Sideburn 35 OUT NOW

Sideburn 35 is out now.

COVER: Steph Bolam on the Rebels Alliance SR500 Rough Diamond 

BIKES: Rebels Alliance SR500 Rough Diamond; Lloyd Brothers AFT Ducati 821 Twin; Fuller Moto Ducati Pro Street Tracker; Royal Enfield Interceptor 650; Sur Les Chapeaux de Roues Honda CRF450; Durex Suzuki GSX-R750: Harley Sportster 1200 Hooligan racer; Newbold Yamaha XS650 dirt bike: Honda XR75 mini flat tracker; Bultaco Astro; River Rat C and J Kawasaki 650 AFT Twin 

PEOPLE: Brandon Robinson; Kevin Atherton; Wilbur Skipp; Joy Lewis 

INTERVIEW: Brandon Robinson 

HOW TO: Spanner like a pro with Brent Armbruster 

EVENTS: Bultaco Astro Cup, Atlanta; Swank Rally, Terminal 1, Italy 

ADVENTURE: In South Africa with Motosafari 

PAGES: 116

Just £6 plus post. Order from Sideburn.bigcartel.com

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This issue is also available in digital form for £2.50. Go to Sideburn Digital ISSUU

 

Bultaco Astro T-shirt

We offered this T-shirt as a subs offer, and we have a handful left in the less popular sizes.
Available in Small, XL, 2XL and 3XL ONLY.

The Sideburn Bultaco Astro T-shirt is £15 plus post.

If the mention of 3XL has caught your attention, we also have 3XL in the Spark Eagle T-shirt, the blue XR750 blueprint T-shirt and the Not for Aircraft Use T-shirt.

We also have 2XL in nearly all the Sideburn T-shirts we currently offer.

UPDATE: 3XL has sold out of this design so please check our other 3XL offerings.

John Harrison: The Early Years, pt2

As we explained ahead of part one of John Harrison's look back at his early biking years, his attitude and style caught our eye at DTRA races, so we invited him to share his thoughts on the blog. We're glad we did, and here's his latest instalment.

I was really lucky when I turned 16, because I coerced my mum into getting me what I reckoned was the best moped of the lot, a Fantic Caballero. She wasn't best pleased when my O level results came through a while later, though.

It was a proper little trail bike. High-level pipe with a natty heat shield, knobblies, enduro-style pouch on the tank, satin black with Italian stripes and raised, polished guards. Most of the lads went for FS1-Es or the rather more sluggish four-stroke Honda SS50, but me and my mate (who got me onto bikes with his BSA Beagle) both had Caballeros and never had trouble outrunning the other mopeds. The rings went at 3000 miles and it blew tail light bulbs weekly, but that was worth living with. We rode them down to Cornwall for a week's holiday and I thought nothing of riding 50 miles each way to visit my girlfriend every weekend. Great off road, too. My ride to work took in some green lanes so it saw plenty of trail action.

At 17 I traded it in on an RD250C Yamaha, but I couldn't keep up with the repayments and had to let it go after nine months or so. Still, I had it for the fabulous summer of '76. A lovely, good-quality bike. I've liked Yamahas ever since.

Pics of the RD and Caballero from the internet, they're not my bikes.

A little later I bought a clapped out 250 Bultaco Sherpa and rebuilt it. I had the frame nickel plated and replaced all the knackered bits.

But, much as I love trials I'm no good at it and trials bikes are not much use for daily transport. So I bought a DT250 that had been stripped down and used as a common basher. Luckily, the road equipment had been kept so I put it back on and it was a fun road bike, really rideable. I'd love it now to convert for DTRA racing.

This is the only picture I've got of it, peeping out from behind a project that inevitably never got finished. A friend and I went halves on the Capri,  which was going to be a high-steppin' gasser with a straight-tube front axle. We got as far as the chassis and bulkhead work seen here, and bought a flip front and a (supposedly) hot small-block Chevy before running out of steam. JH 104R

Flat Out Friday: The Bikes

I flew out to Flat Out Friday in Milwaukee, earlier this month. The race was debuted on the Friday before the Mama Tried Custom show in February this year. A crowd of 7000 turned up to the inaugural event making it bigger than many AMA Pro National races. The organisers were buoyed by the success and decided to organise another race, in October, not tied into the show.

It was a risk, but there was a massive entry, hometown company Harley-Davidson partnered the event and livestreamed it online, through their facebook, with Dirt Quake racer Chris Wiggins and US mover/shaker Leticia Cline anchoring the very professional looking coverage.

With no show in town, the crowd was down on the Mama Tried weekend, but there was still a strong 3000 or so locals, which is nearly double what the US Superprestigio attracted in Las Vegas 11 months before.

The track was a tight syrup track, concrete with sticky, sugary syrup from Dr Pepper sprayed and left to go dry. It was just big enough for good racing even on heavyweight bikes.

Above is one of the organisers bikes, Scott from Fuel Cafe's Harley WL45, hopped up by JRs Cycle Products. It lacked some ground clearance on the tight track and he went down in a shower of sparks. He wasn't the only one to crash due to decking out.

There was a huge field of hooligans, the regular Californians came out en masse, but were joined by plenty of mid-westerners. The Noise Cycles team had three riders.

While The Speed Merchant team brought from out from So Cal.

This fella, one of the Fealy family, rode his Trackmaster twin so hard to win the vintage class. It was a joy to watch.

There was a strong and eclectic brakeless class, with a bunch of Aermacchi Harleys battling with older heavier WL45s and Ducati bevel singles.

 This old boy on a BSA single looked the business, and raced even though he had trouble walking!

 One of a couple of neat Bevel singles. This one is brakeless and rigid. 

 So is this one!

There was a boonie bike class that was great entertainment. Not all of them looked this
Heath-Robinson.

One of five or six mint Astros that entered. 

Thanks to the Mikes at Harley-Davidson and Scott and Beth for all the hospitality.

Wisconsin really loves flat track. G

Church of Choppers/ FTWCo Hauler

Church of Choppers/ FTWCo have a new bike hauler and Jeff Wright, the founder of CoC, co-founder of FTWCo and builder of stunning motorcycles, hadpainted a Bultaco desert racer on the hood (bonnet).

Read Ryan Quickfall's interview of Jeff Wright in Sideburn 19.

FTWCo also have a new T-shirt, also with artwork by Jeff, of his own toolbox. Nice to see a Sideburn sticker on there. G

Belgian Road Trip

Last Saturday morning I crawled out of bed at 2.30, woke up my 13-year-old son 15 minutes later, made a coffee and left for Belgium at 3am.

We met the Co-Built crew of Anthony, Anna, Geoff, Guy, Karina and Norm, in two other vans at the Eurotunnel for a 6.50 crossing. 

On the other side we drove the three hours/175 miles to Huesden-Zolder, where they have bread vending machines on street corners, street after street with no two houses are the same, a famous road racing circuit and a speedway track.

The British riders met with the Belgian DTRA contingent, plus the Dutch Brothers (only one of whom lives in Holland, the others are in Switzerland).
The Helzold track is going to host Hells Race, what could be the first ever dirt track race in Belgium, later this summer. Two of the Belgian DTRA riders, Angelo and Bram, have organised the meeting with the assistance of the local speedway club. The idea was to invite one dirt track class to an early-season speedway race for the speedway organisers to see what, if anything, they had to do differently. So this was an invite-only do at the Helzold Stars Speedway international meeting.

Saturday was open practice, Sunday was race day. Above is Belgian David's XT500.

Belgian Bram and his new Co-Built.

Norm and his Trackmaster Triumph twin.

Bram, David, and Hank looking mean. Co-Built Anthony's arm with an old Sideburn patch.

Guy and Geoff on their Co-Built Rotax singles. Guy painted both of them. Two very fast and stylish UK riders were back on the pace after disappointing (for their usual high standards) results at Rye House.

Co-Built Anthony (16), Jan-Willem Dutch Brother (15 - J and M Rotax), Angelo (55 Starracer KTM)

 Geoff and Jan-Willem

 Jan-Willem brought two bikes, his Astro...

and his J and M Rotax, with the wheels he designed himself. I had a few electrical problems, just as race day practice started, and both Anthony and Jan-Willem let me have a few laps on their bikes. Both were great and Jan's is sweet as. Short, great power delivery. I felt comfortable on it instantly.

I've started wearing an Icon AirFrame Pro to race in. It's the first Icon helmet with a flat shield/visor that allows tear-offs. I'm very impressed with the comfort. The lining is light grey, which shows up the dirt, but it is removable. It has carbon composite construction and a quick-release Pro-Lock system (which is similar to the Shoei system for those familiar with that). No tools required to remove it. Icon are so good with the details and I love the anodised gold double D-rings. Mine is an unbranded Rubatone Ghost Carbon and it's not as easy to wash as a gloss would be. Recommended. 

Luckily there was a couple of hours between practice and our first heat race. Anthony helped me find the problem with the bike, the CDI ('They never go wrong,' said Anthony). We swapped it, I turned the rear tyre for a better, but still worn edge and got going. I was disappointed with my results at Rye House, but think I know why. I felt pretty good at Helzold and beat both Anthony and Geoff Co-Built in a couple of the five 8-lap heats, which is a very rare occurrence now, so I can away feeling good.

Jan-Willem's brother, Mick, came from the Netherlands (2-hour drive) with a KTM DTX and this J and M Rotax. He chose to race his KTM and came second in the meeting having hardly raced at all for a year. Those Dutch Bros are fast!

Angelo is one of the men behind Hells Race. He also organises the Flanders Chopper Bash, and I'm sure Hells Race is going to be good.

They better book this flagman...

Support your local racetrack. Do like Angelo and support your local flat track magazine too. Sideburn zip hoodies are heavyweight and last for years.

Belgium is not known for its cuisine. I went for the chav pizza.

We rushed from the track as soon as the meeting ended for 21.20 crossing home. We were booked on different trains, all set off at different times but all got on the same, earlier train. Then it was 170 miles back north through England and home for just before midnight on Sunday night. Back to work (and school for Max) the next morning.

I was only accepted to race only a few days before the event (thanks Angelo!) and if I could have got out of going on Friday night without screwing people about I would have. Work is busy, I'm trying to build a hooligan bike for the next DTRA race,  I could do with saving money, but I'm so glad I went. Good friends, good riding and good spending time with my son. Motorcycle fun times. G

Photos: Stephen Volders, Bart Knops, Carina, Max I, GI

Get along to Hells Race!

Sideburn x Essy May Print

Flat track on the rings of Saturn by London artist Essy May for Sideburn.
What bikes would spacemen be riding except Astros?
Beautiful quality Indigo on heavyweight paper.

A3 size print measures 29.7 x 42.0cm (11.69 x 16.53in)

Limited to 40 (and Ben and I are having one each, so that's 38). All signed by the artist.

Posted in cardboard mailing tube with free stickers.

Get one from sideburn.bigcartel.com