Having established itself as the country’s premier custom bike show since its inception in 2015, Moto Builds Pilipinas opened once again to awaiting crowds last May 19-20. Sharing the SMX Convention Center with the prestigious, automotive-centric Trans Sport Show for the past two years, there couldn’t be a better venue to showcased wheeled works of pride.
For its fourth iteration, Moto Builds Pilipinas was held in tandem with the Big Bike Expo, giving moto manufacturers and distributors or equipment and apparel the chance to showcase their latest models and custom possibilities along the entries.
Being a custom bike show, these brands gamely featured their own custom creations at the front of their booths. What follows is a wrap up of the highlights of the Big Bike Expo.
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson of Manila took the opportunity to launch their latest offering, the 115th Anniversary Edition Fat Boy (FLFBS), part of the Softail series. The 115th Anniversary Edition Harleys first premiered in Asia at the Bangkok International Motor Show. As with every ‘Anniversary Edition’ Harley-Davidson, this new Fatboy comes with an exclusive, limited edition two-tone paint scheme and “115” badge. They also presented a Street Rod with a new white color scheme.
BMW Motorrad
BMW Motorrad was also present, putting their custom bikes on a shelf display similar to their setup last year. This time, the company chose to highlight its new range of G310 bikes, with the G310 R and Urban GS, as well as a few customs.
Royal Enfield
Royal Enfield was also present putting forward some custom Himalayans that were clearly not show queens and have seen their fair share of trails.
Yamaha
Leading brand, Yamaha was also present, this time choosing to highlight their newest model, the SR 400. Also on display were the Tracer 900 and Super Tenere.
Kawasaki
Kawasaki also brought in most of its lineup, headlined by the Z900RS, side by side with its Vulcan, Z650, and Ninja 400.
Ropali
Ropali brought one of each of its brands, led by a group of Norton bikes, a classic Lambretta as a sneak peak of its future offering, and a Ural.
Moto Guzzi
Bikerbox’s Moto Guzzi was also present with an example of a V7 Special and V9 Bobber on display.
CFMoto
Drawing quite a crowd was new brand, CFMoto. The Chinses brand offers a wide range of models at agreeable prices. Those in doubt should know that Austrian company, KISKA, a motorcycle design company that has done work with KTM, Husqvarna, and Lambretta, is behind some of these models. CFMoto offers the 150NK naked bike at P97,000; the 250NK at P128,000; the 400NK at P209,000; the 650NK at P289,000; and the dual sport 650MT at P325,000
Motomorini
Another new brand present was Italian brand, MotoMorini, distributed by Bikerbox. The new brand had three models on display, the Granpasso at P1,250,000; the Corsaro at P1,250,000, and the Scrambler at P1,000,000.
The presence of established and new brands at the Big Bike Expo is certainly proof of its maturity from its humble beginnings now into a calendar bike show.
