By Tono Gomez

In 1983, a meeting about Old Cars was held but it was unsuccessfully interrupted by the rain. Because of the weather, the group of Harley riders got together in a house and inspired by the ethyl vapour, they decided to organize a Harley-Davidson meeting for the next year.

The first meetings were at the campsite in Oropesa del Mar which is located 3 or 4 Kilometres from Benicasim. In 1984, 20 motorbikes were gathered. The following year (1985), the number of motorbikes was up to 40 and the third year, the number of bikes exceeded 100. 300 people and 200 motorbikes were registered in the year 1987.

 

 

It was in 1988 when more than 500 motorbikes were registered. Since then, a yearly gathering is held in El Pinar de Castellón.

 

 

All these gatherings and the following ones were under the control of the H-DC Crazy Brothers Spain until 1991. The Falomir Brothers (Emilio and Juan Luís) were the ones working hard and assuming many responsibilities in order to achieve every annual gathering.

 

 

We should not forget that the first meeting in Calafell was also celebrated under the name of the Crazy Brothers Spain and it was part of the Harley Davidson European Federation Club.

 

 

In the year 1991, 900 Harley Davidson and 1500 people were registered in spite of having neither Harley Davidson official importer nor official dealer. It was an incredible fact if we take into account that only 10 or 12 people from Castellón owned a Harley by that time. Nowadays, 1000 motorbikes can be found only in this province. As we can see, earliest gatherings were international – Spanish people were a minority.

After the gathering in 1991, the Carazy Brothers were dissolved due to some problems we will not talk about and the 1992 gathering was called off internationally. A Harley Davidson Spanish Club was formed from the remains of the work made by the Crazy Brothers. This club, however, had a short life. In May of the year 1992, a group of Catalan people constituted the H-DC Catalunya and another group from Castellón set up a club currently known as the Big twin Spain.

 

Although that year (1992) the time to prepare everything and the means of support were minimal, many people got together to support a clear idea: “Not allow to lose the Harleys gathering in el Grao”. So the meeting was summoned again motivated by the willing spirit of the members. In spite of a great decrease in the number of registrations —mainly the Europeans—, we noticed that the meeting had survived and it was going to remain active.

 

T-shirt 1993	T-shirt back image 1993

 

The year 1993 was the year of the club settlement. It was proved that the Big twin could do things properly. The club was legalised, some running rules were established and the improvement of the yearly meeting in September was the most important objective. That year, the Big Twin Spain handled some procedures with the Administration to set up the club as a social institution grouping all the Harley owners from Castellón.

Why did we call the club Big twin Spain instead of H-DC Castellón or H-DC Comunidad Valenciana? Juan Fernández, who was a competent mechanic, a great biker and a good friend, was responsible for trying to legalise a Harley Davidson Club Spain covering for the vanished Crazy Brothers Spain but this try resulted in a slow and unsuccessful process. The importer put pressure on Juan because they didn’t want the Harley Davidson to appear. It was possible thanks to the Factory and the European Federation agreement. However, given that Juan had a garage, pressure became higher and he thought the solution was to legalise the Big Twin Spain. Then, we let matters take their course.

In the year 1994, there were some internal problems which developed in a bad economic management by the Board of Directors generating huge losses, great debts and social discredit. The club almost disappeared.

 

T-shirt 1994	Bigtwin poster 1995

 

In 1995, new people were in control of the club and they imposed a working criteria still remaining nowadays. That year, a meeting with the HOG Europe was held. (It was the first time that the European HOG got together with a H-DC in order to organise an annual Rally).

 

Hog poster 1995

 

People related with the Milwaukee factory such as Bill Davidson came to the meeting. They were impressed by our future possibilities and our popularity. That year, we were able to pay off the outstanding debt and take up the correct way again until today.

 

Bill Davidson in El Grao 1995	Gathering Stage  1995

 

There were some years of difficult chairmanship but then, Ignacio Diago assumed the charge of Chairman, together with Pablo Bolívar as Vice-president, Pascual Ortiz as Treasurer, Miguel A. Aguilar as Secretary and Sergio Gaya as Public Relations.

 

Poster 1996	Poster 1997	Poster 1998

 

Poster 1999	Poster 2000	Poster 2001

 

A new Board of Directors was set up in February of 2002. Those were the members:

President: Tono Gómez "Doc"
Vice-president:  Juan Muñoz "Fumeke"
Secretary: Vicente Ferreres "Parches"
Treasurer:  Pascual Ortiz
Member: Jose Luis Sos "Hard"

Alberto Edo would replace Vicente Ferreres as Secretary.

Vicente Ferreres would replace Pascual Ortiz as Treasurer.

 

Poster 2002	Poster 2003	Poster 2004

 

In November of 2004, the Board of Directors was restructured:

President:  Francisco Muñoz "Pelicano"
Vice-president:  Loyte Queral
Secretary:  Juanjo Centelles
Treasurer:  Eduardo "Sor Citroen"
Member:  Jose Luis Ojeda "Casper"

Jose Luis Ojeda would replace Juanjo Centelles as Secretary.

Carlos Contreras would replace Jose Luis Ojeda as Member.

 

Poster 2005	Poster 2006

 

The current Board of Directors was elected in November of 2006:

President:  Vicente Ferreres "Parches"
Vice-president:  Angel Vivas "Camisa Rota"
Secretary:  Jaime Brull "Pistacho"
Treasurer:  Alejandro Viciano "Chano"
Member:  Raúl Alicart "Pincho"

 

Poster 2007

 

PROHIBIDA LA REPRODUCCION TOTAL O PARCIAL DE ESTA PAGINA SIN LA AUTORIZACION DEL HARLEY-DAVIDSON-CLUB BIG TWIN ESPAÑA