sergio Bayarri, of Sbay Motor Company claiming the win in the Production Manufacturer class with his race inspired Flying, The bike, which replicates Ducati geometry has been developed and tested on European race track and the tires show the strain of hard riding on the track.
With support from Harley-Davidson and a Screamin' Eagle motor being awarded to the winner, the competition in the Modified Harley class was the stiffest ever seen in the events history, and once again it was a European builder that triumphed. Shaw Harley-Davidson's Strike True II polled the votes in the judging and saw the trophy heading to the UK, another first in the show's seven-year history.
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Friday 14th May 2010
Some 3,000 riders and a total attendance of around 20,000 people turned out for the 2nd annual Mad Builders Motorcycle Rally and Custom Show held over Mexico's National Holiday weekend (May 1st to 3rd, 2010) at Jocotepec, Jalisco.
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