Each May, the Adriatic beach town of Lignano Sabbiadoro, in northeastern Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia region, hosts Biker Fest International, which held its 40th edition earlier this year. Four months later, the same organization returns with Italian Bike Week. The fifth edition ran from Thursday, September 17, through Sunday, September 20, 2026.
What Italian Bike Week Is
IBW debuted in September 2022 under the Biker Fest team led by Moreno Persello and Micke Persello, who also publish motorcycle magazines. The town frames the two events as bookends, with Biker Fest opening the beach season and IBW closing it. Organizers have said they want to extend Lignano’s tourist calendar beyond the peak summer months. The aim is to make Lignano Europe’s best-known biker beach.
Where Biker Fest leans heavily toward cruisers and custom culture, IBW was built with a second focus: off-road riding. The event is based around Lignano’s Luna Park area and the nearby Guido Teghil Stadium, with an Off Road Arena on dirt tracks that once hosted the 12 Hours Enduro Lignano race.
Where Riders Come From
The event draws riders from across Europe, with an especially strong showing from Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Czechia, Switzerland, and France. This year also brought motorcyclists from farther away, including a 54-year-old from Istanbul who rode roughly 1000 miles to attend, along with others from Australia and the United States. Among the Americans were riders from Laconia, New Hampshire.
The Custom Bike Show
The highlight for many visitors is the Custom Bike Show, which organizers call Europe’s longest-running custom show. In 2026, it hosted the opening round of the Italian Motorcycle Championship, Italy’s series for custom and special builds, as well as a round of the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building.
About 50 bikes from across Italy and Europe competed in eight categories: Scrambler, Cafe Racer, Streetfighter, Modified H-D, Buell, Old Style, Metric, and Freestyle.
Best in Show went to Uwe from VM Cycles, the Friulian shop of Verner Ortis, who recently showed his work at Sturgis. Ortis unveiled the bike on the main stage Friday. It uses a Harley-Davidson Twin Cam 88 and was built for a customer in Kitzbühel, Austria. Details include a long hand-formed tank that flows into a split solo seat, disc wheels, and a mirror made from the cut and chromed bottom of a fire extinguisher.
RD Kustom of Marseille, France, won the Scrambler class with a Sportster 883 converted into a flat tracker. Czech builder Rod Custom Motorcycles earned first and third in the Buell class, winning with an 1125-based streetfighter named Taurus. Swiss shop Cool Man Customs won Freestyle with an S&S-powered chopper.
Treviso’s MC Cycles won Metric with a Moto Guzzi V50 chopper. Slovenian builder Simon Poplatnik took second with a custom motorcycle built from 1917 components, featuring hand-lever controls, a handlebar made from a pair of real bull horns, and a barrel employed as a fuel tank.
For the second year, IBW also ran the Artigliate Custom Contest for off-road builds. Paolo Massera of Brescia won it with a Ducati MX900, a motocross-style build powered by an air-cooled, two-valve Desmodue twin.
On and Off the Pavement
Free demo rides are the main draw for riders who come to see new bikes. Street models from Aprilia, Cyclone, Kove, Morbidelli, and Moto Guzzi were available starting Friday. Off-road demos began Saturday, with AJP, Can-Am, Honda, KTM, Rieju, and Yamaha offering scrambler, adventure, enduro, and motocross models. As a stop on its 2026 Live Tour, Honda also ran its Young Riders School, which gives novices as young as 16 their first time at the controls of a motorcycle.
Local motorcycle clubs run much of the riding program. MotoClub Sabbiadoro hosted two days of free Enduro Days sessions. On Friday, the club ran Enduro Moto-Therapy, which puts young people with disabilities on dirt bikes. The MV Adventure association led mini-raids on dirt roads, and new this year, participants could stay overnight at a mountain farmhouse in the Julian Prealps.
For street riders, MotoClub Danilo Vian led tours through the medieval town of San Vito al Tagliamento to Pordenone, which will be Italy’s Capital of Culture in 2027 and was hosting its Pordenonelegge book festival that weekend.
Also new in 2026 were longer helicopter tours by Alpen Rotor, covering the Venice Lagoon, Trieste, and the star-shaped fortress town of Palmanova.
The Rest of the Weekend
IBW includes much more than riding. The main stage hosted rock bands throughout the weekend, a book presentation, and a talk by Dr. Silvia Ave on recovering mentally from crashes and getting back on the bike.
Italian actor Giampaolo Morelli, known in Italy for the TV series L’ispettore Coliandro, was the guest of honor. He talked about riding his Sportster 883 through Rome traffic every day.
There were three parades. On Saturday evening, thousands of motorcycles rode through town at sunset in the Saturday Light Parade. Ciao in ciabatte was a procession of 1970s and 1980s 50cc mopeds heading to the beach. Saturday also brought a beard contest and a pin-up contest.
On Sunday morning, U.S. Car on the Beach brought more than 200 American cars, including muscle cars, hot rods, pickups, and vintage sedans, onto the seafront. That event has run alongside IBW since 2022, and this year’s top car was a 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe. A group of Boss Hoss riders, nearly all from Germany, also turned up, one on a bike powered by an 8.2-liter V8 making a claimed 600 horsepower.
Looking Ahead
The next event in Lignano is the 41st Biker Fest International, scheduled for May 20-23, 2027. Organizers have not announced dates for Italian Bike Week 2027.
Our bike review this episode is the Yamaha MT-03. Do not underestimate this bike; you get a lot of motorcycle for your money! Associate Editor Kelly Callan rode the smallest MT for several weeks, and that included commuting on it. One of the things that impressed her, was how the MT-03 acted like a larger motorcycle. Kelly also spent some time chasing Editor Don Williams through the canyons when he was on the Yamaha MT-07—obviously a much larger machine. She tells us about how it all went.
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We’re closing in fast on the 34th annual Biketoberfest, October 15–18, when all roads will lead to Teddy Morse’s Destination Daytona—the more than 100-acre motorcycle playground in Ormond Beach Florida. This week we get to hear all about it from Teddy Morse himself. With his trademark high energy and enthusiasm, he tells us all about his recently established Triketoberfest that happens the week before, and how the Destination Daytona complex turns into a full-throttle hub of demo rides, vendors, custom builds, live music, food trucks, shops, and nonstop pavilion energy. So, whether you’re on two wheels or three, whether you’re hunting parts or lining up a test ride; grab a cold one and soak up the energy and gorgeous Florida fall weather. This is one of the many Daytona Beach places where Biketoberfest feels like home. So don’t forget: make sure you download the Biketoberfest mobile App from Apple or Google Play or visit www.biketoberfest.org and we’ll see you there!
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Our guest this episode is Greg Arnold, Mecum’s motorcycle auction director. He bought his first bike at eleven, joined the company in 2011, and has spent more than a decade helping turn this incredible event into the place collectors, consignors, and dreamers all show up. Next February 3rd through 6th, Mecum will—for the 36th time, bring the world’s largest vintage motorcycle auction back to South Point, Las Vegas. That’s over two thousand bikes over four days. Board-track racers, barn finds, customs, race iron, and especially, those incredible machines that make the room go quiet. Greg gives us insight into what it takes to make this event work so incredibly well, and if you’re interested in selling your pride and joy, what steps you have to take to make it happen.
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Here’s quick reminder to check out our monthly digital magazine. It’s filled with everything you want to read on motorcycling, including some things you’ve probably not seen elsewhere. It’s absolutely free and you will find it on the Apple App Store and of course on Google Play as well.
Don’t forget to leave us your comments on our social media—we’re on all the usual platforms at Ultimate Motorcycling. We love hearing your feedback… so good or bad, please let us know what you think. If there’s something you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear those ideas too!
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