Harley-Davidson^® Euro Festival rocks the Golfe de St-Tropez

There’s always been something special about the Harley-Davidson^® Euro Festival. Since its first appearance on the Harley calendar 11 years ago, the event has drawn a cool and chic crowd of Harley^® riders from across Europe to the chic Golfe de St-Tropez to ride, to party and to chill out in the beauty of southern France.

The 2017 Euro Festival saw a capacity crowd of more than 22,000 attendees gather at the newly revamped Prairies de la Mer beachfront site to make the most of the activities on offer at this most stylish of Harley-Davidson events. The traditional Saturday parade saw more than 2,000 bikes riding through the beauty of the justly famous local countryside and the port of St-Tropez, while the impeccably beautiful hilltop village of Grimaud hosted the world-famous Custom Bike Show on the Friday, drawing a record gathering of the best custom bikes in Europe to compete for the magnificent trophies hand-crafted for the occasion by artisan sponsor 2-Saints.

More of the finest examples of custom bike builders’ art were on display in the Freeway Village on site, along with tattooists, barbers, artisan jewellers and painters exhibiting their craft. Elsewhere on the remodelled beach site, Harley-Davidson dealers vied for the attention of the crowds with the Dark Custom^® area, the H.O.G.^® Hospitality zone, a huge retail area and the Harley-Davidson Demo zone with the full range of models on offer to test ride – including the brand-new Street Rod^®. Fellow American icon and event sponsor Jeep^® was present once again to display its latest range, all available to test ride right on site.

Meanwhile the local region was filled with the sight and sound of thousands of Harley-Davidson riders enjoying the incredible riding roads, local restaurants and scenery that await around every turn in this region of southern France.

The local H.O.G. chapter offered an itinerary of escorted local rides along hand-picked roads through the Massif des Maures and Coeur de Var regions by day, while at night on the main stage music was provided by a range of local and international bands and musicians including The Picturebooks – look out for them on the cover of the forthcoming issue of HOG^® magazine – Triggerfinger, Mat Bastard and the Chris Slade Timeline, while headline group The Pretenders brought the entertainment to a crescendo on the Saturday night. Elsewhere on site the Long Bar, the Harley^® Bar and the beachfront restaurants and bar areas came to life with live music, DJ sets, entertainment and great food to suit all tastes.

The Euro Festival will be back in 2018 and as one of the flagship events in the Harley-Davidson calendar, and tickets will be in high demand. H.O.G. members receive priority notification as soon as the dates of future Harley-Davidson events – including Euro Festival – are announced, so make sure you are signed up to receive notification of news to make sure you don’t miss out on what is undeniably one of the coolest events in the Harley-Davidson world.

Euro Festival Custom Bike Show 2017

The Custom Bike Show exhibited motorcycle craftsmanship of the very highest level this year, with Europe’s best custom bike professionals rubbing shoulders with artisan builders competing for the beautiful hand-crafted bespoke trophies created by French jewellery brand 2-Saints. The village of Grimaud formed the backdrop for an incredible display, and the panel of expert judges drawn from the custom bike world and the motorcycle media had a tough task in selecting the winners from the amazing array of design and construction talent on offer. Best in Show came from Italy’s Galley Motorcycles with a jaw-dropping resto-mod in the Antique category, while the hotly contested People’s Choice was another incredible creation from France’s Gregory Ballique.

Best in Show
Gallery Motorcycles, Italy

People’s Choice
Gregory Ballique, France

Antique
1. Gallery Motorcycles, Italy
2. Stephane Grand, Switzerland

Big Twin
1. H2H
2. Suicide Choppers, France

Custom
1. Alain de Poissy, France
2. Asso Special Bike, Italy

Ladies of Harley^®
1. Sarah Mattier, Switzerland
2. Pamela Ronchetti, Italy

Radical
1. Olivier Gangi, Belgium
2. Gregory Ballique, France

Sportster^®
1. Jean-Marie, France
2. Frank Lacoste, France

Touring
1. Alain Van Der Blardt, Belgium
2. Lobo, France

Watercooled
1. Asso-Special Bike, Italy
2. Dailly, France

Visit the official website: events.harley-davidson.com/en_GB/euro-festival