Sunday 31 March 2013

Iron & Resin

Thanks to Iron & Resin for promoting Sideburn on their mail-out. They should have the new issue in their Ventura, CA store any day.

 If you want to stock Sideburn email us for details. We make it very easy.
dirt at sideburnmagazine.com G

Baby TZ

A lot has been written about the TZ750 flat trackers, but many riders used the smaller [250 and 350] TZs. This photo was made at Del Mar in 2003.
Mick Ofield
[cover artist SB#13]

Saturday 30 March 2013

Friday 29 March 2013

GKM-BONESHAKER PARTY DATE CHANGED

Tomorrow's launch party has been moved towards the sun.

Sayonaro Speed Tribes

Being shown at Deus, Venice, California, this Saturday night. It looks interesting. More info here. G

Thursday 28 March 2013

Mule Triumph Parts

 
Mule Motorcycles, from San Diego, California, build the tidiest and most well thought out street trackers on the planet. Not one, not a life's work in one bike, but consistently, a mini-production line of jawdroppers, each a little different to the other.

Mule are now producing a number of different parts for owners to fit to their own Hinckley Bonnies.
He has triple clamps, exhaust (see above), oil coolers kits (see above), seats, frame rail eliminators, front sprocket covers...
Check them all out, with specs and prices at Mule Motorcycles.
This is what he Mule told us...

I decided to come out with a "Gruppo" of components for the new Triumphs that I could use on all my builds and that others could take advantage of as well. Further, I didn't like the way the stock cradle/frame rails took up so much room under the motor while not adding any real structural advantage. With the rails in place, I couldn't tuck in an exhaust system tight enough either. So I developed an oil cooler/frame rail/exhaust/sidestand package that kill all these birds with one stone. Mush lighter and better looking while working better than stock. These parts totally transform the look of the original bike and pushes it much closer to way a bike that carries the "Bonneville" moniker should look. 

Then I attacked the wheels, brakes, triple clamps and forks. I designed and had manufactured triple clamps and beautiful, light hubs which are in the process of being fitted to two bikes. The rear hub, brake rotor and sprocket are almost 12lbs lighter than stock!! I've had my own Mule design of stainless bars bent up in 7/8 and one inch and they can be used on the street or track, plus the hubs, brakes and wheels will be easily adaptable to many road, flattrack or streettracker builds. There was a need and now I've scratched my own itch! 
Operators are standing by. 
Love, Mule 

Our man in Pakistan, Adam Wright, shot Mule for Sideburn 3.
We also featured the awesome Streetmaster Triumph that Mule developed in Sideburn 8.
Below is a Mule work in progress, a bike very similar to the one he sold to Matt, the drummer of the Arctic Monkeys. G

Super Rustic

Dimitri Hetinga of the Super Motor Company - maker of the Salt Shaker (above), was just over in England to start work on a new bike. A locally sourced miniature mechanic was brought in to deal with some very small very rusty nuts (and he only charges 4 Cadbury's Creme Eggs per hour).
Strange to think that the copper plumbing pipe and brass fittings that was used by the former owner as a bodge exhaust on this Welsh fieldbike may soon be replaced by slightly more scientific titanium. Crated in finest chipboard, ready to be shipped to the SMC Research and Development facility. In the meantime the SMC dirt bike is nearing completion, and will be baptized at Dirt Quake II. Watch this space... BP

Wednesday 27 March 2013

The Bike Shed Event

Our friends at The Bike Shed are putting this on in May, in the Truman Brewery building. Looks like it'll be good. We have some involvement.  Get down there.

There's a DTRA Dirt Track race in nearby Rye House on the Sunday too, so make a weekend of it. G

Gore Rider Shirt

 Rear detail
 Front
Back

We loved Ryan Quickfall's poster, that we commissioned for the first round of the DTRA race series, so much we asked him to modify the design for a Sideburn pocket T-shirt.

It's printed on a heavy Fruit of the Loom pocket shirt. Two-colour print on the pocket, three-colour print on the back.
£18
Sizes S-XXL.
Comes with the back print as a free sticker.

In other merch news - the back issue T-shirt combo offer has been extended to include Sideburn 12 too.

Buy through the Sideburn webshop.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

SIDEBURN #13 Krazy Horse Party Snaps

The Arctic Tundra followed us to Bury St Edmunds for the launch party. Ryan Quickfall and his girlfriend skied all the way from Newcastle (downhill all the way so it was pretty easy). Dave Skooterfarm took 2 hours just to dig his van out of his snow drift front garden before setting off from Wigan. There was even a bobsleigh team from London captained by Sarah Bradley. But even madder than mad Jim McMad was the only two motorcyclists who braved the sub zero elements to win our two trophies 'Best Street Tracker' and 'Furthest Traveled by Motorcycle'.Thanks to the Stags for playing and everybody else who turned up.Then there was the after-party. Thanks Paul for being such a great host. The Heart of Suffolk indeed. BP

Monday 25 March 2013

Daytona Short Track 2 Photos

Brandon Robinson won his first ever national on the second night at Daytona. When he was 16, Brandon came to England with his parents, stayed with Boastie and raced at Peterborough and Mildenhall. He looked something special. We interviewed him for Sideburn 1.
Later, in 2009, Brandon had an horrific accident at the Indy Mile when he was catapulted out of the track, over a fence and into the car park. He broke an Evel-rivaling list of bones. he was fast before the crash, this proves he's still fast after it.
 It was Jake Johnson's turn to wear the roadmender's kit. He came in fourth in the main.
Briar Bauman #14 made the main, Scott Baker #11 didn't.
Bryan Smith, #42, is going to battle hard for the #1 plate this year. He came in third in the main.
Pro singles action. Stephen Vanderkuur is back to defend his title. He came fifth in his final, won by 59B Jack Constantine.
Oh shi...
Brad Baker raced like a demon, on the podium both nights, but the second night's points were deducted after a complaint about a tech infringement was upheld. Apparently, Baker's Honda was running older forks that had something like a titanium nitride coating on the sliders. From what we gather, this was a standard coating to the forks, but still illegal for this year. Bugger.

Henry Wiles.
Kenny Coolbeth, #2, hanging it out. Jared Mees had a less successful second night, coming in 15th.
Coolbeth and Robinson.
1. Robinson, 2. Baker, 3. Smith, but because of the DQ, Smith will collect the points for second and Jake Johnson promoted to the 3rd.

All photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing.

Sunday 24 March 2013

VR46

This has put me in a better mood than I already was... G

Valentino Rossi moved ahead on yet another rain-affected day at Jerez, topping the Sunday MotoGP testing timesheets from Yamaha Factory Racing teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow joined his fellow Yamaha riders in the top three.

Hey UK, I bet you want a scarf now!

The last few, at a recession- and winter-busting special offer price of £10. Buy one before the Russians turn the gas off again.
Modelled above, by Danker of the Sang-Froid Riding Club, Portland. G

Photo: Michael Schmidt

Saturday 23 March 2013

One Motorcycle Show Books

So, Thor over at See See Motorcycles in Portland organises this great event called The One Motorcycle Show. I went this year and it was great. Every year they shoot the best bikes and now Thor wants to print high quality, heavyweight books of the first two years.

But because book publishing is so expensive, he raising money to produce them through a service called Kickstarter. You have to raise an agreed amount of money, then investors back the rest. But you have to do it in an agreed time and they're in the last SIX days.

There are plenty of different options, from donating $1 to over $5000 and you get something back for all the donations.

If the total isn't raised, you get your money back. I've seen samples of the books, made as one-offs to promote the fund, and they look really good with a massive variety of bikes and people.

Follow this link to find or more and to donate

One Motorcycle Show Kickstarter Fund. G

Friday 22 March 2013

Digger

A virtually unknown Wayne Gardner came from Australia to race in England in 1981. He raced the Moriwaki Z1000 and slept in his car. Towards the end of season he went to Olivers Mount, a public road/park circuit in Scarborough, and beat former two-time World Champion, Barry Sheene, who was on a factory Yamaha GP bike. I'm assured that's Bob Smith tucked in behind Sheene.

Gardner became a hero to a generation of British riders overnight. G

Made In Britain

Hannah wearing Davida lid and leathers, posing with Mr Llewelyn's home-built GM dirt tracker at a sodden Amman Valley. Check those cowhorn bars!
Photo: Ben Part

Thursday 21 March 2013

Beer!

This is the beer Krazy Horse will be selling to go with the good tunes, free food and great bikes at this Saturday's launch. No idea what it tastes like, but it looks memorable. I bet it's got a good head...
I'll get my coat. G

Ride & Skid It School

Multiple British short track champion, Aidan Collins, and his dad, former world class Speedway rider, Les Collins have launched a new riding school, based at Buxton Speedway track, Derbyshire.
Four hours of fun with prices starting at £70. Sounds a bargain.
Any bookings or enquires can email  contact@rideandskidit.com or call Aidan on 07927 425087. G

Ducati Flat Tracker for sale

Based on a Ducati Pantah 350 with a 750 big bore kit, rebuilt engine. Dell'Orto carbs. 21" front wheel, 19" Mitas speedway rear. [looks like 35mm Marzocchi forks?]. No electric start, [total loss] battery ignition.
€ 2000 [£1713]
Kindest regards Andreas Vaas, Germany
email me for more info: werkstatt @ vaas.at


Sideburn can't vouch for the pedigree of this vehicle spotted on the
Dutch-Brothers site, but we love an odd-ball! BP

Wednesday 20 March 2013

DTRA Round 1, King's Lynn

To help the DTRA (Dirt Track Riders Association), the newly formed organisers of the UK dirt track race series, Sideburn said it would commission a different artist to produce a poster for each of the 2013 UK rounds.
The hope is the posters will catch people's eyes that aren't tuned into the flat track world and they'll come along. Simple.

So, please share the poster on your blogs, facebook, whatever, and come along to a race. If you want a higher-res one to print in a magazine, please email us.

We're always looking for flag marshals too, if you want to be in the heart of the action.

The first in the poster series was created by Ryan Quickfall, an artist we first used in Sideburn 12, then again for 13, and also to do the poster for this weekend's Krazy Horse launch.
We asked him a few questions as an introduction.

RYAN QUICKFALL

Age: 29

Where do you live?
Newcastle upon Tyne. UK

What bike do you own?
In between at the moment. Recently a 1999 Yamaha R6.

What's your dream bike?
An early Honda race bike, like an RC166 or something. But I also love 70/80s superbikes. Their heyday is yet to return!

Who is your favourite racer/motorcycle hero?
I really loved Loris Capirossi, often off pace in the later days but a great character.

If you were going to start racing flat track, what bike would you choose? 
If money wasn't an issue something based around an XR750. Realistically I'd get something 4-stroke single. Probably a motocross bike kitted for flattrack. It might happen soon!

What was the inspiration for your DTRA poster? 
It was a chance to illustrate with a slack brief. Which is always welcome. I guess it is just my natural style, lo-fi poster art. Poster art and vintage imagery is my biggest influence in my work. Undead motorcycle riding dudes, who doesn't like that.

Finish this sentence. Riding a motorcycle at 130mph is... 
Liberating, however not the only way to have fun on a motorcycle contrary to popular belief. But it is great to remind yourself what your bike can do when you let it.

www.ryanquickfall.com