If you’re a custom bike enthusiast in Europe, chances are you found yourself partying with a couple thousand of your closest friends at last month’s debut of Italian Bike Week in Lignano Sabbiadoro. If you’re like us, you might wonder what distinguishes this event from Biker Fest 2022, another rally-type gathering that went down just a few months earlier in the same location on Italy’s northeast coast. To be honest we can’t really tell the difference, but organizers are billing this hoedown as the “first edition of Italian Bike Week.” Apparently Bike Week runs several days longer than Biker Fest, and there is a round of the Italian Motorcycle Championship included in the schedule as well. For this leg of the IMC, we saw as many as 50 competitors from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia submit their two-wheel creations to be evaluated by the judges and jockey for the custom show’s prizes and trophies.
There was also a demo area for manufacturers like BMW, Suzuki, and Triumph to offer both street and off-road model rides, along with special rallies held for specific brands like Boss Hoss. But as far as we can tell, Italian Bike Week is mostly about the custom bike scene, so with that in mind, we scooped up a few images of the winning builds from the event’s Custom Bike Show.
Snagging first in the Cafe Racer category was this minimalist Honda CB750F from Venetian workshop Sam Garage
It may look like it’s ready for the apocalypse, but this Yamaha XTZ750 by GDesign Custom was tapped as the best Scrambler in the show
Pro Street style is the theme on this Harley custom from a builder called Fratelli Borgo, but it won the Freestyle class
Best Custom Metric? That would be this stretched-out Honda VJ 600 from the Fast Custom shop in Italy
A bobbed-out Harley Fat Boy from Mastercycles was voted in as tops in the Modified H-D class
The award for Best Bagger was taken by this Road King from Devil's Garage
In the Streetfigher category, this Ducati Monster built by Mr. Fighter won the top prize (it also took No. 1 at Biker Fest)
The Old Style class, not surprisingly, was won by this detail-heavy Harley Panhead put together by the DMC Toys 4 Man shop
The award called “Best Emerging Customizer” (or Best New Custom Shop) went to Manara Auto Works. The shop cranked out this refined and well-executed twist on the Kawasaki Vulcan 900
This tastefully reinterpreted Honda Transalp by MdiM Garage got second place in the Scrambler category
Peter Penz of Penz Custombikes hauled out an old-school Shovel build from his shop in Austria for the Custom Show. It took second place in the Old Style class
A super-clean Suzuki GSX-S1000 crafted by Garajek earned second place in the Cafe Racer group
There was also a rally-within-a-rally at Italian Bike Week, with a contingent of Boss Hoss enthusiasts gathered to celebrate their big V-8s en masse
Of course, you can’t have a bike rally without a classic rock cover band for entertainment. “Shout It Out Loud,” anyone?
or the finale of Italian Bike Week, a massive procession of bikes took to the city streets at dusk forming the so-called Light Parade
The winning builders gathered together for a group shot with their trophies
