The International Master Bike Builders Association (IMBBA) is pleased to announce an international partnership agreement with the Federation of Italian Customizers (FIC.) The IMBBA has worked for almost a year to complete the partnership with the FIC, an organization that united Italian bike builders and Italian skilled tradesmen several years ago.
FIC President Fabrizio Favre, FIC Vice President Jerry Caronte, FIC Secretary Roberto Totti and more than 30 members of the FIC, representing the Italian bike building industry, have become part of the IMBBA. The FIC is now in full agreement with the IMBBA standards for judging and the IMBBA certification points system developed by IMBBA founder, Jeff Starke.
Fabrizio Favre announced the partnership agreement on behalf of the FIC at the European Bike Week, Sept. 12 at Faaker See in Austria. The Faaker See rally has grown in 13 years to be the largest bike week in Europe.
The unifying agreement places the FIC in the role of administrator in gathering and processing information needed to submit their members for IMBBA certification. The FIC will now submit their members for certification under the same auspices developed by the IMBBA for certification of bike builders and skilled tradesmen in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the USA.
"This is a historical event in motorcycling," said Jeff Starke. "We are pleased to welcome the Federation of Italian Customizers. For the first time, the builders of a country are uniting with the IMBBA to standardize the means by which all members, associates and bike builder-customizers are certified.
"The IMBBA points system that judges on the basis of Fit, Form, Function and Safety has been gaining momentum among world class builders, riders and bike owners as a fair and impartial process used to recognize motorcycles that are built properly and as a way to identify quality bike builders and skilled tradesmen." training.
Federation of Italian Customizers
Canadian Update:
Things are finally starting to fall into place for the IMBBA in Canada. Sept. is the month that membership dues are due and they are slowly coming in. We now have a Canadian web page that is up and under construction, www.imbba.ca The page is being built and managed by IMBBA Master Bike Builder ll Doug Coffey of Head Quarters. When a member joins IMBBA they can now submit a picture of themselves and a Bio that will let everyone know where they are located and what services and products their shop offers, as well as pictures of current projects that they are working on. Upon completing the “Certify Me” section of IMBBA their points status will also be posted here. Any submissions for the page can be sent to me at bobmckay@masterbikebuilders.com.
I have spoken with numerous show promoters on the possibility of having their shows sanctioned by and judged by a team of certified IMBBA judges. So far I have agreements in the works with Rocky’s Harley Davidson for both their 2011 shows , one is located in London, Ontario and the other is in Kitchener, Ontario. Pascal Richard of the Classic Bike and Tattoo show in Laval Quebec is also on board for 2011 and as well he will be hosting the “World Cup” in 2012. Judging the Broken Spoke show in Sturgis this year was a blast. Jeff Starke organized the show while American Master Judge Fred Arnold, Canadian Master Judge Bob McKay and Canadian judge Shawn Brittan did the judging. Ryan Robinson of RNR Custom Cycles of Guelph Ontario also finished his judging apprenticeship at the show and is now IMBBA certified.
The show at the Broken Spoke was a big deal for me as I received my award and Induction into the IMBBA Hall Of Fame. Fellow Canadian Ryan Robinson also was on hand to receive his award for “Master Bike Builder ll”. Fred Vaillencourt of Quebec and Steve Schuller of Ontario have qualified to compete in the 2012 World cup. There are spots for up to six Canadian bikes in this show. If you are interested in competing in this you can contact me at bobmckay@masterbikebuilderss.com.
