Rollerball-style Sticker

Drogo's Co-Built Rotax sports the Sideburn Rollerball-style sticker on its tank.
The letters are cut individually so you can wrap it around a lid or double stack it like this.
Currently available in red, black or white.
Get yours at the Sideburn webshop. G

GSX-R1000 on Dirt

Finland.
Impressive, but once you've seen Bender on his Shovel on a frozen lake (see SB18) or the Panigale at Dirt Quake USA the gloss is taken off it. G

Via Derestricted.

Sammy Halbert coming to UK and Europe

Slammin' Sammy Halbert, the baby-faced assassin, the baddest bad ass in a race series full of bad asses, is coming to Europe in October to be the guest instructor at the 2014 International Dirt Track Festival, at Motorland Aragon, Spain (there are still a few places for novices and experts, but only a few).

This is a rare opportunity for mortals, numpties even, to ride and race with a proper star.

The Multiple GNC race winner will also be appearing - talk show style - at a DTRA x Sideburn night on Saturday 18th October in the English midlands. Details to be confirmed, keep watching the blog.

It'll be something like the Chris Carr Night and the David Aldana Night we've done in the past. Open to anyone who buys a ticket, not just DTRA members. G

David Holmes

We've just been informed of this and I felt we should share it. Sideburn tries to be relentlessly optimistic and a channel of good news, and if this hadn't been so close to home it probably would've have passed us by.

David Holmes had ridden to meet friends at Dirt Quake II (June 2013), had a brilliant day and set off to ride home. Like many riders seem to do now, he clicked on his helmet cam. The camera would film his last moments.

The local police, with permission from David's family, have used the footage of the accident that took his life in a Think Bike campaign that is designed to make motorists realise that if they don't concentrate they can kill other road users in a second, and to remind motorcyclists that death lurks on virtually every ride. I'm a motorist and a road rider. It's a hell of a reminder.

Read the full story here.

The video is below. It is very shocking. You won't forget it in a hurry.

RIP David Holmes.
Condolences to his family and friends.
Ride safe everyone else. G

Can You Kick It?

Once upon a time I lived and slept in German army surplus boots, but these days I'm more liable to rock Birkenstocks, or sloppy Vans, mildly hip but very uncomfortable for my fragile instep when kicking a bike over (my XS in this case). A lot of greying BMXers are now (or have already) tuned to motorcycles and this is quite an overly trendy mod but I still like it.

1) select BMX pedal of preferred heritage - this GT one is rather heavy and bulky even after I drilled out the reflectors, and opened up the holes to match the other cut-outs on top.

2) prise out the plastic end cap to reveal the securing double-nut. Dissemble the pedal being careful not to loose any of the ball bearings.

3) Having cut off the end of the original kickstart with its rubber foot grip, weld the pedal bolt to the remainder. Be careful not to get any weld splatter on the bearing radius. NB if you were to weld with the pedal still complete you would fry the bearing grease and melt any plastic sealing rings.

4) Reassemble, packing your ball bearings with fresh grease. Taa-daar. BP

Sideburn's Poet

Every issue, for the last six or seven, we've had a page featuring a short poem by Travis Newbold.
I first met Travis when I went to the Gene Romero West Coast Flat Track race at Las Vegas, in January 2010. He was racing a ratty XS650 and there with his dog, Baja. We chatted, I took some photos for Sideburn and we kept in touch.

Through Sideburn, Travis became good friends with the Co-Built family and has come to the UK and Europe twice to race with us. We've also been over to the US to race and watch him.

The poetry is bar room, lo-fi stuff. It rhymes. It comes to him on the hellish long drives between races. He started writing it on his blog and I thought I'd like it in the magazine, first because I liked it and thought it was odd that even a cheery, gentle, but brutally fast racer, would take the time to write it and put it on his blog. Then, I wanted to include poetry because if Sideburn doesn't do things differently then we're picking fights with some pretty big publishers and that's not what we're cut out to do. It also gives us an excuse to print a photo of Travis in action. These two were taken by Dave Lehl, a customer of his (Travis also runs a motorcycle repair shop in a suburb of Denver, Colorado). Beautiful.

Check out Travis's blog - 747 Rider. G

Sideburn 18 for Pre-Order; New Wing Boot T-shirts: Snapbacks

Yes, Sideburn 18 is now available for pre-order.
Took a bit longer than we expected due to running two Dirt Quakes this year (Dirt Quake USA is featured in this issue).
Same great quality, same great price.

That is Guy Martin at Pikes Peak shot by Sam Christmas on the cover.

Now is a good time to re-subscribe or check your sub status too. Email us at dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com

We also have new Wing Boot T-shirts. This has been continually requested, so we reprinted the Royal Blue and yellow, plus added Navy Blue and Dark Brown. We still have odds and ends of grey and black but only small and XXL.
£15 plus post
We have Wing Boot rub-on stickers too.

We have these embroidered snapback caps too. Also £15 plus post.

Thanks for supporting this independent. G

UPDATE
All You Need Is Ride #3 Magazine too.

Springfield Mile II

Man, what a race. Eight-rider freight trains. Race starts at the 10-min mark and finishes 16 minutes later. Watch it. G

Giuliano Segoni

Having invented the beard in Florence in 1969, Giuliano Segoni went on to design this exciting stressed-member Laverda. pictured here in 1971 with his architect brother and test rider Augusto Brettoni.

In 1973 he went crazy and came up with this monocoque frame for the SFC.

Ohh err on the engine turned finish

Then in 1974 he discovered funk, and things calmed down a little. This Kawa Z900 (he mysteriously badged K900 - maybe discovered pipe smoking?) was shown off at the Milan show.

He gained some endurance success. Beating the official factory team in 1975 at the 24hour Bol D'Or - even being the sole Italian team to finish. Dude. BP

Cable Oiler

What a brilliant invention. Every tool kit needs one.

Insert lethargic clutch / throttle / wire-pull brake cable into the rubber section of the clamp-block. One side of the rubber has a wide opening to accept the thickness of the cable outer. push it all the way in - usually to the depth of the chrome end section.

the other side of the rubber clamps tightly down onto the wire once you tighten down the knurled locking screw.

insert the thin pipe attachment of preferred can of WD40 / PTFE / silicon spray into small hole in rubber. Fill that parched cable with a few good bursts.

The oldfashioned way is to hang your cables up by the nipple and then drizzle 3-in-1 oil down the wire, but it's snails pace laborious. This little gizmo gets much better penetration and instantly. BP