Photos by Onno “Berserk” Wieringa
Utrecht, Netherlands—This month I am sharing with you my adventures to the Bigtwin Bike Show & Dealer Expo held each November in the Expo Houten center in Rosmalen. It is the Netherland’s biggest event where all of Europe’s motorcycle community set up their booths and have a great weekend meeting motorcycle industry folks. Lots of custom bike builders, Custom Chrome, Zodiac, tire companies, aftermarket parts and accessory dealers all gather under one roof. The Bigtwin Bike Show & Dealer Expo is also the hotspot for fans of choppers, customs, cruisers, café racers and the lifestyle built around it all for three days. The absolute highlight is the Bigtwin Bike Show with the most beautiful, wildest and most exclusive custom bikes you could ever see from all over Europe.
The stands are occupied by companies that have everything to do with custom bike building and there are also a number of motorcycle importers present. At the Bikermarket, everything is for sale in the range of our biker lifestyle, but you will also find parts and tools for sale from both well-known brands and new companies premiering their products. There is also my favorite hangout, the super-cozy Bikercafé with small musical and magical acts, go-go dancers and live music on the main stage. We started playing there way back in 2004 and have played four more annual events since. Professionals from the world of custom motorcycle building show their skills live with leather processing, pinstriping and airbrushing too.
I like to arrive early on Friday afternoon to hang out with the folks setting up their stands and having a few drinks in the evening together. It is an early day with the Pat Savage Band starting at 1:00 p.m. Saturday and we do three sets over the next hours. The event closes at 9:00p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and everyone goes to the pub at the hotel where most stay the weekend.
We checked into our hotel rooms and went down early. We were up early Saturday for a nice breakfast and we then played three 50-minute shows with exotic dancers in between. It is Holland so there is very open sexuality. Tattoo artists were all over the place as well as body painting.
Saturday evening we all went to the main hotel and as I was walking in with Fritz Van Duinen, long-time senior editor of Big Twin Magazine,the organizers of the Bikeshow & Dealer Expo, I saw my great friend Moreno, the publisher of Italy’s biggest bike magazine, Bikers Life, with his wife. Then, shortly after greeting them, in walked Morten Andersen, the publisher of Biker Journalenin Norway, also a good friend joining us on the way to the pub. Along the way through the crowded front lobby, Carl Verheaghe, publisher of Custom Magazinein Belgium and Horst Rossler, editor-in-chief of Custombikemagazine in Germany, joined our growing group of publishers. By the time we hit the bar Albert-Anthony Abando, editor of XTrememagazine in Spain, and several others from Sweden, Denmark and France all convened at the bar. I am very proud of what happened next as Fritz raised a shot of Jack and made a toast, “To Pat Savage, king of biker music in Europe” and every major magazine publisher, all my friends by that moment, lifted their shots and said the same thing in unison. Talk about a feather in my cap after years of touring and performing successfully! It was an early night as we were up Sunday to perform in front of bikers schmoozing at the Bike Show & Dealer Expo the next day. If you are in the Netherlands in November, it is a bucket list event!
As you can see by these photos here from Onno “Berserk” Wieringa, founder and owner of Madness Photography and regular contributor at Big Twin Magazine,the event was a great success. Next month it is off to Belgium and the H-DC (Harley-Davidson Clubs) Leopoldsburg Harley Days Rally. Vroom!
