KICKBACK is all about showcasing the ever-changing and dynamic custom scene; fully embracing the vibrant 'new wave' whilst being inspired by the creators of exquisite café bikes and street scramblers. KICKBACK is an exhibition of custom motorbikes, where sheer imagination meets pure engineering excellence.

Inspirational custom bike builders Down and Out Café Racers will be showing off their exquisite motorbikes at KICKBACK in March.

Based out of Sheffield, England, they are currently considered as one of the best café racer bike building shops in Europe. They produce some of the finest BMW and Triumph based café bikes and street scramblers around. Down and Out Café Racers design, build and fabricate motorbikes and parts, with over 15 years’ experience founder Shaun Walker certainly has bike building running through his veins. See them at KICKBACK on stand 100.

EBR to launch new models at KICKBACK!

The organisers are very pleased to announce that EBR (Erik Buell Racing) will be officially launching their two new bikes at KICKBACK expo in March. The Hogfather Motorcycles are official dealers for EBR and will be unveiling two brand new models the 1190SX and 1190RX.

TRIUMPH, CUSTOM CHROME & ZODIAC ALL KEEN FOR KICKBACK

Latest news: KICKBACK - the National Custom Bike Show - has recently secured support from the most important and iconic motorcycle manufacturers and aftermarket parts companies in Europe.

Triumph Motorcycles Limited will be curating a showcase of interesting modern custom Triumphs. Meanwhile aftermarket Harley parts will be comprehensively featured at the event with Zodiac UK and Custom Chrome participating.

Zodiac represents almost 40 years of experience in supplying and distributing the highest quality replacement parts and accessories for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Custom Chrome is one of the world’s largest independent suppliers of aftermarket parts and accessories for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. A true leader in the industry, Custom Chrome is also a world leader in V-Twin parts and accessories logistics with a sales office and distribution located in Germany.

INTRODUCING THE JUDGING PANEL:
CUSTOM BIKE BUILDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The organisers of KICKBACK the National Custom Bike Show are very proud to announce that the judging panel for the Custom Bike Building National Championships will consist of the most respected, talented and influential custom motorcycle builders and industry professionals in the UK.

Only three British custom bike builders have ever made the top FIVE in the AMD World Championships in its history and all three are on the judging panel for the National Championships which take place at the KICKBACK show at Stoneleigh Park from 28-19th March 2015.

Larry Houghton (2nd in the World Championships in 2011) runs Lamb Engineering, influential, unique, generous, original and an inspiration to all budding designers and engineers, Larry has kindly put up a fantastic prize for the winner of the Young Builder category – a week with the Lamb Engineering team at his workshops in Wiltshire.

Pete Pearson (3rd in World Champs in 2013) heads up Rocket Bobs Cycle Works out of Swindon. Ever-popular Pete is right out of the top drawer when it comes to custom engineering and is in the process of creating a superb one-off trophy for the Best in Show builder at KICKBACK.
Paul Milbourn is your classic enigmatic customiser! Creator and builder of award winning Weird Fish, Paul crafted another masterpiece in 2014 called Nutcracker, winner of Best in Show at KICKBACK at Donington Park in September 2014 and of an impressive 5th place in the World Champs a month later.

Wade Poulson runs Sickboyz Customs in Surrey and has an eye for style and is a very popular character within the custom sector, as well as winner of Best in Show in 2011.

Henry Cole is an ambassador for KICKBACK. Henry owns Gladstone Motorcycles which builds beautiful Triumph ‘bobbers’ and is the presenter of ITV4’s The Motorbike Show.

Stu Garland is one of the most respected authorities in the custom bike scene and is former editor of Back Street Heroes; journalist, bike builder, artist – a true legend.

Dave Manning is editor of World Wide Bomber magazine and former editor of Streetfighters. He’s widely acknowledged as knowing about streetfighters than just about anyone else in the world.

Blue Miller is the editor of 100% Biker magazine and previously worked for BSH and AWoL. She has been a World Championship judge for ten years.

Shaun Walker runs Down and Out Café Racers, a well-respected designer and builder of some of the finest café racer / scramblers in Europe.

www.TheCustomShow.com

The VMCC will have a big presence at the Scottish Motorcycle Show at Ingliston near Edinburgh on 7-8 March 2015. Central Scottish and Auld Reekie Edinburgh Sections of the Club will have a joint stand featuring over twenty motorcycles. It will be one of the biggest displays in the Classic Show with motorcycles covering the full range of machines from the vintage right through to the later classics. There will be a couple Neracars, some racing bikes and examples of machines in the process of restoration. Part of the exhibition stand will be a mock workshop so look out for the guys in overalls with spanners in hand.

Alastair Alexander, VMCC Area Rep. for Scotland said “ the Show is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate what the Club has to offer to the public, to potential new members and is a big social occasion for our members from all over the UK. Many motorcyclists believe that the VMCC is only for really old bikes but our 25 year rule means machines made up to 1990 can take part in runs and rallies. The Scottish Show is important to our efforts to broaden the appeal of the Club ”.

For High Resolution images or more information please contact Ian Botham at the VMCC Head Office or email [email protected]

Highly promising Northern Ireland road racer Gareth Keys will make his debut at the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy.

The 24-year old will contest the Monster Energy Supersport and Bike Nation Lightweight Races for the B&W Racing team, riding Honda and Kawasaki machinery respectively.

Having spent his formative years on the national short circuit scene the Lisburn resident, nephew of former TT regular Trevor Keys, has enjoyed a considerable rise through the road racing ranks in the last two seasons. Highlights include strong results at the Ulster Grand Prix, where he won the 250cc category on his debut in 2013, the North West 200 and Oliver's Mount, Scarborough, where he took a race victory in 2014.

In addition to the famous 250cc win at Dundrod in 2013, he also scored a notable ninth place finish in that year's Superstock Race, lapping the high speed 7.4-mile circuit at over 123mph during the Superbike race on the ex-Keith Amor BMW. He followed that up last year with a solid 15th in the Supersport Race.

His North West 200 debut in 2014 saw him take tenth place in the Supertwin Race and he put in consistent performances throughout the season at Oliver's Mount including a first place in the Cock o' the North Superbike B final. He also took a pair of top ten finishes in the Superbike Races at the corresponding meeting.

Keys took first and second places in the Cookstown 100 Superbike B Races in his native Northern Ireland with top six finishes in the Lightweight class at the Bush and Armoy Road Races.

B&W Racing, run by Brain Hull, has considerable experience at the TT and the other International road races having worked with Scottish ace Keith Amor for a number of seasons, helping him to numerous race wins and podiums.

Speaking about his forthcoming TT debut, Gareth said:

"I am really excited about racing in the TT in 2015. It is the culmination of a long held dream and I am putting everything I have into making sure when I get to the event I am as well prepared as I can possibly be. I'm watching the on board laps constantly, playing the Playstation game and have made a number of trips across to the Island to try and increase my circuit knowledge. I am very grateful for the support I have had from the TT organisers with regards to my preparation and all of my sponsors who are putting so much into my TT effort."

Japanese based Team Mugen (M-TEC Co., Ltd., Shin NAGAOSA, President) has confirmed that it will make a dual assault on the electric bike class at the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy.

Mugen has confirmed that their team will again be represented in the SES TT Zero Race by twenty-one time TT Race winner John McGuinness and outright lap record holder, New Zealand's Bruce Anstey, who set the fastest ever lap around the Mountain Course, 132.298 mph (00:17:06.682), in last year's Superbike Race.

Three qualifying sessions have been confirmed for this year's SES TT Zero Race on Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Monday 8th June with race day on Wednesday 10th June.

Team Mugen will participate with a machine named 'SHINDEN YON', which means "God of Electricity, number 4". The machine has been newly developed to improve on last year's 'Shinden San' model. 'SHINDEN YON' will be exhibited at the 2015 Tokyo Motorcycle Show, which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight in March, 2015.

The team made their TT debut in 2012, achieving a prestigious 104mph average lap speed in their debut season and at last year's meeting John McGuinness raised the outright lap record for the Zero class to 117.336mph, (19:17.3) becoming the first rider to break 20 minutes for an electric bike with his team-mate Bruce Anstey following him home in 115.048. To date the pair are the only riders to have lapped the course in a time of under 20 minutes.

Akihiro Miyata, Mugen's team Director, commented:

"The challenge of participating in the Isle of Man TT electric motorcycle races, which is a new discipline to us and completely different from our core strengths as a manufacturer and developer of high-speed internal combustion engines, started in 2012 as our unique project to foster young engineers and conduct developments in a new area.

He continued:

"We achieved our initial goal of 2014 which was to exceed an average speed of 115 mph (185 km/h) and in doing so captured the long-sought after victory, with a one-two finish for the team, in a time that beat the previous record lap record in the TT Zero Challenge class by more than one minute (00:19:17.3 lap)."

Mugen's Satoshi Katsumata and Director Akihiro Miyata will represent the 'Shinden Yon' team on the Isle of Man.

Cristiano Silei leaves Ducati to face a new professional challenge
• Claudio Domenicali "We thank Cristiano Silei for his contribution
• in achieving the record results in 2014"
• Andrea Buzzoni will start in his new position on February, the 2nd, 2015

Borgo Panigale (Bologna) 30 January, 2015 – Andrea Buzzoni (45) will become the new Ducati Sales and Marketing Director. His motorcycle passion and great experience in Sales Management and Marketing of premium brands will be a key factor for the growth of the Borgo Panigale Company.

Andrea Buzzoni, born in Milan and graduated in Political Science, has gained his experience in the motorcycle world, working for over 17 years in Sales and Marketing. Former Ducati employee, he worked as Director in the Germany Branch from 2001 to 2004, then he was the General Manager for BMW Motorrad Italy for 10 years.

His commitment in the racing world was also great. Firstly he has managed, for BMW Motorrad Italia, the projects of the Superstock and Superbike World Championship and subsequently, the official factory team of the World Superbike Championship.

Ducati Vice President Sales and Marketing, Cristiano Silei (47), has resigned from the Company to face a new professional challenge.

Claudio Domenicali, Ducati CEO, thanks Cristiano Silei for the achievements and the commitment in these years of collaboration, and wishes him further success in his future career. Cristiano Silei has contributed to increase Ducati international expansion and has achieved record results. Over 45.100 motorcycles have been delivered to customers in 2014, this is the best result ever for the Borgo Panigale Company.

Cristiano Silei has greatly contributed in the creation of the new Ducati brand, Scrambler, laying the foundation for further commercial successes for the Company.