FEVHOTS Japan

 Japanese flat track went very quiet after the Fields Days guys stopped promoting events, but FEVHOTS - Far East Vintage Hot Shoe Series - are now promoting grassroots racing. Here are some photos from their most recent event.
Photos: Jun Saitoh

Asterisk Honda FTR223

This tidy tiddler from Asterisk in Japan, is proudly sporting some Sideburn stickers.
We featured their KX500 in Sideburn 13 and their Harley XG750 coming up in the next issue. G

STOLEN

Please can you circulate the news that my beloved street tracker Honda FTR 223 that I imported from Japan and built up over the last 11 years was stolen outside my studio in Brixton, London, this afternoon.
Registration: PL03 AYD
Please report it to the police [or leave a note here on the SB blog]. Has SuperTrapp exhaust on the right side, the big air filter is not attached properly at the moment, sticky left grip. Death Spray Custom sticker on the front Forks.
Someone managed to start it and ride away. Clever f***er.....
Kind Regards Mark

Ace Cafe Flat Track Day, 2013

Well, our luck had to run out. After two years of me thinking that it's stupid to stand in a London car park in the middle of February and, instead, being pleasantly surprised by unseasonably good weather, this year's Ace Cafe Flat Track Day was baltic.

Still, lots of brave souls turned up during the day. Fellow UK flat tracker, Paul H turned up on his lovely and just finished BSA 650.

Another racer turned up on a road bike. Guy S rode his R100 Dirt Quake 1 survivor. It was wearing a new Co-Built two-into-one pipe.

Guy's other-half Karina rode her new Suzuki Big Boy Grasstracker (yes, really), grey import. Great looking little bike. 

A few Van-Vans and this tidy FTR223 turned up.

Dael rode up on his Bonneville, The Co-Built Panther. It attracted a lot of attention.

It was a complete ArtistFest. Maxwell Paternoster arrived sporting a newly-painted ancient Bell covered with white and yellow goldleaf, innit.

Martin Squires, premier league sketcher, came and was brave enough to work out in the cold.
In the foreground, Graham brought the Z-Sled that was on the blog last week.

Nico Ornamental Conifer came along, defrosted enough to touch-up the Sideburn van's bonnet, then cleared off. David Death Spray was there, early doors too. People came and went all day, so it never looked very busy.

Phil D is so popular now he has to sign autographs when all he wants to do is go home.

This lovely pair of Champion Yams were on show. I fell in love with the two-stroke.

Plenty of more modern race bikes came and went too, like this Co-Built Rotax, that is on its second owner (after the first emigrated) and spruced for a new season.

Big thanks to everyone who came, the Ace, our fellow displayers - Co-Built, the Dirt Track Racers Association and the Redmax Speedshop. Even bigger thanks to Max, Jack and DJ Dave for getting up at the of dawn to stand around in the cold all day, playing records and selling stuff. We'll do it in summer next time... G

Honda Yakuza

From Wesley in Hong Kong. This is his 2006 Honda FTR

'This bike is really loud, really fun and really fast. I like to think of it as a bmx with an engine.'

Read more at his blog Abandoned Pier

Rye House Practice

- This Sat 6th. Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire EN11 0EH
'If everyone turns up that has said YES then there'll be about 20!
I'm gonna run 3 sessions so it should be a good day. But that does mean there are only 6 places left for Short track/Thunderbikes and 4 places left for mini/juniors...'
Mike

If you are thinking of turning up to ride but have Not yet been in communication with Mike then please do so:
mike @ station165 .co.uk or phone 07890 301587
as there are now only limited palces left. Novices Welcome. BP

Honda FTR223 for sale in England

It's a late model with the single front downtube, not the duplex frame. Thanks to Tom for the tip-off. On eBay

Exhibition Continues...

Dai doesn't do things by halves, and after an excellent lunch at the revamped Viet Hoa on Kingsland Road, I was happy to piggy-back the sturdy Welshman to the Shoreditch High Street shop PRESENT. Started by two former founders of Duffer of St George, it stocks a colourful array of menswear, including Eley Kishimoto - and now Sideburn magazine. The second Red Max'd SR500 is parked in the window. Neil casually offered me a coffee while I was browsing and I congratulated him on the fancy foam motif; not realizing it had been made by the current Swedish national champion barista Mattias Björkland. Together with Gwilym Davies the current world champion barista, they have set up a titanic coffee machine on the shop counter. My already pleasant weekend received extra spring in it's heel. BP

UPDATE:
Steve Red Max is a better photographer than me so I robbed this off his Flickr album

Small World contd.

There are over 98,000 motorbikes in London. A friend Cres, riding one of them, a 1962 Honda CB72 (an ex-HRC bike that had been raced on the Isle of Man back in the day) gets flagged down by a total stranger riding a Honda FTR 233 street tracker. Over the Supertrapp din the mystery rider shouts "Do you know Sideburn?!" - "???!!!" thinks Cres. He bears absolutely no reference to Sideburn by way of stickers or other, and his bike bears no resemblance to anything even vaguely flat track. "Err Yes, Ben is a mate of mine" he continues. And thats it, the light turns green and they race off to their respective destinations. Later Cres phones another good friend 'Dirty Whitewalls' Morales and recounts the strange meeting. But he had already heard the story from mystery rider who was in fact a friend - Mark Eley, of Eleykishimoto fame, who was on his way to a meeting with Gary and me - not that we had ever met him before. Mark had contacted us via the SideBlog and we invited him to join us in an Exmouth Market cafe where we were having a sort of open AGM brainstorming with various collaborators swinging by; including Stephen White and Death Spray Custom. I was to spend the evening at 'Whitewalls' place, and the coincidences just rolled on. It was like being in a Jim Jarmusch movie but more fun... BP

Spotted in Tokyo

Ben Wilson has sent a couple of mails lately, one is a bunch of shot he took in Tokyo, the other is a request someone might be able to help with.

'HELLO BOYS HOPE YOU'RE WELL.
JUST A QUICK ONE, MY LODGER IS MAKING A BRAT STYLE BIKE BASED ON AN XS400. IT HAS 18 MAG WHEEL UP FRONT AND A 16 AT THE REAR. HE WANTS A 18 FOR THE REAR WHICH YOU CAN GET OFF OF AN SR500. JUST WOUNDERED IF YOU MIGHT KNOW OF ANYONE WHO MIGHT HAVE ONE. WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING AND CAN'T SEEM TO FIND I SUSPECT YOUR MAG HAS INSPIRED A FEW PEOPLE TO PINCH THEM FOR THER XS650 Etc.
ANY NEWS WOULD BE GOOD NEWS
NICE ONE, BEN'

Mugen Power

From Carby at Deus Ex Machina. Cheers!

You boys ever heard of the Honda MFT250? Neither had I until Taka and myself went to visit AAA in outer Tokes last year.
He has 6 of them salted away, 2 brand new!
Amazing guy, one of the SR Godfathers (there are 7 of them)
He wanted 5k each for the new ones , should have snapped one up as the Yen was weak at the time. I had commited to the Bratstyle so I'd spent my pocket money....I guess they are museum objects anyhoo.
Nutty! Mugen power!
fotos of the treasure trove...

Sideburn advises you to visit here, right NOW!
Carby gallery 1
Carby gallery 2

Little Japanese street bikes

Found by Raf at the always reliable Street Tracker blogspot