Sideburn: 2011 Report

In the last 12 months Sideburn has:

• Published three issues of the magazine. The first time we've done three in one year.
• Helped bring David Aldana over to the UK to race and organised a night for him to tell stories.
• Made four different free stickers to send out with orders (weatherproof Soul, Don't Limp, Zombie and Margo).
• Had a great London street party at the Reilly Rocket.
• Raced at every UK flat track race (either me or Ben, sometimes both of us).
• Built a Royal Enfield project bike (with big thanks to Royal Enfield UK and CFM).
• Made a few T-shirts, a scarf, patch, art print and a sweatshirt.
• Signed up some new dealers (but we'd like more).
• Given Dave Skooter Farm the official title of Entertainments Officer. His first big job was Rollerburn and it couldn't have been much better. Well done Dave.
• Travelled to Italy to have a stand at the Motor Bike Expo, Verona. Back there in a few weeks.
• Had a 7in record pressed.
• Found out who our friends are.
• Posted 763 blogs.
• Commissioned three short films (Rooster, Rollerburn preview, Rollerburn: The Documentary).
• Bought a few different books, zines, patches and accessories from around the world we really like to sell through the webshop.
• Dipped a toe in Facebook.
• Had a special edition Deus x Sideburn T-shirt made by Deus Ex Machina.
• Met a bunch of great people and some exciting companies.
• Worked with fantastic writers, photographers, artists and illustrators.

We know times are hard for some people, but if you like what we do, support it when you can (at the Sideburn shop). We're not a big business, we're a tiny kitchen table operation that likes to do things properly or not do them at all. We have day jobs and families and do this in our spare time. It's not easy, but not much worthwhile is. And we're not complaining.

Rough plans for 2012:

• Make three more issues of Sideburn.
• Have a stand at Motor Bike Expo, Verona
• Have a party with Mr Martini and some of our Italian friends
• Promote a race with Short Track UK.
• Get the Royal Enfield wired up properly.
• Have a stand at the Flat Track day at the Ace Cafe (Feb 26)
• More racing.
• More stickers, T-shirts and stuff.
• Go to Finland.
• Find more books and stuff we love to sell in the webshop.

Have fun in 2012 and keep us informed with what you're up to.

Thanks for all your support.

Gary, Ben, Mick and Dave

2012 UK Short Track Dates

Some of these dates are still to be confirmed. Sideburn is planning to co-promote one race. If it comes off we'll add a few twists to make that one round even more exciting.

There are a couple of TBCs in there. There will also be at least one International race and perhaps one or two more non-championship rounds. Get along and see a race. As I understand it, the club race will run in the afternoon - so juniors, novices, short track and experts, then the Thunderbikes and GNC Short Track will follow on after. So about eight hours of racing to choose from.

Leicester Speedway Stadium, Sunday 1st April,
King's Lynn, Saturday 21st April
Coventry Brandon Stadium, TBC, Saturday 19th May,
Moto GP Silverstone, TBC, Saturday 16th June
Buxton Hi Edge Speedway, Sunday 22nd July
Scunthorpe Speedway Stadium, Sunday 19th August
Rye House Speedway, Sunday 16th September

For more details go to Short Track UK.

Dro-Built

Drogo's Co-Built racer is coming along...
Read the Co-built story in Sideburn 9. G

Mexican Graphics

Adding to the selection of heavy weight hard-backs we've already stocked from Korero is this cracker Mexican Graphics. 256 pages of mustachioed skeletons, wrestling he-men and carnivorous pin-ups. Apart from the obvious Mexican influences, the breadth of styles from colourful computer based hard edge, to freer painterly artists, makes this book a proper five course feast. The 40 contributing artists, including Dr Lakra, Dr Alderete, Sergio Mora, Palehorse and Pooch, come from Mexico and beyond. BP

Rumour?

Sideburn at Rossi's Ranch

Rossi's new dirt track training area has been nicknamed the Ranch (a nod to Kenny's Roberts' place). This - Marco Belli's sweatshirt (a one-off in maroon) - is the closest we've been to it. So far... G

Vermont is for lovers

From Scott in Vermont

Hey guys,
hope you're enjoying the holidays over there. My dad (Frank, #39) and I went out for a quick rip around the backyard on my sister's Honda on Xmas day, and happened to get a pic of me wearing the Sideburn scarf I'd just unwrapped. Merry xmas indeed, it's my new favorite scarf.
Cheers, and happy new year!

Scott Rounds #12,

ps. I just got a chance to read your latest issue cover to cover. Thanks for the terrific piece on Hugh and Sixth St Racing
. Mike wrote a great article and it's cool to see our scene laid out on your pages.

Shaggy Dog/Monkey Story

So this is my (most recent) object of desire. Unearthed on the Japanese Daikoube blog with no decipherable info. So I sent out questionnaires to those in the know...
Ben Wilson revealed "Looks like Suzuki RV90/125 wheels, tyres, forks, swingarm & maybe frame with unknown Honda lump [me now thinks is an 1990s XR100] & Yamaha tank. You could use a TW125 as a donor instead."
Adrian Apart in Buenos-Aires was foxed and added this Yamaha BW200 bog bike to the debate:But then trumped with: "I just bought a new version of an RV yesterday. It's made by Mondial under license from Suzuki - its an exact replica of the 90 but with a 125 engine - they're bringing out a 250 version next summer. it's an Italian company based in Argentina, manufactured in China and assembled in Buenos Aires and probably going to be sent by me to the UK as i think it'd sell well there - do you ?
Small world here - Jezza and i have been hanging out a lot with Alejo Pichot - he's the Triumph guy you were in touch with.Jezza choppin' me bars down (without adult supervision) for easier traffic work. xA"BP

Dainese magazine

I did a couple of stories for Dainese's new magazine, Speed, with Sam Christmas. That's Guy Martin and Rossi on the cover, with a skier or two.

See bits of it at Dainese. It's available through some of their dealers. G

Gold Star Flat Tracker

From regular correspondent, Nick . Nick sent me an article about Al Gunter. Fascinating bloke, Dick Mann's mentor.

Bob Birdsall's Gold Star flat tracker, with an Al Gunter tuned engine. It's a DB rather than a later DBD. The inlet port has been moved to a more central position, it has a billet crank and Carillo rod also it has some unusual roller cam followers, all the best to you
Nick

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story

Telstar is an excellent film about the story of talented fruitcake and music production pioneer Joe Meek. Characters like Screaming Lord Sutch, Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix's drummer), The Beatles, Gene Vincent and Billy Fury are all intertwined. There are a bunch of British TV regulars, plus Kevin Spacey. It's the directorial debut of Nick Moran, the star of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and it was financed by, I think, Simon Jordan, who was the chairman of Crystal Palace. Now you can't get more British than that. Well worth hunting out. G

M&M's BSA Scrambler

A lovely job from one of our favourites - M&M's.

M&M's Motorcycle Blog. G

Things I love about this photo

The huge bubble on Gary Nixon's Kawasaki.

The cigarette in Gary's oily fingers.

Miss New Hampshire's incredible Vivienne Westwood-esque tweed, plus Kawasaki green rollneck combo.

The tear-offs left on the helmet, pointing to the likelihood Nixon led most of the race.

Nixon's Bell helmet.

The disembodied hand handing over the bubbly.

The fella on the right's wonderful mix of pork pie hat, wraparounds and pink shirt with fierce collars.

Those trophies.

The fact three of the four people in shot are redheads.

The flowery wreath.

The glimpse of the Triumph tank.

The strange look on Gary's face. What is he thinking of? G

Photo found at Speed Junkies, but don't know where he found it.

Merry Christmas

The same card as last year.

Thanks again to Tim Beaumont Designs for the artwork.

Sonic Seb c'est tres cool

He rode from Paris to Rollerburn on this BMW. Read about him and his XS650 in Sideburn 7. Check his blog Ze Last Chance Garage du 7-8.

Photos by Ami Sioux. G

Deathbox Update

From Thomas in Wisconsin

About a year ago you put up a picture of my ratty yamaha (89 FZR600) in all black. Made a little more progress this year. This was/is originally inspired by your stories of the Mablethorpe sand races.
The tyres (tires in the US :)) are Pirelli Scorpions. They have held up really well. Probably not sticky enough for track day, but great 50/50 rubber none the less.
Our blog is Killin It
Thanks again and take care!
Thomas

For Sale: Pinball By Merinero

The mighty Antonio Merinero made one of his incredible 3D pinball artworks to show at Rollerburn. The art is now for sale. It's up for €1000. The artwork is about 4ft high (1.3m).

If you're interested get in touch with the artist through his blog ByBike-AntonioMerinero.

See more of Antonio's pinball art here. G

Antonio and Guy Martin at Rollerburn.

Totti Gran Ferro

A radical masterpiece from Totti Motori that I saw at EICMA. I've got to be honest and say I can't place where the motor is from. Check out the radical fork design.

Looking forward to meeting up with Roberto and Cinzia at the Verona Show. G

UPDATE:- I would have said XT too Anthony - but not when you see the otherside. It's something slightly more modern. BP - well spotted Griff

Hammarhead Jack Pine

This Hammarhead Jack Pine's been around a while. And so has this video, but if you haven't seen it it's worth watching. Cycle World's Mark Cernicky rides like a mother-lover! G

Trailbreaker

In my next life I want to live up an inaccessible goat track. Even going to the shops will be a 2WD motortractor adventure. Hell might even get to shoot summat. BPUPDATE:just like Motorcycho Norm uses to till his maize.

He's wearing a long-gone Sideburn shirt, but I think we have four or five similar ones left from Rollerburn. Check them out here.

JvB Urban Motors Brit Bob

Jens com Brauck sent us this cracker and the press release below. We're big fans of JvB. Read all about him in Sideburn 8.

Sideburn's blog regularly brings the best bikes in the world to you first, then other websites pick up on them. No problem, we're not even bothered they don't namecheck us, but if you like what our blog does, please click a link on the side to buy something, we know you'll like that too. This blog only started to promote the magazine. We don't sell ads on the blog (but we do push our own stuff), we try keep it simple and inspiring. No mag, no blog.

Over to you, JvB...

There is a paradox at the centre of the British character that is hard to explain - it's the gentleman and the hooligan, it's country houses and edgy pop music, and sometimes it takes a foreigner to express it. Jens vom Brauck the Cologne based designer, working with the Berlin bike builders Urban Motor, has taken a polite, old-fashioned Triumph Thruxton and given it some street attitude. The high bars, low slim seat, sleek side-panels and neatly integrated short mudguard have changed the proportions completely – it looks like it's been working-out. The engine and tank look bigger and more muscular and the rest is slimmed down and taut. You sit low and relaxed, but the bars (Jens calls them chopped down ape-hangers) bring your fists up in front of your face. Start the engine and even at tick-over the the two-into-one high-up exhaust has a hint of menace that you don't expect from a Thruxton motor. It's daring you to pump up the volume. Peter Dannenberg, the boss of Urban Motor, is really pleased with the result, “The Triumph is a great basis When you strip it down, underneath you find an authentic motorbike in it's purest form.”
All the details are as clean and elegant as you'd expect from JvB, but there's a toughness there and this mixture of rough and refined is as British as Daniel Craig.
The front has been lightened up with the designer's trademark headlight and there's an old-school mini speedo from Motogadget. But it's at the back that the biggest changes have been made, “I put a lot of work into sharpening up the rear,” says Jens, “on Hinckley twins the seats are wide, and long enough for 3 rugby players - I've changed everything.” The seat, side-panels and mudguards are hand-made by the designer.
“As soon as the Brit Bob was finished I wanted to try it out, and we went down to the river and hooned around a bit, took a few photos. The handling's sorted. We've got the weight down to about 200kg, the centre of gravity is low and it drifts like a good'un.”
You can already order a Brit Bob and there will soon be kits and parts for Triumph twins. JvB-Moto and Urban Motor are also making plans for new projects.

Technical data: JvB URBAN MOTOR Brit Bob
Basis: Triumph Thruxton Details: stainless steel exhaust system, seat, rear frame, handlebar, instrument motogadget tiny, side covers, headlight, fender, footrests, wheels, bellows (gaiters)
Weight: < 200 kg
Suspension: Original fork, spring preload, suspension struts YSS, spring preload, height adjustable
Tyres: Bridgestone BT45 Front: 100/ 90-18 Rear: 150/ 70-17
Price: from 15.000,- €

Urban Motor
JvB-Moto