ASSEMBLY CHOPPER SHOW PT.2

This year saw the first ever Assembly Chopper Show, held in the House of Vans London.  Organised by Dice Magazine and The Great Frog, it promised to be the biggest and best display of traditional choppers in the UK ever put on.  After tease that was the Photography exhibition the week before it was now time for the main event that everyone had been waiting for!

I was privy to a sneak peak on the Thursday night due to helping our fellow Meatball John D take his Honda Digger (The first Trip Out give-a-way bike built by Benny from Boneshaker Choppers) up to be displayed, which was a real honour for him!  I also had the privilege of being able to display a few of my prints (thanks Vince!), so had to get up to the venue as well!

Upon our arrival, even though the event was still being set up and with some bikes still waiting to be dropped of, we were blown away!  The House of Vans created the perfect backdrop for such a show, with bright spaced out areas juxtaposed against more creatively lit tunnels and hidden away corners (words can’t do it justice so check out the picks!).

After dropping of the bike and prints we spent a short period having a better look around before heading back to Brighton, but it was still too much to take in, in such a short space of time.  Luckily we had all weekend to look forward to and get a much better look what was on display!!

Normally I’m not one for getting up early, but on Friday I had no problem!  I’d been invited up to the press day to shoot the show for Dice Magazine (thanks Dean!) so needed to catch the early train back to up London.  Upon on return the show was now completely set up and was amount of bikes and quality was mind blowing!  With a strong collection of bikes from across the UK and Europe, the show also featured a collection of stunning choppers shipped over from the states, the first time this has happened in this country!! 

Walking round the venue a friendly hand shot out to shake mine accompanied by the greeting “hey my names Jeremiah great to meet you”!  It was in fact Jeremiah Arment from Love Cycles in Phoenix, Arizona.  He was over with Tom Fugle’s 1936 knuckle head chopper which he had been given before Tom’s death in 2016 and rebuilt, one of my favourite bikes in the show, it was full of subtle details and high end engineering.  Jeremiah and his wife had come over a week before the show and spent the time taking the bike on a road trip round the south west and east of England!

Other guests from the states included Michael Barragan from Evil spirit Engineering with his 1947 knuckle, Scott and Chase Stopnik from Cycle Zombies with a 1940’s knucklehead choppers, Andy Carter with a cool little evo chop, Shane Markland’s 1946 knuckle, Jeff Wright from Church of Choppers with his unique shovelhead and Jeff Leighton with his early 1950’s panhead chopper.  Dean from Dice Magazine had brought over Matt Davis’s (who we sadly lost last year) shovelhead to the show, another one of my favourite bikes this year.  Matt gave me my first feature in Dice and it’s always been a pleasure to shoot events and bikes for them ever since.

Another big influence that had come over was Max Schaaf of 4Q Conditioning fame with his iconic shovelhead chopper.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a much of a chance to chat with him, but managed to grab a couple of portraits and watch him skate the House of Van’s bowl!

After getting plenty of shots of the bikes and venue before the crowds started to gather it was time to relax and head to a local pub round the corner from the venue to meet up with some familiar faces for a few drinks before the Friday night preview party!

Of course lets not forget the fantastic bikes that were on display from UK builders that made up about 80% of the show.  Some of these included the genius that is Toddy Stocker with his mind blowing 1970 shovelhead, Tom Paterson with his 1942 replica knuckle head chopper, Bradley Hood’s 1951 Triumph Thunderbird (one of only a hand full of Brit bikes at the event), Andy Porter and Paul Savigar from Pacoima Motorcycles with Pauls stunning 1947 knucklehead, Louie and Norman Hartley from Death Grip Custom Cycles with the Purple Murkin panhead Chopper and Co-organiser Vincent Summers 1949 panhead chopper (yet another favourite of mine).

Other UK bikes were on display from John Dowdeswell, Dan Haines, Johnny Morales, Zac Herdman, Adam Brinkworth, James Smith and Luke Kempton (Hardluck Tattoo), Barons Speed Shop, and Reino Lethonen-Riley from the Great Frog London.

The crowds filled in for the rest of the weekend for a sell out show, which everyone was equally impressed with.  I continued to shoot for most of the weekend and ended up staying for the duration, but exact details of who I met, talked to and drank with are a bit hazy this far after the fact but a good time was had by all!!

Massive thanks to everyone that display a bike and the organisers Vincent Summers, Reino Lethonen-Riley (The Great Frog London), Tamara Bell, Dean Micetich (Dice Magazine) and Horsey (House of Vans).  Next years Assembly Chopper Show is back at the House of Vans on 14^th-15^th July 2018 and promises to be bigger and better than the first, be sure to check it out!!