Bali has a group for almost every different enthusiasm of custom motorcycles out there, from Harley’s to Monkey Bike’s and most of the variants in between. One of these groups of custom motorcycle enthusiasts is Naskleng 13, they’re also the organizers of what is undoubtedly the largest custom motorcycle event held in Bali. This year, under the banner of “Not an annual custom culture show on the Island of Gods, Bali” they ran their Custom Wars for the fifth time. Their two-day event was jam-packed to overflowing with motor inspired activities. There was a combined custom motorcycle & car exhibition that wrapped around the entire area. There were live tattoo shows, a bunch of live mural and pinstriping artists, there was skateboarding and the fingerboard league, an alley cat race, even a kite surfing show. Booths were set up selling clothing from several vendors, there was a junkyard for the sale of vintage parts, food and beverage booths to fill one’s belly and one hell of a live music lineup across the six stages scattered about the 2.6-hectare area of what was once the old Bali Zoo in Sanur.
An exciting, and for us, much anticipated addition to this year’s NK13 Custom War had to be the Motorcycle Beach Race. Padang Galak Beach is located right in front of the main event venue and when the tide ebbed, offered up a long black sand straightaway, although we only needed 200 meters of it. It was perfectly positioned for people to spill down to the sand and back, enjoying the races before receding back up to the custom motorcycle exhibition and live music.
An exciting, and for us, much anticipated addition to this year’s NK13 Custom War had to be the Motorcycle Beach Race. Padang Galak Beach is located right in front of the main event venue and when the tide ebbed, offered up a long black sand straightaway, although we only needed 200 meters of it. It was perfectly positioned for people to spill down to the sand and back, enjoying the races before receding back up to the custom motorcycle exhibition and live music.
Deus Ex Machina Bali pulled a team together to participate in the beach race along with 135 other participants. Dede Juntha, Dewa Dimas, and Sandi Maulana were three riders eagerly waiting to compete in some of the different classes. All three were going to compete in the Big Dawgs and FFA Vintage Trail Big CC classes, and Sandi was going to also run in the FFA Custom Bike class. We had brought along three of our shop bikes for the job. Our 1976 Yamaha SR400, a Suzuki DR650, and a Honda CRF 250. To make sure we could repair and adjust on the fly, Arwin and Koko, aka The Deus Bengkel Boys, our amazing Canggu workshop team, were set up in our paddock tent. Our tent was surrounded by friends from Bali and other cities, such as Bckyrd Custom (Bali), Hiro Motorcycle (Jakarta), 645 Magz (Jakarta), Jadoel Garage (Bali), and Afternoon Cruisin’ (Bali). Everyone was set about preparing their bikes in the paddock tents while waiting for the high tide to slide back to the sea and expose our soon to be race track.
At exactly 1:00 PM, the organizers gave us the thumbs up. The event started with the FFA Custom Bike class, in which Sandi Maulana was to participate using our Honda CRF250. Before a race could begin, the two competing riders had to play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” to choose their position – left or right on the start. This was done because the left track was higher up the beach, where the looser, dryer sand was a little more challenging. However, this challenge wasn’t met with complaints but rather with enthusiasm, the added element of luck and the skillful control of the wild rear-wheel steering factor in dry loose sand.
By the second day of racing the competition had been whittled down to the final few. Sandi Maulana and Dewa Dimas had both made it through. Unfortunately, Dede Juntha had been knocked out of both classes he was competing in during the preliminaries on day one. Then it was Dewa’s turn, he was unfortunately knocked out of both the Big Dawgs & FFA Vintage Trail Big CC classes. That just left Sandi Maulana in Team Deus who advanced to the final in the FFA Custom Bike class with the Deus Honda CRF 250. The finals consisted of three races. Sandi started in the challenging left track and lost the first race. He then switched to the right track for the second race, securing a victory. However, in the third race, Sandi switched back to the left track and lost again, resulting in a score of 1-2 for Sandi, who ultimately came second in that class.
While the results weren’t ideal for Deus as a team, we undeniably had an awesome time. The race atmosphere by the beach, the beautiful August weather in Bali, and hanging out with all the like minded motorcycle enthusiasts at the event who kept us more than amused and undeniably entertained. With that we packed up our bikes, tools and paddock tent, and continued the enthusiasm by heading up to the main event area, first admiring the various motorcycles and cars on display, then moving on through to where they staged the final run of bands, the heavy weights of Bali’s rock and metal music scene, bands such as Navicula, Jangar, and Ironhead.
Photos by Ram Mateo