

My folks live in England, and—like most people in Western Europe—they’ve spent the past few weeks buried under snow and ice in the most vicious winter for decades. Which led me to thinking about all the motorcycles locked up in garages and sheds, waiting for the roads to clear and tires to find grip.

So when I happened across this extraordinary machine from TGS in Germany, I had to feature it. The bike was built by TGS’ owner Tobias Guckel for Sepp Schmidt, hence the name ‘Seppster’. And those huge Avon Cobra tires each have 120 spikes for maximum purchase on ice …

Of course, it’s not an entirely practical bike, unlike the hugely popular ice speedway racers of Europe, but it’s a very interesting alternative to the usual ‘Hot Wheels’ style choppers.

Power comes from a turbocharged S&S 93-ci motor, but virtually every other part of this machine was built in-house by TGS, from the radical single-sided front fork to the rigid frame and wheels.

This bike came third at the 2008 World Championship of Bike Building; like Hot Dock’s StG Nautilus, it was overshadowed by Roger Goldammer’s paradigm-shifting ‘Goldmember.’

In any other year, this ice racer would have grabbed the spotlight, and rightly so.