Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Sex

Sideburn and its organic content (I use the term in a sense of moss growing in the window sills of an old Land Rover, rather than over priced nibbles from Marks and Spencer's food hall), has, is, and will continue to be influenced by so many forces. Sure it will always be about flat track first and foremost, but from within that niche we want to seep sideways (no pun intended).

Before the internet took control of my brain, I used to have this thing called a pin-board for collecting pages torn from magazines, flotsam and jetsam, anything that caught my roving magpie eye. Now I just have a zillion digital folders on my overloaded Mac. I refer to these images again and again like smelling salts. The images don't have to necessarily be directly related to flat track; or even motorcycling, but they all have some magical power.

This 'snap' - most likely a totally contrived period advertising shot, spells Sex to me. Not just the glowing Mediterranean flesh barely contained by home-made denim hot-pants and the simple spaghetti strapped vest, but the weedy Piaggio Ciao moped too, those cork platforms, and the greasy docker. And the ciggie. BP

6 comments:

  1. Oh man, this was the best so far. I enjoy most of them, yes, but many are lost on me; perhaps its regional. Off the top of my head, favorites are the workstation 'series' and ones about the crazy Italian GQ editor. I think what does it for me is how we get a peek into the lives, (and in this case the thoughts) of the people we admire. Hero stuff.

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  2. Funny that, just yesterday i came across a picture of an Africa Twin and it set me off reminiscing about the bikes i'd see on Mediterranean (sp?) holidays when i was about 7.

    I emailed a mate and he immediately shared the thought -"The kids had C90s, the teenagers had DT125Rs and then the proper badass grown up lads had Africa Twins."

    I then remembered my all time favourite the Suzuki DR Big; many a warm evening i'd sip a lemon fanta and eat a spag bol whilst hearing the noise of a DR Big.

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  3. the moss on the inside of the windowsills of an old land rover. Yeah. Here here That even happens in Africa. The moss on the inside of sills that is. Lol.
    Had to chuckle at that.

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  4. Rich
    in 1988 I had a Honda C90.
    While waiting in Igoumenista, Greece, for the ferry to Brindisi on the heel of Italy (sadly without my trusty step-through), I spotted a gang of Honda Africa Twins on the quay (in retrospect I guess they were actually NXR 750). It was a hot Mediterranean night.
    The mechanisms that that scene put in motion in my young, un-lubricated brain are responsible for every other motorised two wheeled adventure I have had ever since. Even ones just down the high street.
    BP

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  5. Hey you guys!!!!!! don't knock the Piaggio Ciao it's a killer machine, well maybe not as it came from the factory but cross it with a BMX, fit some of Malossi's finer parts and you have this mother.....

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oQ47mcefqDo/S6aEBbFQa5I/AAAAAAAAAng/E77zd0Qvoms/s1600-h/DSC01045.jpg

    DP says: Soon on 2 wheels....

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