Sideburn 28: Out Now

The 28th issue, and the first of 2017, our tenth year of existence, is a solid chocolate bunny of moto goodness. This is a Harley heavy issue, but it's not one-dimensional. There are stories of riding across the USA on a 1915 board track racer; a blueprint and history of the '52 KR750; the highest of high-tech XG750s built by Suicide Machine Co in Long Beach, Ca; we have a bunch of racing V-twins from 1930s VLs to the hottest hooligans; a great survivor WR and an exclusive interview with the head of Harley-Davidson's design studio about the XG750R factory racer.

Buy SIDEBURN 28

Sure, that's a lot of Harleys, but on top of that SIDEBURN 28 has poetry; desert survival gear; Icon 1000's mean Dethgrip Kawasaki Vulcan (yes, really); the wonderful photography of Götz Göppert; a shop profile of See See's new Reno outpost; Dave 'B-Movie' Bevan's reappraisal of The Northville Cemetery Massacre; our regular Ask Guy Martin page, and last, but never least, Wayne Rainey's Trophy Queen.

Buy SIDEBURN 28

Remember, the Sideburn blog is now at www.sideburnmagazine.com

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

Flat Out Friday, Milwaukee

I'm over in Milwaukee for Flat Out Friday and to work on some special stories for a forthcoming Sideburn. Tonight's racing is going to be livestreamed on Harley-Davidson's facebook.

There are 450s, juniors, minibikes and a huge field of hooligans that have travelled from as far away as New Jersey and Southern California.

The race is promoted by the folks who put on the Mama Tried Show in the same city. The track is a small and tight indoor concrete oval sprayed with Dr Pepper Syrup. The race is being held at the Panther Arena in downtown, Milwaukee with tickets still available

The next Flat Out Friday will coincide with the Mama Tried Show on 17-19 February. G