Flanders Chopper Bash 2016

Flanders Chopper Bash 2016

The Flanders Chopper Bash moved from last year’s location in Axel, The Netherlands, to a bigger venue in Assenede in Belgium. The site in Axel proved to be too small and the Chopper Bash in Assenede has much more space. Friday at noon the first chops arrived, and they kept rolling in! 

Saturday, the campground full of tents and bikes, the bike show in full swing and no coffee. No coffee? Nope after ten o’clock no coffee was being served anymore. Don’t we all need coffee to function properly? The great bikes and music made me forget my need for coffee, sometimes…  Like every year, comfortable couches and seats were spread out everywhere on the grass, relax and enjoy! Although it was quite cold during the day, luckely the weather was not as bad as predicted.

Making our rounds, we noticed that more and more people desperately want to show the world they are’ in the scene’.  No Dickies, Bell, STP, Gulf, Dice, Castrol, Esso, Rat Fink, Vans, FTW, Riding Easy, The Picture Books, Johnny Cash, or other related stickers on your bike, or patches on your (way too newish looking Eat Dust or Dickies) denim outfit?  Chance may be you don’t fit in with the Chopper Bash crowd. Hell, even Flake Kings, S&S,W&W and even MCS are tolerated these days too. Old time favorite Moon Eyes seems to be ‘passé´. A briljant, new one we absolutely love; ‘Hippies Dead – Hipsters next’. Bubble visors, workman shoes and Mexican blankets are optional… Yes, this scene comes with a uniform too. We all want to be different, but we all want to look alike…

The ‘Chopper Bash’ stickers from last years meetings are prominently visual on many bikes, a proud statement that the owner was here before.  And that´s cool, ´cause meetings like these keep the chopper culture alive and kicking. The Flanders Chopper Bash welcomed riders from Scandinavia, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and many, many from England. Wild choppers with long Springer front ends, sissybars reaching heaven and psychedelic paintjobs from the past. Knuckles, Pans and Shovels with long rumbling exhausts. Six bends, double Aris head lights and the coolest tail lights. This is heaven, walking around, talking the shit with other chopper afficionados. Yep, chopper heaven. Choppers Forever, see you next year!

Text & Photography Onno “Berserk” Wieringa - www.madnessphotography.nl       

See all the 340 photo's of the Flanders Chopper Bash on www.madnessphotography.nl - Photo Galleries 2016