Custom Motorcycles
Freddie ‘Krugger’ Bertrand is now wearing the World Champion’s ring after being named the 2010 AMD World Champion of Custom Bike Building. on Aug. 11 at the famed Sturgis Rally.
The bike with which he claimed the title was built for Veon Motorcycles’ owner Peer Toftner and features a unique electronically adjustable frame system developed by Peer 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 Thunderstruck Custom Bikes. 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 tracks 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 seen in the event’s 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 United Kingdom, another first in the show’s seven-year history.
About Veon Motorcycles:
Founder/Owner (100%): Peer Toftner (age 44)
Veon Motorcycles is run out of Sarpsborg City in Norway.
Peer Toftner says: “I hold a Masters Degree in Robotics Systems Engineering (1990), and have around 20 years of professional experience within the fields of industrial automation and automotive engineering/R&D. I am the inventor of the Veon Adjustable Motorcycle Concept. I had the idea for this concept back in the mid 90’s, and started to work actively with the concept development in 2003. An internal, test-bench, full scale prototype was built and tested by 2005.”
“The preliminary engineering phases were carried out in parallel with patent applications, which led to the filing of patents in 2004. Patents were granted in the USA and Norway in 2005. Regarding patents, a new application has been filed in 2010, which opens for a global patent coverage process / pending patents from 2011.”
In 2006, the process of designing and engineering the second, Industry-Standard / Concept-Demonstrator / Show-Bike that now has been presented at the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building 2010 started. As a first step in this development process, a contractual cooperation with Krugger Motorcycles / Fred Bertrand was established, and shortly thereafter, a similar contractual cooperation was initiated with Mark van der Kwaak of dbbp.com.”
“Mark van der Kwaak and myself worked closely together on the basis of the existing patented solutions, and due to Mark’s participation, new, and more advanced functionalities for the vehicle adjustment were developed. Mark has also been responsible for all CAD design for the frame / chassis / adjustability mechanisms for the Veon Prototype bike.”
“Fred Bertrand has been the designer and builder of the complete Veon Prototype bike. Fred and I decided together to aim for a 70’s cafe racer style bike. Fred then went on to build a fantastic looking bike, based on a V-Rod powerplant, Beringer brakes, Rizoma controls, Wild Hog seat, RSD wheels and TRP shocks.”
About The World Championship
The Official World Championship of Custom Bike Building program encompasses some 18 events in total, in 16 different countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, The Netherlands, Ireland, Czech Republic, South Africa, Russia, Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Total public attendances at events involved in the program regularly top one million motorcycle enthusiasts a year, in markets worth some twenty million motorcyclists and nearly one billion consumers in general.
The World Championship of Custom Bike Building is supported for the long-term benefit of the custom motorcycle industry by a consortium of Official Partners. World Championship Partnership is only available to selected potential sponsors. The Program’s organizers issue invitations to be associated with the World Championship to custom motorcycle manufacturers, motorcycle parts, accessory and service component manufacturers, distributors and brand owners based on their perceived suitability for association with the aims and values of the program.
The current Partner line-up is: Kustomwerks, Rivera Primo, Harley-Davidson, Ride Wright Wheels, Big Dog Motorcycles, Motorcycle Storehouse, Kibblewhite Precision Machining, J&P Cycles, S&S Cycle, Arlen Ness Enterprises, ACCEL Motorcycle Products, Black Hills harley-Davidson and K&N Filters.
The World Championship of Custom Bike Building exists to showcase and promote international custom motorcycle design and engineering quality, craftsmanship and innovation; and to promote the evolution of custom motorcycling in ways that will help secure the unique enjoyment of custom motorcycles for future generations of riders.
