Ouest Bike Show 2023
The traditional September event in France, Ouest Bike Snow 2023, brought together active riders from the legendary Switch Riders team. (Benjamin Baldini, Florian Bugs, Guyguy - Gleyo Guillaume), prorider Anthony Bessirard and guests from the North America: the well-known American prorider Ernie "EDUB" Vigil and Julien Welsch from France, who's lived in Canada for a while now.
The 17th event in France was called "The Avengers". As in the movie "Avengers", the organizers gathered the brightest representatives of stunt riding, who made a huge contribution to this culture and raised the level of the sport.
Another famous Switch Riders rider, Kevin "Kafon" Parussini, was supposed to take part in the show. But not long before the event, he got a knee injury.
Anthony Bezirad opened the show with his little son, with whom he showed basic stunts. The commentator always introduces viewers to the program and the culture of stunt riding to make everything clearer and more interesting.
Florian Bugs is one of the most stylish riders in France. He brought the coolest unique stunt - a watchtower in tandem, which was a success, although not on the first try and without an out. In general, Florian’s tandem show is the best we’ve ever seen: the most complex combos on the wheel, acrobatic stoppies 180. His level is also super high as he is a Switch Rider!
Benjamin Baldini performed the best stunt on an electric bike. The lack of clutch seemed no problem for this legend. The combination of stoppies with one hand in wheelie circles without hands touching the ground was especially pleasing to watch. The stunt is not only very cool itself, but it is also impossible to do on a motorcycle with an IC engine. The electric stunt may be even more interesting in some ways, but the sound, of course, is not as impressive.
GuyGuy is already a traditional participant in the Ouest Bike Show. He keeps himself in excellent shape and amused the audience with high-level stunts on a small Honda Grom, as well as on a large motorcycle.
Ernie Virgil has been busy recently working full-time in movies, on television and at Icon Motosports, which produces motorcycle gear, presented in our store.
It was great to meet and talk in person. Despite the complete lack of time for training, the Icon rider remains the coolest motorcycle drifter and showman, performing on a beautiful Triumph Street Tripple with design matching the new Airform Old Glory helmet.
Another Icon rider Julian Welsh was in great shape. He showed the most complex professional stunts, made the audience laugh and even scared them a little with a crazy drift on a turbocharged Triumph Daytona 675. By the way, the turbine on this bike is mostly for sound and show, it doesn’t give a big increase in power. Julian's main stuntbike is a Triumph Street Tripple 675 designed to match the Icon Airfrom Manikr helmet.
The night's team show included fake contests in which riders compete, but the winner gets nothing. The best moments from what was captured were included in the standard highlight of the event.
The trip to France this year was not easy, but it was excellent anyway. The event takes place on the coast, in a tourist area, so there are a lot of hotels and campsites nearby. We drove about 500 km from Paris, but if you’re lucky with timing, you can fly to Nantes, from where it’s only half an hour’s drive to Villeneuve-en-Retz.
