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UK racer buys Rollie Free's Vincent!

Jason has bought one of the most famous motorcycles in history...


Hi Gary/Ben
Recently I had an evening all to myself, when the wife went out with a couple of work friends. I think she must have gone to Heston’s Fat Duck restaurant, because I’m sure I overheard her say that she was looking forward to having a cockatoo in cider. Sounds horrible to me, I don't think I'd fancy it much.

Anyways, this lead to me spending the evening on the internet, which is where I stumbled across a great website called ebay, for those unfamiliar with this place, let me tell you, it’s great. The best way I can describe it is that it’s a bit like paying good money for the contents of your neighbors loft. But the best part has to be creating a new name for yourself. Because most names are already taken I decided to create a computer programme to assist in name selection. For example, Richard a Subsidence Inspector, who likes playing records and riding his Suzuki GSF1200, becomes Dickjockeycrackbandit. Ah hmm, perhaps that needs some work still.

After a bidding frenzy, I managed to win my first auction, which was really exciting because I never used to win anything. I’m on a winning streak at the moment as I’ve also won the Nigerian lottery, even though I can’t remember buying a ticket. How lucky is that? I’ve still have to receive my winnings but I guess it takes time to process the £100,000 administration fee.

Anyways…Back to ebay, basically with my soon to be buying power, I was able to win Rollie Free’s famous record breaking Vincent for just £2500.10p! That’s a steal I hear you cry. It’s not complete but I suppose its a few years old now and you know how bikes get taken apart and bits lost, we’ve all done it. Infact what looks like a HT lead is all that remains and it’s badly cracked, but I shall rebuild this piece of history. Luckily it came with an authenticating speeding ticket too.

I have quite a lot to do so if there’s anyone out there with bits from Rollie’s bike I’d be delighted to hear from you. Cash waiting.

Best regards
Jason

Trackers at the Indy dealer fair

Blinged up XR12 paid for by Dunlop and built by Jesse Rooke. A little tarty for me, but still a good effort. Fly the photographer bumped into Jesse at the Hard Rock Hotel, Vegas the other year. Says he was a nice fella. They look like RSD custom wheels. It's hard to see, but it's got a Spondon-style single sided swingarm too. Anyone know where there are other shots of this bike?

When you see this thing you can see what a good job Rooke did. It's draggin its arse like a spaniel with worms. What have they done to it?

Aprilia Mille-powered tracker. Neat Agip colours.



Seems like Performance Machine are the wheels of choice.

DanDan took these at February's Indianapolis motorcycle dealer fair thing. That's him cozying up to the Suzuki. Thanks Dan.

Budget bobber from Buenos Aires

BA is the greatest city on earth. I went there on a job once. Watched a River Plate game with Dan Walsh (I know it should've been Boca, but they were playing away). Walked for miles. Ate at Sucre. Stayed at the Ritz (was it the Ritz, Dan?). Had one of my biggest nights drinking (and didn't chuck-up) in some Irish bar Dan called home. Bought nice socks from Felix. Walked around the amazing junk shops. Bought an old Michelin tin sign for my office/shed.
Anyway, it all came flooding back when I saw this email today.

Hi Gary! i wanted to share with you the first bike that me(freddy) and my friend Anibal ever modified, its a little Honda Cg 125cc, We are two tattooers from Buenos Aires, Argentina and we build tattoo machines...our company its called BR irons.
We are modifiyng also a 1958 gilera 150 supersport, and two cbs 250 now, ill send you pics when i have one ready... hope you like the bike, i woul be grateful if you give as your opinion ,thanks! freddy.

Freddy, it's looking good. Can't wait to see the Gilera. Give my love to BA.
GI
PS Everyone should have a friend call Anibal. Even if it's just an imaginary one.

Triumphant

Supercharged street tracker spotted outside Deus in Sydney by Agent OhOhTwo
If that thing is working properly it'll make its bakelite rear tyre squeal like a pig. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Come on piggy!

It's a Maryland thing...

Regarding Oliver's tattoo, from a couple of post ago, Jim Gately (bro of Bill Gately who runs Bonneville Performance) says...

'It's a Maryland thing. Attached is the cover to the program for the 1979 1/2 mile at a Laurel MD. horse track. Also a picture of my 1969 Rickman Flattracker with a J&M swing arm. Mike [of, we presume, J&M who we also mentioned recently] is good people.'

McQueen and Nikki

That's Nikki from Chico Moto. Troy took the shot. Don't know if he also did the graffiti in the background.
Below it are two free downloadable wallpapers by Driver Chris. Neat.

Neat BCM SR500

This SR500 is being built over at BCM. We don't know a lot about Mr Boyle, but he's in California, he's a craftsman and his blog is a nice place to hang out. He's also building a great BMW streetbike, he calls Olga.

Sideburn in Baltimore

Shop Gentei is an ultra-hip fashion store, run by a dirt track fiend in Baltimore. Every couple of years they totally refurb the shop and this time they've made it garage themed with an XS650 in the middle.
Oh, and they stock Sideburn and those Max Schaaf Vans some of you liked. You can order them from their webshop.
Shop Gentei's owner, Oliver says...

'Our downtown Baltimore location has just received its bi-annual facelift with the all-new Motorpsycho theme. This time we’ve transformed 1010 Morton St. into a motorcycle garage, complete with a 1978 Yamaha serving as the centerpiece. We’ll be working on the bike in-shop all season long, so stop by often to see the progress.'

We've always had a soft-spot for Baltimore as it's the home to cult film director John Waters. And the Wire is based there. But, as we don't have fancy telly we're going to try catch it on BBC this coming week.

By the way, Oliver (this is his blog) has a tattoo of a crab riding a dirt tracker. That is just the best. Can anyone compete with that? GI

J&M Frames

It seems if you want to be anywhere in a GNC twins race you've got to be on a J&M frame. We think we're right in saying the Maryland firm supply frames to every racer running an XR in the twins class and a few that aren't.

They manufacture frames for any of the current popular engines (twins or singles) from: Honda, Yamaha, Harley-Davidson, Rotax, KTM, Husaberg. They also build custom dirt track frames and a growing line of vintage frames, including Yamaha TT500 and Honda XR500.

Prices, for frame and swingarm, start at £1895.

For sale: Stateside

Al McQ says: 'Check out this very nice looking Champion framed Yam RD on the VFT site... There's also a restoration job Trackmaster 250 on there too. Oh and if you scroll a bit further down, a BSA Gold Star.
See here for Sideburn's shipping info

J-W from the Dutch Bros said simply 'J&M frame for Suzuki twin motor'. A link gave this info, but no pic. Sounds a bargain.
Someone bring it to Europe, please.
New, in box from J&M, Suzuki SV650 Chassis.
No waiting, this frame is available now. I ordered it in August, but you can have it now.
$2500 shipped to your door (I dont think he means Europe, but I guess he'll do it for extra dough).
George Mack 630-408-3387 geo@mackdaddyracing.com


Meanwhile, two of J-W's Dutch Brothers friends have bought their own J&M chassis for Harley Sportster motors. Our old friend Tom Van Nes and Thomas Weigl (pictured).
European dirt track is growing!

HWZNBROSS now stocks Sideburn

Japan's HWZNBROSS

Click the stockiest label below to see all the other fine stores that stock Sideburn. Shouldn't you or your local store do the same?

open plan

It's a good thing we've each got our own supplies of tea, milk, sugar, and biscuits. The Sideburn office is 1257 miles long, 994 miles wide on the east face, and 447 to the north. Earlier this century we sacked the courier pigeons that had some aerodynamic issues with the CDs, and employed a team of Polish courier rats that Mick Phillips headhunted from the Motorcycle News dispatch department. The printer would send over a small box in which the highly-trained white rats, would hastily reassamble the pages using metal type and wooden blocks. Then you'd write down the corrections on small bits of paper and pop it in little hollow cylinders that the rats had dangling round their necks. It was a marvellous way of working, but union action put paid to all that in the early 1990s. Now we're just getting to terms with the interweb and electronic mail.
BP

King Shed

Thanks for Captain Simon for forwarding these to us.

Burt and his shed. 1970.

Ant at Pomona

Another beauty from Wayne. This is his brother Ant. Tres, tres jolie! Thanks Wayne. What's the engine and chassis? There seems to be a lot of spring compression on the back (my season's coming up and I'm in the dark on all that stuff), why? G

'This is at Pomona. My brother Anthony on one of Bud Riddle's bike. Ant is actually the fast rider in the family if the truth be told. The photo is by the Japanese photographer Shogo who is a kick in the ass to hang out with.'

Vertically Challenged

Not so much Go Fast Turn Left, just Go Fast Vertically. Maybe say a prayer before doing so and don't eat too much breakfast.
Anthony Brown is rallying troops for the VMCC Chalfont (England) hill climb. Down load this form...
Send the completed forms back to me at:

Anthony Brown
usefultone@hotmail.com

By the 7th April please, so I can send them on in one go.
If you didnt tick it when you applied you will need to get onto the ACU to make sure your licence covers grasstrack as well as short track. Its no extra cost. Entries will be £27 +£3 for club membership and £10 for a day licence if you dont have one.
As agreed before we will all run standard Flat Track / Supermotard tyres to save time and expense. Lets hope it doesnt rain.
Anyone who wants any info can call me 07834 971715

This 1949 flying Flathead shot is from the excellent iron wigwam archive. Is that a 'For Sale' sign tucked in the back there?! Maybe he just asked the owner if he could take it around the block.
BP

Blondeel, Belgium

I've had this bike bookmarked for about eight months. Don't know why I haven't done anything with it. It's got something, not quite there for me. Tank's all wrong, but it would be a boring world if everyone built cookie-cut bikes. Nice carbs.
Built by Blondeel, a Triumph dealer in Belgium.

Dead fish, Delica and dress sense

I love everything about these photos from M&M's in Japan. To quote the great Dave Skooter Farm, they're dressing for the ride not the crash. They have a dead fish on the top yoke. They're having fun. But it's that van in the background I really love. There is a lot of van snobbery in GB. If you're getting snobby about a van, you've lost the plot. This old Jap heap (a Delica or something?) is given a new lease of life with a bit of signwriting. We likee. GI

日本の訪問者はここにクリックする喜ばす CLICK

Peg watching Don

Metro Racing are our kind of company. This is Don of Metro on his Harley MX250. Watching in the background is Peg of Metro.
They have a great set-up and lovely bikes, over in Pennsylvania. Make good stuff too.
Cool gloves Don. GI

Flat Track Fridays

From Short Track UK. Yippee!

We are proud to announce that we will be running 4 meetings on Friday evenings at the Norfolk Arena and they will be known as Flat Track Fridays. We will be running 4 classes with every rider getting 3 heat races and a Grand Final for the top finishers. Practice will start at 7pm and racing at 7.30pm. The other good news for race fans is that it is free of charge!
The idea behind Flat Track Fridays is to give riders more track time on what has been described as the English Ascot Park (a track in the US that produced some of the best Flattrackers in 70s & 80s ) and chance to try and get new fans to watch Shorttrack.
We will be running 4 classes for riders:-

National Pro Class – open to current and ex national number riders. Making a Grand Final at an STUK meeting during 2009 will also entitle you to ride in this class.
Restricted Shorttrack Class – for riders who have never held a national plate and do not make a grand final at a STUK meeting during 2009, riding Shorttrack or Thunderbike machines.
Thunderbike Class – open to riders with Thunderbike machines.
Open Quad Class – for quad bikes running to Shorttrack Quad rules.

Flat Track Fridays Dates
Friday 12th June
Friday 26th June
Friday 14th August
Friday 4th September

Krook Street Tracker

Over at Krook Street Racing, Sweden, David is building a street tracker from his Huskie supermoto. It's looking great. These are his proposed tank designs. Vote for your favourite. GI

work in progress

Using a small crappy snap as reference, I rattle canned the title header for the forthcoming SB#3 Scorpions story on A4 copy-paper. And then scanned them. The Photoshop airbrush effect is much too smooth and you don't get the nice runs.
8 stories complete, 6 to go.
BP

#13 Lucky for some

Finn Erik Andersson larging his baby Ducati
BP

Hard miles

The race season is nearly here. I can't lay off the custard creams so I've had to start running again. This is one of my routes. The other is along a river. I'm loving running at the moment. I went three times last week. That hardly makes me Daley Thompson, but it's better than nothing. And it's making a difference already.
Friday's 40-minute run was conducted in beautiful sun, with the added bonus of the local girl's high school doing a sponsored run/walk on part of my route, but in the opposite direction. I got a few building site-style comments from the more lairy girls, which put a spring in my step as I'm 20 years older than all of them.
Circuit training tomorrow. GI