Krazy Horse Go Big

My favourite motorcycle shop in the UK is expanding. For nearly 20 years, Krazy Horse was a great little back street chopper shop in the sleepy town of Bury St Edmunds. They built award-winning bikes and sold parts. Then, in the depths of a global economic downturn, the owner decided it was time to throw £100,000s at a new building, still in the same Suffolk town.

The result is a proper 'destination'. There is a large showroom of a massive variety of custom bikes for sale and on display, plus a high class cafe, parts area, MoT area, Dyno room and clothing shop selling Levi's, Dickies, Deus Ex Machina, Roland Sands, Belstaff, Pike Brothers...

The audacity of investing so heavily when others where cutting back has proved to be a good one. Krazy Horse are now dealers for Norton, Indian, Victory, Zaeta, Paton, Hardknock (learner-freindly chopper-style bikes) and Morgan cars. They've run out of room, so, from this Saturday on - 28 February - they will have two premises, a short walk from each other.

As part of the opening they are having an exhibit of the work of UK photographer, Merry Michau. Go check it out. G

All You Need Is Ride 4

We have a handful of the new issue of classy French zine All You Need Is Ride in stock. It's now written in English.
We've stocked up on Motorcycho issues too.
Fill your boots at the Sideburn webshop.

Ocala Dirt Track on FansChoice.TV today

The same FansChoice TV crew that delivered GNC live streams all year are streaming live racing from Ocala, Florida today. This is a non-GNC race, but FansChoice and the AMA are using it as a test for new equipment. Some of the top racers will be there preparing for the season opener at Daytona next month.

Live streaming coverage will begin with pre-race interviews at 3:00 p.m. ET (12:00 noon PT) with practice at 4:00 p.m. ET (1:00 p.m. PT). The evening program of racing is slated to begin at 6:00 p.m. ET (3:00 p.m. PT). Log on and tune in at http://www.FansChoice.tv.

Sideburn x DTRA x Bolt

We're having an event with the DTRA at Bolt London, the afternoon of Saturday 21 March.
Come along and see...

• Great DTRA race bikes
• The best photography from the last few seasons
• Meet the race organisers and have all your questions answered
• Check out the new number boards with a custom font from House Industries
• Paw the fancy clobber and Biltwell good stuff that Bolt sell
• Have a Dark Arts coffee
• Make a night of it with an after-party hosted by the Eat Dust crew from Belgium

Oh, and get your hands on the new Sideburn! G

Das Boot

Anybody got any info on this BMW R75/5? Initially thought it could be the Australian Aftershock, but watching the video again that looks wetter. BP

XS Stunner

Lovely Shell XS750 (not to be confused with the factory shaft-drive triple monster), Star Racer framer, built by Jim Speer. BP

Peaty's Bike Bonanza

Advanced warning of a mountainbike jumble in Bristol next month. I am a pedal head as much as a petrol head, and have been invited to have a stand. Beyond motorcycle tyre kickers, Sideburn seems to have drawn troops from BMX and skateboarding disciplines. The cross-over of inspiration is always heathy. There is not a lycra-only door policy. I will have a full range of Sideburn mags and limited stock of T-shirts. If there's anything you specifically want from our stock leave a message. BP

More info on the Peaty's webite

Icon New Jack

 

Another great bike from Icon Motorsports , the US riding kits company that builds some fantastic bikes for their new product range photoshoots (Icon Basehawk jacket in this case).
This time they've updated a 1982 Katana with:

Oil cooler in the headlight opening and LED streetlight below
Bandit 1200 motor (some people talk about it being 'bigger', it has slightly more capacity than the original, but it's actually more compact front to rear)
Mikuni flatslides
Two British Nitron shocks in the monoshock position (like a prototype Rossi M1 from 2008 or so)
Modified Suzuki TL1000R Swingarm
Twin fillers
New tail
EBC discs and Nissin four-pots
USD Showas from a 2002-era Fireblade
Honda SP2 wheels

I love it. G

Di Traverso School

There's a report from the launch of Marco Belli's Italian school coming in the next Sideburn, on sale in March. G

More Mablethorpe

My old mate Col drove 100 miles down from Scarborough to watch the beach race at Mablethorpe and took these photos. The next race is this Sunday. Racing from about 11. 

Don't worry, there aren't any quads...

Carl CFM dominates the 250 road bike class on this TDR250

Neil's Suzuki from the 200 road bike class.

George Hopper and his mini-grasstracker

The variety of bikes is a big draw. Some people go low, dirt track style chassis, below, while others keep long suspension. Above is a CCM Rotax from the Unlimited road bike class. Below is a Honda XL250 (I think) from the 250 Road bike class.

Pete Pearson's Yamaha 600. He absolutely flies on this thing.

Handsome grasstracker. 

Before the racing started there was a memorial service for a lady who had been helping the club, marshalling for years. All the racers lined up on the beach as the local lifeboat went out to, I think, scatter her ashes and shoot a flare into the air.

Me in the middle. Starts are getting better. I'm getting slightly closer to the leaders. I had some good battles with the two bikes either side. There are about 12 bikes in our class.
The ambulance, is on the startline. We start in a line, off the track and have a drag race to the first corner. You can see the churned up track bottom corner. Pete Pearson doesn't even touch that bit of the track, his line is so high and flat-out.

Carl spitting a blue genie off the start. On his way to another heat win.

Mark's Bonneville. He's mustard off the start. This bike prefers a waterlogged beach that doesn't rut up and stays smoother.

Another oddball bike in the Unlimited Road Bike class, a grey import Yamaha SRX. 

For more info on times and race dates go to sand-race.co.uk. 

Thanks for the photos and emergency spannering Col. G