Panther Monoshock

I was recently racing, riding and spectating at the Santa Rosa flat track weekend. There were loads of framers at the Friday and Saturday CFTA races and  I came across a Panther Honda. I'd never heard of Panther, so I spoke to the owner, Don Galloway and organised a feature on his bike for the next Sideburn. Don came from Ontario, Canada to race and was flying. He told me a little about Panther, a Canadian, one-man company that made incredibly sweet-handling framers. G

Don followed up our conversation with these photos and a note...

A picture of the just rediscovered TT500 mono Panther from 1975.
Don.

High Noon Scramble: Coming Soon

From Norm Motorcycho...

High Noon, the wild west, dirt, grime, spit, shit... For some people, motorcycles are utilitarian - it's all-about gas mileage, economy and practicality. Others it's more about speed, horsepower and go fast gizmos. There are, of course, the weekend warriors, the brand specific urban outlaws. And finally, those of us who sum motorcycles up in one simple word - Fun!

Whether it be rolling some canyon highway on vintage tin with a bunch of buddies; exploring the back roads, two up on a sport tourer, cruising the back alley on minibikes keeping careful watch for cops like you did when you were 11 years old, or dressing up in bad costumes and riding crappy enduros with a bunch of like-minded hooligans at the local sand dunes. Motorcycles are fun! 

The High Noon Scramble was the brainchild of the Filth Mode Dirt Club. They ran their first HNS in 2008 just after the big stock market crash. Times were tough. Ducatis and Harleys were sold for quick cash. Cheap '70s and '80s enduros, with the XT500 quickly becoming their "Tesus", were bought to satisfy the urge to ride. "Dirt First" soon became their moto. 1% Outlaw - 99% Dirt Enthusiast. The HNS is the celebration of this re-birth.

The race itself is simple. Drag out whatever dirt bike you have and try to complete nine laps of sandy, hilly, bumpy torture. Teams are encouraged to make the race bearable. Hydration in necessary to keep the body going. Friends cheer you on as you quietly pray your bike doesn't blowup. Utter exhaustion determines your fate. By the end of it nobody really knows, or cares, who won. The fact that you attempted it at all is worthy of all the accolades. 

Photos by Blaine Connolly

Read all about Filth Mode in Sideburn 24.

Check out Norm's Motorcycho blog.

The next High Noon Scramble is coming up on October 30.

Flat Track BC: Season Ender Bender

Flat track BC isn't Before Christ. No one is racing around the track in a hebrew tunic and sandals on a push-along balance bike with wooden wagon wheels. Well, I'm pretty sure they're not, that might be happening in Hoxton.

No! It's British Columbia, beautiful BC, over there on the west coast, perched on top of Washington state like a stately owl in fake Raybans, sitting on top of totem pole of confusion.

This region of Canada is a place full of good people with the common decency to retain the word British in the name of their region.

Anyway, the've got a great race scene going on, fast at the top, welcoming at the bottom. Their final race of the season is coming up soon. Our old mate Grant Robinson helps make it all happen, and he got his dirt track start back at Dirt Quake 1, so it shows how that is an event that keeps giving. Go to flattrackbc.com for more info. G

Cloverdale Indoor Flat Track

Great footage of scrambling and indoor short track from 1960s Canada. Watch the wild lines and berm riding on the indoors.
Thanks to Norm for the link. G

The Vicious Cycles and One-Off Wednesday

The Vicious Cycles have a new video out. These guys knocked our socks off at the first Dirt Quake USA. Billy is riding Motorcycho Norm's Honda CB550 that he's had since brand new. Both Ben and Norm raced it at DQ USA II in 2015.

We've sold a few of the Vicious Cycles vinyl LPS and we have ONE left on the shelf. It comes with a free digital download code.
This song is on the record.
Grab it fast at the Sideburn webstore.

We Love Motorcycho

Last month we spent a few bromantic days in California and Nevada with Norman from Motorcycho: three grown, married men; fathers of eight children in total, sharing a cheap motel room and a budget rental car. It was humiliating in a kind of fun way.

Sideburn has stocked Motorcycho, the original lame-ass bikerzine, and it's related patches for years now, so we got Norman to write a bit about the history of his zine.

The true beginning of Motorcycho began around 1969 (above) when I picked up my first motorcycle magazine, which I probably still have, and a few years later my first minibike. I've never been without two wheels since! 

As far as the magazine is concerned, I had been doing a music zine through the late 80's and reached a point where it was time for a change. It was probably around this point I stumbled upon my first issue of Gearhead magazine. Issue #2 featured articles on biker movies, biker movie soundtracks and Davie Allan. I was big into motorcycle music by then, doing a weekly radio show at the local University station, and it became clear to me that the next logical progression for me was a zine about motorcycles and music! 

This would have been around 1994, my riding days were at a minimum due to the fact I had 4 small kids, so doing a zine was the perfect distraction! 

Cut and paste and a dot matrix printer kept it simple. The first bunch of issues had a lot more music and band interviews, but through the years that has pretty much disappeared. I had also wanted keep it simple and easy, that also has pretty much disappeared, which is why we only seem to put out one issue a year. 

Lately the mag is pretty much about friends and fun. I guess that's been the common thread throughout Motorcycho's existence… Motorcycles are FUN, and the people are the best! Whether it be riding minibikes in the back alley, roadtripping with a bunch of buddies on vintage tin or riding with my wife on the back on some twisty mountain road, it all brings a big grin to this guy's face! 

 Like a wise man once said: "I Dig Sickles"

Above and below, Norm with his youngest daughter Miki, a few years apart. I get the feeling Norm is one of the best dads ever.

Norm on his trusty TT impersonating his hero Evel. 

If this inspires you to buy some Motorcycho goods, head over to the Sideburn shop and click the Motorcycho label in the category box on the right. You get a free Sideburn sticker with every Motorcycho order from us. G

Town Moto X Doug Lawrence

Town Moto, in the Ossington region of Toronto, are long-time stockists of Sideburn. They've been sponsoring the Canadian flat track champion and AMA GNC regular, Doug Lawrence #73, for a couple of years now - check out his leathers.

Andrew from Town Moto sent these great photos that were taken by Ben Quinn (@benquinnphotography) at the London Half-Mile this year in London, Ontario.

I think it's great that this Canadian shop sponsors a Canadian rider. So, if you had some spare cash, which rider would you sponsor? G

High Noon Scramble

Ashley keeps it simple when he organises the High Noon Scramble near Vancouver, Canada. Dirt bikes on waste ground on an autumn Sunday. Dress up if you like, but don't sweat it.

Sam V got in touch to say this.

Every year around Halloween the Filth Mode dudes host a costume race called the High Noon Scramble at a local sandpit. Its always super ghetto and incredibly fun. Someone made a killer video of it this year. Think you will dig it.

Who doesn't love a chimp on a dirt bike? G

Myk's Place by Them Road Apples

I've mentioned the blog Them Road Apples before on our blog. It's from Vancouver and is run by a woman called Becky. This recent post caught my eye, because I recognised one of the bikes. These are shots of Myk's house and various collections, near Vancouver, Canada. He's one of the Scorpion Flat Track team (that we featured in Sideburn 3), a custom painter and friend of Motorcycho. And I liked these photos.

This bike, a Honda CL360 budget racer, was featured in Sideburn 14. G

Pemberton Dirt Track

Fun times in Canada. G

Pemberton Flat Track Races UPDATE

Our mate Sam V from British Columbia is promoting these fun races. Support your local race track!
UPDATE I posted the wrong Facebook link. This is the correct one.
More details at Pemberton Flat Track Racing. G

Big Foot Spotted

Helicopter + frozen lake + Suzuki Boulevard 800 mutant = fun

Read all about this Canadian bike, and it's builder, Bill Hitchon, in Sideburn 20.

Thanks to Norm Motorcycho for the link. G

Road Apples // Pemberton Speedway Flat Track

Pemberton Speedway from Blaine Connolly on Vimeo.

Becky from Canada got in touch. She pointed us to a video and her great looking blog (where I have pinched some nice photos to post below). It's a mixture of adventures on TT500s, choppers shows, women on bikes, amateur flat track and amazing Canadian scenery. Becky wrote...

I always check out your blog and thought this would be something you'd be into posting about! 

Blaine Connolly made this little edit about the Pemberton Flat Track Races that Sam Villanueva hosted. There's some photos as well as some more information on www.themroadapples.com I love your stuff keep killing it!
Becky Goebel

 Neat Street 750 racer.

The Full Fat

So, if the Suzuki Boulevard V-twin from Sideburn 20 wasn't mad enough, the owner, Bill decided to fit a few hundred ice screws into the tyres...

Then strap it using a rope under a helicopter...

Fly it over beautiful Canada...



And place it on a frozen lake for some ice riding. I suppose you've got to have a hobby.
Read all about this bike in Sideburn 20. G

Thanks to Motorcycho Norm for the tip-off.

Harley 750 Street Race Bike

Sam from Vancouver, a veteran of Dirt Quake USA I, built this bike for a Canadian Harley contest. The basis for all the bikes in the competition is the new Harley 750 Street, the liquid-cooled 'entry level' bike. It's clearly meant to stir interest in a bike that is proving to be a bit of a slow burn, but some look great.

If you want to vote for Sam's bike, like we have, go to
https://www.hdstreetbattle.com/custom-consultants.html
Then click British Columbia
Then click the photo bike and Vote.
It takes 30 secs. You don't have to sign up or give any details

Some blurb on the bike...

We are Trev Deeley Motorcycles. We grew up racing in the dirt. We didn't build a "street tracker". We built a Dirt Track race bike. You won't find a horn, turn signals, head light or a tail light; instead just three number plates, dressed in Trev's racing number. No front brake, no front fender and no speedo on this machine either, there is no need for them. We trimmed the fat. No keys, just a tethered kill switch, custom stainless exhaust with a racing open end cap, spoked wheels, chain drive and proper race compound tires. Go fast, turn left.