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

FTWCo win Sturgis Hooligan Dirt Dash

Hooligan flat track is really catching on in the US, and while there aren't too many people racing it yet, it's getting a huge amount of coverage. It's a class flat track for heavy street bikes, and is used by race organisers to up entry numbers at club races and add interest in between the more traditional race classes. The most popular bike is the Harley Evo Sportster, cheap in the US, the right manufacturer for many people, tough and with lots of knowledge and parts available to make them work surprisingly well.

We ran a feature on a few Hooligans in Sideburn 21, with a beginner's guide on how to convert a Sportster for short track hooligan racing written by Aaron of Suicide Machine Co.

We also hosted a very, very competitive Harley-Davidson-sponsored Hooligan race at Dirt Quake USA. The scene got a ton more coverage at last week's Sturgis rally in South Dakota.

If you don't already know, Sturgis is an enormous Harley rally in a stunning area for riding. The GNC hold the mid-week Black Hills National there and the promoters put on a demo race on National night, while The Speed Merchant and Harley-Davidson promoted a Hooligan race the next night on the Sturgis half-mile.

Racers travelled from all over the country to compete and the race was won by FTWCo rider Jordan Baber on a Sportster he and FTWCo's Brad were still building the day of the race. And they won it with a Sideburn sticker on board!

We'll post video footage of the race if/when we find it. Point us to good footage if you have seen it, please. The video below was made by Preston Burroughs as an advert to promote the race. G

Bubble Gum Pink is the New Matte Black

Jason McCann's Speed Merchant'd Sportster at Perris. BP

The Hell of a Coincidence involving Gas Huffer, Hairy Mary's, FTWCo and Sideburn 19

The other day I pulled some records off the shelf and played them for the first time in about 18 years. One was by Gas Huffer. I bought it from Bad Records in Leeds on 24 September 1994, 20 years ago. I know that because I always used to save the receipts and slip them into the plastic, protective sleeve I'd always buy at the same time I bought a new LP. Yes, quite the nerd.
Anyway, this Gas Huffer LP, One Inch Masters, on Epitaph, came with a free comic. In the comic the band go to Des Moines and play a gig at a club called Hairy Mary's. Back then, 1994, I didn't know how to pronounce Des Moines (it's Duh Moyne, by the way), but might've known it was in Iowa. I sure as shit didn't know Hairy Mary's was a real place.
Jump forward 20 years and the manager of Hairy Mary's (at the time Gas Huffer played there, and featured it in their comic), was Jeff Wright. Jeff Wright, the man behind Church of Choppers and co-founder of FTWCo. Jeff Wright who is interviewed by Ryan Quickfall for the current issue, Sideburn 19.
I keep having very weird coincidences. Am I a witch? G

Perris

Julian of Deus LA kindly organized a run-what-you-bring at the Perris track, two hours east of LA (crawling in rush-hour traffic), a loose rabble of Hell On Wheels, Deusites, Co-Built, a big Biltwell crew and other friends of Sideburn came out. Everything from crappy plastic scooters to a fully accessorised RGS1200 BMW was throttled around the short track until the sun went down. Iced Beer. Good times.

Co-Built Geoff on Conrad Leach's desert sled.

Dave Skooter Farm in his sparkly new Biltwell Gringo and Jeannette.

Dorinda ripping it up on her Triumph.

Nevin wing-ning-nign

Hayden's Hell On Wheels Triumph.

Mule showing the kids how to do it on his Yamaha TT500.

Bixby Moto showing us that your Mum's 150cc Amstar is all you need.

Gary on the Mule TT500.

Always good to have a seamstress on standby for every eventuality.

Homer Knapp bought his 1928 hand-shift Harley JD (featured in SB#7) along for us to try. An awe-inspiring bike - and man.

Put knobblies on anything and it's legit. Kiyo's CB750/4

Great to finally put names to faces and meet Richard 'Mule Motorcycles' Pollock.

Jen McClain of Deus. BP

UPDATE: some great photos by Shadra Wilson on the Biltwell blog

Gary's Leicester DTRA Report

As promised, here are some of my own snaps from the first DTRA round at Leicester. 

The weather forecast didn't look great, but, in Britain, you've just got to saddle up and go. Sometimes you waste a tank of diesel for a rain-off, but not very often. As it turned out, it rained for about one-minute all day and I got a sunburnt nose.

I was so excited to be back out racing I couldn't sleep the night before. I stormed the first heat, winning by a few bikes lengths from some very good riders. Even then I was thinking, The season can only go downhill from here. I was right, but at least I proved I can still win a 12-man heat.

Oily Rob, above, has retired his home-built Ducati Monster race bike and bought a DTX bike. He felt a bit conformist, so he made this new painted and studded race jacket. 

Leicester had the biggest entry of any UK dirt track race ever (except the Dirt Quakes). Two grids of Thunderbikes, two grids of novices, Pro class, restricted, Juniors and the new Vintage class. Above is Bon Zorro who competed in his very first dirt track race on his old Triumph road bike, after bringing it to the track in the back of a people carrier. He had a blast.

Also in the five-man inaugural Vintage class was DTRA regular John Boddy on his 750 Triumph twin (feature on this bike coming soon). Below is the seat, giving a pep talk before every race...

Frank Chatokhine and his Metisse Triumph, both featured in Sideburn 17, dominated the class, but he was hounded all day by his good friend...

Dimitri Coste, who was in his normal all-action mode before stalling on the line in the final and gifting second to...

Nick Ashley, who was riding a Cheney Triumph. Yes, it has a front brake disc and caliper, but the lever was removed so it didn't work. This is his road bike.

 Me and Drogo in our new FTWCo team kit.

 There were some new bikes, and some older ones given make-overs, like Adam Waller's Husqvarna.

Before the race, Ross Herrod was trying to cut some life into his wrecked rear tyre (the UK importer were out of the Maxxis CD5 compound he wanted). He looked like he didn't know what he was doing, and admitted as much, then won the Restricted final. Classy.

Dimitri's trailblazing, coming over from France to race, then raving about it, has generated a mini-French invasion. One French rider who debuted at Leicester was Christophe Decombard on his tidy, home-built Suzuki DR600. He went very well, but slid off while leading his novice class.

Another Frenchman making his DTRA debut was Hubert Bastie. Hubert raced at last year's Dirt Quake, riding his TW200 road bike and making a lot of friends. He came back with a 450 DTX, stayed in Sheffield with friends he made at Dirt Quake and rode like a demon.
It's great to see Dirt Quake acting as a feeder for the DTRA, like it did with Ross Herrod and Oily Rob before.

Tom Neave turned up with this Chinese-made WK in DTX trim, it's based on the £3999 450RX, to put on display. Tom is road racing a WK 650  (ER6-alike) and doing very well on it. More details on this bike when we get it.

A spectator turned up on this lovely Norton P11, taking advantage of free entry.

And this Dirt Quake hopeful turned up for approval too. You're in. Get your entry in now.

Health and Safety: Carb strip with a fag on?
Next race is 18 May at Coventry. GI