Indonesia, maybe you know it for the nice beaches of bali, or its deus ex Machina shop, but there is more to see, a lot more !
Indonesia, maybe you know it for the nice beaches of bali, or its deus ex Machina shop, but there is more to see, a lot more !Each year since 2012 stands a big kustom festival in Yogjakarta, 1 hour from Jakarta by plane. 2 days of bikes and cars exhibition, merchandising, live concert, bmx contests, stunt riders.
Damn, it’s a long way to go there, 25 hours of train, planes and ground sleeping, but that’s worth it, truly ! In a way, it reminds me Yokohama, that’s was a double shock back in that time, one shock for the japan discover, and another shock for the high level of the show …
But back to Jogja ! It’s friday, the day before the fest official opening. Here every bike that attends the bike show have to pass the ride check. Start the bike, stop, and complete a figure-of-eight around the place, quite simple but it’s a way to show that every bike, even the more customized bike is made to be ridden. No trailer queen admitted in da place !
With a population of 250 million people, mostly riding on two wheels, and a low standard of living, there is a lot of garages everywhere in the country, working with the means of the edge, but lot of time to build parts instead of buying them and lot of desire to build and customize.
Craftsmanship is heavily encouraged by Lulut “LT” Wahyudi, the big boss of the kustomfest, for the promotion of Indonesia in the world. Here you can find home made frame, handle bar, tank, wheels … but also motor. Actually most of the wl springers you can find in the show are not out of the box but proudly forged in the fire of workshops. Maybe there is a business to start here. And that’s also true in the parking, i never saw so many homemade tanks in the same day.
A big difference with ours bike shows is the size. People mostly ride 110-150 cc. So there is also lot of customized small bikes and that’s refreshing. Smaller engine but lof of place for details, plenty of details.
If you add to that show a big food court, really fresh and of course home made, from dragon fruits juice to coffee ground in an extended vw combi pickup, and a full package of live bands, playing from rockabilly to death metal all day long, it’s definitely a show to attend ! One more time please ! Indonesia has so much more to offer i guess.
