Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127725
:. " , - ----,---,---,-----,-----,---,,---' ::I BerlinMotorcycle Days • • , 1M tH IMt (Left) Cru isers of all kinds are selli ng well In Germany, but custom or stock, Harley -Davidsons by far enjoy the greatest popularity - If th is little piggy (above) doesn't prove that, what will? By Bruce Scholten Photos by BMT and Ali Paczensky BERLIN, GERMANY, APR. 23-26 hen Gottlieb Daimler bu ilt the world's first motorcycle in Germ a n y in 1895, cr uisi ng wa s p robably the las t thing on his mind. If the thi rd ann ua l Berliner Motorrad Tage, or Berlin Moto rcycle Days , is any indication, cru ising is abou t the only thing on the minds of motorcycling Germans. Held in the shadow of Berlin's Funkt urm, a n old r adio to w er as eerily un iq ue as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, some 90,000 motorcycle fans th ronged .to this year's event. Anyone w ho tho ught o n ly Eurobi kes like Birno tas, Duca tis, MotoGuzzis an d ga rden-variety Beem e rs looked rig ht in Berlin go t an attitude adjustment here . BMT drove home some plain truths. One: The cruising mo torcycle culture popularized in the USA in the -1950s - sy m bo lized by Dea n and Elvis astrid e Harley-Davidsons - is now . as much a part of German b iking as Beemers are part of the States. . American b ike rs would ha ve fe lt right a t h ome cruising the seven big halls of the Berlin show . Like Coke and Levis, Harley-Davidson has bu rst out of mere cult statu s, becomin g an emblem of Ame ricana as u niversal as roc k ' n' roll. And tw o: if riders can 't be with the bike they love, they'll customize the one they're with. ''I' d lo ve to ow n a Ha r ley," said sho w press manager Ariane Hechtfisch, "bu t 1 like my 535 Virago - although I'd like to p u t str aig h t pip es on it, like a ...... Harley' S." She is no t alone. Her half-liter l-< Yamah a is Germany's top-selling model P-. a n d w it h 27 ho rse pow er is eas y to ~ licens e and insure. Des pite th eir high er prices (roughl y $26,000 for an Electra Glide), Germ any W ... . 22 Ge rma ny is enjoying a long- term m o to r cycl e b o o m . Its 2.1 million licensed bikers buy more big bikes than riders in France, Italy, Britain and Spain combined. Ri d e r regist ra tions ar e 10 times that of 1970, an d sales of 212,847 bikes in 1994 were close to the all-time record level of the year before . Women now make up 12.7 percent of Teutonic bik ers - compa red to 9.6 percent in 1987. One reaso n for the rise in wome n rid ers, says Stephan Ku nze, is, "The ind ust ry fin ally recognized women as customers w ith bikes like the Virago." Kun ze is a 16-year veteran of AME, a small cust om pa rts maker that is also the only company in Germany pr oducin g stree t-legal "cho pper" fra mes . "The whole choppe r thing for Japa nese bikes in Germany started soon after the film Easy Rider came ou t," says Kunze. Ha rley re mai ns the icon beh ind the cru isi ng scene, but even if M ilwau kee never birthed ano ther Hog, th is city wo u ld keep on building choppers. The Germ an s w ill custo mize any t h in g from a BMW to a Honda, and the huge draw to th is ve ry popular show proves tha t. 0 (Left ) The Oldt imer vintage corral was brimming with Beemers (background), but also featured othe r European mounts like th is NSU, as well as some beautifu l old American bikes like thi s Harley-Davidson: (Below) The "chopper" in Germany is the ultimate ico n of America na. The show attracted many aftermarket suppliers of parts - and whole motorcycles - to build any kind of custo m imaginable. just can' t get enough Harleys. "They're sold-out un til August, 1996," confirmed a manager of Hei n Gericke, Germany's biggest dealer. In fact, w ith a market share of 3.1 percent, Harley owns more of the German marke t than Ducati, with 2.8. There were a g rea t n umber of Harleys at the show, fro m the wi ldest cus to ms - some m ore attractive th an o thers - to box-s tock mo dels . A nd although there were a large number of afterma rket compa nies in attend ance, . th ey were res tricte d from selling anything, the orga nize rs to keep the focus on the bikes themselves rather than having a swa p meet. There was also a large section of the even t d evot ed to vintage bikes in the "Zweite Hand Old timer Sh ow." BMW was natu rally represented strongly, bu t othe r mar qu es wer e on hand as we ll: NSU , Tri u m p h, BSA a nd of cou r se, Harley-Davidso n.