Didn’t we all already hear about Heidelberg… this lovely little city in the south west of Germany? Well it is not only about history and beautiful old architecture. There is quite a custom motorcycle scene in this area and it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that Martin Becker is one of the trendsetters in it and meanwhile even throughout the country. If you read mags like this or follow some social media bike bloggers, I am sure one or other bell rings hearing the name MB Cycles Heidelberg. Yeah, the dude with the super-low and long v-twin bikes – mostly rigid, trademark sloppy jeans and greasy hair.
As a squit Martin already started wrenching bicycles. He stole his moms bike to connect two forks and make a long one out of it. At 13 he got his first moped. It was a gift and since he didn’t have the cash for petrol he made it run with turpentine or other flammable liquids. At 18 and with the moto licence in his pocket his first real motorcycle was an Yamaha XT…of course completely pimped! But quite some time after that he somehow drifted away from two-wheels and left his hometown Miltenberg to move to Heidelberg.
Living a hippie-goa-life in a bus he worked on Christmas markets in the winter every year for a couple of weeks to earn money for trips to Burma, Nepal, Thailand and India. Well I won’t get into details now but during his travels in India he constantly bumped into all these kinda cool customized Royal Enfields and became nostalgic.
On his last trip to India (Rajasthan/Pushkar) he bought two Royal Enfields, rebuilt them with the help of some natives and imported them to Germany where the agency of employment was already knocking on his trailer door requesting an answer “How is this supposed to go on Mr. Becker?” Since Germany has a very strong state financial support system, he decided to get into business for himself. This way he at least had an insurance.
Martin is now a one man show since 2001 and worked himself up from scratching pennies to the 2016 European BBO winner, and meanwhile being able to afford a decent life building remarkable and truly different custom bikes. The variety is big…choppers, racers, bobbers…whatever! Some are hard to define. He does not customize them to death…they just get this very indefinable and recognizable look that makes you wanna race the heck out of yourself! But why the hunt on hardtail frames? It’s simple and nothing new that the restrictions in Germany are getting worse year by year and old Harley or aftermarket frames like Sante or VG give him some custom liberty. Besides what is more sexy than a motorcycle with a solid frame?!
Well to keep it short…MB just moved to a bigger place and we want to enlighten you that it is now even more worth a pit stop to grab some non-chic merch, parts or place your custom order. But if you ever decide to get an MB Bike…don’t be too specific about what you want because it’s probably not gonna happen. Just trust your gut about calling him in the first place because it’s pretty sure that he will exceed your expectations!
At Bike Nation Magazine, we will be covering Martin’s bike builds with more details, so stay tuned for more pics and stories from MB Cycles Heidelberg.
Here is a teaser for now..
