Winter is just now picking up steam to some extent with crisp, cold temperatures. Inga and Francisco Garcia can hardly wait for spring to arrive. They long for warmth, sunshine and (ice-)free slopes, in short: for the start of the motorcycle season 2008. Because just in time for the holidays, the two won a very special Christmas present: At the Costumbike motorcycle show in Bad Salzuflen, Francisco's Harley-Davidson "Street Bob" was pimped out with parts worth a good 10,000 euros to become a real one-of-a-kind, or "pimped," as many younger people now call it in reference to U.S. Slang.
For Francisco Garcia, winning the "Pimp your VeeTwin" contest was completely unexpected. Although he had read about the tender in motorcycle magazines and on the Internet, he actually wanted to take the application into his own hands. He could have met the requirements: A creative application, good reasons to convince the jury and a Harley-Davidson, which still consists of at least 95 percent original parts, were required for it. With great enthusiasm, the shopper fan had already started to select the parts he wanted for the conversion – but then put the application on the back burner. "I thought so many people were taking part that I wouldn't win anyway," says the 32-year-old.
But then Inga took the initiative to make her husband's dream come true. "He always raved about the fact that he absolutely wanted to have a unique piece," explains the 24-year-old. "I did a little bit of tinkering."
It was precisely this "little something" – a photo book in the shape of the motorcycle tank – that convinced the jury. It also contributed to the fact that she could think of not just one good reason why her husband's bike, of all things, should be pimped, but six. Reasons for which it takes a really diehard fan. For example, the one "that he has the finished bike tattooed on his back," tells Inga. Or that he dedicates a song to the bike with his band "Strained. Together with the parts wish list secretly swiped from Francisco, Inga Garcia sent in the application at the beginning of October. The winning message of the organizers of the competition – a publishing house. Of an accessories manufacturer – came a week later via phone. Completely clueless, Francisco went at it himself. "He was blindsided," Inga recalls with a grin. The surprise was successful.
But the winners had to wait a little longer before they could take delivery of their new-old bike. In close coordination with the executing professionals, the conversion was first planned in all details and even rehearsed. But it wasn't until early December that the actual rebuild actually went ahead in the truest sense of the word – live as a wrenching event at the motorcycle show. What all was done there? "I can better say what remained original," says the motorcycle fan, "the engine and the transmission."For additional uniqueness, an airbrush expert added skull motifs to the tank of the "Street Bob".
Three days before Christmas, after a thorough inspection by the professionals, Francisco Garcia was finally able to pick up his machine. "A nice Christmas present," Inga sums up. "Now we are eagerly awaiting the spring."Especially her boyfriend itches according to his own admission already strongly in the fingers. "The season", says Francisco Garcia, "can come .