American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 217 August 2017 | Page 34

M TER O N ™ ‘Streetboardtracker’ GETTING REAL Another Eastern European builder to make the trip to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building at Cologne in Germany in October 2016 was Imre Dobi/Team Ermi, of Budapest, Hungary. Making his debut in the program, Imre brought two bikes – both classic examples of hand-craftsmanship meeting daily riding. Imre’s Freestyle entry ‘Streetboardtracker’ started out life as a 1200cc Shovelhead, or at least the engine did, before Imre dropped it into a self-designed, hand-made rigid frame and springer front end. “I have been creating, building and customizing ever since I can remember. This includes cars, bicycles and anything that can roll – the ideas have always been there, and from that inspiration has come a lot of handcrafting to bring the ideas to life,” Imre told AMD Magazine in Cologne last year. “My bike here (Streetboardtracker) is the result of many of those ideas, ones that have been very personal to me, and hundreds of hours of handcrafting of the parts. “That includes the stretched frame and the front end, front suspension, steering, seat, chain guards, front brake, aluminum fuel/oil tanks, painting and countless other small details that are not immediately noticeable. ‘ hundreds of hours of handcrafting’ “But it’s not only about the optics - its performance is outstanding - I can get 200 km/h (125mph) out of it.” Imre’s second bike, in the Retro Mod class (‘Team Emri SVLHD) was another Shovelhead, an FLH 1400 with a modified rigid frame with own built front end that pumps out 95 PS (93.7 hp) and regularly ridden ‘real world’ custom. Not many such builders, or rather builders with such bikes, dare enter the AMD World Championship, or any other ‘top end’ custom bike show for that matter. But as a design, engineering, performance and craftsmanship showcase, we were delighted to see Imre’s hard ridden mile-eaters in the show, and he’d be welcome back anytime. www.teamermi.eu ‘Team Emri SVLHD’ 34 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - AUGUST 2017 www.AMDchampionship.com