The Tale of Old Blu'

Pete Stansfield has supplied a great post on his Triumph chop, Old Blu' and I finally discovered why a rusty, gold and polished alloy Triumph was called Old Blu'.

Go to Sideburnmagazine.com to read more. This blog is going to be retired very soon, but we're going to continuing blogging on our new website.
                                                                                                        Photo: Guy Bolton/GKM

Dirt Quake USA - CHOPPERS!

We make no secret that the choppers get top billing at Dirt Quake, whichever side of the Atlantic it's held. The heroes with long forks and fishtail pipes didn't disappoint at Sideburn x See See x Harley-Davidson promoted Castle Rock race.

Riders from the USA and Canada took part on heavily modified Harley, Yamaha, Triumphs and some spindly, automatic deathtrap ridden by Portland legend Kenny Bobcat of Moto Galore.

Check out a full class of TWELVE chops racing at Dirt Quake V, King's Lynn, 16 July. More info at dirtquake.co.uk. G

All photos: Yve Assad

Shortly after this photo was taken Kenny did a celebratory seat bounce that sent his machine into an evil wobble and threw both his feet off the pegs onto the floor. He managed to ride it out.

The only bike the Mt St Helens MC tech inspectors had real doubts about, mainly due to the pipes. They let it through anyway. Viva Dirt Quake.

Eric had great dirt track style, even on a chopper, elbow high, hips twisted, toe out...

Hand-shifting in practice. The guy in the poncho was spotted nine hours later jumping the camp fire.

Ashley from Canada stopped off on his way back to Vancouver after a six -month road trip with his wife and baby daughter is an old van pulling an older Airstream, with an even old K-Model Harley shop on a rack on the back. He won a prize in the chopper show then raced the same bike. Class act.

Most of these photos are from practice. The final was under the floodlights. Dirt Quake USA's Chopper final came after a few very heavy crashes in other races, a couple of which needed medical attention. The Castle Rock track was perfect on Saturday night, very 'racey' and superb to race on, allowing experienced riders to push hard and really slide and spin. However, it would let the inexperienced ride up a point, lulling them into a Mert Lawwill fantasy, before catching them out if they took liberties with too much throttle, and not enough body English (read Chris Carr's  superb guide to flat track body English in Sideburn 25). 

I had a quiet word with all the chopper riders in the staging area before their final, as the paramedics gumball lights strobed the track picking up one hapless hero. I wanted to remind them that no one wanted to see them leave the track in an ambulance. I pointed out that they'd already put on a great show, and that they should enjoy themselves. After my pep talk one of the rider's wive or girlfriends appeared, semi-freaking out, telling the riders how frightened she was and, I'm paraphrasing, telling her fella not to be a dick. I think I put it better, but whatever, it was a good race and no one fell off. Result. G

Dirt Quake USA: Race Entries SOLD OUT

Dirt Quake USA entries are sold out. Thanks to all who have entered.
If you entered before 1pm today (Monday 13 June), we'll deal with it and if your bike is suitable you're in. If you entered after then, we're sorry, but you've missed out and we'll put you on the reserve list.

Spectators and races can see the Dirt Quake USA schedule. Hope to see you soon! G

Photo: Dustin Aksland

Uncle Bunt

John Reed, formerly of Uncle Bunt's Chop Shop, remains British custom-building royalty, despite having left the country decades ago to become a Custom Chrome in-house designer in California. This shot is probably from 1982, when he completed the TR1-based Gold Yamaha. Still looks good, 34 years later, and Mr Reed is apparently still as lean, steely and irascible as he was back then - or indeed when I interviewed him 20 years ago. MP

Shobba - updated

I've spent too long over Christmas trying (and failing) to find some Christmas cards based on cartoons by the superb Shobba, that were a subscribers' gift when I worked on Bike magazine in the 1990s. Shobba cartooned for the mag for ten years or more, starting in the '80s, and he rarely, if ever, missed the mark. I love his stuff, but they're hard to find. Here's one of a few that are floating around the web. He really should publish a collection. MP

UPDATE: Grant, I think you mean a big cock... (and apologies for the poor quality image, it's the best I could find).

We won't upload any more as it's not our intent to rip off Shobba. If he had his own website we'd link to it, but I can't find one. Shobba, get in touch if you see this.

UK: Looking Good

Our friends James from Kingdom of Kicks and photographer James A Grant, among others, went on a Sailor Jerry-supported road trip around the UK on their Harleys, meeting up with friends (including Sideburn stockists Strong Adolfo's in Cornwall).
Anyway, the film really makes me want to ride the peripheries of our cramped medium-sized island. G

DAY 1 London to Brighton
DAY 2 Brighton to Dorset via Southampton
DAY 3 Dorset to Cornwall
DAY 4 Cornwall
DAY 5 Cornwall to Bristol
DAY 6 Bristol to Wales
DAY 7 Cardiff to Manchester
DAY 8 Manchester drive to Lake District
DAY 9 Lake District to Glasgow
DAY 10 Glasgow to Inverness
DAY 11 Tuesday 1st Sep – Edinburgh - Party at Sneaky Pete’s Bar
DAY 12 Edinburgh to Newcastle
DAY 13 Newcastle to Nottingham
DAY 14 Nottingham to Bedford - The Trip Out Festival, Bedford
DAY 15 Bedford - The Trip Out Festival
DAY 16 Bedford to London - Finish

The Picturebooks

Recommended by Eat Dust, I looked into The Picturebooks. They're a German two-piece whose videos are very Dice, not a bad thing. I started playing the YouTube videos in the background, and began liking the music more and more. It's a bit Black Keys, but heavier. Turns out they played the Trip Out and went down well (but I was in India).
Anyway, they're on a big tour and one of the dates was Grimsby. Grimsby is 90-mins drive from me, but I knew a couple of friends up that way who'd go, and I thought A. Anyone who tours Europe and picks Grimsby needs supporting. B. Any venue who books a little known German band to play on a Sunday IN GRIMSBY needs supporting.
So I went, and they were fantastic. Two piece band: singer-guitarist, drummer-backing vocals. You've never seen a drumer work harder. And they're touring with the drummer's dad, who just happens to be Claus Grabke, 80s pro skateboarder (who also shoots the band's videos).
Go see them if they come near you. G

Full Throttle, Hot Dirt

A glowing report from the W&W Cycles crew who drove their big American school bus all the way from Würzburg in Germany to Kings Lynn, for Dirt Quake IV and then raced their not quite as cumbersome, but equally yellow, Panhead in the Chopper Class against the spritely Guy Martin...

“20 hours on the motorway to see a few unhinged blokes going in circles?” We’re in, and while we’re there we might as well have a go ourselves.
So it came to pass that the venerable Magic Bus FURTHER! was headed for the UK, to see DirtQuake, the one-off go fast, turn left meeting for the friends of mud-tracks, for the 4th time laid on by Sideburn magazine. It being our second time at the meet, we treat us to our own race class. There’s “Unsuitable road bikes”, “Chopper”, “Street Tracker” and “Ladies” to chose from, open for everything between antique BSAs and hopped up Vespas. And there’s our “Harley Class”, just right for the old clunker we brung straight out of the W&W museum: the Panamericana Pan, built for the 1996 MUD OF NO RETURN mud trip to Panama. There it had been mud-wrestling up to her fatbobs with central American dirt roads, so why not try the old girl on some middle England dirt track? Let’s see what the heap of iron can do on her knobby tyres.
The weather is glorious, and the King’s Lynn, Norfolk Arena fills with 5.000 spectators. The riders’ parade opens the proceedings, and soon the sweet sound of Harleys fills the air. The first race is a hard battle between the Panhead and its rider. The slippery mud is tricky, but the track is drying and our Pan-wrestling rider #80 Weigl is gathering confidence in the ancient rigid chassis. Together with a couple of Evo Sportsters, a hot flathead, 3 Ironhead Sportsters and a rigid framed Shovel they go round and round, to the cheering of a well stoked audience. Family entertainment at its best! A band is playing TV themes, there’s a kids’ bicycle race, a moped-tug-of-war, the motorcycle limbo contest and Ken Fox’ Wall of Death death defying stunt riders.
Big scare: in the Harley class’ second heat a rider goes down, no chance for the rider behind him to swerve round, crunching, screeching, flying machines, the dust is being kicked up, a collective gasp from the bleachers – the race is suspended. The medical team races to the scene, but after a few seconds the rider gets up, limps to the medical golf cart to frenetic applause and is taken away for further attention. There were no critical injuries on the week end, just a dislocated finger, a broken rib and collarbone and one tooth that went with the gloves during the “gloves off” competition.
Now for the finals: our PanAm Pan is starting from 9th position. In front are the pro riders, Mr. Guy Martin, the TT legend among them on a mean hotted up Evo Sportster with slightly extended forks. The first corner sees a packed field, Weigl #80 pushes the Pan to the inside, gets through, makes good a few places. #80’s experience shows. He rounds up all of the not-too-many horses in her, and makes the best of a package that’s a bit too unwieldy for the corners and too underpowered for the straights. After 4 laps he wills the old girl across the finish line on 5th, Mr. Guy Martin winning the Special Edition W&W Harley Voodoo trophy. Fifth place on a Harley that was built 20 years ago and was dragged from the museum isn’t half bad.
We’ll have to see what we bring next year. The Cuba Servicar of ours looks like it might be just the thing for a hot ride…

Yambits

Fannying about in the back of your car trying to assemble a new set of forks is not where you want to be on race day. The fitting of my freshly re-hardchromed 6" over XS650 chopper forks should have been a doddle. (the XS wouldn't fit in the Berlingo whole + Mrs + 2 kids, so I used the previous short set to manoeuvre the bike to the car and had not yet had the refurbished stanchions on the bike).
When my normally calm, lateral thinking engineer's brain went into melt-down, I cried out for the help of See See Thor, and then XS650 race veteran Travis (photo above). But they were as foxed as me, why the fork caps would not screw down - it's normal to to have to exert considerable pressure to engage the thread, to stop the caps becoming dangerous projectiles, but these bastids were being ridiculously stubborn.
I had replaced the rusty pipe sections that had previously been used to fill out the space above the springs, with new PVC pipe of the same length (151mm). Apart from a set of new Hagon progressive fork springs (same length as the old shot ones), nothing else had changed....

Thor and Travis were both busy preparing their own bikes - The Sideburn Enfield, and Skooter Farm Dave's GS chop, so had to dash.
Then, a guardian angle in the shape of a hairy biker, Rod, racing his even more hairy, rusty springer Triumph also in the chopper class, came to my salvation. He noticed that the spring top was slightly mushroomed where it had been cut and flattened in its manufacture. The new springs were getting caught inside the stanchions at the top, so not dropping down as low as they should.

Thank fud I had my Dremel in my tool kit, second thank fud, there was just enough beef on the minuscule disc to grind down both tops.

Fast forward a year and I haven't done anything to the bike. I knew the fork travel still wasn't good and wanted to investigate Before the big day next Saturday. So I've just rebuilt them twice more over with a few tweaks.
The old fork tops - the 3-position pre-load adjusters, were properly shagged. But not all parts for the XS are readily available. After a bit of cross-referencing I figured YZ250 caps which also have a 28mm fine-pitch thread might just marry. These repro beauties are from the very friendly and efficient Yambits in North Yorkshire.

The lower oil seal retaining rib needs to be filed down a little (it still does its job). And an Nth has to come off the top section. But it fits!

Bangtidy. BP

Dirt Quake USA: The Evidence

Just in time to get all you Britishers and Europeans excited for Dirt Quake III, here is the video evidence of what an absolute blast Dirt Quake USA was. Thanks to all the helpers and sponsors that made that event, especially all at See See Motorcycles.

To find more about Dirt Quake in King's Lynn, UK on 18-19 July go to Dirt Quake III. It's going to be the best ever. G

Dirt Quake Deutschland Help!

This fellow is Martin Segattini, we met at the Noyes Camp flat track school in Spain. He rides MX and whipped my sorry arse. He's a Sideburn fan and promised to come to Dirt Quake to ride his 1956 Harley chop. But then he over-cooked it on his BMX and broke an ankle.

It's pretty much healed now, but he'd really like to share his van driving duties and fuel costs from Münich, Germany - Or maybe you are en route (Luxembourg or France)? Can you help? If you are a racer he could even pick your bike up. Danke BP

Guy Martin to race Dirt Quake III

Guy Martin is racing a Krazy Horse Harley in the Chopper class at Dirt Quake!

All the race entries (except the lady class) are now full. If you were on the reserve list, we're trying to squeeze you in. We'll be in touch.
If you haven't entered, we're sorry, but it's too late.

July 18-19, 2014
King's Lynn, UK

Advance tickets are on sale at Dirt Quake tickets.

Frequently asked questions (and answers) are here.

Dirt Quake USA Chopper Race

A well sedated low-side crash shot by Scotts Garage on Instagram.
That bike was fugging heavy but I guess the adrenalin was at maximum boost enabling the rider (Corey from Canada) to flip it straight back up on its feet. He'd have continued if the forks weren't so bent.
(Thats me pootling along in last on a Honda CL350. Sideburn's poet, Travis Newbold, is leading this race, coming an eventual second, to SB17 contributor, Kris Regentin). BP

Dirt Quake USA Entries: Last Call

Tomorrow is the last day to have your bike approved for entry Dirt Quake. There are some great entries, well, they're all great entries. Send a photo of your bike to dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com

We are currently travelling in the USA, with limited time to check the emails, so be patient, but as long as you get your approval in and then follow it up with payment when we've approved, you'll be in.

Racers: If you have already entered, your final instructions are coming soon (ish...)

Spectators: The weather forecast says it's going to be great, so come out and watch the regular flat track on Saturday; browse The Moto Attic swap meet and then stare, goggle-eyed, at the Dirt Quake mayhem on Sunday. The Vicious Cycles play on Saturday night. Camping is available. 

Massive thanks to See See Motorcycles, Harley-Davidson and all the Dirt Quake sponsors for making it happen.

For a good time. #DQUSA

Brought to you by:
Sideburn Magazine
Harley Davidson 
See See Motorcycles 

With help from:
the Moto Attic 
Roland Sands Designs 
MotoFactory 
Stumptown Coffee
Icon 1000 
Sizzle Pie Pizza 
Burly Brand 
Biltwell Helmets
Zaeta Motorcycles 
Iron And Resin 
Lowbrow Customs 
Poler Stuff 

WHERE Castle Rock, WA – 58 miles north of Portland, OR 117 miles south from Seattle, WA. 

WHEN Saturday, May 31st – Sunday, June 1st, 2014

Poster artwork by Adi Gilbert/99 Seconds

CoC Mixing It Up

I've always loved motorcycle builders that mixed different styles and genres of bike on one build and Jeff Wright (of FTWCo and Church of Choppers) does it better than most.

This is his latest build (though he always has four on the go). A Shovelhead that uses a Moriwaki ignition cover as a faux air cleaner cover, has proper brakes, RaceTech twin shocks and blows through a Racefit titanium Legend silencer. Jeff is a multi-talented mofo and made the stainless two-into-one himself.

If you don't check out the ever disparate, often surprising Church of Choppers blog (the daddy of all motorcycle blogs I reckon), you're missing out. G

Big Book of Biker Flicks

The excellent Big Book of Biker Flicks is back in stock in the Sideburn shop.
They were slightly damaged in the post from the author so we've knocked the price down from £25 to £20. These are signed by the author, John Wooley. The only damage is a slight impact on the spine. It wouldn't stop me buying it.
These are the last we're getting because the stocks have run out. G

Dogbone

Our mate Trawler (above) has launched a skate/chop range of T-shirts. Check them out at Dogbone. G

Kaanaan Kahinat 2013

From Finland...

Kaanaan Kahinat was today. I'm sure you'll get a bunch of photos from various people but here are few I took. Feel free to publish them. 
Disclaimer: "Free for non-commercial use as long as you mention my name and notify me where the photo is used.
Thanks, 
Pekka Lehtonen

If you want to find out more about this event, read the article written by Dan Walsh for Sideburn 10.

Firm Hold

So your day job is skirmishing with modern day pirates on the high seas. You are more versatile than Harry Houdini, in wriggling out of sticky situations. You raced your Yamaha XS750 chop at Dirt Quake II (wearing a Men in Black suit). You obviously tackle adversity with relish. But when your tubeless tyre gets smacked off the rim in a pothole in the middle of nowhere, how do you get home eh clever clogs?
Mike had been riding in the thick of 50 motorbikes on the Mud Crab ride-out in the glorious Peak District, but had dropped to the back of the pack so as to do some filming when BANG! his front end disappeared and the Astralite front rim took a big dent. He found himself shipwrecked.
Being the enterprising visionary sort, he walked to the nearest shop. Bought a can of Pantene firm-hold hair spray (it's not something he normally carries in his man-bag). Doused the the gap between crudely undented rim and tyre bead and then set fire to it. POOF! the tyre exploded back on to the rim and he rode off into the sunset on his next adventure. BP

Trip Out

Grow a beard. Sideburn is going to be there this weekend. Get your tickets in advance from The Trip Out.
We've got some special deals going on and also stocks of the new, heavyweight art book Motorcycle Graphics book edited by Sideburn's own GI.