Sideburn 8 Launch Party

Sideburn 8 goes to the printers in just over a week. We're having a little launch of it the week it's printed at a cafe in London we wanted to check out - Reilly Rocket. The cafe are supplying free tasty, hot beverages and cake (till they run out). We've never visited the place, but think it's pretty small. We'll be spilling outside.
The new mag, Full Lock T-shirts, new embroidered patches and Zombie sweatshirts will be for sale. Everyone who comes will get their own free A4 event poster, created by the mighty Chris Watson and, if they're made in time, new free stickers.
There's going to be a big prize for our favourite bike ridden to the event. It doesn't have to be the fanciest, or a street tracker or anything like that, just the one we like the most and we've got broad tastes. We'll judge it and give out prizes at 8.30, so if you clear off before you won't win. The prize is huge, so if you're in it to win it, bring a bungee net.
AND special guest, Travis 747 Rider from Colorado is going to be over. He's a hero. In fact, I've just decided, he's the judge.
Feel free to blog this poster to spread the word. A few riders have got in touch from London to say they've got a bike and no one to ride with. Hopefully they'll all meet here and ride happily ever after. G

Spa

Andrew Gray is on his way from LA to Belgium for the 4 hour Classic endurance at Spa this weekend. His Guzzi has been crated and shipped out. I wish I was going too. This year it's Guzzi's 90th birthday special, but there will still be all those fabulously fugly Kwackers with chunky tanks, bug-eyed spotlamps, and over-size ducktails.
BP: "Ride with style and grace Andrew"
AG:"What about guile and pace?"
UP DATE:
Andrew and Kristina post race in parc ferméResult: 18th place out of 70 starters. 1st Guzzi home (after the winning Guzzi of Moto Box was disqualified). The Guzzi ran brilliantly. We only saw the track the previous afternoon.The best part of the event (except finishing) was sitting Kristina on the tank and riding back to the garage from parc ferme, scattering the assembled party and revving the tits off the Guzzi in celebration. Nothing like a Guzzi on open pipes at 8K in an enclosed space. Heaven!!

Pike's Peak

Some of our favourite people were racing Pike's Peak last week. I hope they all met each other.

Dimitri Coste was racing his OSFA Triumph. Marco Belli was racing his Zaeta (to third in the 750cc - even though he's on, I think, a bored-out 450 single). And Travis 747 was on his 450. Sounds like an amazing event. Everyone raves about it. One day, maybe. G

The Speed Merchant

Remember these JoMo Triumphs, probably my favourite Hinckley Bonnies ever, well they were made by a crew who had to change their name and are now called The Speed Merchant. The men behind SM are Denver Dan, Brandon and Mark Kawakami.
Dan wrote to say 'Not all of our products are quite ready for market, but should be by summers end. In addition to the finned stator and sprocket covers for the Triumphs, we have also added finned derby covers for Sportsters, 1" handlebars and 39mm preload fork adjusters for Sportsters, Fx and Dynas with the narrow glide front end. The adjusters are available on the website now.'
Go to The Speed Merchant

Hot -Amman Valley Report 3)

Temperatures rose throughout the day, and so did the speeds.
GNC results:
1st # 1 Aidan Collins..................................450 H M Plant Honda
2nd # 98 Richard Mason............................450 Arrow honda
3rd # 93 Tom Woolley................................450 Pidcock Honda
4th # 8 Ben Wells........................................525 KTM
5th # 54 Peter Boast ..................................450 Team Suzuki
6th # 7 Ben Baker.......................................450 Helmets4u Honda
7th # 30 Alan Birtwistle..............................450 Honda
8th # 28 Steve Coles..................................450 Honda
9th # 71 Glyn Pocklington..........................525 Helmets4u KTM
10th # 20 Darren Trapmore.......................450 Kinrade Honda
11th # 72 Wayne Drake ............................450 TAJ KTM
12th # 14 Tim Neave.................................450 Team Suzuki
Thunderbikes saw mad deck shuffling, but a clear win for west wales' Guto Llewelyn on a CoBuilt Husaberg
1st #79r Guto Llewelyn...................600 Co-Built Husaberg
2nd #47r Anthony Brown................600 Co-Built Rotax
3rd #76 John Lee ............................710 Scooter Farm Honda
4th #54 Peter Boast......................... 750 Trackmaster Yamaha
5th #28 Steve Coles........................ 650 Bros Honda
6th #26r Neil Martin....................... 600 Yamaha
7th #30 Alan Birtwistle.....................600 Yamaha
8th #97r Guy Sutherland..................600 Co-Built Rotax
9th #3 Paul Sheldon.........................600 KTM Framer
10th #31r Dave Arnold....................600 Scooter Farm Rotax
11th #99r Pete Wilkinson................750 XR Harley Davidson
12th #45r Geoff Cain......................600 Co-Built Rotax

full race report at:Short Track UK
Above photo, and more courtesy: Steven Baldock

Guitar Wolf in London

Islington, Friday July 8. I'm going. Anyone else? G

Crash and Burn - Amman Valley Report 2)

(you might want to turn the sound down before hiting 'play')Thanks to self-harm Jamie #29. BP

Project RE progress

To be honest, there hasn't been much. Most of our Sideburn-related brain power and time has been taken up with Sideburn 8 (that's going to print in July).
But both Carl CFM and Co-Built were worried about front wheel clearance once we fitted the Bimota front end to our Enfield. Anthony Co-Built came up with a really elegant way of getting around it, but first I checked we needed it by raising the forks through the yokes. I took it to more extremes than a single front disc will and there's a cat's cock hair of clearance. Nice one.
in the meantime, are there any electric experts out there who can help us work out how we can convert the ignition to run with a carb rather than fuel injection? GI

Gladiators - Amman Valley report 1)

Or was it more 'It's a Knockout'? either way the new Novice Class on only it's second outing was no country amble, especially as all racing on Saturday was rained off, come sunny Sunday we were chomping at the bit. I'd made a point of gentlemanly shaking Jamie's hand at riders briefing in case he didn't realize my dashboard mounted 9 Iron golf club was only a childs plastic toy. But from the off, sparks were flying. Even with only eight riders instead of the big boy's grids of 12, the corners were a ruck. Places were shuffled from start to finish.That's Jason Ramsden out front, who borrowed Skooter Farm Dave's #31 bike, racing for the first time. Cool to the end and effortlessly stole the 3rd place trophy from me. That's not inflatable leathers I'm wearing, I just took a deep breath at the start and held it until the finish. Photo courtesy Team Full Lock or Death.At one point I made a heroic round-the-outside move from 4th to 1st, made some space, only to lose it all to a pathetic low-side crash on the next lap. Jamie on full gas kamikaze mission had also nose dived into the dirt and as he hadn't done his morning yoga as recommended, his foot was unable to sustain a 180˚ back twist and broke. BP

1st Stuart Lovell.........Suzuki CCM
2nd Steve Lane..........Suzuki CCM
3rd Jason Ramsden...Rotax
4th Ben Part.............Rotax CCM
5th Drogo Michie.....Vertimatti
6th Jamie Croyden...XR600 Honda
7th Billy Bull............?
8th Adam Waller......?

VRX400 for sale - SOLD!

Drogo's having to sell his beloved Honda in an effort to raise dough for a Co-Built race bike. The bike's in London. Here's the blurb...GI

Honda VRX 400 Roadster for Sale:

The finest VRX in the UK, starts first time, every time, whether sunny or buried in the Arctic tundra…..
Let the truth be know, I’m famously mechanically dim, so happily for you, all work has been done by proper Gentleman of the motorcycle /fabrication world. What I am good at is being a pedantic, quality obsessed art director swine, and therefore the standard of finish is near faultless from top to bottom…

So what did I go and do:

Import new custom front mudguard, seat and rear end from SB Japan (£500.00 alone), have frame chopped and fabricated to fit.
Rip off the breathless stock air filter, fabricate new housing and fit a K&N, toss the stock pipes and drop in a pair of Super trapps ( another £400 + spent on the Trapps). Have the whole thing balanced, rejetted and dyno’d.
Throw away the soggy stock rear shocks and replace with Hagons, raising the back end a little.
Re-build and re-spring the front folks, having them polished while I was at it.
Have had new aluminium side panels made, polished and lacquered (still have stock black ones).
Repaint tank, and paint headlight shell.
Sits on Alloy 17” rims front and back, Metzeler Marathons fitted, back is nearly brand new.
Parts readily available from Honda UK or third parties like Wemoto.
New bars, grips, levers and I’ll stop now because I’m boring you….
£3000. SOLD!

UP DATE:
I borrowed this bike for a couple of days when last up in London. It's fun full stop. Hacking across town in danger of losing your life to U-turning cabbies or slippery manhole covers, not looking like just another prat on a off-the-peg Sportster, it ticks the boxes. It's not 1000cc, it's not pedigree, it's not dangerously fast. "What the fak is it mate?" is the usual question asked. It's fun. BP

RCD-TEC

I think these RCD rearsets are the best looking in the world. Made in Derby, England by a nice fella called Mark, not in China. They're on the want list. G

Sammy wins Lima!

We're big fans of Sammy Halbert and it was great to hear he won on the cushion half-mile at Lima last night. This means he's won short track and half-mile this year. Hope he gets a mile win soon.
Brad Baker scored another great result, fourth, on the Lloyd Brothers Ducati.
Sammy Halbert. On it. Look how much of the loose dirt is spat on the wheel rims.
#95 is JD Beach on one of four Kawasakis to make the main. Chad Chose is #49, on the only Suzuki to make the night's final.
Pro singles first corner melee.
JR Schnabel on the Werner Springsteen ER6. Came 15th in the main. Read about this bike in Sideburn 7.
No one ever asked why we called the film Drogo made for us 'Rooster'. Perhaps you all knew. If you didn't, look behind the back tyres. They're rooster tails.
Great shot of an earlier qualifying heat.
Ditto. Photos all from AMA Pro Racing.

Guido and Sue, pt1

In the first of an occasional feature, we meet Guido and Sue. In fact, we first bumped into this pair in March last year. Poor old Guido, Sue is clearly hot to trot, but he just keeps missing the point. It's a sobering reminder to all us petrol heads.
As culled from 'Motorcycles. Maintain Your Own Machine' by top journalists Guido Bettiol and Vic Willoughby, with artwork by George Domenech. MP

Hartford Half-Mile by The Fast & Dirty

2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Hartford 1/2 Mile from TheFastandDirty.com on Vimeo.

Another great video from the Fast & Dirty. Check out the glowing discs... G

The Black Rider

Don't know where this shot came from, but one of my bike building gurus, Steve Elliott, sent it to me. Z1300s, or any six-cylinder bike for that matter, never did it for me, but this shot is great. Early Simpson Rx1 (I think), black slacks and he's even carrying off the tassled jacket with some panache. And those Adidas. I think they're Bambas. Never been re-released. Between the Kick and the Samba in the three-stripe family. Solid rubber soul, so never quite as glamorous as the Samba. G

Valley Violence!

The Daily Mail is predicting trouble in the valleys tomorrow...
Hey Ben,
Thought I'd better warn you, The Bastard saw your blog about it being uglier than a crack fox and it's out for revenge...
See you in Wales! ;)
Jamie #29Well my friend, let me tell you I will probably be sleeping in my car again (my urine will be carefully bottled for you to sample), and will wake up angry. No amount of yoga will prepare you for the knots I am going to tie you in.
BP #67

Flat track yoga

There's a lot of flat track racing going on this weekend (including the two-day meeting in Ammanford, Wales). Novices, if you haven't started your flat track yoga yet, now's the time. Side lunges are crucial. Gpaddock pilates

Help with the day job, please...

I need some help with my day job. Does anyone know of, or own, a good CB750 cafe racer or custom IN THE UK that I can include in a feature in a top magazine? It doesn't have to be a show-winner though it can be, but it can't be a dog either.
It has to be a CB750, no other model.
Leave or comment or email, please. GI

Dirt Bike Rider

Flat track props from Sutty, in this months ('july') DBR, including a special interview with CoBuilt, and another with yours truly. BP

New Co-Built Website

Our friends Co-Built have updated their website.

Go check it out at Co-built.net.

Doesn't Geoff's new race bike look fantastic? G

Mule XS650

UPDATE: My brain's gone. I'd already posted those shots (below) from my Mule file. I meant to post these (above). I'm not going to apologise for posting Mule bikes though.

ABOVE: Ralph's Mule XS dry build. Digging the 125 and 400 tanks. Spoilt for choice.

BELOW:Another incredible bike from Mule's stable. Nice twin pipes, wonderful stance (on 18s) and now, I'm pretty sure, he's having his own frames made for XS650s because he was tired of modifying the stock one.

Mule - we salute you. G

NEW Sideburn Full Lock T-shirt

Stencil artwork designed by Antonio Merinero. Screenprinted (not stencilled) on an Army Green Gildan Ultra Cotton T-shirt (that we've been using and wearing for years now and haven't shrunk. Just follow the instructions).

Sizes S-XL.
£16 plus postage.
Front and back screenprint. Ben will have a few at Amman. If you want to reserve one. Otherwise, get yours at the Sideburn Shop. G