Rusty Gold Motorshop

Announcing another great shop stocking Sideburn, this time in the Netherlands. Zoran was/is involved with the Rusty Gold Swap Meet and set this shop up earlier in the year. He has some great, still hard to find brands like Eat Dust, Edwin, Roland Sands, Iron and Resin, Biltwell, Wrenchmonkees, Barn Fresh...

This is what Zoran (below) says:

Rusty Gold MotorShop is Amsterdam's first vintage/custom/urban motorcycle lifestyle hotspot. A combination of exclusive 'moto culture' related clothing and accessories on the one side and a coffeeshop/hang out on the other. 

Here you can touch everything, try on whatever you like and even enjoy a strong ass espresso while you're at it. But to also service you when you can't make it to the store, we launched this Webshop. It carries (almost) the complete selection and stuff bought online can also be exchanged in the 'offline store'.

Art on the walls by Sideburn 19 cover artist, Lenny Schuurmans. G

Good Loser

Chess was not my forte at school, but as other kids were getting wooed by the mysterious power of Sinclair ZX Spectrum and kicking back on Pac-Man, the old game still intrigued me. As a teenager, I was not impressed with Trivial Pursuit, and to this day, chess is the only board game that doesn't bore me. Now an adult, and a Dad, I am very happy that my 7 year-old boy seems to have taken to it pretty quickly - once I'd tricked him away from his Nintendo 3DS. So fast so, I had to promptly stop being so courteous. Now I have to do my best to defend the crown. He's extremely proud to out-manoeuvre me. But his attention span does wane if the game drags on, so we play at a quite care-free, suicide mission pace. It's not unusual that he throws me on my back, Taekwando style, after just a few minutes. Yesterday, unusually, the battle continued valiantly to the last few faithful pieces. And unbelievably to both of us, I managed to put him in check-mate with my last Pawns - or Shrimps as he calls them. He's not a good looser. But that's something I can teach him, I'm a very experienced loser. BP

Rub-Ons

We're stocked up with rub-on stickers in three designs: Original logo, Rollerball-style and Wingboot and new colours, like this yellow original logo.
See more at sideburn.bigcartel.com

Block Villa Wars

From former UK dirt track racer, Wayne Drake, who emigrated to New Zealand a few years ago...

Was watching an NZ TV programme, The Block Villa Wars (not my choice!). It's a home makeover show. Four couples get a house to do up and they auction them all at the end. They are judged weekly on each room makeover/challenge etc. The screengrab is of the host awarding points in studio. I spotted a poster I thought I recognized from a few years back and an awesome evening at Oxford.

Keep up the good work. Trying to get New Zealand flat track racing but no success yet. 
Cheers Drakey

Ha! The poster is from our David Aldana Night and Short Track UK Oxford race back in 2011, designed by Adi Gilbert (before he became the artist du jour for So Cal flat track promoters).

But who put it on the set of a Kiwi primetime TV show?

And if you want to try get flat track racing started in NZ, we'll put you in touch with Drakey. G

Tico & the Triumphs

I'm right back into listening to WFMU Ichiban Rock and Soul internet radio station and there are so many great songs on it.
This caught my attention. When I looked into it more, Tico and Triumphs turns out to be one of Paul Simon's (of & Garfunkel) early bands.
I went straight on eBay, bought the original 7in and had it sent to Newbold's Bike Shop, knowing I'd see him in a few weeks. He remembered to bring it out to the Superhooligan (along with Tommy James and the Shondells 'I think we're alone now' - yes, as covered by Tiffany in 1987).
Expect to hear both played at January's  Motor Bike Expo in Verona if you come by our stand. G

LAB2V

Still hobbling, but still buzzing with contentment.
LA (actually Palmdale) > Barstow > Las Vegas 32nd annual dual sport enduro was fantastic. Until doing the Sideburn Morocco tour in April, I only had limited green laning experience in Wiltshire and Wales. I figured if I could conquer the cathedral dunes of the Sahara, the Mojave would be a piece of piss. Too cocky too soon. It's 'only' two days as opposed to five on the trot, but up at 5am only to come to a crumbling halt at 5:30pm the days are much longer. The dust is a demon in its own right.

I'll write a longer piece in the next issue of the magazine, but this is primarily to say I survived, and a big Thank You to Julian of Deus Emporium LA for all he did to facilitate my ride.

Thank you Jaime Dempsey and the rest of the Deus road crew who kept us topped up. The brand new Husqvarna FE350 was amazeballs. (I thought I'd miss the extra 100cc I had with the the 450 KTM EXC in Morocco but I didn't).

Gary Pasquale, not your average ADV rider, home baked Yamaha XS650 crosser, Biltwell metal flake lid, army surplus kit, rode like a scalded wolverine.

decision time on the afternoon of the final day. Take the 'hard route' up Red Rock Canyon or not? (the road book lists alternative 'bale out' and 'easy route' short cut options for the flagging hearted). I'm knackered, my right foot is f*€kd, I'm under-dressed for the chillier mountain temperatures, and there is talk of Youtube featured perilous danger. I can't resist. BP

We Love Motorcycho

Last month we spent a few bromantic days in California and Nevada with Norman from Motorcycho: three grown, married men; fathers of eight children in total, sharing a cheap motel room and a budget rental car. It was humiliating in a kind of fun way.

Sideburn has stocked Motorcycho, the original lame-ass bikerzine, and it's related patches for years now, so we got Norman to write a bit about the history of his zine.

The true beginning of Motorcycho began around 1969 (above) when I picked up my first motorcycle magazine, which I probably still have, and a few years later my first minibike. I've never been without two wheels since! 

As far as the magazine is concerned, I had been doing a music zine through the late 80's and reached a point where it was time for a change. It was probably around this point I stumbled upon my first issue of Gearhead magazine. Issue #2 featured articles on biker movies, biker movie soundtracks and Davie Allan. I was big into motorcycle music by then, doing a weekly radio show at the local University station, and it became clear to me that the next logical progression for me was a zine about motorcycles and music! 

This would have been around 1994, my riding days were at a minimum due to the fact I had 4 small kids, so doing a zine was the perfect distraction! 

Cut and paste and a dot matrix printer kept it simple. The first bunch of issues had a lot more music and band interviews, but through the years that has pretty much disappeared. I had also wanted keep it simple and easy, that also has pretty much disappeared, which is why we only seem to put out one issue a year. 

Lately the mag is pretty much about friends and fun. I guess that's been the common thread throughout Motorcycho's existence… Motorcycles are FUN, and the people are the best! Whether it be riding minibikes in the back alley, roadtripping with a bunch of buddies on vintage tin or riding with my wife on the back on some twisty mountain road, it all brings a big grin to this guy's face! 

 Like a wise man once said: "I Dig Sickles"

Above and below, Norm with his youngest daughter Miki, a few years apart. I get the feeling Norm is one of the best dads ever.

Norm on his trusty TT impersonating his hero Evel. 

If this inspires you to buy some Motorcycho goods, head over to the Sideburn shop and click the Motorcycho label in the category box on the right. You get a free Sideburn sticker with every Motorcycho order from us. G

Royal Enfield Himalayan

This high roller is going to be the next Royal Enfield. It's rumoured to have a brand new 410cc engine and so-called 'spy' shots (that nowadays are purposely blurred teasers released by marketing departments to raise interest and gauge opinion in a cheap and relatively risk-free way) have been circulating for a few months.

The Indian market is crucial to RE, all exports currently do is add a gloss and give the machines extra credibility at home. The Bullet and Classic sell incredibly well in India, but the cafe racer style Continental GT didn't go down well with the home market where the very conservative domestic buyer just didn't get it. Why would you want a less comfortable riding position plus struggle to carry a pillion comfortably and use more fuel?

So, it's hard to know how the Himalayan will go down, but I'm guessing better than the Continental did in India, because it's an easier concept to understand. Longer suspension, more ground clearance, tougher, possibly lighter and at least as frugal. These are all key desires for the Indian buyer. Still, the Bullet/Classic is such an icon and it's Royal Enfield's Porsche 911. Other models come an go, but the Bullet keeps slowly developing and remains the best-seller. Therefore anyone in the market for a new Enfield has to be drawn away from the Bullet. Royal Enfield may also be in competition with the Indian-built KTM Duke 200, but I think the Himalayan will be more expensive, meaning their only domestic competition is likely to be themselves.

The Himalayan is almost definitely a design from the UK (Wrong! Ian, Xenophya co-founder, now RE, contacted me to say it's almost totally an Indian styling job) . Royal Enfield bought out the Northumberland-based independent vehicle designers, Xenophya, and moved them to Leicestershire to start up one of two technical and design centres for the Indian company, the other being in Chennai, India where the firm's two factories are based.

Xenophya styled a number of RE models including the Classic 500 and Continental GT, and also worked with Triumph on projects including the Tiger Explorer. The new design centre has already attracted senior staff from Triumph, including former Hinckley product manager, Simon Warburton. Royal Enfield also employ Pierre Terblanche (lead designer of the Ducati Sport Classics and 999, and, more recently, the Confederate X132 Hellcat Speedster).

Exciting times for Royal Enfield.

If you want to read about what it's like to ride a Bullet 500 along the gruelling Pangi Valley in a group of 16, buy Sideburn 23 for my story. G

No. 9 and The King Screenprints

Two new screenprints at great prices. Designed and hand screenprinted by Ryan Quickfall himself.
£20 plus postage.
Would make a great Xmas present.
Posted rolled in a heavy duty mailing tube with old posters, flyers and stickers we have lying around. Frame not included.

Get yours from sideburn.bigcartel.com

Dirt Quake 2016

WHEN: The date for Dirt Quake V is Friday and Saturday 15-16 July, 2016.

WHERE: Adrian Flux Arena, King's Lynn, UK

SPONSORS
Huge thanks to Bikesure Insurance for coming on board as the main sponsor.
If you would like to become a sponsor of the event, please email me, Gary Inman via dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com

COMPETITORS
We are not accepting entries until April at the earliest. No exceptions. We can answer questions about bikes, but not accept early entries. Join our mailing list, follow our instagram or check this daily blog to make sure you know when the entries open.

TICKETS
Will go on sale early next year.

WHAT
If you still don't know what Dirt Quake is, watch this (in fact, watch it anyway). G