Flashback 2019

The year is soon to end and it has been an eventful and revolutionary year. In Sweden, where we work and live, the political situation has become impossible. People are angry and the belief in Swedish democracy has got a real death-blow and foremost through a minority constellation in government formation, but also the subsequent months of chaos in certain Swedish urban areas as well as a doomsday policy regarding the environment, supported by various interest groups fronted by Greta Thunberg dressed in the role of angry teen victim.

Environmental policy, no matter how boring it is, hit us with motor interests hard. Most of us understand and are sure to draw our straw to the stack and the principle of swings and carousels is what must prevail. The advantage of our interest is that we largely live by the recycling principle, we utilize what is available, renovate and reuse. According to the “monkey editor”, this should be a self-righteousness instead of replacing everything old with new and thus creating garbage and refuse to be taken care of. So if any of you have a bad conscience, stop right away, we are the environmental heroes!!!

Despite the turmoil, despite the riots, despite the incompetent government and despite poor Greta, 2019, on a more personal level has been a fantastic year. My own Early Shovel chopper was completed, a new race interest was awakened, and the road trips were both long and many.

The memories of the season have already been etched into my forehead and the plans for the upcoming season are so many.

Unlike 2018’s warm nice summer, many of this year’s trips have been in the rain. Wet, cold and with some running problems as a result. Personally, I’ve been torned between being rock hard and having a bike with cappuchino in the oil tank after sustained rain. The open filter on the shorty has undergone various changes, fitted with a home made air filter (which did not work) to finally get an original filter fitted. Although the old Panhead has really done the job this year and has gone both as a fun bike for short trips, race ride and long distance wheels. It is truly a good friend and after many adventures together I am incredibly grateful that it has always taken me both there and back home.

Almost as many mishaps as trips, but those are the ones that create memories. As we drove from Hindås 50th anniversary the bike drowned in the buzzing rain, behaved like a piece of shit and shot like a minor war in Afghanistan, a broken oil filter attachment on the way from Sweden Rock was repaired on the road with a strap, changed at home and reinforced with a plastic strip around the tappets covers to reduce the vibration fluctuations at certain speeds and a broken throttle cable on the way to the race at Burning Hearts resulted in throttle hangings at each stop but was quickly remedied with the help of a new cable from helpful pit neighbors and finally the season ended with a broken oil pump which thankfully took place at home because it had not been possible to solve along a roadside.

This is what it looks like for many of us riding old bikes or cars. If you still use original parts, it is old and worn, the materials wear out and sometimes it breaks. But as well as we remember when the guys from Swedish Eagles and Norwegian Rams kicked through a marginal competition when Hindås celebrated 50 years, to the massive sand smoke that this year covered the whole area during Dust Bowl Blues in Långemåla or new friends from Norway when it was full throttle at the Flattrack In Denmark, everything that happens during the season and along the way becomes what warms during the cold months you spend in the garage. Building, repairing or maybe just cleaning up for the next season. Because just as we getting started after some much needed rest, we realize that shit!!!, now it’s not far left. Until the light comes, the roads begin to dry up and the sun invites you to another pleasant season.

For us, Conny and I, 2019 also meant a crossroad. When I decided to realize that 20-year-old’s dream of a chopper magazine of my own, it was a bit like jumping off a trampoline, without having a damn idea if the pool was water-filled or not. But sometimes you have to make the jump. And so far, it has felt like the right decision. The response has been fantastic, the support immense and new subscribers come every week. Of course, for the magazine to survive, many more are needed, but it feels like we’re on the right track so we trust the gut feeling and ride on. In order to give you readers the magazine we want to read ourselfs, I have promised myself not to become a journalist who is just a spectator. It’s easy to happen. It is a little tricky to pack up the photo equipment in the packing bag on the bike, you have to prepare a little bit more and certainly you sometimes get a bit divided when you have to both race yourself or party with all the pals and at the same time do the job and then be able to tell the story in the magazine for our readers. BUT the day you stop being part of the experience, the community and the adventure, that day you will only be able to reproduce what you see, not what you know and actually feel. The Evil Monkey is so much more. We want to give you that feeling, those good hours with some beers, a little whiskey togheter with cool peoples at a meeting, or that nice feeling when the heat hits your body after a few cold hours in rain, or when you are about to break down because you do not understand why the heck the bike runs like crap and you realize that its only the choke that got hooked. You know, all that stuff that’s part of what we like best, that’s what we want to present to you.

With two issues cleared and a third on the way, we feel that we are beginning to find the form, but we have also promised ourselves that the “Monkey” will always be alive and changing. We believe that as long as we can surprise and give you a good mix of new stuff, old gold, fun events, beautiful bikes, nasty rides and evil wheels, simply a picture of the Scandinavian Kustom Kulture in its true form, the magazine will grow and give you guys both inspiration, maybe some good tips and hopefully loads of fun.

With this we all who are involved in the magazine in one way or another, like to thank you who already support the mag but also you who will in the future and at the same time wish you all a really merry Christmas and do not forget, that soon it turns, winter peaks the night between December 22 and December 23 and then a new season is about to start.

Keep supporting the Magazine by subscribing!!!

Peace out!/ Mia the editor

Christmas picture originally by Cecilia Bergsø C&G