Dutch Treat
More Action From Across The Pond At Holland's Off-The-Hook Street Or Track Expo
Like Holland itself, the Street or Track show featuring Dutch performance motorcycles is small and perfectly formed. While enthusiasm for the streetfighter phenomenon took a while to gain a foothold in Holland, the Dutch, along with the Brits, have remained true to the stripped-to-the-bone, race-bred ethos that gave birth to the streetfighter genre. This is in contrast to the Germans and French, who have mutated the breed away from its racetrack roots into a world of chromed crap and custom-painted sculpture that wouldn't look out of place alongside the Hardly-Ridable abominations that proliferate on the Discovery Channel like flies around a freshly laid turd (see Achtung Baby!, page 84 of this issue).
Although Holland no longer has a motorcycle industry to call its own (not since the last Batavus rolled out of the factory in the early 1980s), the Netherlands nevertheless produce many superb hop-up components, such as the White Power suspension systems used on many MotoGP and WSB racebikes. Holland is also home to the likes of Nico Bakker, the Dutchman who pioneered, among other sportbike innovations, twin-spar deltabox frames, uni-track rear suspensions, USD forks and six-piston brakes; and Jan Smit, who built the legendary "Big Spender" twin-engined Kawasaki dragbikes in the '70s for the late, great Henk Vink, who took them to the U.S.A. and beat the Americans at their own game. Street or Track is if nothing else an homage to this Dutch high-performance tradition.
Situated in the center of Holland, the Street or Track show is a collection of all that's mad, bad and dangerous in the world of streetfightin' motorcycles. Entries range from megabuck creations built by the country's top tuners to bikes literally nailed together on a shoestring budget in the backyard of a windmill by guys who make cheese and wooden shoes for a living. The bikes on display jostle for attention alongside trade stands from everybody who's anybody on the Dutch streetfighter scene, juxtaposed with offerings from mainstream manufacturers and (this being Holland) a bevy of naked beauties to gaze upon as you wander around the show in a heady atmosphere.
Besides streetbikes, racers from Holland's very competitive dragrace scene were on hand to strut their stuff and lend credence to the "Track" portion of the title. Standouts in this area include the all-conquering Hayabusas from XXX Power Racing displayed alongside the oldies-but-goodies from the Dutch Yamaha club. Being more practical and performance-oriented than some of the more glitzy offerings from Germany, France and Italy, many of the bikes at the Street or Track show forgo acres of chrome and custom paint in favor of unpolished billet aluminum and raw carbon fiber. The ubiquitous early Gixxers are still a firm favorite with the less-is-more hardcore streetfighter builders who put the onus on racetrack handling rather than pretty paint, overlong swingarms and enormous rear tires. In this neck of the woods, unless you're a dedicated quarter-mile freak, Eurofighters must be able to go around corners like a racebike. Otherwise, at the first sign of a bend you're left behind in the weeds with the V-Maxes and the Harleys, with nothing to do but compare paintjobs and chrome doodads.
Of course, if you tire of bikes, you can always take in regular action spots by former World Stunt Champion Kevin Carmichael, serenaded by the howl of big bhp from the bikes in the dyno shootout, all thanks to organizer Jon Tober and his small team of dedicated helpers. In its third year as Holland's top streetfighter event, the Street or Track show has easily doubled in size each time-thankfully, because it's held at one of Europe's biggest exhibition centers, there's plenty of space to allow the streetfighter army to continue their worldwide domination.