Best of the 2011 AMD Championships

The results are out and the winners have been announced but what bikes were our favourite custom motorcycles from the 2011 AMD Custom Bike Building Championships?

Over the last few years the look of the AMD lineup has changed dramatically with the popularity of Cafe Racers and other custom styles gaining popularity, customised Harleys still make up the majority of entries with their own category, but the freestyle class has evolved into a dramatic mix of styles, manufacturers and builders. As with every motorcycle featured here the bikes we loved the most are of course the Cafe Racer influenced builds but there are a few other bikes here we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to post.

And the winner is…

This year’s Freestyle class was taken out by Ken Tabata of Japanese workshop Tavax Engineering for his bike titled Tavax 2011V. Looking like a prop straight off the set of a Terminator movie, the 2010 S&S powered beast is a polishing cloths worst nightmare with chrome and polished alloy making up 99% of the bike’s bodywork. While the styling isn’t our cup of tea it’s easy to see why this bike impressed the judges, countless hours of forming the organically shaped bodywork have certainly paid off.

A very respectable second place…

UK workshop Lamb Engineerings “Son of a Gun” made serious waves around the web a few months back with the likes of Bikeexif featuring it on their homepage and now they have an AMD second place to add to that hype. The 1951 Goldstar BSA was pieced together with the engine from an old race bike, scrap from a “friends bin” and parts sourced from eBay. Well over 1000 hours went into the build but the total budget came in at less than $10,000USD which goes to show anyone can build an amazing bike if they are prepared to devote the time to it.

Grabbed our attention…

How could we not love Fuller Hot Rods “Rodan”, it was built as part of the Discovery HD Cafe Racer TV series. We’ve all seen the mighty Honda CB750 transformed into a Cafe Racer before and they’ve done a great job with this bike and although it’s not the best looking CB Cafe Racer I’ve seen it’s been done right. All the unnecessary guff has been ripped off the CB leaving it looking clean and a whole lot lighter. Smart modifications to the suspension also make thisAMD entry one of the most practical motorcycles at the show.

I featured french workshop V-Twin Mechanics “Spacester” earlier in the year and it’s great to see it pick up an award at the AMD. Although this bike certainly won’t be to everyone’s liking it’s a fresh, forward thinking approach to bike building. The Spacester is a mix of Harley Davidson, Yamaha and Suzuki components shrouded in meticulously hand formed sheet metal. This is the sort of styling I’d expect to be seeing from mainstream manufacturers in the not too distant future…Tom Cruise would happily be seen on riding his own Spacester.

Start up cycle – Brogue CB750 Nighthawk

These two motorcycles named “Bolide” by Kraus Motor Co and “Challenger” by Iacona Customs caught my eye. They are both based around Harley Davidson engines but are so far from the usual custom Harley style that I have to say I like them. Both have a tracker look to them and are simple, clean and non-offensive. Very nice indeed.

The only sidecar entrant that took home an award was Abnormal Cycles “Union” and it was well deserved. The Unions steam punk styling and muted colour scheme made it stand out amongst all the bling and chrome commonly seen at the AMDs.

WTF special mention…

Every year at AMD you’re going to see a bike that is so unlike anything else at the show you’re left with a WTF look on your face and thisis that bike. I don’t really have much to say about it but maybe you do? Tell us what you think of this year’s entries with a quick comment.