The 2012 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show

The 21st edition of the LA Calendar Motorcycle Show sponsored by Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys featuring top Celebrity Builders, the Calendar Bike Building Championship & Concours d'Elegance, selected Vendors and Exhibitors, Calendar Girl Music live performances, took place in Calabasas, California.

The current 3-year decline in the economy and the resulting impact on the enthusiast motorcycle market with loss of so many custom bike manufacturers, builders, part manufacturers and buyers meant the LA Calendar Show needed to downsize as well. Show producer Jim Gianatsis of FastDates.com, was excited to secure the Calabasas Inn private event facility.

The 2012 Calendar Show was spread across 3 separate wooded areas at the beautiful Calabasas Inn facility. In the background of one display area was a duck pond and waterfall. An adjoining area just as big under cool shade trees held more exhibitors, the Pro Builder Class, the live band stage with spectator seating, dining tables and food and beverage trucks. And the air conditioned Calabasas Inn Banquet Facility where spectators entered the Show held more exhibitors, restrooms, and the Sportbike Class.

The Show's activities include the Calendar Bike Building Championship, selected Vendors and Exhibitors, the Motorcycle Machine Dyno, and Calendar Girl Music live performances featuring the Japanese girl rock band Nylon Pink, singer songwriters Rachel McGoye and Marina V.

As always the Show marks the world premier of next year's new 2013 FastDates.com Motorcycle PinUp Calendars photographed by Calendar Show producer Jim Gianatsis. The Calendars include Fast Dates World Superbike and MotoGP roadrace bikes , Iron & Lace Custom Motorcycles, and Garage Girls Hard at Work, hosted by beautiful Calendar Kittens and SBK World Superbike grid girls Sabella Shake and Kinsy Ray featured in the in the FastDates.com Calendars and Website. The new 2013 Calendars are available now at FastDates.com, Amazon.com, at Cycle Gear Stores and your favorite dealer, or phone Van Leeuwen Distributing at 1-800-461-1226.

The Show park featured top industry names including Jim's Machine, Edelbrock Engineering, Frog Specialties / Beringer Brakes, AXO streetbike apparel, and Universal Technical Institute training school. Spectators were treated to upscale dining on lined covered tables under shade trees, with food and beverages form some of LA's top food trucks - Baby's Badass Burgers, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Maui Waui Hawaiian Smoothies and Sugar Babies Cupcakery. The fresh baked heart topped cup cakes were passed out by the Calendar Kittens complimentary to show spectators.



The Calendar Motorcycle Show continues to feature many of the world's top Pro and Amateur custom street bike builders with their newest 2-wheeled creations of rolling art to compete in the Calendar Show Bike Building Championship for fame and awards including the coveted Best of Show Trophy.  The Calendar Show broadened its focus to include the growing Collector Bike Market with Exhibitors and Bike Show classes for classic European, British and Japanese motorcycles, along with American V-Twins and Customs. Show Entries were place in a Concours d' Elegance display throughout the venue on the grass and under shade trees at the Calabasas Inn.

Among the top custom and racebike builders in attendance and featured in FastDates.com Iron & Lace Custom Motorcycle and Fast Dates Racebike PinUp Calendars over the past 20 years included Russell Mitchell / Exile Cycles and Richard Pollock / Mule Motorcycles, Shinya Kimura / Chabott Engineering, Jim Giuffra & Spokesmodels / AFT Customs, Todd Silicato / Todd's Cycle, Chris Redpath / MotoGPwerks, Caleb Owens / CRO Customs, Yaniv Evan / Power Plant Choppers and Steve Storz / Storz Performance.

Chris Redpath of MotoGP Werks used the Show to display two really neat Ducati's he had just built for Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, one a naked MotoGP Ducati Desmosedici streetfighter valued over $100,000, and the other an old Ducati Bevel-Drive 750 custom Cafe Bike. Redpath also brought along couple of former AMA National Superbike Championship racers, one a Mike Baldwin CB900F, the other a Matt Mladin Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR750, plus a classic Mike Hailwood type Ducati racer.

For the fourth time in eight years, a top Japanese builder used the LA Calendar Show to mark his entrance onto the world stage, following in the foot steps of former Best of Show and Class winners Shinya Kimura / Chabott Engineering, Kenji Nagai / Ken’s Factory and Hiroyouki Hirata of BB Custom Factory who all flew in with their bikes from Japan just to compete at the world renown Calendar Show.

Garnering Best of Show in this year's 2012 Calendar Bike Building Championship was Hoshikawa Hideki / Asteris9.com from Miyagi, Japan who flew in to Los Angeles for just 3 days with his latest custom bike build to compete and take top honors, then fly back home to Japan. Celebrity judges Jim Gianatsis, Jim Giuffra, Chris Redpath and Michael Schacht choose Hideki's 883cc Sportster based naked custom sportbike as the most exciting, original and well constructed custom at the Show. Hideki said he built it for a customer who gave him a blank check and no instructions whatsoever, other then to ask him to build the best bike he could build. Hideki is not necessarily a sportbike enthusiast, he builds all kinds of Harley based customs, but this time he said, he wanted to concentrate on the quality of the design and build, utilizing real sportbike feel and performance for the now highly modified 1200cc Sportster engine.

AFT Customs also awarded Hideki their own "AFT Visionary Awards Trophy" which was hand built by the spokesmodels at AFT, and award by shop owner Jim Giuffra, models and Angela and Shelby to the one builder at the Show who they felt exhibited an new direction in custom bike building. In this case Hideki had taken a mundane, underpowered, overweight, not-the-best handling 883cc Sportster and turned it into a 1200cc highly potent, world-class custom sportbike.

In the Pro Builder Class it was Yaniv Evan / Power Plant Choppers who took home top honors with his classically styled bare metal custom Black & Metal" based on a 1970 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead. "I wanted to build something in between a 'Rudge Superior' from the 1930's meets 1960's chopper, with a bit more power and good handlebar feel." Evan's shop PowerPlant Choppers.com is located on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood where he also sells cool PowerPlant apparel to visiting tourists and locals.

Among the Calendar Show's exciting custom bike world premiers was Two-Time Best of Show and now Six-Time Class Winners with this year's Sportbike Class victory, Jim Giuffra and the Spokesmodels from AFTCustoms.com, Jaskson, CA. premiering their latest build as always at the Calendar Show. Following their tradition of naming their bikes after spirit gods, their bike 'Halia' is a Hawaiian spirit named Honda Shadow performance custom Cafe Sport Racer that will head for the BUB Speed Trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August with its girl builders Angela and Shelby in the saddle for speed record attempts.



The 2012 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show's move to the new Calabasas Inn venue, proved to be a tremendous success. Everyone had nothing but positive comments about the beautiful new location, how important the Calendar Show was to the custom bike building community on the West Coast, and how they looked forward to returning again next year on the 3rd weekend of July 2013 to see the Show continue to grow as the economy recovers.

2012 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show 
Calendar Bike Building Championship Results

Best of Show: Hideki Hoshikawa,' #19 Asterisk' H-D Sportster XLH1200 Cafe Racer

Pro Builder: 1). Yaniv Evan, Powerplant Motorcycles, H-D Shovelhead Custom; 2). Andy Iawwacone / TDC Cycles, 1947 H-D Knucklehead custom.

Street Custom: 1). Charlie Mitchell, 2001 H-D Heritage lowrider old school custom; 2). Doug Ide, 2009 H-D Road Glide Bagger.

Bar Hopper: 1). Yaniv Evan / Scott Cann, Powerplant Motorcycles, 1951 H-D Panhead Board Track Racer replica: 2). Manuel Muller, 1967 Triumph TR7 Glitter Cycle tribute.

Sportbike: 1). AFT Customs / 'Halia" Honda VT750 Street Tracker; 2). Paul Morris / P&M Racing, G2 Gangster V-Twin Street Legal Street Pro Drag Bike.

Classic American pre 1980: 1). Shinya Kimura, H-D Panhead custom cafe racer; 2). Dave Destler, 1970 H-D Sportster XLH stock.

Classic European pre 1980: 1). Chris Redpath / MotoGPwerks.com, 1975 Kawasaki Z1 Daytona 200 Rob North Chassis / Don Vesco race bike; 2) LACD, 1975 Norton 850 Commando.