Bed and Breakfast Amsterdam West Bicycle collection

John Brain - When I visited Europe back in 2008 and 2009 for the big FBI Fun-damentalistic Bikers Inc. custom bikes meets in Amsterdam, it was my desire to get a better understanding of what was going on. The European kustom bike scene was more developed than the American scene at that time. One of the reasons for that was because of one dedicated biker with a vision - Rhalf van Heusden of Holland – who put in place the foundations that allowed the scene to grow and develop all over in Europe.

Going through some old files we found a bunch of photos of the interieur and display at the Chopperdome. Photos by Jahpix. The photos were taken in 2006.

Here are some more bicycles in our custom and chopper bike collection. Due to space limitations we can't display all of them our B&B, but we would like to show them to you. They date back to the early years of the Chopperdome and even before. So until we find a nearby garage to decently display these custom bicycles, it's just these pictures below to enjoy.

En natuurlijk ontbreekt de Raleigh MK II niet in onze collectie.

The Raleigh Chopper designed by Alan Oakley* became one of the most sought after bikes in history. Early Choppers were on sale in the late 60's but shot to fame in the 70's when every child (and some adults) wanted one. The bike was characterised by its high back and long seat and motorbike rear wheel and was probably the first bike to have a centrally positioned gear shift.

*Tom Karen is original designer.

may 2014

The Raleigh Vektar is a BMX with strong Chopper influence, shall we say the missing link. But maybe even more influenced by Star Wars. The stem is like the head of Darth Vader, the fenders are the shoulders of an Imperial Guard and one uses wing commanders to shift. This is topped by a flight deck style control panel and added sound effects.

Saturdaynight at the movies. Als Star Wars liefhebber was de keus voor een project naam voor de hand liggend, toen de nieuwe Basman chopper vorm kreeg in me hoofd. De Basman krijgt een bobberchopper stylo met vette bandjes en zo was de werktitel een feit, de Basman Bobber Feth-Tuschinski was geboren.

Nu de Dyno Matic spaak voor spaak, nippel voor nippel, stukje voor stukje is schoongemaakt, het chroom gepoetst en de verlichting weer werkt naar behoren was het tijd voor een klein ritje voordat deze bike z'n plekje aan de muur krijgt.

Below is a photo of  "Lucky 7" in its slat flat racing heyday of 1958 shortly before its disastrous coaster brake failure and subsequent disappearance from the Bonneville race scene. That is until now. In July 2006 whilst on summer vacation, Seb Pruisscher unearthed the salt flat racer in a barn just south of Iowa. Shipped back to Europe it was restored and the brakes upgraded in the Chopperdome workshop. Now it's finally ready to show to its admirers around the globe."

Op zoek naar een nieuwe uitdaging zochten we begin 2006 contact met de Porceleyne Fles uit Delft en legde ons idee voor. Wat uitmonde in een uniek samenwerkingsverband. Zoals De Basman Classic die later in 2006 op de markt zou verschijnen, de eerste Euro style cruiser, met als inspiratie de klassieke Nederlandse fiets wilden we ook de link leggen met klassiek schilderwerk.