The pure joy of life
This year's European Bike Week took place from September 6 to 11.
When motorcycle enthusiasts talk about the „biggest party of the year,“ most of them are referring to European Bike Week—or „Faak“ for short. This year, the major event took place on the sunny southern side of the Alps from September 6 to 11. More than 100,000 visitors – young and old, singles, couples, and entire families – traveled from all parts of Europe, Africa, and America to Austria's southernmost province of Carinthia to ride motorcycles together and celebrate the pure joy of life. They brought around 75,000 bikes with them, and whether the machines were cruising non-stop around the lake or parked in seemingly endless rows along the 40,000 m² Harley Village, they were a feast for the eyes of people with gasoline in their blood.
Carinthia's location south of the weather divide of the main Alpine ridge ensured truly midsummer temperatures. So people passed the time with short trips, long tours, and guided excursions into the fascinating mountain world, marveling at the brand-new Milwaukee Irons for the coming model year in the Expo tent. Over 1,000 guests took advantage of the opportunity to take a free test ride on a Harley, while the authentic Jump Start riding simulator whetted the appetite for motorcycling among those who do not yet have a driver's license. A winner from Italy is likely to have experienced this too: he won the grand prize in the competition and can look forward to a brand-new Harley-Davidson Blackline.
Twenty authorized dealers and a large number of independent traders invited visitors to shop for bike-related items, while catering stands and large tents offered refreshments and drinks from the Alps-Adriatic region. By late afternoon, the bands were already rocking the impressive open-air stage and the large tents: 24 bands – including the frenetically celebrated top act Uriah Heep – rocked the house until late into the night.
Amazement among the laymen and shop talk among the experts were the order of the day when excavators, choppers, and bobbers were presented to a strict jury at the high-caliber Custom Bike Show on Friday. The kilometer-long parade around Lake Ossiach and Lake Faak, in which bikers bid farewell to the hospitable region on Saturday with over 25,000 machines, was met with no less enthusiasm. The best news at the end: After Faak is, of course, before Faak. The next European Bike Week will take place from September 4 to 9, 2012. Those who stay at home have only themselves to blame!
Text & images: Copyright Harley-Davidson Press
