Garrett's Bikes

The very first post on this blog was a photo of Garrett B's Aermacchi 250 in front of his garage door. I've forgotten how he found out about us, before the blog. Obviously, he'd bought the magazine or seen it somewhere, but he was, and still is, in Colorado, USA and Sideburn was, and still is, in Lincolnshire, England. It was an early example of the power of Sideburn.

We've kept in touch with Garrett over the years and he will always have a special place in our heart, so it seems right that the final proper post on this blog, for the foreseeable future, is of a couple of Garrett's current bikes in front of the same garage door. Above is his new Honda framer, a C&J big-bore XR600, dating from 1984-85, Garrett thinks.

Below is his tasty Sportster hooligan that he won the state series on. I don't think Garrett raced flat track when he first got in touch, but I know he used to race MX when he was a yoof. Now he and his kids race all the time, coming either first or second in their classes throughout the 2016 season.

So, that's it for this blog. It will stay here until Google turn off the lights, all 5673 posts, dating back to Garrett's Aermacchi in March 2008. But don't be sad, we still love blogs and will continue to regularly post on our new website, sideburnmagazine.com, and we will post bigger online only features in the STORIES section too. Fancy blogs, if you like.

Thanks for stopping by. Now go to sideburnmagazine.com.

Cheers
Gary Inman
Editor

Colby Superman

From Garrett (who, I always feel I must say has a special place in our heart, because his was the first bike we ever featured on the blog). He and his family have been racing out in Kansas. He says...

Cool ( a bit scary) sequence of my boy crashing in Colby, KS, USA. Nice view of his Sideburn sticker, though! Hope all’s well with you fellas! 

See the whole sequence at http://kerrgraphix.com/set/colby-superman/my-gallery/
Someone should make a gif out of it. G

Garrett Replies!

In response to the post below...

Aw man! I love that! Thank you! 

Honestly, Sideburn gets a huge amount of credit for getting my lazy old butt back into racing after a 25-year break from MX! Thanks so much for the inspiration and motivation. 

BTW, the ol' Aermacchi is coming out of retirement this summer... 

I'm digging getting my copies of Sideburn from Travis these days. Great excuse to get up to his shop. 

Heading to Waco, TX for a 1/2 mile this weekend. My first race back since a broken leg/torn ACL last spring


Always strap up your helmet, kids! G

Garrett B: A special place in our hearts

Found this photo of Garrett B over on Travis's 747 Rider blog.

Long time Sideburn blog readers might remember Garrett has a special place in our hearts, because his gorgeous Aermacchi was the subject of our very first blog back in March 2008 (we started the blog after the mag, how very old-fashioned, eh?).

Since then and now we have made 4928 posts. If you look on the sidebar on the right and scroll to the bottom you will see we have added a list of all the labels we semi-religously use to link posts from the SEVEN years of this blog. Only enter the tangled web if you have two hours to lose.

Garrett and his son and daughter all race on the Colorado flat tracks. In this photo Garrett is wearing the very first T-shirt design we made, the Dick shirt. G

UPDATE: Following our own label trail reminded me I'd already posted this photo. It works!

Kansas Half-Mile

Garrett B got in touch from the US. He has a special place in Sideburn world as his Aermacchi was the first ever blog post. Now he's bought an ex-Davey Durelle Honda CRF450 to race. He travelled from Colorado to Kansas with his boy to race. These are his photos and captions

Only one racing pic so far, me (#302) passing for 3rd at Colby.

Garrett and his lad, Joe, #17. Check out the front mudguard.

Chris was testing new tires.

Chris Carr rode both of these over the weekend. Nothing beats the sound and feeling of the twins barreling into turn 3!

Met a countryman of yours in Kansas! Alan Birtwhistle. He was FAST!!! This is Alan Birtwhistle’s Kansas ride. Alan was for sure very quiet! He made quite a splash over here though. Won the 250-450 AM class pretty easily. He even got some personal attention from Chris Carr during practice, and ran a 450 Pro race.

NOTE: Alan should be racing at Scunthorpe tomorrow.

Dennis Hoffman’s Astro 250. He could run with the 400s on the ½ mile. Impressive.

Tons of beautiful Triumphs!

Lined-up for rider intros Monday night. That’s me in the SB Dick Mann T, Birtwhistle to my right, my son Joe to the left.

That 44x Honda 250 was super-trick. #90 is Jim Henry. This was his 50th year racing in Stockton. He loaned me a set of leathers!
 
Here's a video where I get a lucky last corner pass on Travis Newbold (Pikes Peak Winner!!!! So cool) for 2nd in the final Vet 30+ race. [That is NOT lucky. You kept focussed and he made a mistake. Great pass. Big post coming on Travis soon]
Travis is fast becoming one of my racing heroes. That guy races whenever, however, and wherever he can! I'm unbelievably impressed with how he won Pikes Peak (with time to spare no less). I'm back at the old short track Saturday night. I got a nasty cold in Kansas, so I'm hoping to feel a bit better by then. Great weekend. I came home with a few trophies.

Dick Mann Spotting

Garrett, wearing Dick Mann, with his Aermacchi
Travis, 747, chasing down the leader.
This is from Travis, one of our favourite Sideburn friends, about Garrett, one of our favourite Sideburn friends...

Yo G.
How goes it? Hope all is mighty fine.
I met Garrett at the local races in Erie at IMI last weekend. Seen him on the Sideblog before and of course upon meeting him I could tell by his character and bike he is the real deal. (who else reads Sideburn?)
Good times at the track as usual. Much. Newbold 747

Here's the thing - Garrett is wearing one of Sideburn's mythical Dick shirts, the first we ever did. We always say we're not going to reprint any of our old designs, but I love that shirt (and lots of others, including Crazy Dave that sold out in a blink). It seems a bit daft not to reprint it. Or is that some sort of betrayal? Will owners of the original be miffed we reprinted? I haven't discussed this with Ben, just thinking out loud. G

Garrett Smokes (most of) them!

From Garrett in Colorado.

What's up GI?
If all goes well, I'll be taking a second shot at flat track this Saturday. Worked the bike over a bit: new Works shocks, Davey Durelle re-valved, shortened, and re-sprung forks, new plug, adjusted timing, and went to a larger rear sprocket.
Hope to get lapped by fewer people this time!
Garrett

I didn't post it in time, because he followed it up with...

No pics yet, but a couple youtubes:
1st heat:

Main:

I know my style sucks, but what can ya do?
And Barry of the Shawn Murray-tanked Sportster, winning a great battle in
Hooligans:

What the hell came second? An FZR600? Respect! G

Garrett's Debut

We told you Garret was going to race his Aermacchi in this post. Well. this is what he had to say.

My first flat track race is in the books! What a blast!
The vintage class was chock full of TT500s, as I expected, so I was for sure outgunned in that respect, plus the riders were dang good! My first heat, a fouled plug ended my race right off the starting line. There was a huge pile up in corner 2 that took out most of the group, so I guess it's good I missed that.
Now in the main I really learned a few things. Most importantly, is that my bike is NOT set up well for racing. It bounced and bucked and twisted, and was generally a huge handful to keep on any kind of line. Could not hook up at all. So I guess I'm going to have to talk to someone who knows suspension a lot better than I do, and spend a couple bucks on new shocks and a new rear tire. Probably go up a couple teeth on the rear sprocket so I can grab another gear and maybe keep myself from getting lapped!
Here's a video of my debacle. Dig that awesome start!
On the plus side, my friend Barry took 2nd in Hooligans on his Sportster (below)!
Anyway, thanks Sideburn and Jason for the inspiration. This 44 year-old is hooked!
Garrett

Full Circle

3 years and 26 days since our first SBlog post on Garrett's H-D Aermacchi SX250. He's just about to throw himself at racing proper. The inspiration turns full circle. BP

Ok man! I Finally got my back-issues of Sideburn, and to say I'm inspired would be an understatement! Most inspiring to me is Jason's story in #5. Awesome.
Season's less than 2 weeks away here. Can't wait.
-Garrett

UPDATE: Garrett has previously dipped his toe in the race pool with a bit of Hooligan class dirt track racing.

Dang fun: Hooligan class

From Garrett B in, I think, Colorado. Garrett is important to this blog because A. His bike was on the first ever post. B. He has a Mummies tattoo (and I love the Mummies). C. He has a neat Sporty street tracker. And D...

I FINALLY went racing this past Saturday! I rode in the "Hooligan" class for street legal bikes, on my sportster. There were 8 riders, and I got 2nd in the heat race and 3rd in the main.
I'm hooked! Plans are in the works for next season... I think I'll still run the Sportster in hooligans, but I'm converting the little Aermacchi to full-on race bike to run in the Vintage class. It's just a short track, so should be fine.
Dang FUN!

GI You raced in jeans?! Do you have to remove the front brake lever for that class?
GB: Jeans and VANS! Crazy or stupid I guess... I can really see how that hotshoe would be helpful! Almost kicked myself in the head. Next season will see some more protective gear... Brake stays on for Hooligans.
The guy who won the class was on a wild KZ750. He raced open pro later in the night. I stayed within a length of him in the heat race, but during the main he pulled away a bit, and I also got beat by a cb360. We lapped the field up to 5th. I got called a "sicko" by one of the riders, but there were a couple guys out there on choppers who I think were the real sickos.

GI: Did your buddy with the green Sporty race too?
Yeah, his name is Barry, he raced too. He's got that very cool Shawn Murray trackmaster tank.
It was his first time on a track of any kind, and he did very well considering he was on a 400-plus pound bike!

More Shawn Murray work

Garrett Brittenham will always have a special place in Sideburn's heart. His Aermacchi/Harley SX250 was on our very first blog post. Then when I started posting about The Mummies, he sent in a photo of his old Mummies tattoo. Then, when Ben got a chubby over Shawn Murray tanks, Garrett sent a photo of his friend's Sporty with its Murray work. And Garrett's Sporty is below.
Garrett, we love you.
GB's Rocky Mtn 59s blog. G

Mummies Tattoo

Just got this in from Garrett Brittenham. Garrett's beaufitful Harley Aermacchi was our very first post. He's only just come across the blog again.
'You guys are garage fans too? The Mummies are my favorite band. Even have them tattooed on my arm. I was going to go to Valencia, but funds didn't work out.'
Garrett B used to be in the Orangu-Tones.

Sideburn blog lives!

As if we didn't have enough to do we've decided to start a Sideburn blog. People are sending us good stuff all the time and we're up to no good ourselves most days. We can't save it all for the next issue, so we're going to feed stuff up here.

Like this bike. Sideburn reader Garrett B's 1976 Harley/ Aermacchi SX250.

Ring-ding! And nearly finished.