Doin’ It Swedish Style at the Twin Clubs Custom Show.

Catherine has wanted to go to Sweden forever. I’m not sure why, but then again, 27 years ago, when she landed on these shores from Ireland before we were married, she had it in her head that we had to go to Savannah even though she had absolutely no idea where Savannah was. It just sounded good and yes - of course we went! So when Henkan of the Twin Club Mc in Norrtelje, Sweden invited me to be a judge at their annual bike show last June, I jumped at the chance for the two of us to go.

We arrived in Sweden mid-May to explore the country 2-weeks before the bike show. With the help of Sten & Jasmin Lundgren, who’s NewStalgia Knucklehead chopper I’d photographed in Colorado the year before, we planned a trip to see as much of Sweden as would be possible. When all was said and done, we had 5-days in Stockholm based out of an apartment we rented (vrbo.com), several days on the Island of Gotland (a 3-hour ferry ride out into the Baltic Sea,) we made it as far west as Göteborg (Gothenburg) by the North Sea coast, and to the central provinces of Värmland and Dalarna. Motorcycles seamed there way throughout, with Zundapps on Gotland, a visit to Carl Steimar at his Cala's High Performance shop on the grounds of a beautiful castle, and a stop at Peder Johansson’s Hogtech to see his progress on his S&S 50th anniversary bike. Sten and Jasmin came up to Lake Siljan to host us for 2-fantastic days of touring that area, but one of our trips highlights was spending several days in their home where they live in the beautiful countryside. We saw so much and met so many people that I felt I had a good understanding of Sweden by the time Catherine left to visit her family in Ireland, and I arrived at the clubhouse for the show.

Let me explain some basics before I go on – like that Sweden is almost the size of California but has just 9-million people, or 1/4 of California’s population. The capital city of Stockholm lies at 59 degrees latitude, slightly north of Juneau, AK, and most of the country is located north of Stockholm. While it is a parliamentary democracy headed by a prime minister, they still have a King, who is the head of state, not the head of government. King or no king, Sweden has been rated number one in an “index of democracy” of 167 countries (The US is #17.) One bonus to mention here was that during our entire visit, whether through introduction or stopping someone for directions on the street, we encountered less than 5-people that didn’t speak English, so language was never a problem. They learn it in school, and learn it well! There are many other impressive statistics about Sweden, but getting back to first-hand experience, we saw how sparsely populated it is while crossing the country, how empty the roads are, how spectacular the landscape is, how perfect the weather can be, how important water is, and how long are the days of summer. We got a sense for how Swedes appreciate living and working, and how they do this a certain way – with their distinctly “Swedish Style”, which is everywhere. It’s in the look of the houses, the decoration, the colorful paint, and the way the grounds are meticulously cared for. It was in the candles that are everywhere and in the craftsmanship in everything. It was in their understanding of their own country, and of the world. I saw their passion for work and their passion for play.

As a point of reference, the Twin Club is one of approximately 400 motorcycle clubs in Sweden, many of which have their own clubhouse. It reminded me of biking around the USA in the 70’s when there were lots of independent clubs, each with its on clubhouse where they could work on a bike, and offer a biker a wrench and a couch as visitors passed through. The Twin Club’s clubhouse is no half-assed deal. It’s a 2-story affair, with a ground floor that can accommodate as many as 15 simultaneous custom builds and parking for another 40 bikes. Upstairs, there’s a huge bar and party room, a common room for members, a bedrooms including the one I stayed in and in addition to the stairs, there is an elevator installed so Jocke had easy access after he was left paralyzed from a bike wreck in 2006. (The club also built him a beautiful trike.) Despite how busy everyone was, they made time to take me out riding (Olle loaned me a turbo-charge bagger for a few days) show me around, and even insist that I can’t leave Sweden without trying a classic Swedish chopper – Lillen’s 20-year old purple chop with 20” over front end. What a blast!

On to the show and party. With much to be done, there was an amazing buzz around the clubhouse in the days before the show. The grounds surrounding it would be home to 3,000 thousand campers from all over Scandinavia, the continent and some of us more distant stragglers. There was racing to organize (moto-unicycles), preparations of the stage area for the scheduled back-to-back bands, bar areas to be stocked, a vending area to set-up, and preparations so they could serve food for 2-days. On top of all this, they only had from Friday afternoon until Saturday morning to prep the entire city park for the show. As the gates opened at 10 am, 250 ride-in show bikes were revving their engines to get in followed by 15,000 guests. There were also 7,000 bikes to be parked. Can you imagine the amount of work it takes to put this together? Thankfully, after 34-years of hosting this show, club members knew exactly what to do, but it was still a lot.

It was great to watch how efficiently Marlon and his team assigned one of six bike classes to each bike as it came through the back gate. Next was my favorite – each bike had to ride across a temporary pontoon bridge that had a 16’ long 40 degree ramp down from the bank to get on it, and a similar one on the other side to get onto the far bank. It may have been 8’ wide, was shared with 100’s of visitors, and didn’t have much to keep a bike from going off the side and into the water! (I don’t think this would have gotten a green light here in the states!)

The excitement was intense. Everybody wanted to get right in to see the bikes. It was like Christmas morning - time to open the presents! As for me, I had to get to work. There was much to shoot as well as the very serious business of judging. Together with Stellan Egeland (builder of the “Hulster” 8-valve 2007 World Champion bike,) Tolle Dehnisch (maker of fine forks up to 60” over & the father of “rake and trail” to Swedish bikers, Robin Bradley (founder & publisher of AMD), Calle Carlsson (building springer forks since 1976), we made the rounds to judge the bikes. Tough choices had to be made as there was a lot at stake – over $60,000 in prizes including a trip to the USA to the AMD world championships in Sturgis.

Bands played all day, a top-fuel bike started up on the hour, and activities went on all through the park. A carnival atmosphere filled the air as entire families enjoyed the sights. By mid-afternoon, bikes were brought side-stage ready to roll up the huge red carpet ramp to receive their awards. It was like the academy awards – the packed audience cheering for each bike as it crested the stage, a thick group of photographers vying for the best vantage points. The bikes that rode up onto the stage represented the wide diversity of style, old-world craftsmanship and a high level of creativity. Well represented were those long front ends that have become synonymous with Swedish choppers, but there were also bobbers, antiques and milder customs. Jocke rode his just finished Trike to receive an award amidst much emotion over his return on his own custom. Duckman’s bobbed BMW from the Netherlands wasn’t just the only BMW custom that has ever worked for me, it looked absolutely perfect. Peder Johansson, whom I visited just a week earlier, debuted his now finished bike with the detail people have come to expect from Hogtech. There were too many great bikes to go into detail, but let me jump ahead to say the overall winner of the chopper class, and winner of the trip to Sturgis was a throwback to the 60’s built by Andy Niemi of Flying Choppers of Finland. This long skinny bike was a bit different for someone used to building shorter bikes, but who could imagine this wasn’t his specialty as it hit the nail on the head. Every detail on the bike was perfect, and the details came together as a perfect whole. There wasn’t anything there that didn’t need to be there. Everything, from colors, graphics, angles and curves enhanced the lines of the bike. And with that, the show was over and the crowds dispersed quickly.

There was a party to get to back at the clubhouse. By the time I got there in the late afternoon, it was in full swing. My guess is some never made it to the bike show! Bikers meandered through the camping area’s visiting each other, the sound of many languages carrying through the air, and English would keep coming up as the common thread. Racers zoomed across the field on moto-unicycles (I got to make a pass just to say I did!), the bar areas were packed and the stage area full. Once the dancing started, it didn’t stop. For some, it was there once a year meeting like at Sturgis or Daytona, but for most, it seemed this was just the kick-off to a great summer season which would bring them together again at events across Europe.

My best memories of the party were meeting new people and talking with so many people that I’d already met during my time in Sweden as I walked around shooting. They were so open and friendly. At 3:30 AM, the band started to wind down to the protests of dancers, but that still didn’t kill the party. You see the sky never really seemed to get dark, but looked rather like dusk, beautiful colors almost all through the night. I was one of a few hundred that never lay down that night, as if this time of year, the world is too perfect and time too precious. There will be time to sleep when winter comes. All this too is part of that wonderful “Swedish Style”.

If you can make it, this years show is Saturday June 6, 2009!!