Sideburn 35 OUT NOW

Sideburn 35 is out now.

COVER: Steph Bolam on the Rebels Alliance SR500 Rough Diamond 

BIKES: Rebels Alliance SR500 Rough Diamond; Lloyd Brothers AFT Ducati 821 Twin; Fuller Moto Ducati Pro Street Tracker; Royal Enfield Interceptor 650; Sur Les Chapeaux de Roues Honda CRF450; Durex Suzuki GSX-R750: Harley Sportster 1200 Hooligan racer; Newbold Yamaha XS650 dirt bike: Honda XR75 mini flat tracker; Bultaco Astro; River Rat C and J Kawasaki 650 AFT Twin 

PEOPLE: Brandon Robinson; Kevin Atherton; Wilbur Skipp; Joy Lewis 

INTERVIEW: Brandon Robinson 

HOW TO: Spanner like a pro with Brent Armbruster 

EVENTS: Bultaco Astro Cup, Atlanta; Swank Rally, Terminal 1, Italy 

ADVENTURE: In South Africa with Motosafari 

PAGES: 116

Just £6 plus post. Order from Sideburn.bigcartel.com

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This issue is also available in digital form for £2.50. Go to Sideburn Digital ISSUU

 

Flat Out Friday: The Bikes

I flew out to Flat Out Friday in Milwaukee, earlier this month. The race was debuted on the Friday before the Mama Tried Custom show in February this year. A crowd of 7000 turned up to the inaugural event making it bigger than many AMA Pro National races. The organisers were buoyed by the success and decided to organise another race, in October, not tied into the show.

It was a risk, but there was a massive entry, hometown company Harley-Davidson partnered the event and livestreamed it online, through their facebook, with Dirt Quake racer Chris Wiggins and US mover/shaker Leticia Cline anchoring the very professional looking coverage.

With no show in town, the crowd was down on the Mama Tried weekend, but there was still a strong 3000 or so locals, which is nearly double what the US Superprestigio attracted in Las Vegas 11 months before.

The track was a tight syrup track, concrete with sticky, sugary syrup from Dr Pepper sprayed and left to go dry. It was just big enough for good racing even on heavyweight bikes.

Above is one of the organisers bikes, Scott from Fuel Cafe's Harley WL45, hopped up by JRs Cycle Products. It lacked some ground clearance on the tight track and he went down in a shower of sparks. He wasn't the only one to crash due to decking out.

There was a huge field of hooligans, the regular Californians came out en masse, but were joined by plenty of mid-westerners. The Noise Cycles team had three riders.

While The Speed Merchant team brought from out from So Cal.

This fella, one of the Fealy family, rode his Trackmaster twin so hard to win the vintage class. It was a joy to watch.

There was a strong and eclectic brakeless class, with a bunch of Aermacchi Harleys battling with older heavier WL45s and Ducati bevel singles.

 This old boy on a BSA single looked the business, and raced even though he had trouble walking!

 One of a couple of neat Bevel singles. This one is brakeless and rigid. 

 So is this one!

There was a boonie bike class that was great entertainment. Not all of them looked this
Heath-Robinson.

One of five or six mint Astros that entered. 

Thanks to the Mikes at Harley-Davidson and Scott and Beth for all the hospitality.

Wisconsin really loves flat track. G

Carl Fogarty coming to Dirt Quake

This absolute legend is coming to Dirt Quake as a guest of main sponsor, Bikesure.

I remember watching this race live. He was highsided to the moon and still won the day's second race.

It's going to be the best ever Dirt Quake and it's on 15-16 July at the Adrian Flux Arena.
Advance tickets, with the chance to win a Mutt Motorcycles custom 125 street tracker, are still available from http://adrianfluxarena.co.uk/dirtquake-5-ticket-sales/

DTRA Hooligans, Peterborough

The DTRA launched its Hooligan class at last weekend's MCN Festival, Peterborough and it was a blast. The series is sponsored by Harley-Davidson, Roland Sands Designs, Co-Built and Sideburn. The grid was healthy for race one, and a large festival crowd loved the action. Here are the runners and riders.

The rules are 750cc or bigger, multi cylinder, stock frame, no front brake.  That meant Brink's gorgeous 1940s Harley WL45 was in the mix.
All the bikes were road bikes, the scene hasn't developed to US standards were most hooligan bikes only ever see the track, so most riders removed front brake levers or calipers, leaving discs or drums fitted.

The DTRA has two fellas called Ross and each is a boss. This is Ross Sharp from the Bike Shed in London and his mean Cagiva Navigator. We have to feature this soon.

James from Hard Luck Tattoo and his Sportster.

Jaz (?) and another Sportster. Alloys taped up to stop arms going through them.

It wasn't all V-twins. DTRA regular Paul Harrison rode his 750 Bonnie.

This is the Sideburn Sportster, decked out with RSD, Speed Merchant, Motone and Biltwell parts. I'd only ridden it in a car park before the first race. The weight of the thing made me nervous, but I was happy with how it lookedand how it went. Read about it in the next Sideburn.

Co-Built Geoff, Pierre-Alexandre Treust and me ready for the first heat race. Don't know how I ended up with number 1!

The big MCN Festival crowd lapped up the action. Geoff won this heat race on a borrowed £12,000 Scrambler FT Pro, then, to be a crowd-pleaser, did a big powerslide on the slowdown lap, highsided and broke his wrist. He raced on though, and marshalled all the next day. Legend.

Paul Harrison leading, me in second, Geoff high and wide!

 Jon on his wife's Scrambler.

 Milo on a Sportster and Pierre on an enormous BMW GS. 

 The Harley Hooligans.

 These heavyweights have so much traction off the start.

Ross was close to unbeatable. He cleared off at the front in the final leaving me, Geoff and Paul to battle for the podium places. 

Brink and his 45. 

 Colour-coordinated Co-Built Geoff. 

 I nicked third place on the last corner, when Paul and Geoff were caught up with a lapped rider. I'd done the same in a heat race, so I knew to go around the outside this time. I nearly got second on the line and had a great time, so much more fun than I thought it would be. UK hotshot, Ollie Brindley handed out the awards.

The next Hooligan race is at the Hell's Race, Belgium, then on the Friday night of Dirt Quake. G

Photos: GI and Ian Roxburgh/Ian Osborne/DTRA

Ducati Scrambler Pro Flat Track

 

 

The biggest and most important show in motorcycling, EICMA, is going on in Milan this week. Ducati have got in early, with an Apple-style product launch on stage in a theatre setting.

They launched a 400cc V-twin Scrambler, called the Sixty2, plus Diavel and Multistrada derivatives and this, the Scrambler Pro Flat Track. Following the mould of their own Monster and, notably, the Triumph Bonneville, the Italians have rolled out a slightly tarted-up Scrambler to bolster the range at the minimum cost. 

The 803cc Pro Flat Track is very similar to the Full Throttle, one of the three Scramblers the company launched in 2014 to great success. It has the same Termignoni end cans, short front mudguard, 10-spoke alloys. In fact, only the following details differ...

Sidepanels (that don't look very flat track)

Headlight fairing (ditto)

Paint colour

Seat cover

Grips (I know, I'm scraping the barrel here...)

Photos: Ducati

They had Ducati legend, and flat track racer, Troy Bayliss ride it on stage. I like the Scrambler a lot, especially the styling of the Urban Enduro, but as a purely styling exercise, this has missed the target. Lloyd Brothers and Ducati did a great job of making their race bike look related to a Ducati Scrambler, but when the parent company have tried to reflect dirt track cool back on the street bike, something's going missing. 

It's so difficult to make road bikes look as cool as flat track race bikes, because their beauty is in their brutal minimalism. Homologated road bikes can look brutal and act deranged (180bhp, 190mph road bikes for £14,000), but it's hard to make 2015 nakeds look minimal and tick all the EU's boxes. And really, the Pro Flat Track has a good name, but it looks bugger-all like a street tracker.

The wheels are the wrong size and the rear's too far. The seat's wrong. The number boards are neither one thing, not the other. 

Still, God loves a trier. 

If you want to read about the gorgeous race bike that inspired the road bike, buy Sideburn 22 and read my story from Bayliss's most recent AMA flat track race, the 2015 Sacramento Mile. G

Motorcycle Cities - Hamburg

We have a few copies of this gorgeous, radical bookazine out of Belgium.
The editor visits a city, for the first issue it's Hamburg, Germany - and explores on his 1989 Ducati 750 Sport.
A4 format, luxurious print, with English and French text.
Limited to just 300 copies. Very, very collectable.

£9 plus post from sideburn.bigcartel.com

Johnny Lewis DTRA Day

The UK dirt track scene continues to go from strength to strength. First with Short Track UK, now with the DTRA, the UK amateur race series has hosted some of the best and most exciting racers. Chris Carr (twice), Sammy Halbert, Brandon Robinson, David Aldana, Kevin Schwantz (plus UK stars Neil Hodgson, Guy Martin, Steve Plater)...

Joining that list this year is Ducati Scrambler team rider, national number 10, Johnny Lewis. DTRA members will be coached by Johnny, on an informal basis, then he'll be the host of the annual prize-giving and do a Q and A, answering questions from the audience. These are just some of the benefits of being involved in a small club, with big ideas, like the DTRA. Thanks to all this year's sponsors for supporting the DTRA.

This is what DTRA big cheese Anthony says...

DTRA and Sideburn Magazine have arranged for National #10 Johnny Lewis to attend an end of season Practice and prize presentation on Saturday 10th October. 

The practice day will be open to club members who pre register by filling in the form below. (No Form = No Ride) 
Johnny Lewis practice day

The cost is £40 per rider payable in cash on the day. (includes access to the presentation) Riding is 10.30 until 3.30pm. 

The DTRA presentation will take place at 7pm with Awards for all classes down to fifth place. (full championship results will be published later this week) 
There will also be a Q and A with Johnny. Entry to the presentation will be £5 (Riders Free)

Deus Bike Build-Off Public Vote

Back in May I was invited out to the Deus Bike Build-Off in Milan, Italy, and asked to be one of the judges. You can see the earlier posts here (Deus Milano Bike Build-Off).

Now the public vote is open to choose the Global People's Vote, and it reminded me to post these photos of some of the finalists.

The builder of this Monster 750 street tracker got the stance dead right, I reckon. It might be a little long, but I could see someone having fun against the Harley Sportsters in the Hooligan class on something like this. 

 Another Ducati street tracker mash-up.

 Dagger Cycles neat SRX600.

Judges looking studious. Clockwise from front left, Raffaele Paolucci (Sideburn contributor, great photographer, shot Sideburn 11 cover); Vincent from Wheels and Waves (who shot one of Sideburn 12's two covers); Paola Furlan (web journalist); Roberto Ungaro (editor of Riders magazine); me!; Fabric Roux (editor, found of French magazine Moto Heroes).

 2 Right Hands' Yamaha XS

 CZ Chopper.

Euro dirt track hero, Jacopo Monti. He's in Sideburn 21 riding the KTM 690 Duke he build for his friend. His little Motobi Motoretta minibike was converted to fuel in frame. The 'tank' was a leather rucksack that Jacopo made himself, It unclips from the bike.

 Honda Domi scrambler.

K Model BMW was neat, but I cut off the bottom to show the setting. Deus Milan is in a courtyard, with residential apartments looking down on it. If you get chance, make sure you go to this great shop. Elsewhere on the same street is Officine Mermaid's two shops and cafe and a couple of other interesting moto-themed shops.
I also like how European bike show crowds, especially Italian ones, look quite like no other crowds on earth.

 Brand new RnineT modified by a local BMW garage, with a bunch of nice touches.

 The MC was Virgin radio's  DJ Ringo. He's bike mad and a big deal in Italy.

Go to the Deus Bike Build Off Global People's Choice page to vote for your favourite. G