At first glance it may not seem so, but the European continent is a hotbed for custom motorcycle garages and their insane builds. For decades already crews there have been flooding this world with unique interpretations of production bikes, more often than not individually, trying to make it into this competitive world without actual backing from the motorcycle companies they try to promote.
Occasionally, both Harley-Davidson and Indian, the nameplates that most often form the focus of custom builds, do try to reach out by setting up dedicated build-off competitions. That's exactly what Indian will try next year, with the third edition of the Budweis Custom Indian Motorcycle Show (BCS).
The event is part of the Indian Riders Fest taking place in Ceské Budejovice (Budweis), the Czech Republic, a gathering considered to be the world's largest of its kind: in 2022, for instance, no less than 2,500 Indian bikes flocked together in one place to be admired.
The 2024 edition of the event will take place on the weekend of June 13, and just like this year it will bet heavily on the custom bikes shown as part of the "only custom show 100% dedicated to Indian Motorcycles."
Next year Indian will award the best builds in no less than seven categories, with a Best in Show award meant to top them all off. Five of these categories (Indian Scout, Indian Chief / Non-Fairing, Indian Motorcycle Bagger, Indian Motorcycle Vintage, and Indian FTR / Sportbike) have been around before, but the other two are new.
The Indian Motorcycle ClubStyle / Performance Bagger class was introduced as a means to celebrate an ever more popular segment of custom builds. The new Indian Motorcycle Freestyle class tries to give a chance to projects that are not exactly street-legal but still deserve a closer look.
Indian has opened the registration books for those interested in taking part, and it will keep them so until May 31, 2024. Ride-in entries will be accepted until June 15. The only condition those planning to take part must meet is that their builds be able to start and ride.
The jury for the competition will be headed next year by 2012 Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee Brian Klock.
As a reminder of what happened this year during the competition, the Best in Show ride was declared a ride made by Germany's Bike Farm Melle. The Scout category was won by German Thomas Grewe, while the Chief award went to French Motomax Indian Metz.
France also came on top in the Bagger class with Diregus Ludovic, while Germany snatched, through Sebastian Neumann, the Vintage class. Finally, the same Sebastian Neumann was declared winner in the FTR / Sportsbike category.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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