Goldmember by Roger Goldammer – 2008 Freestyle 1st place
The results are in for the 2008 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building held this past week in Sturgis. Some very familiar faces and names are trophy winners, foremost among them, Roger Goldammer with Goldmember took top honors in the freestyle class. Coming in 2nd was Hot Dock with StG Nautilus. 3rd place went to the rather interesting Seppster 2 Ice Racer from Tobias Guckel of TGS Motorcycles in Germany.
Metric 1st place went to Jim Giuffra of AFT Customs in Martell, California with Er Hed.
1st place in the production manufacturer class was Delaware American with their Tech Twin American 13c. 2nd place went to Nick Gale’s Little Miss Dynamite
Photos below:
Hot Dock’s StG Nautilus – 2008 Freestyle 2nd place
TGS Motorcycles’ Seppster 2 Ice Racer – 2008 Freestyle 3rd place
AFT Customs’ Er Hed – 2008 Metric 1st place
Delaware American’s Tech Twin American 13c – 2008 production manufacturer 1st place
The look of custom bikes is definitely changing. The bikes are still radical but some are actually functional, imagine that. Goldmember, the overall winner is a 164 mph, single cylinder, supercharged Bonneville racer. I’d call that functional. Even the builders that are reluctant to move in that direction have to see the writing on the wall for the non functional stretched garage art we’ve seen for far too long. Those builders can certainly continue on that course if they wish but the trend and their market are going elsewhere.
Link: AMD World Championship
FREEMAN says
Very nice. Mad props to Goldmember.
tim says
OK. Its Sturgis. But come on people: surely you must be getting bored with narrow angle high displacement V Twins with separate gearboxes? One of the reasons Ive enjoyed Roger Goldammers bikes so much is the willingness to use “different” engines. Two strokes even. I must say I do like Goldmember. (tee hee)
B*A*M*F says
That’s a nice bike. The others are really oddly proportioned. Maybe that does it for some people but not me.
I’ve got to agree with Tim. I’m not one of the people who goes to the custom bike shows. I’ve never been to Sturgis, but I’m bored to death of the Harley derived custom bike. There has to be something else out there that is interesting. It’s a real pity there isn’t another successful American motorcycle company (doing something other than narrow angle V-twins), because if there were, I would be not only interested in spectating, but designing and building something for this type of competition.
Jon says
I want to see a Ducati custom. A beautiful motor that actually WORKS.
davidabl says
I’ve actually seen the Goldammer bike. 97% go, 3% show, by
the looks of it. Nice change from the other way around. A zero
chrome bike, except for internal parts.
davidabl says
…and of the other bikes shown here, only the “Delaware American”
looks like even 50% “go”, 50% “show.” Unless that’s a 200 on the
back!
tim says
The ice racer has potential to “go” also. Though all the ice racers Ive ever seen have had full coverage fenders, for obvious reasons. They get amazing “drag your elbows” lean angles. too. And ridden by men with balls of steel!
ROHORN says
A) Nothing is stopping any of you from building a bike. Nothing.
B) How many of you ever liked Harley derived customs anyway?
Azzy says
Is it just me, or is the Delaware American bike the only one that has turn signals?
Or are the rest purpose built for the track? (well, except the ice racer, that looks to have a definite purpose)
tim says
Rohorn, I lack money and talent. I also like bobbers. Have a book about them even.
redmarque says
Hey! everyone’s got talent, and you don’t have to spend a fortune to build a ‘custom’ bike. Use your head, hands and most of all heart.
B*A*M*F says
You’re right, nothing is stopping me from building my own bike. However, were I interested in entering show competitions I would likely lose if I choose not to build a Harley derived bike. That’s my point. As far as doing it anyway, it’s on my list of projects to tackle while I work at a company with awesome fabrication capabilities.
hoyt says
Jon: “A beautiful motor that actually WORKS.”
A Buell Thunderbolt 1200 cc air cooled motor provides good torque in a powerband for the street while getting upper 50 mpg when ridden casually.
I’d say it works fairly well for its intended purpose even under the uber performance expectations. It also has pleasing looks.
HD-bashing comments aside, engine diversity at the bike shows would be a welcomed addition. Goldammer is doing that to some extent by lopping off cylinders and supercharging the remains. If that doesn’t interest you, then I don’t know what will.
Ever notice all of the R1’s for sale in the cycle trader? You know, those “engines that work” (they must work too well for the street)….go out and buy one and build your non-HD custom.
Clive Makinson-Sanders says
Id prefer that the custom market stayed in the stretch chopper phase. The guys who made the chopper a joke will do the same thing to cafe racers, board track racers, and whatever else they think will make them $100k per bike.
Jar says
“A fortune” is a relative term – $2k, $5k, $10k, $25k+, all different levels of pain for different individuals, and, to a good degree, influences the final product to significant extent.
I’m on the same page as Tim and BAMF. I like seeing other powertrains going into customs.
The difficulty of dealing with liquid cooling (largely packaging and hiding cooling apparatus), and the width of most alternative powertrains (4 cylinder) is likely what keeps us from seeing many more customs built around these. Or maybe it’s the ease and simplicity with which air cooled, carb’d, narrow twins go into just about anything you can buy off the shelf.
Any way you slice it, seems to me there’s some opportunity on the other side of the fence.
For some time (well, since the old American Flyer segment in Cycle World, that I can’t find pics of anywhere), where there was a guy that did an RC51 chopper – utlizing much of the stock frame, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of using Honda’s superbike twin as the basis for a custom powercruiser.
Sticking with the twins at least gets a narrow ride, of course one is still left with the liquid cooled nature, unless making the Ducati thought real – in which case you have to deal with a laydown cylinder. Neither issue a deal killer, but coupled with the inability to buy a kit, or other prefab as a starting point, puts such a pursuit out of the reach of many.
At the end of the day, having some real talent apply themselves to building around a rotax twin, duc, RC51, TLR, or the like would be cool to see…
Of course, the Roger Allmond Triumph Rocket 3 was an awesome piece of alternative work…..so the landscape is not completely void.
kneeslider says
Jon,
If you want Ducati powered customs, you can check:
Mark Savory
Roger Allmond
13 Choppers
among many others.
Jar,
For an RC-51 powered custom, check out GC Cycles, the custom bike building part of Gregg’s Customs, he has the GC-1000, which is pretty slick.
B*A*M*F says
I don’t mean to bash Harleys. They’re fine bikes. I’m just not into the formula of long wheelbase + HD engine + gorgeous paint job + acres of chrome.
It would be amazing to see more than a handful of builders stray from the formula. The ones who have certainly have impressed me.
Derek says
I have seen a chopper out of Honda inline 4. it gives you the feeling that it is lamb in sheeps clothings. like it is trying to be something it is not. it gave me an uneasy feeling. just not right.
i think one thing can be agreed upon in here:
chrome sucks!
the twins have a diffrent sound. i think that is why they are used so much so the bike sounds as awsome as it looks.
there is heritage involved also. much like the lowrider culture. little wire wheels will always be cooler in my eyes then the big-o-waggon wheels they use now. its when a guy sees a bike or lowrider and it brings back memories for them.
FREEMAN says
A lot of the inlines are just not that aesthetically pleasing. The v-twins not only look great in that narrow frame for all to see but are also a staple in American heritage.
WRXer says
I agree that the V-twin in it’s many forms (Ducati, Indian, Vincent, J.A.P., Metric) is one of the most pleasing engine styles. To me the Pre-war H-D engines are among the best particularly the flathead. After the war they lose something for me. Maybe it’s because they are too common that they have lost their charm.
This is not to say a multi cannot also be pleasing.
-The old Indian four made a helluva visual statement.
-The Honda Valkyrie was one of the best looking cruisers ever…mainly because it was different, and looked tough.
-The Triumph Rocket 3 engine is in this vein, but to be honest, it looks a little too “Functional”….a bit too automotive. A case of too much function and not enough form, which is contrary to the old British design philosphy of “if it doesn’t look right…it isn’t right”.
Still right here on the Kneeslider we have seen really impressive customs can be made using the Rocket 3.
The possibilities are there if builders want to explore it, it’s just that HD parts are so accessible, it’s surely the easist route to go.
Derek says
accessible. hit the nail on the head. why make a bike with a one off motor. it will break eventually and your gonna wanna fix it. very good point.
hoyt says
Agreed, that the HD motor is accessible and the right engine tuner can extrude more power than many give credit…..
However, builders like Goldammer can build one-off motors that probably work quite well. And, if it does break, he would know how to fix it and/or re-build it so the part doesn’t break again.
Jar says
I’m down with the accessibility thought, too. So much out there for the HD derivatives, you can slam a good starting point together quickly, if not inexpensively.
The RC51 concept rolling in my head is less road bike, and more fat tire straightline bike. Why chase power, when you can have it? The only catch is the accessibility – you – have to build around it, not gonna be a lot of help…..
Rasmus says
The StG Nautilus is pretty cool. It reminds me of those twisted drawings of normal cars with really big wheels and spoilers and stuff…