The Winners (from left to right): Satya Kraus, Ken Tabata and Larry Houghton
The official AMD World Champpionship Of Custom Bike Building, held annually as part of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, features some of the planet’s coolest motorcycles. Nothing here is off the shelf; all the competing bikes are feats as much of imagination as of skill and engineering.
That’s especially true for this year’s winners of the freestyle category: Ken Tabata’s first place, cheetah-like TAVAX2011V, Larry Houghton’s gilded but thrifty runner up Son of a Gun, and Satya Kraus’ elegant, simple Bolide in third place.
The Champion: Ken Tabata’s TAVAX2011V
Newly crowned custom bike of the year comes from Ken Tabata of Osaka, Japan, a new face on the custom bike building stage. The aluminum bodywork and hand-built pieces make the TAVAX2011V a complex beauty.What’s remarkable about the Son of a Gun, built by Larry Houghton of Lamb Engineering, is that despite its gold paint job, the whole thing cost less than $9,000. Houghton bought the 1951 BSA single cylinder engine on eBay, and turned to friends’ scrap bins for the rest of the materials.
3rd Place: Satya Kraus’ Bolide
In contrast to the TAVAX2011V, 3 rd place kraus Bolide is a work of elegant simplicity. Kraus puts only what’s necessary into his bikes, in this case, a 93ci S&S Shovelhead motor, telescopic forks and 17in Alpina spoked wheels.
Runner Up: Larry Houghton’s Son of a Gun
But as sweet at the top three freestyle bikes are, my personal favorite is the winner of the special Modified Harley-Davidson category. Italian Abnormal Cycle’s motorcycle.
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