Race Hauler for Sale

I wouldn't normally put this on the blog, but I know there will be a lot of UK racers looking for a good van and this Transit belongs to Sideburn's good mate, Carl CFM (who did the lion's share of building both Sideburn's project bikes - the FT500 and Royal Enfield).

Carl is selling his Transit because he has a new van.

115K miles
Heavy-duty spec with rear-wheel drive
2.4 Turbo Diesel
1 previous owner
£2500

Carl owns a garage and MoT station, so this van has been properly looked after.

Call Carl at CFM in Sleaford, Lincolnshire on 01529 304793 in work hours if you want it. G

Stevie Gee at Deus Harajuku in Japan!

The original Tequila Mockingbird and Sideburn collaborator, Stevie Gee is over in Japan right now, doing his thing. The show opens tomorrow. Details below...

Stevie Gee art exhibition SUPERDREAM launch party at #DeusExMachinaHarajuku from Thursday May 21 at 8:00PM. A first time visit to Japan by the UK artist known for his memorable Deus artwork. 

イギリスで活躍するDeusアーティスト、スティービー・ジーがDeus原宿店でのエキシビジョンのために初来日。 初日の5/21（木）にはローンチパーティも開催。

To commemorate the London-born artist's first Japanese show we spent a couple of days digging through the Sideburn vaults to find any remnants of the Sideburn 15 Stevie Gee cover that had crawled into a crevice in a vain attempt to save itself. We found a handful.
The cover by shot by Sam Christmas and features the Kawasaki Z200 built by Sideburn and CFM, and painted by Stevie Gee. The story is a beauty and the back cover of this memorable issue features fellow UK artist Essy May, who is now, officially, ripping up trees on the London art scene.
Move quickly to get yours at sideburn.bigcartel.com. G

More Mablethorpe

My old mate Col drove 100 miles down from Scarborough to watch the beach race at Mablethorpe and took these photos. The next race is this Sunday. Racing from about 11. 

Don't worry, there aren't any quads...

Carl CFM dominates the 250 road bike class on this TDR250

Neil's Suzuki from the 200 road bike class.

George Hopper and his mini-grasstracker

The variety of bikes is a big draw. Some people go low, dirt track style chassis, below, while others keep long suspension. Above is a CCM Rotax from the Unlimited road bike class. Below is a Honda XL250 (I think) from the 250 Road bike class.

Pete Pearson's Yamaha 600. He absolutely flies on this thing.

Handsome grasstracker. 

Before the racing started there was a memorial service for a lady who had been helping the club, marshalling for years. All the racers lined up on the beach as the local lifeboat went out to, I think, scatter her ashes and shoot a flare into the air.

Me in the middle. Starts are getting better. I'm getting slightly closer to the leaders. I had some good battles with the two bikes either side. There are about 12 bikes in our class.
The ambulance, is on the startline. We start in a line, off the track and have a drag race to the first corner. You can see the churned up track bottom corner. Pete Pearson doesn't even touch that bit of the track, his line is so high and flat-out.

Carl spitting a blue genie off the start. On his way to another heat win.

Mark's Bonneville. He's mustard off the start. This bike prefers a waterlogged beach that doesn't rut up and stays smoother.

Another oddball bike in the Unlimited Road Bike class, a grey import Yamaha SRX. 

For more info on times and race dates go to sand-race.co.uk. 

Thanks for the photos and emergency spannering Col. G

CFM - Sleaford

Our friends at CFM have moved into a purpose-built garage on the outskirts of Sleaford.
If you're in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire... and looking for a motorcycle MoT station that understands custom bikes, specials and one-offs, they're the people for you.
They're not going to pass a bike that is dangerous, but they know the MoT book inside out and know what you don't need (front mudguard, lights etc...)
CFM - 01529 304793

Mablethorpe Sunday Morning

I've had a couple of attempts at racing at Mablethorpe this season without much luck. Water in the electrics, crap in the petrol tap. Simple stuff, but it's hard to test a sand racer except at the beach, and once you're there it's not easy to work on the bikes.
Anyway, I'll have another go this Sunday. Practice from 10am. Free to spectate.
If anyone is going along and wants last-minute Xmas presents for themselves or others; the new mag, back issues; hoodies; hats; whatever, leave a comment or email us at dirt @ sideburnmagazine.com, saying what you want and what size (if relevant) and I'll take it along. G

Honda 250s are very popular. Neil Tuxworth, former Honda BSB, WEC and WSB team manager and a top road racer in his own time, won on the beach with the Honda 250 for years so (nearly) everyone else followed suit in the 250 class.

One who didn't was Carl of our good friends CFM. He races, and wins, on a Yamaha TDR250 two-stroke. He's the reigning champion.

There are some horrors on the beach, but this is the neatest bike. It arrived spotless, like a show bike, with a titanium Akrapovic MotoGP style exhaust mega. Beach race clothing varies from full leathers to full MX gear via Rukka waterproofs, speedway Kevlars and this, British desert camp and a Simpson RX.

 The road bike class, that I race in, is home to oddballs, including this Yamaha SRX600.

Me, basking in the glow of actually finishing a race. Honda SLR650, bought for £500 or so, originally built by CFM. Bungee cord is just to hold the speedway-style swinging foot peg out of the way of the kickstart for starting.
Tuned 650 motor, no brakes.
If you're coming, buy me a cuppa, white, one sugar please. I'll need it.

Doug's Triumph

Desert sled style, built by CFM, Lincolnshire. G

For Sale: Sideburn FT500

We've run out of room at Sideburn's HQ, so we're doing what we never thought we would, and putting up one of our crown jewels for sale.

This 1983 Honda FT500 was our first project bike and was on the cover of Sideburn 6 (and also on Bike Exif). The only fly in the ointment when we built it was a worn out top-end, but that has now been totally replaced and is as good as new (thanks to Gavin B for the parts).

Our Death Spray Custom-painted FT500 has been ridden in France and England, but its never been our daily rider. It's also competed in Dirt Quake and has a slight chip, that's been repaired, on the tank as a reminder.

The Honda is a great city bike and would easily cope with longer journeys if you're with a group of bikes with similar power. Cheap insurance too.

SPECIFICATION

ENGINE: Full top-end rebuild by CFM; NOS Honda starter motor; Supertrapp end can; K&N Filter; Renthal sprockets

CHASSIS: Modified FT500 frame with raised seat rails; Gilera Sport 50 fuel tank; Norton Commando racer style seat unit; Yamaha TDR250 forks; one-off EBC Pro-Lite discs; Yamaha R6 four-piston front brake caliper; EBC pads; Honda CRF450 front brake master cylinder; Hagon Nitro rear shocks; fat bars with Renthal bar clamps;  Goodridge brake hose; seat cover by Steve at Lucky7; standard wheels with Dunlop K180 tyres; bear trap-style foot pegs

PAINT: Death Spray Custom

PRICE: £4300

The bike will be sold with tax and 12 months MoT.
We can arrange delivery to some areas of Europe.

Photos: Paul Bryant

Dominator by CFM

Latest customer build by our friends at CFM is this Dominator. It came to CFM with the sub-frame already set at that angle. The neat wheels had already been laced too. G

Sideburn Royal Enfield on Bike Exif

The Sideburn Royal Enfield (from the cover of SB10) is on Bike Exif.
This bike was built by CFM in Lincolnshire, with help from Co-Built, Steve Adams, Rupert Paul, Joshua Crasto, Jason Cursley, Lowbrow Customs and Ornamental Conifer and wouldn't have happened without Watsonian Squire.

Stunning studio photos by Paul Bryant. If you want your bike photographing and looking this good, get in touch with him. paul@paulbryantphotography.com
Studio shoots start at £200.
He's based near Stamford, in Lincolnshire. G

Mablethorpe Beach Races, 2014 Report

Sunday mornings are normally taken up watching my boy play football, but this week's was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, so we trucked up to Mablethorpe for our annual beach racing pilgrimage. There were plenty of neat bikes, like this Honda XL250 (I think) below.

This DT125 was a favourite too.

Camera-shy Carl of CFM (who has built all Sideburn's project bikes) on his all-conquering TDR250. He won his class again yesterday. He'll be 250 road bike champ this season.

 Family affair.

The grasstracker class is impressive.

The 200 road bike class. There are a bunch of road bike classes up to the mutants in the unlimited class. 

There are classes for everything on the beach including MX bikes. I liked this older gen Kawasaki. Some of the MX fellas get a bit carried away with it all, though. There was a 20-man brawl in the pits just before the end of the meeting (not involving anyone in these photos). Knobheads. 

Unlimited road bike sand racers are like no other race bike in the UK. Built for nothing and raced on the cheap. It's as close as I've seen to punk rock motorcycle racing anywhere in the world. They really don't give a f***.

 

Neil Tuxworth, boss of Honda Racing UK, raced on the beach for decades and his neat Honda XL250 spawned a bunch of replicas and racers inspired by his bike, including these.

Young Tom was flying on his Africa Twin, built by CFM. Full gas, full lock.

Our mate Russ was back from Afghanistan and straight into another potentially dangerous sandy situation. This one a little colder.

Russ wheelieing. Carl clearing off.

 Mablethorpe. Where the sea meets the sky.