These were the new Bike Days Willingen 2024

These were the new Bike Days Willingen 2024

Before we get to the actual Event the whole thing might have to be postponed to the beginning of the new Bike Days. Willingen break it down. What had actually happened? The former organizers cancelled their event without further ado for economic reasons, because they could no longer attract enough exhibitors etc. for the event.

The cancellation was a shock for many Willingen fans, but you have to understand the background. The Harley The community is a cross-section of society, many of whom work hard and want to spend their valuable free time with friends in the community, on Harley-Davidson Enjoying events together.

Everything is planned, the dog is put up with grandma, the hotel is booked, the tour is planned and whatever else you want to do during the event is organized. There's always someone who comes up with great tours to explore the region and its sights.

The exhibitors plan the events they want to go to during the course of the year in the same long-term way and those who had decided on Willingen were suddenly up in the air. Many of them can no longer afford it these days, they need good events to make ends meet. It wasn't as if none of them wanted to come to Willingen anymore.

In any case, many bikers and everyone who had planned something with the event in Willingen were suddenly faced with a canceled event. Accordingly, there was a lot going on on the Harley site. Everyone wanted to know what had happened and why the event was suddenly canceled. It was not the fault of the municipality, which was emphasized once again in a statement. Maybe we'll put a period to the old story here, because it went on.

This is where Mütze and Flo came in. After initial discussions with the responsible Harley-Davidson dealers in the region, they immediately founded an event company to pick up the sceptre that had been thrown on the ground. They are both bikers, they are known in Willingen like colorful dogs and they have a very large circle of friends and many biker friends who all wanted to lend a hand.

I don't know if everyone can imagine what kind of tasks are behind such an event, because it became something more than just a beer cart and a small stage on the grounds.

With active support from the Harley world, friends, the community and not least the people of Willingen, the new Bike Days Willingen suddenly took shape. When the hotel bookings increased again after the hundreds of cancellations and the encouragement from the Harley scene came in the form of encouraging comments from bikers who promised to be there no matter what, you could feel more than just the spirit of the community.

I can say that many new friendships have been made here! Sometimes things are meant to work out like this to create something even better.

Harley-Davidson representatives visited the new event in Willingen to assess it for the future. In addition to the Harley-Davidson dealers H-D Pfeiffer and H-D MotoMaxx, there was also support for the exhibitor area from event colleague Klaus Fröhlich, who organized the event. Harley-Davidson Meeting Ruhr Valley will be held in Hattingen. Fröhlich will host his own Harley-Davidson meeting on August 4, 2024 in the impressive location of the LWL Museum Henrichshütte.

The future of the event is already at stake, because Harley-Davidson is looking very carefully at who is allowed to hold an event with the Harley-Davidson brand and who is not, especially in view of what happened before.

Initial feedback is that it was better than in previous years. There were still a few visitors missing in order to build on the glory days, but this was due to the uncertain weather and because the new organizers were not sure whether they would get it right first time. But they got it right, even the Hessenschau Television (from minute 14:35) was on site and reported.

The event kicked off on Thursday with the Hooters. There was also an internal exhibitor party to pay tribute to the traders for their presence. They presented a great music program on stage, and everything was free of charge, which should be emphasized once again.

Die gesamte Stadt, war an letzen Wochenende in der Hand der Harley Biker. Die Veranstaltung heißt zwar alle Biker willkommen, aber zu 95 %, sind die dicken V2-Motoren aus Milwaukee vor Ort gewesen. Es gab sehr coole Bike zu sehen, von alten Panhead mit Starrahmen, bis hin zur neuen CVO ST Road Glide 2024, die wirklich sehr selten im Land zu finden ist.

Florian Goebel estimates that the Bike Days attracted over 20,000 visitors this year, which is truly a great success. Even on Sunday it went on into the afternoon, when the last band stopped playing, the event was over. There are one or two things that could be improved, but in principle it was a great event that was pulled out of the ground in a very short space of time.

Text & picture credits: Harleysite