New Olde

Dutch magazine Motor went through my dusty back catalogue and has printed some not previously published shots of the Mean Fuckers, out and about in London and beyond (#98 July issue). BP

Thank You For Riding With US

(last of the Reily Rocket snaps) BP

Flash git

Yeah, we know your game mate. While everyone else is boozed and pilled to the eyeballs, freaking out to brass-pop-a-go-go Beatles pastiches, you're stone cold sober with your predatory Instamatic. Disgusting. MP

Pirates ahoy!

Spotted this lovely Moto Morini Corsarino Super Scrambler parked up in Rome the other day. The Corsarino (Little Pirate) in its various guises was really popular in Italy during the Sixties and Seventies, but it's rare to see them out and about these days. In its day, it would have stood out in a sea of two strokes, with a 48cc OHV pushrod single. The SS was made from 1972-'75 (and this looks like an early model), though the Corsarino line goes back to 1963. About 3.5bhp, 59kg, 50mph, 150mpg. MP

Something From Nothing

Stevie Gee is one of the finalists in the Havana Rum competiton. There are only a few crucial hours left to vote, so please follow the LINK, watch the film (bottom right), and vote with all the might of your little finger. BP
EDIT: unfortunately, you'll need a Facebook account to vote, but it's worth creating one to see the film alone. Ingenious. MP
UP DATE: Mr Gee WON! Thanks to anybody who voted.

Rat Tracker

Heading to Rockerbox 2011 on august 6th..? Come on mates, it's gonna be huge here in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
10,000 plus in attendance..! I'll be there on the rat tracker.
Cheers, Rich Travis

Sorry, Rich we can't make this one, though getting to the Fuel Cafe one day is on our to do list. G

Racefit: Legends

Racefit HQ. Their £250,000 pipe bender dominates the ground floor.

The Black Arrow has been on a spa break to Racefit. That means I've had two visits, one to drop off, one to collect. Always a pleasure. These are the drop off photos. G

ZX-10R with alloy race tank and fancy swingarm.
Neat ZRX racer with new Ti Racefit pipe.
Racefit Spondon Zed. Dee-lish-us!
Great bit of UK bike history - GS1000 tail with Pip Higham sticker. I met Pip a few times years ago and he was always very entertaining.

GSX-R with Racefit Mega.
Owner/riders. The red jacket is an Interstate that co-owner and chief welder Phil wore on his turbo GSX 20 years ago. This lot have history and style.
Titanium paddock stands in production. Featherlight, wonderful and £240. Two ways of looking at that. It's 200 quid more than a cheap one, but it's not that expensive when you consider stamped-out in China 'GP Replica' gloves are sold for £200 now. Anyway, they're gorgeous bits of kit for the man with everything.
The Black Arrow considers its options.

Johnny Lewis by Stu's Shots

Great message from Mike 'Stu' Stuhler. It's an anomaly that we haven't had any Stu's Shots in Sideburn yet, but we will, I hope. G

Hi Gary
I thought you guys might enjoy this shot I took yesterday afternoon of Johnny Lewis on the #10 Scott Powersports/Dubach Racing Developments Kawasaki 650R-based machine. Johnny had an 'off' night by his great runs of late, but made some moves during the night that showed everyone this guy is a fighter! I to ok this one of him as he was rolling out for his heat race at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, MI. early last evening.

After going through all the shots, I realized he was rocking the Sideburn love on one of his immaculately-prepared mounts. Great stuff to see Sideburn on the track in the U.S.A.! Also note the video camera he has taped on his right boot upper. That is probably put together by Will and Yve from The Fast and Dirty.com--they do THE best vids while covering the circuit. You can bet with the runs through the pack that JL10 had to make last night they got some serious footage!

You can read more about Johnny's night and the event happenings at Lake O from this report I filed tonight on round 11 of the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series season: Stu's Shots
Enjoy and take care!
Stu -

Avalanche

The Sideburn warehouse is buried under an avalanche of orders. We're getting through them but not with the same lightning fast response times as we normally pride ourselves on. Normal service will be resumed soon. Thanks for your patience. G

Greasebag Jamboree

Another great looking event coming up next weekend, the Greasebag Jamboree. G

The Judge's Decision is Final

When your judge says
"Say d'y know where the nearest tattoo parlor is? I'm having such a great trip and I wanna celebrate!" you have to laugh. When he shows you the one he already has, looks like it was done in 2 minutes at the back of a classroom with a compass while the teacher wasn't looking, you have to worry. When it's only 5:20pm the night before the morning after, and he's pushing a trolley loaded with 140 beers on it, you have to say "What the hec, this is going to be fun!"

Travis #747 is a week through a 2 week whistle-stop of his first ever tour of Britain, and we were honoured to have him judge our 'Sideburn Best of Show' and hand over a two storey trophy (inc free shelf unit).There was a lot to choose from (even before the beer started talking), but the glittering prize went to a 50's side-valve BSA C10. BP

Cub

There were countless classy bikes at Verona earlier this year - and plenty of gash ones. But Danny Hard 9's baby Triumph was a pleasant surprise. We pushed the bike through the heaving masses to the prison yard-like parking lot outside. Glaring neon blue sky, glaring sparkly blue metalflake, and a shiny bald head. Some photos just make themselves. Get the full story in Sideburn 8. BP

Sideburn x Reilly Rocket UPDATE

What a great night. A full on London street party. Thanks to everyone who came from near and far (Bristol! Glasgow!! Spain!!!). There are some lovely photos up on El Solitario MC blog (where this one above is taken from). Ben will stick ours up over the weekend.
Massive thanks to everyone at London's friendliest new cafe Reilly Rocket plus Dave and Max the DJs and to everyone who bought something. G
Reilly Rocket,
507 Tottenham Rd, Dalston/Hackney
London, E8 4AUThe weirdest mish-mash of machines this side of planet Zeetron.Sideburn, a veritable Dr Barnardos type institutionHi Gary, Ben and all at Sideburn and Reilly Rocket,
Thanks for a great London bike party. Very very few of them around these parts which is a shame. Pop up bike bbq's rock! It's a shame I didn't get the chance to thank you more and speak with Drogo, as I was interested in how he was getting on with the shaved front disc / brembo set-up on his XS650, mine was the KR rep parked next to it on the night and my front brake set-up needs some help. By the time I'd narrowed down who I thought he was, I had to leave and he looked deep in chat with Mr Red Max.
My mate Simon came along on his burgundy Ariel but found out en route that it wasn't charging the lights. So I left with him before it got too dark and was going to ride behind him part way home to act as a tail/brake light. We'd got as far as Balls Pond Rd round the corner and realised that my brake tail light had blown! Weird. Oh well, lights on bikes at the party looked fairly optional anyway.What a load of cool dogs as well at a bike meet!
Cheers gents,
Richard

Scott Parker

Who? What? When? Why? How? of Sideburn 8, Scott Parker turned pro at 16 with a Bultaco and spent the next 25 years climbing the ladder with an ever evolving XR750. Illustration James Chappell. BP

Tir Prince International

Saturday evening 6th August, the fastest Flat track meeting ever seen in the UK will take place. Held at the largest Horse trotting track in Britain, with wide open bends lap times are anticipated to be close to 100mph! There will be Flat Track racers from all over the world competing and guest riders from other motorcycle disciplines, including TT star Guy Martin (if it doesn't clash with other commitments).
Pete BoastTir Prince Raceway, Towyn Road, Towyn, Rhyl, North Wales LL22 9NW

Marco Belli v Pikes Peak

The full race, on the Zaeta DT fitted with Maxxis dirt track tyres. G

"can you tell me the way to the coach station please?"

Booking the coach to London yesterday (as my Guzzi is still off the road) for the Sideburn party, I wanted to see if I could more conveniently go to Bethnal Green in E2, instead of Victoria in SW1. Clicking on the 'show map' button, it seems to be somewhere off the coast of Ghana. Not so convenient then, and I'd need a lot more sandwiches to last me the journey. BP

"Tally Ho!"

If you're the kind of person who is bothered by sand in your picnic sandwiches on the beach, then Warzone Speedway is not for you. Trevor Davies' book recounts getting a mouthfuls of the stuff whilst dodging bullets. In Sideburn 8 Mick Phillips takes a light hearted flick through this history book. BP

Dutch Flat Track

The Euro flat track racers are supporting the long track championships at Groningen this weekend. Fast track, 20 cool bikes, Dutch Brothers, Co-Built boys, Wilky Skooter Farm and his XR750! More details here. G

UPDATE: Co-Built will have some copies of Sideburn issue 8 for sale at this event. Go find them.

German Industrial Design

There was a time, not too long ago, when German specials had all the grace and lines of a tuba horn mated to debris from a beer hall on the last night of Oktoberfest. And then came Jens vom Brauck, first with Flat Red and then with the Scrambler, both based on Ducatis.
JVB Ducati in Sideburn 8 words Jan Leek photos Björn Leek. BP

Free Mule T-shirt

Richard at Mule Motorcycles sent us a few shirts to give out at the Sideburn 8 party in London this Thursday. The first people to ask me, Gary, for one gets one till they run out.
We've also got new free Zombie McQueen stickers and A4 Chris Watson event posters.
Oh, and the new magazine too (but that's not free). G

DB On the Road

Nice French moto-photo blog I stubble across every now and then. I think these images are all taken by Denis Boussard, the blog's creator - db-ontheroad blog.

That Audi is one of two that crashed heavily at Le Mans. Here is the other. Take a minute to watch it. GI

Sideburn x Deus T-shirt

It's true. Amazingly, Deus Ex Machina have made a Deus x Sideburn collaboration T-shirt to sell in their stores around the world. We have a few to sell too. Lovely quality, in two shades of grey.
Get yours at the Sideburn shop. GI

Mule Streetmaster

Chucking money at bikes doesn't guarantee Bigger Better Faster. You need some science too. And every piece of Mule's new age Bonneville (what's left of the Hinckley original) has been under an electron microscope. There's not an atom out of place. Yours for a snip at $75,000. Read the full story in Sideburn 8. Photography by David Folch. BP

Southern 100 Report

More day job related fun for me as I was out at the Isle of Man for the third time in five months, this time for the Southern 100 road races. That's Conor Cummins in the foreground.

I thought I'd take some phone snaps. GI

I'd never been to this race meeting, so for Wednesday evening's race I walked up to a point that looked good. It was amazing.

The first race came through and the riders were close enough to touch. All the guys stood on the bank held their breaths then all blurted 'Feck' when the 20-odd bikes had streamed past. If they'd been sat with their legs over the bank thy'd have got their shoes ripped off.

Like rats, you're never more than 20 yards from a Sideburn fan. This is Harley from Douglas in his beloved Eddie shirt.
Wednesday night's Superbike race, lap 1. Ryan Farquhar leads, Michael Dunlop second, Guy Martin third at this point, Cameron Donald fourth, I think. Guy won this one. Mass start road races rule. Especially on a beautiful evening like this.The organising club's HQ. Part tea hut, part toilet block, part office. All you need, right there. Look at the colour of that sky.
Kawasaki ER-6s make awesome race bikes. There's the Werner and Johnny Lewis bikes in the GNC and this is Ryan Farquhar's dominant mini-twin 650.

Wednesday night. The camera has been drinking.

Thursday morning. No special passes required. That's me on a wall, collar popped in a vain attempt not to get sunburnt. That's the track behind me.
See, I told you.

Guy's garland on the Relentless Suzuki van. The team don't bring the big 18-wheeler to these races.

Thursday afternoon. Is there a better way to spend it?

This is looking back to Joeys' gate. That's Ryan Farquhar coming through.

The fella in the blue T-shirt is Paul Phillips, (one of) the brains behind the TT. He's a massive road racing fan and the saviour of the TT (in my mind, he'd never say that). This is him doing some research from the hedges.

A big field of sidecars including TT winners Klaffenbock and Sayle. The first couple of laps were doo-lally. Even Michael Dunlop thinks these fellas are crazy.

UPDATE. See that weed in the gutter. William Dunlop ran over that trying to overtake someone on his 250. Close!