IT'S HARLEYWOOD 

70,000 motorcycles at the 21st European Bike Week

• More than 120,000 visitors celebrated “their” brand in Faak
• The full line-up for 2019 in the Expo tent 
• is available test drives in Europe for the first time
• The New Roses, The Darkness and the Backyard Babies as well as 28 other bands on the stages of Europe's largest motorcycle festival
• More than 10,000 participants in the parade over a distance of 80 km 
• One lucky winner will receive a Forty-Eight Special 

From September 4th to 9th, the 21st European Bike Week took place at Lake Faak in Carinthia, Austria.

Like all events of the year, it was dedicated to the 115th anniversary of Harley-Davidson and the 35th birthday of the Harley Owners Group (HOG). More than 120,000 visitors came to the event, which always takes place with free admission and is considered Europe's largest motorcycle festival, and they brought over 70,000 motorcycles with them to the south of the Alpine republic.

The heart of the event was once again the Harley Village, which spanned more than 40,000 square meters.

Here you couldn't just find the original "European Bike Week" shirts, caps and hoodies, as 21 Harley-Davidson authorized dealers and over 170 independent traders and caterers offered a comprehensive range of motorcycling-related items as well as lots of food and drinks. 

Right next to the main stage, the complete Harley-Davidson model range for 2019, which was being shown for the first time in Europe, awaited visitors in the large expo tent.

The brand new power cruiser FXDR 114 could not only be admired here, but was even available for test drives in the Demo Ride Area alongside several other representatives of the 2019 model range. 1,250 visitors didn't miss this opportunity and jumped into the saddle of one of the many demo bikes.

Photos from the European Bike Week 2018 at Lake Faak

Live acts rocked the main stage of the Village for five nights, including the German high-flyers The New Roses, the British glam rockers The Darkness and the acclaimed Backyard Babies from Sweden.

Before the latter took the stage on Saturday, a brand new Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight Special was raffled off. Trevor Barton, International Consumer Experience Manager at Harley-Davidson, presented this exciting part of the event together with Ana Mamana, winner of the European Bike Week 2017 award.

For a week, visitors had the chance to get hold of one of the limited, numbered wristbands in the event merchandise tents, which were considered raffle tickets.

The number was drawn from the lottery drum and was worn by a simply speechless Valantis Pavlou from Cyprus on his arm. He celebrated his good fortune with 30 friends - all members of a Cypriot HOG chapter.

Thorsten Schneyer is another winner of this year's European Bike Week. To mark the 35th anniversary of the Harley Owners Group, HOG International presented him with a complete collection of all annual HOG patches and pins from the last 35 years.

Of course, Jeep, partner and sponsor of Harley-Davidson events and rallies, was also there. The company presented, among other things, its iconic Wrangler as well as the Cherokee and the Renegade.

In addition to the Jeep Test Drive Area on the event site, guests were offered an off-road experience in which drivers could take advantage of all the advantages of all-wheel drive technology made by Jeep.

Motodrom Harley-Davidson Kärnten, the Klagenfurt dealer, was responsible for the service area and the regional Alpe Adria Chapter organized trips into the fascinating alpine surroundings. 

On Friday the custom bike show took place with some of the most impressive conversions in Europe. The title of “Best in Show” was awarded to Radical Chopper from Italy.

And a day later, around 10,000 bikes set off for the annual parade via Villach, around Lake Ossiach to Velden and back to Faak. Thousands of locals lined the route in late summer sunny weather.

The next European Bike Week will take place from September 3rd to 8th, 2019 at Lake Faak. Further information can be found at http://events.harley-davidson.com.