The Containment Conflicts

Another mind-boggling short film from Icon.
I rode the Ural in this film, The Quartermaster, when I was over in Portland. It was surprisingly good. G

Hipster Halloween

Just 50p will get you 14 tracks of twisted twang, ghoulish guitar, screaming sax and... yeah, you get it. It's another of Jonny Trunk's bargain offers and worth the piddling price just for The Graveyard by The Phantom Five. Lovers of Sideburn's resident DJ Sir Johnny Alpha will recognise some Killer Diller faves. Available in .wav or .mp3 and it's all stuff released between 1958 and 1966. Grab it while it's still warm direct from Trunk Records. MP

Sideburn Umlaut Zip Hooded Sweat

Just in time for it getting chilly, we pulled our fingers out to make a new sweatshirt.
This is a top quality item, thick, nice long sleeves, modern cut, high-neck to keep the drafts out. Not a Primark piece of crap.
It's also made in a fair trade kind of way, if that's important to you.
Screenprinted in England.

Sizes Small to XXL
(Small in blue only, XXL in black and charcoal. M, L and XL are available in all colours).

£30 plus postage.

Go to the Sideburn webshop to get yours.

Do You Comb Your Fringe?

Tomorrow night (Thursday 31st Oct), BBC Four is repeating its documentary Full Throttle: The Glory Days of British Motorbikes. (the above on-line viewing link might not work outside the UK?). The usual faff about Mods versus Rockers but an interesting piece on Lawrence of Arabia, and some coiffure tips on Vespa seat covers. BP

See See Flat Track Racing

The good folk at See See Motorcycles in Portland have organised a couple of indoor flat track races at Salem, Oregon. Cheap to watch, cheap to race.
Apparently it's indoor clay, pretty hard, not cushiony.
More details at See See Motorcycles. G

Ellaspede, Brisbane

Ellaspede in Brisbane are the latest shop to stock Sideburn. Go there for custom builds, servicing, parts and the tastiest of imported motorcycle magazines.
If you'd like to sign up or enquire about being a stockist, just email us via dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com

Big Book of Biker Flicks

The excellent Big Book of Biker Flicks is back in stock in the Sideburn shop.
They were slightly damaged in the post from the author so we've knocked the price down from £25 to £20. These are signed by the author, John Wooley. The only damage is a slight impact on the spine. It wouldn't stop me buying it.
These are the last we're getting because the stocks have run out. G

Knoen Blog

The Sideburn blog has been running since 2008 and is well over 4000 posts old. There were some good moto blogs before we started, but not tons. Then there were thousands, but recently the gadflies have flown over to facebook or instagram. We, through loyalty to and love of the blog format, have stuck with blogger, serving up at least one post every single day. So, we still love blogs and this one is a beauty, though it is very rarely updated. 

http://knoen.blogspot.co.uk - subtitled Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Time Wasted - is created by Martin P, a Swedish Sideburn reader living and working in Japan. He's employed as a designer for a major motorcycle company. He serves up event reports from classic and modern road racing and vintage scrambles. Go check it out.

And leave us a comment telling us, or reminding us, about really good blogs, please. G 

And I'm pretty sure Luigi is Martin P, the man behind the blog. Could it get any better?

Martin also designed this Bikenstein for Dirt Quake II. 

Triumph Promo

Featuring the #91 Bonneville Performance twin of Mikey Martin. Read all about this bike in Sideburn 11.

UPDATE: BP posted this film, so I didn't have chance to write about it, so I'm leaving it as an update.
I love that they include the section of the Bonneville streamliner both crashing and setting on fire. Breaking records and racing isn't fairytale, camp fire horseshit. If breaking speed records was easy no one would give damn. Great video, very brave for a very, very conservative company and not a beard in sight! G (bearded) I

Yodel

Thanks to Katy B for reminding me of this gem.
Best bits.
1. The first bars.
2. When you realise he's going to yodel the whole song.
3. The electric guitar solo.
4. The dancing girls.
5. The crowd going as wild as when The Beatles landed at JFK airport (coincidentally in the same year as this recording was made, 1964. Give me Karl Denver over the Liverpudlians every day of the week). G

BluTack-Ometer

Every half decent tool kit should include a Vernier gauge, but just as useful is a BluTack-ometer.
The steering wheel on my (otherwise) trusty Citroën Berlingo became loose, but I've been too busy to sort it. Just prior to picking up my mother-in-law from the airport this morning seemed like a good time. Modern vehicles are so over designed, even the simplest of service tasks can be very complicated. Add the possibility of an exploding airbag into the equation and things could become quite comedical. But not more so than a self-detaching a steering wheel mid-corner. A quick Google informed me of slightly more professional people who had broken noses on the job, so my woe-ometer was already red lining before I started.

Step 1) disconnect battery. 2) wait twenty minutes (apparently air bags can hold a charge for several minutes). 3) insert screwdriver into small hole (three of) on reverse of steering wheel housing to flex back sprung wire retaining clip of airbag.

(you will not see the view shown in above photo unless you are a dashboard mite with a head-torch (I took this photo after the event for clarity). 4) un-clip right side electrical collector block. 5) gently prise out airbag unit.

6) tighten central bolt.

- But you don't know what size it is?
So take a lump of BluTac. Kneed it until soft and then press firmly into the Torx bolt centre to make a male impression.

Walk to you local tool shop for an appraisal - careful not to sqidge your small sculpture en route .
I needed a T50 socket. With a dribble of Loctite 243 on the thread of the removed bolt (which was frighteningly only finger-tight), I then torqued it back up on the splines.
Mother-in-law was not impressed with my dirty dungarees. BP

The World's Wildest Street Tracker

Thanks to Ed for pointing us to this Harley XR750 street tracker US eBay. Below is what the seller says (unedited).
Race engine. Race tyres. Bump start only.
None of you are idiots, but I'll add that this sale is nothing to do with us and we don't know the owner or the bike personally.

2007 XR-750. this is a fresh build, street legal, retired race bike. I had this dream to own an xr that was street legal. if you know xr's, they are hard to find period, then add the street legal part and they are just about impossible. I found this bike partially completed. It has a new C&J frame that is unpainted, just oiled to prevent rust. the body work is all carbon fiber, including the exhaust guard. I was told that the body work was a spare set from Coolbeths Black Beauty. these parts were back-doored out of the factory teams stash on accident. it could mean that this is the second of only two, but I have no way of knowing honestly. they are all unpainted and look great just as they are. the wheels are PM dirt track 19" that are super light. most of the components on the frame are sourced from A&A racing. adjustable triple clamps, handlebar clamps, knock off hub parts, brake brackets, etc. The brakes are both Brembos and work really well. huge 270mm rear rotor because I just used the rotor that would usually be only used. the front rotor is a 320mm with an adapter to the PM hub. front forks are CBR 600 that have been worked over and are adjustable. I have another fork lower leg and wheel hub adapter because I was thinking of adding another brake rotor, but one is more than enough. rear shock is a Penske. seat is a corbin. 

Now for the motor. it was a fresh motor from Rich King, former national #80. he was a factory harley rider with Bill Werner tuning. both guys together built this motor with intentions to race. I was told it was first ran at Springfield for qualifying and started using oil so it was sidelined for another motor for the race. a post race tear down found that it had a valve guide slip which caused the oil loss. it was repaired and left unused. I spoke with King after I bought the bike and he confirmed the story. the story is that it has only 25 laps or so on it. rumored to make over 100hp, but I have no dyno proof. notice that the serial number is 001. both cases match and have no repairs. I was able to talk to Harley race dept for info on the vin. they also confirmed that the motor was a Rich King motor. two Sudco prepped carbs, PVL dual ignition, 2 plug heads ported by s&s, titanium valves, Darcy intakes, BWR wet clutch, stainless stepped exhaust, supertrapp mufflers. always runs on race gas, and has been tuned by a well known super tuner Brian Billings in my hometown. 

I have installed a battery to run the lights, it has no charging system, so its a total loss electrical. its a small dry cell battery and holds more than enough of a charge to run several tanks of fuel before needing a re-charge. there is a separate switch to turn the lights on and off. I have not added any tabs or mounts that would not come back off in case this bike was used to race again. small single mirror. 

The bike is a blast to ride. if you like huge power, and lots of wheelies, this is the bike for you. gets awesome mileage (not really). I have never parked next to another one while cruising town. it can be bumped started unless you are old and can not run. in that case always ride with a buddy that can. I have a remote starter that works really well that comes with it. I have maybe 300 miles on it total, but it has no speedometer/odometer. just take my word for it.

It's Not What You Ride, It's How You Ride It (21)

We were sent a link to this great video by Adrien from All You Need Is Ride. It was made by Portland Ducati specialist MotoCorsa

Hi Gary, I find my bike for Dirt Quake III, Adrien

Information Graphics

Penthouse Pet, Stephanie McLean, Barry Sheene's wife getting the message across in a nice clear font that can be read at 135mph. BP

The Speed Merchant at Hell on Wheels

The Speed Merchant took their trick Sportster along The Exponent along to watch the Hell On Wheels hillclimb and ended up competing in it. 

Check out the hovering flag lady. G

One-Off Wednesday

One-off Wednesday is Sideburn's weekly offering to clear the decks for new stock, and is offered to Sideburn blog readers only.

This week, it's the last remaining T-shirt we made for the first Dirt Quake in 2012 (see the video below).
Grey and yellow print on a black Gildan Ultra Cotton shirt.
Adi Gilbert designed lettering.
Printed in England.
SMALL only.

No returns on One-off Wednesday items.

Go to the Sideburn shop to buy it.

Sideburn 4: New Old Stock

I have just returned from visiting Mick P, Sideburn's sub editor, in Rome. He remembered he had a small pile of Sideburn 4 from when he was distributing that issue to stores in Italy. I brought them back and they're on sale in the shop.

We sold out of this issue a long time ago and these just turned up. There is no premium price on them, we're just selling them.

We will sell only one SIDEBURN #4 per person. You can order this mag with anything else, but all multiple orders of SB4 will be refunded and not fulfilled.

Go to the Sideburn shop to order. G

Exclusive Spy Shots!

'MCN's covert scoop photographer, posing as a cleaning lady, gained access to Co-Built's offices and snapped this from the hip while bent over a urinal. Supposedly the new Sideburn project bike in collaboration with artist Stevie Gee. The usual suspects seem to have been involved in its assembly. Due to the heavy disguise of all the bodywork, all we can really say for sure is that is has knobblies. It's too low for a crosser so it's most likely a street scrambler. We believe the sissy bar is just a ruse and wont feature on the final production bike.'