Stuff I love. Pt 1.

Stuff I'm loving beyond all measure. Click the links and be taken nice places. GI

Everything Kriega make. British designed (though made in China), super heavy-duty stuff that sets the standard for modern motorcycle soft goods. I’m flattered they advertise in Sideburn. This is Ben's tool roll, ready for action.



I'm not big on fancy dan helmet paintjobs. They remind me of spoilt journalists, but racers are allowed. These are by new London custom den Death Spray Custom. He'll paint bike tanks too. Yum-yum. Thanks to Wes at HfL for the introduction.

King Khan and his Shrines. Still. And the cover of this CD on German label Voodoo Rhythm. King Khan got it all. Can't wait to see them again.



Germans! We had Jan from motokultursite Chromjuwelen contact us first, then Helge at Motoraver. Helge runs magazine and website with a uniquely German take on hot rodding/street customs. Helge's just bought a Sporty street tracker too. That's his 76 Granada, that won't mean much to the Americans reading this but will surely please a few Brits and Germans (who can't afford to buy or run an American V8).

BBC Radio 6. If you're unfortunate enough not to live in GB you'll have crap radio. It's a fact. Do yourself a favour and get on the internet and listen in. They play a lot of new indie stuff and loads of old favourites and tunes you won't hear anywhere else. Like 20-year-old live concerts of the Screaming Blue Messiahs.

This fella's Lego helmet.

The Vintagent. A proper high quality blog, that gives the blog landscape something really different. And Paul d'Orleans, the Vintagent, likes Sideburn so much he's going to write something for Sideburn 3 and 4. He's a dapper chap, too.

Project LTO

Found this bike on a late night blog jump from one comment to the next site. Whoever set up eBlogger was pretty bloody clever to think of that. I love seeing a comment that has been left, then clicking through and finding that person also has a blog.
This fella is in Sweden and his blog is called DP Race Tech. His project is called LTO - Left Turn Only. It is pretty bloody hardcore, because he wants this to be a road bike. !? etc. It has a Jawa speedway engine, so one gear, permanently engaged, I reckon. If it's a grasstrack motor, it has two gears. The frame looks so good with the little chopper tank.
Good on him. I reckon LTO might end up meaning Long Time 'Ospitalised, though. Swedes are brilliant.

'Some have asked "when will LTO hit the streets", "is the project dead", "are you a chicken" etc. so I guess it's time to show some of the progress. Right now I feel the overall look is right on the $$$, Speedway but not really, don't wan't to do it the other way around since another Swede has already done that, the handlebars feel just right and finally tyres have been decided on, the rear is a 4.0-19" Avon Safety wich looks a bit fat but I like it, front was harder, there aren't a buch of 23" tyres to choose from, I don't want Speedway rubber and not the fat new Avon 23" so I went with bicycle, YES it's a Nokian tire from a Kronan, love the look but the handling!?!?!?! we'll see. What's left is some welding on the rear frame & tank, I have to finalize the decision on the rear brake so ISR can start making it, right now I like a sprocket brake with a 6-piston caliper if it can be made as large as 72 tooth. Then it's off to powdercoat and paint.'

Fine Bristols

From Steve H who shot them at the recent Bristol Classic Bike show. Cheers Steve.
The grey Triumph is radical. Anyone know who built it?
The white Trident was in Classic Bike's Bike of the Year feature. Thoughtfully brought it's own roasting tray. The owner is either very pessimistic about his bike's ability to store oil or that tray's just been put there, because it's dry as a bone.

Mad Austrian finds home in Germany

From Jan-Willem. Cheers.

This is Stefan G's KTM, he's going to race it in the MEFO Sport Cup next year. It was a KTM LC4. Not many details. They look like CBR forks.

Fireworks

Sent in by Dan Walsh. Oh yes.
don't know who took the photo.

Swedish buzz-saw

on the Bay today

Shelbourne Tigers

These photos are beautiful. Stuka tuned us into them. Thanks.

'In the summer of 1950, Speedway Racing came to Dublin. The showman and promoter Ronnie Green brought members of his Wimbledon Dons team to Shelbourne Park each Sunday where they raced as the The Shelbourne
Tigers against other English teams.
In 1951, a group of the non-Wimbledon riders set up a midweek rival attraction on a new track at Chapelizod where they raced as the Dublin Eagles. The popularity of the sport was short lived and Speedway racing in Ireland was finished by the middle of the decade.'
Photos and caption by Fionnbar Callahan a photographer in Ireland, who has been in the business since 1950.

The bottom fella is Tommy Price (Wembley Lion & 1949 World Speedway Champion) Chapelizod, 1951. What an amazing looking bloke. A couple of these shots remind me of the style of Nick Clements, the in-demand fashion photographer and bike fiend (who has kindly supplied some shots for the next Sideburn). You really should check his portfolio, even if fashion isn't your thing.

Stuka also points out that speedway might be making a comeback to Ireland. We dug up this story from UK tabloid, The Daily Star.
'Businessman Stuart Cosgrave is bidding to re-launch weekly speedway in Ireland – after a 38-year gap!
And his ambitious plans to re-establish the sport across the Irish Sea include staging a Grand Prix on a temporary circuit at the Royal Dublin Showground.'

Be My Valentine

Issue 1 nearly all gone

Well, we were pretty sure the day was going to come, but not quite this quickly. We spoke to Brian the Magazine Man today. He's been great to us, and a lot of other independent mags. He wants another bunch of Sideburn 1 and 2 from us to sell at shows around Europe. The conversation led me to do a quick stock take in Sideburn HQ and we now know we've only got 100 issues of issue 1 left. Once they're gone, they're gone. Issue 1 will never be reprinted in magazine form (but perhaps beautiful coffee table book form...)
Stop procrastinating and get your order in. Or don't bother and leave more for us to put on eBay at £30 a pop in a year's time. GI

More TL street trackers

The paintjob looks like it crawled out of 1992 or something, but again, the bike is bad-ass. Thesebikes must make close to/more than twice what a stock 1200 Sportster makes (depending on the age of the donor). A lot of work has gone into it, converting the front PM to take discs, making the inlet manifolds, never mind the chassis. Good looking motor, but yellow fork legs are NEVER right..
Good old Bubble Visor pointed us to another shot of the original TL we posted. Anyone building one of these? Thanks GI