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Sideburn Hooded Sweats - New Colours in Stock

 

The very popular, heavyweight zip hoodie has been reprinted with new colours and a new logo detail in the hood.


£30 plus post from sideburn.bigcartel.com

High neck, zip-front hooded sweat.
10oz weight
80% cotton 20% poly.

White print on Black sweatshirt.
Orange on navy Blue sweathshirt.
99% Dirt print inside hood.

S-XL

Free sticker with every order.

Screenprinted in England on an 'ethical' Fair Wear Foundation-approved garment.

Ronin Variants

The final editions of the 47 Ronin all have special one-off paintjobs. Some are still for sale, with prices starting at $45,000.

Sideburn's editor (me, Gary Inman) was the first journalist to visit the company's impressive Denver headquarters. We featured the bike and company in Sideburn 19. Our resident poet race it at Pikes Peak and wrote about the experience in Sideburn 22. G

Sideburn x Essy May Print

Flat track on the rings of Saturn by London artist Essy May for Sideburn.
What bikes would spacemen be riding except Astros?
Beautiful quality Indigo on heavyweight paper.

A3 size print measures 29.7 x 42.0cm (11.69 x 16.53in)

Limited to 40 (and Ben and I are having one each, so that's 38). All signed by the artist.

Posted in cardboard mailing tube with free stickers.

Get one from sideburn.bigcartel.com

LA Triptych - Part 3 California Moto Culture

Our friends at Influx (the online (and occasionally on paper magazine of UK motor insurance specialists Adrian Flux), are creating some original, high quality content.
Ben and some of our friends turn up in this film that was shot in Perris, at an evening practice Deus Venice organised. It's one of three short films Influx harvested in California. All three start with dreadlocked, mid-Atlantic, Porsche collector, Magnus Walker, and he features in the second of the three films (but I've heard most of what he says in the film that was out a few years ago).
I also wrote about Bud Ekins and Cali-FOMO for their recent California-themed content ejaculation.
Go to Influx and have a snoop around. G

BMW Kneeler

This silver ingot was one of the many nutty bikes at the Westonzoyland sprint I went to a few weeks back. Held on a former WWII airfield, organised by the NSA. A great event. Young lasses and very, very old blokes alike, beating the crap out of equally modern and ancient machinery. Unlike the roped-off Pendine sands vintage hot rod sprint, the laid back set up in Somerset allows for an eyebrow contorting sense of speed. And the pits are very much open so you are welcome to chat with the crazies who are daring enough to keep this sport alive. BP

This R100/7 (I think?) was designed as a hill-climber so the third wheel steers too, to enable quicker cornering on mountain circuits. A basic linkage runs over the chair.

ASCII

My brain is a gooey blob. I do have maths O' Level, but numbers are definitely not my thing. I still use my fingers as an abacus. I'm easily impressed by those who do have the capacity for numerical juggling. A nephew of mine is a mathematical whizz, he works in the city (London money market) making forecast equations, whatever that means. When he takes his seven year-old kid for long boring trips in the car, they don't play 'I Spy' he sets him algebra challenges. Sounds like cruelty to me. But I'm already bearing off my off-topic post....

ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Computers can only understand numbers, so an ASCII code is the numerical representation of a character such as 'a' or '@'.

If you were born before the invention of the internet, you may recollect it as a way in which to make simple drawings with numbers a millennia before the invention of Instagram and swooping pictures of cats or motorcycles.
I love the sub basic nature of this panzer humping a truck. Who wants to show how clever they are by leaving a 'drawing' of a motorcycle in the message panel? BP

Sideburn 5 BACK IN STOCK

We have found a few copies that we sidelined because the clear, matt laminate we pay to have on covers or the special purple foil logo we chose for this issue might be VERY slightly damaged during packing at the printers, but these have been sold out a long time, so if you want one it's worth it.
No returns.
Sold at the ORIGINAL cover price of £4.50 (plus postage)

100 quality A5 pages including:
Shayna Texter, Nichole Cheza
C and J Rotax
Dave Aldana
Jake Johnson
Harley WR racer
Roland Sands, Drake McElroy, Thor Drake: The Smoking Seagulls and their Super Singles
Cay's BSA B40
Graziano Rossi and the Zaeta DT Mk1
GSX-Rs on ice
Chopper Dave's street tracker
Alan Bellham's Speedway Service shop
Fay Taylour (amazing story of lady speedway rider and nazi sympathiser)
The first appearance of Dimitri and his Parisian TR6C street tracker
Don Emde's Trophy Queen
And more....

Get it at sideburn.bigcartel.com

Offers like this and limited edition found artefacts appear on the blog first, so remember to check back on a daily basis (or more often). G

Slow Burn by Icon 1000

Read about this hard as nails BMW R90/6 and my visit to Icon 1000's HQ in Sideburn 22.

Icon 1000 are making great looking kit that Ben and I have used on trips all over the world. The geezer in this video wears the new Forestall jacket, Elsinore HP boots (now available in black) and the well-loved Variant helmet. I've spoken to a few people with those Elsinore boots, including Ben, and they all rave about them.

I wonder if my own trip to the Isle of Man in 2007, with Captain Simon and two European 125s, was any inspiration for this shoot? It's fair to say the Captain and I don't look as luscious as the lady captain of Icon's RIB, but we were in the middle of the Irish Sea and not taking any risks, opting for hi-viz buoyancy suits. G

Photo: Fly Tipping/ Fly Photos

J&M Honda CRF450

This is a beautiful example of the kind of bike that shone brightly for a handful of years, then nearly disappeared. The liquid-cooled framers followed the air-cooled classics like Wood Rotaxes, TT500s and others that are big on the classic and sportsman scene, as the short tracker of choice for the pros.
But when the AMA outlawed framers in favour of DTX-style bikes (450s with stock frames and altered stock suspension) in 2008/09, framer 450s were almost made extinct overnight. Almost, but not quite. There are races and classes the framers can compete in, but you have to be committed to build one when a DTX bike is relatively easy and cheap to build in comparison. Fortunately, for fans of these single-minded beasts, Rich Delak is committed.

This is Rich's J&M 450, just finished and not even raced yet. Thanks to Mike Bigalke, who was a big part of the inspiring Rancho Deluxe Olympiad scene that we featured in the current issue, Sideburn 22.

Below is the spec as supplied by the owner/builder.

 

MOTOR - 2014 HONDA CRF450R, 57.3 HP, 37.1 FT. LBS TORQUE
FRAME - J and M
TRIPLE CLAMPS – EME (JEFF ELLISON)
SUSPENSION/WHEELS - DURELLE RACING (PENSKE REAR SHOCK, R6 FORKS, BLACK SUN RIM, MAXXIS TIRES)
GAS TANK - FULL CIRCLE V-TWIN (STOCK FUEL PUMP INTEGRATED INTO CUSTOM ALUMINUM TANK)
SEAT - SADDLEMEN
CONTROLS/RADIATOR OVERFLOW - MOTION PRO
BRAKES - A and A RACING DISC, BREMBO CALIPER/MASTER CYLINDER
CHAIN – RENTHAL
TANK GRAPHICS – RICH DELAK/SCOTT BIGALKE DESIGNED, NICK JACKSON AND BLACK DIAMOND MX PRINTED
NUMBER PLATES – TIM HANDRICH (PRO PLATES)
TAIL SECTION – GOPHER GLASS
GRIPS - PROGRIP 788
CARBON FIBER HEAD COVER/CLUTCH COVER - JOLLY RACING, ITALY
EXHAUST – BILL BUILT (BILL BARRETT)
INTAKE – K and N
CARBON FIBER FORK COVERS - GRAND PRIX SPEEDWORKS (JAKE LATIMER)
BRAKE LINES – RUSSELL RENEGADE (SOME GUY ENTERPRISES)
DYNO TUNED - HI-PER SPORTS (MIKE OSOWSKI) > > LEVERS – ASV > > BARS – VORTEX 1-1/8" J MURPH

You could buy it on eBay for £24.99...

Or you could go to the Sideburn shop and get it for £15 (plus post). The choice is yours. G

Nuts to Butts 1

This has done the rounds, but it's good (even if I'm too much of a leftie to like the term 'riding bitch' when used non-ironically. I'm so right on I even had to point that out.). G

Rare Bultaco Astro for Sale in UK

Our mate Gareth is selling this. Again, we don't know anything about the condition or history, we're just passing the details on.

Brought over from Colorado approximately 3 years ago where it was raced regularly we are told. A good friend over in CO had agreed to buy the contents of a garage from the mother of a guy who had been killed in a road bike crash. This was his race bike and one of 16 other dirtbikes in the garage. I intended to race it here after giving up supermoto and having taken part in DQ1. That's now not going to happen unfortunately so it's time to move it on even though I love looking at it parked in the garage.

I have spoken to Hugh's Bultaco in the USA and they have seen this bike in photos and reckon it's pretty special. 1972, model 106 - The first of the Astros. The swing arm and yokes (Nortex) are one off race items I believe. 
The wheel hubs are Barnes and the rims are original Akront, Borani rims (19" front, 18"rear) the rear having knock off sprocket and disc carrier. Original Pirelli tyres ( worth a bit on their own) in good nick. 
The LHS petcock leaks where it meets the fibreglass and will probably be OK with some tank sealant. I have some POR15 which comes with the bike. 
 The Hurst Airheart rear brake set up works from the bars but could do with new seals and I have spare brand new pads for it. 
I have run it and it selects all gears and the clutch is fine. It needs rejetting though as it's very rich. Could do with new chain and has a mahoosive! rear sprocket. 
 The forks need an overhaul at present with little oil inside. Fork seals readily available for these forks. 
The seat is a later style seat and the frame rails have been altered to accommodate. 
Electronic ignition with a twin spark CDI. 
I have a manual and some other bits for it. I also have the import paperwork (pre NOVA) 
 It's a lovely bike and needs racing. £2,950 collection only. Cheshire. 
Gareth 07516 978059

ATTENTION: BULTACO FANS
We have Bultaco blueprints in the Sideburn shop.

And/or subscribe to Sideburn and get a free Sideburn Bultaco Astro line drawing T-shirt with the first of your 8 issues.  Follow the link above. You can choose from the latest issue or the next, but don't hesitate because we're running low on this shirt and will be changing the offer soon.

Badges? We got some steenking badges!

We have a big choice of great new and favourite badges, patches and stickers in our webshop.
Go to sideburn.bigcartel.com and click Patches, badges, stickers in the categories box.

UPDATE
Free Sideburn sticker goodie bag to the first person to leave a comment telling me which band and which song sampled the end of this line from Treasure of the Sierra Madre ON THEIR 1985 song. I'll need your mailing address, so you can email it dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com G

UPDATE 2
Leigh Clark got it first on email. Big Audio Dynamite - Medicine Show. If Flaming Stars samples the line (like I said in the question), not just quotes, then Nick Thornton gets a prize too for driving a bus through my badly worded loophole. Seems the Minutemen quote it too, but not sample.

I loved BAD. I grew sideburns as a 15-year-old and have had them ever since, because of Mick Jones in BAD. And I wore BAD baseball caps at a time no one, and I mean NO ONE, wore baseball caps in Leeds (city of 1 million people in northern England). I remember thinking I looked so strange going out in it. Times have changed.

Sideburn in the Himalayas

It's been a month since I returned from the Himalayas and I haven't mentioned it once on the blog, which even strikes me as weird. The main reason was I didn't want to post any photos that Ben ended up using in Sideburn 23, that we're working on right now. That article is laid out now, so I can share a few of my own snaps.

This Himalayan adventure was the second Sideburn-endorsed fly-ride road trip. The first was our desert and mountain trip to Morocco that Ben took (with the excellent MotoAventures) back in the Spring. Read about it in Sideburn 21. We're running another Morocco trip in October 2016, and all 12 places sold out in six days to riders from Australia, USA, UK and Kuwait. If there are people who missed out on this trip we could run another in October 2016, with a special guest Sideburn representative, so get in touch.

And we're also almost definitely doing another Himalayan trip to the Pangi Valley next September. So if you fancy that, email us for details. The date is likely to be September 10 - 18. Same route as this year's, same Helmet Stories crew.

The idea for doing these trips is simply Motorcycle Fun Times. To bring a group of like-minded people together (like-minded because they all read Sideburn - or that was the idea, but the word spreads and we've had a few people on the trips who didn't know anything about the magazine and were told about the trip by mates, which was unexpected but not a bad thing). It's also so we can work with and promote small companies we like.

For a tiny company Sideburn tries to do a lot - make and sell magazines and merch; organise Dirt Quakes and other events, videos; attend other people's events; pay artists, writers and photographers; sponsor races and now run trips. We are massively appreciative of everyone who supports us and makes all these things happen. Please keep doing it because no one's getting rich making niche magazines and we want to keep going.

Here's some more info about the Indian trip...

It's a long way down in the Pangi Valley. No barriers, dirt roads... Up ahead is Mark from the Jerkyls, the Australian dirt track club. I'd never met him before and now I love him like one of own eyes. That's what these trips can do. In turn, Mark enjoyed the trip so much he signed up for our 2016 Morocco as soon as it went on sale. He's bringing five other Jerkyls with him. It's going to be carnage.

Young Dan getting a move on at dusk to get the tents up before sunset.

We rode along valleys for days. It was hard at times, but never boring. 

A lot of the rest of the time was going up and down mountain passes. Look at this photo. Who wouldn't want to do this trip?

Four nights in a hotel, four nights free camping. One night the field the guides had used previously had been 'stolen' by another tour company, almost unbelievably. The guides spoke to the locals, and one of the guides jumped in a car with them and drove off. We hung around for half-an-hour or so, tired and wondering what was going to happen. Then the car reappeared and we rode 15 minutes up a mountain track, in a long conga line of Royal Enfields, until we came to this heli-pad, at 10,000ft. We camped around the side, gathered wood for a massive fire, washed in the stream running down the mountain side and had one of the wildest nights of the trip.

Motorcycle fun times! 

If our trips don't work with your schedule Helmet Stories run other trips in India.

MotoAventures run tours in Portugal, South Africa, Greece and Morocco on KTMs and BMW twins. Quote SB23 when booking to get a discount on any MotoAventures trip. G