2019 was the last year for Flanders Chopper Bash, at least what we know. From its start in 2009, the event has grown from being a group of friends and their friends who met to party during a weekend, to a big European party for all chopper riders. The Evil Monkey Crew visited Chopper Bash in 2017 and then the meeting was held at its second place. They had to move because they grew out of the old meeting place pretty quickly. In 2018 and the final year 2019, Chopper Bash was held in a third place and it was just as expected, full house there as well. In 2019, the organizer decided that ten years would be enough and announced early on, that this would be the last meeting ever.
For us Scandinavians who are used to pretty good facilities, Chopper Bash was a bit like being thrown back 20 years in time. Everything was really ok even though, for example, the toilets were closed between 01:00 and 06:00 and the food just eatable, but who was there to eat and go to the toilet 😉 The beers, the music, the choppers and the Dutch were clearly worth the trip, because they are really friendly, Yeah I know the meeting was in Belgium… The trip to Flanders is for us who likes to ride the best of the whole trip. From Swedish border it is about 2000 km return. We took the Travemünde ferry on Thursday evening and except from a short-circuited battery on one of the bikes we would have been in Flanders on Friday night. Instead we left Travemünde at 14.00 and were well into Holland before staying and sleeping over at a motel along the way. Early on Saturday morning we drove into the meeting in Assenede. Then it was party. The beer tasted very good after 1000 km in 25 degree heat, car queues and overheated clutches along the entire autobahn.
During the Saturday evening there were two bands playing and first out on stage was Honeymoon disease from Gothenburg Sweden and last out was Chopper Bash’s own inhouse band German The Picturebooks, a fantastic two-man band with a stage presence that beats most of everything else live.
Chopper Bash was fun in spite of all the Hipsters, but the trip with all the things that happened along the way with our old bikes is probably what we will remember most. Peace out!
