A chopper motorcycle wins the European Biker Build-off 2022
A chopper motorcycle won this year edition of the European Biker Build-off.
The team at Bike-Farm Elle had to face a great rival, Harley-Davidson Bielefel, but gained nearly three times the votes with their Indian Chief-based Longfork Chopper “Purple Haze“ and took the title. Let’s see what happened.
The event
The European Biker Build-Off sees two teams competing to complete their custom motorcycle in three days, in real time, with visitors looking around. This year both finalists came from the region, and are based at just 30km from each other: Bike-Farm, the Indian Motorcycle dealer from Melle and Reibchen + Stegemann the Harley Davidson dealer from Bielefeld. At the end of the weekend, with 529 to 179 votes, nearly a 3:1 ratio, the audience chose Bike-Farm’s ‘Purple Haze’ Indian Chief chopper motorcycle as the clear winner.
The motorcycle
‘Purple Haze’, this is the name of the chopper motorcycle created by the team of Bike-Farm Melle, has been designed to impress!
Some parts come from the original motorcycle: the whole project revolves around the current air-cooled Thunderstroke 116 engine; plus, the motorcycle is equipped with alle the electronic wizardries also equipped on the original Chief Dark Horse. Therefore, this bike has
ABS,and everything include in the ride command: GPS navigation via the touchscreen of the original gauge now centered in a tank that has been taken from a Chieftain and redesigned.
Other core companets have also been adopted and adapted from the original 2022 Chief model: the most important are the footrests and the brake systems.
Everything else was built from scratch in house or commissioned. The Bike-Farm crew custom made from scratch all these components: all the sheet metal parts (including the tank cover with integrated gauge and GPS transmitter to the fender), the sissy bar, the seat, the wheels, the handlebars, the final drive, the intake, the exhaust system, and the seal-less, oil-free fork with its Teflon-lubricated sliding tubes incorporating Progressive Suspension Cartridges. They did an incredible job. Apparently, the only things commissioned apparently are the frame, which was built with a 48° rake by the Dutch experts VG Motorcycle Specials; the Lange Metallveredelung team took care of the chrome surfaces, and Vossi Lackcenter Melle traditionally handled the finishing of the paint.
That’s how you build a kick ass chopper motorcycle!
The thoughts of the winners
Ola Stenegärd, Director of Industrial Design at Indian Motorcycle, excited about the result of the competition said:
“A classic long fork chopper motorcycle based on the 2022 Indian Chief! It’s absolutely stunning what the Bike-Farm crew has created here. This bike radically brings to flower the seeds that are at the core of the current Chief lineup: The spirit of the past combined with the technology of today. We always had the builders in mind during development and we worked really hard to make the reimagined Indian Chief a delight to work on. So, it’s such a pleasure to see this great canvas used to create motorcycle art.”
Tristan Frische, Workshop Manager at Bike-Farm Elle, explained the work behind this incredible motorcycle:
“The entire bike was created within just eight weeks. With four men, we wrenched, shaped and turned day and night. All the more we are delighted with this title. Not only have all the electronic features been retained, but also the fully road legal, including remaining Euro 5. So, this dream bike will soon be seen quite regularly on public roads.”
That’s right, this motorcycle is road legal and can be ridden every day on public roads. Also, in case you feel inspired to build your own longfork Chief chopper motorcycle: the VG frame is available for order at Indian Motorcycle Melle, and the Indian Chief… Well, at any official Indian Motorcycle dealer, of course.
