FBI meetings 2001-2011

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.

The ultimate cruise experience. A 3 day tour, nightcruise and historic COTY did honor to the early year and made a great end to the FBI 1.0 series organized by the FBI HQ and choppernewsnetwork.com if we may say so. The 3 day tour known as the Born to cruise will be one to remember a lifetime for them 80+ participating and once again meeting up with the rest of the cruisin galaxy was a blast.
Does this mean the end....NO the FBI will continue, FBI 2.0 2012 A New Beginning will be organized by the Dutch Chapter of the Chopaderos.

Bikes became people and friends for life over the last ten years at the FBI. “Facebook 3D” as one FBI 2010 participant posted.

Over the years we always tried to get the best possible FBI schedule. The COTY and night cruise were added to the schedule, and in 2009 the FBI 100 cruises were introduced as we had the idea the time was right for going the distance. The FBI 2009 made clear that the campsite is an important part of the FBI. Resulting in a start/finish at the campsite for the wonderful Folklore cruise as part of the FBI 100 in 2010.

The 5 days started with the German Invasion. What to expect? The German Invasion cruise was bigger as last year with 95 at the start in Utrecht.

Crusaders from Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Suisse, France, Dutch, Belgium, Sweden, Canada and of course the Germans  made it all the way to the DAM with finish at The Chopperdome. Sunshine, a great day  followed by the traditional Cruise Wars.

Thursday evening the Night cruise was major and Friday’s new Folklore cruise set a new standard.

The COTY on Saturday saw the French taking the crown after getting close in the years before.  DJ Lama and band gave the party after the Party cruise that extra flavor. The Sunday saw the introduction of the original Cali cruise style and  the traditional FBI dragracing.

And now get ready to go the distance at the ultimate cruise experience The FBI Part X 2011,  with the 3 day “Born to cruise” cruise, Night cruise, COTY and Party cruise.

The best FBI ever? It's for others to decide, but the organization was damn happy the way it went. Thanks to the crusaders coming from Finland, Sweden, Danmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Switserland, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Canada, US, Slovenia, UK and the Netherlands who made the 2009 FBI one to remember for a long time.

The changes made to last years schedules worked out fine. More cruisin" as wednesday-friday saw every day an option to do a 50 km cruise as part of the FBI 100.

To complete your FBI 100 you needed at least two stamps on your tourcard for your FBI 100 medalpatch. Wednesdaymorning in Utrecht 65+ crusaders picked up their FBI 100 tour- and spokecard for  the first cruise of the FBI, the German invasion cruise from Utrecht to Amsterdam. And with the crowd waiting in the DAM when the group arrived it was clear Thursday Nightcruise was going to be a big one.

And despite of some rain at the start it was, 135+ crusaders did another 50 km with some already picking up their FBI 100 medalpatch. Friday saw again a massive crowd with again new participants arriving and some taking a day rest after the Nightcruise, again a 135+ climbed into the saddle for the third leg of the the FBI 100, a 50 km+ beachcruise.

A wonderful cruise with sunny weather all the way to the beach and back to the DAM. Back in the DAM Antti did some extra rounds on the parkinglot to complete his 1000 KM mission, cycling from Finland to the DAM 825 km+ and with already 3 stamps on his FBI tourcard he was just short of a 1000 KM, but 15 minutes later he saw the magic mumber on his clock.

Saturday, sunshine again and a new record with 300+ crusaders at the Partycruise and more nationalities as ever before. A mind blowing experience. The COTY was won by Plasma Custom's Alessandro from Italy for Jacob from Sweden and Chris from Switserland, and with the COTY being a one day event with prize ceromony after the Partycruise the sunday had a relaxed start.

No rush to get bikes into the COTY area again, but a cruise to this years dragrace strip. The dragrace was won by Mies from Amsterdam, kicking ass in all his races beating Lauri from Finland 2-0 in the final. The already classic last cruise of the FBI 2009 was really a speedcruise, with 25 km p/h+ in the dragrace winner's slipstream with start and finish on Damsquare.

The FBI part VII, 23-27 july 2008 in Amsterdam. In the year 130+ cruised the Night on thursday at the FBI it was certainly a busy weekend to come, more bikes then ever at the COTY on saturday from all around the cruisin galaxy confirmed the feeling and if it hadn't rained saturday afternoon the partycruise might have gone 300+.

The crusade was even more international as the years before, with Rastabike Moscow, Chopaderos and other clubs, groups, friends and families from the Netherlands, Germany, Danmark, Belgium, France, Finland, Slovenia, Spain, Switserland, Austria, Canada, England, Scotland and the USA. Dragracing saw the same Champ as last year, now really taking this crown to the Netherlands for another year after the French era in the early years of the FBI dragracing. IBMA didn't have a bigger part and but will stay part of the FBI program.

For 2009 some changes will be made to the program as we feel the need to do so after the 2008 edition, there will be more cruisin with 50K km rides on wednesday till friday and saturday a 20 km partycruise and sunday a 20 km. The COTY will be only on FBI saturday. The after partycruise party will be back with band(s) and DJ's.

Never mind the Freaks, here's the FBI part VI. The FBI had to move to a new location in the westerpark, as some freak bike dudes rented the location we had for years. Happy, yes, we moved to the place that hosted the COTY in 2004 before closing down for renovation, a much better location.

More space to park the bikes outside and the COTY back indoors again, 400 M2 of bikes, workshops (CPH airbrush and Ben's metal shaping) and music by Jitterbug. Also present with a small booth A's industries, Firebikes, Metalworks, Electra cruisers and The Chopperdome.

Just like last year it was a five day event with cruise wars, dragrace, partycruise and COTY. New in the 2007 the IMBA mini bike races and nightcruise.

The nightcruise replaced the thursday daytime beachcruise. The nightcruises have always been in april, a 75 km cruise to the beach at night, with it's final edition last year. Now part of the FBI choppernation, new roads, more bars. The team time race was cancelled. The IMBA will have a bigger part in the FBI 2008.

With a record number of bikes Part V, 2006 became probably the biggest event in the Custom bicycle galaxy. For the second year running the FBI was a five day event with guest now coming from really all over the known custom galaxy as far as the US and Canada again meeting the European scene that gathered in the Westerpark, Amsterdam. Gave last year Partycruise the feeling "we are not alone anymore", now a group of more then 230 custom bikes claimed the streets as they owned the city for the two hours the partycruise took.

The COTY first year being part of the FBI was overwelming, with so many great bikes it was hard to pick one favorite for most guests, but after a lot of work by the jury and public votes being counted the COTY association presented prizes sunday afternoon to the selected finalists.

The WK Cruise Ball can been seen as an experiment, no one got hurt although some bikes being used needed some work. For 2007 the team time cruise will return to the program. The fourth FBI dragraces brought for the third time a French overall winner. Besides the bikes the FBI gave place to a tattoo artist and like last year a pinstriper, but also jewelry, clothing stands and live music.

In 2005, the FBI, Part IV, grew to a five day event with pre-games and long distance cruisin" on wednesday and thursday. The main event, starting Friday night with a welcome party at the Chopperdome and cruise alley cat, was again spread over the weekend.

Drag racing and the biggest Partycruise ever on saturday night followed by a after cruise party with live band at "t Ketelhuis". Sunday's more to see at the showdown at "t Ketelhuis" in the park. Making the first connection with the "Bikes behind the Dikes" election which is goanna be part as COTY 2006 of the Choppernation part V.

In 2004 the FBI moved to it's final location, "het Westerpark" and became a three day event. With more and more riders showing. Friends from the year before met again showing their progress and meeting new dudes on the scene. Dragracing and  Partycruise were part of the program, but a Friday night alley cat was added to the program. And a team time race was done.

After the first FF UCME Chopp~a~rounds in 2001 and the spring of 2002 the FBI was founded aug 2002. FF goes international and is known from now on as Fun~damentalistic Bikers Inc. The first official FBI cruise took place 19th oktober 2002, when English and Dutch crusaders met at the DAM, FBI PART I. In the summer of 2002 at the first Anniversary of the Chopperdome a Partycruise with 70 already cruised the streets, so the when it came down to picking an annual date for this FBI event it was easy.

The second meeting was july 2003. At this meeting, july 2003 held at "t Stenen Hoofd" the first FBI dragraces took place and first FBI spoke cards saw the light. Besides the Dragrace the Partycruise became part of the program. Still a one day event, but with riders from various European country's showing their best and at that time still unique cruisers, but more real customs and tuned bikes start to show.