Influx: Alt.Bikers - notes from the new wave

Thinking man's automotive blog/web-thing, Influx is back after something of a hiatus.
They returned with a love letter to Ford's Dagneham plant and Ford Britain - getting Billy Bragg on board to write for them and star in a video.

Next up is 'Alt.Bikers - notes from the new wave'. They asked me to write a couple of pieces, one was about the mainstream 'co-optation of the alt. bike scene' (their phrase not mine). It's an insider's view, only lightly edited and barely dumbed down for the masses. That's why I like Influx so much.

The other piece I wrote for them is an interview with Bruce Brown, director of On Any Sunday.

There is also a feature on the Old Empire x ODFU Osprey by Influx head honcho, Mike Fordham, and a list of ten influential bike builders written by Bike Exif founder, Chris Hunter.

Heading up all this wordy stuff is Influx's own short and sweet video (above) shot at Dirt Quake III last year, featuring Sideburn's own entertainments officer, Dave Skooter Farm and other familiar faces.

Don't forget Dirt Quake IV is Friday-Saturday,  July 17-18.
Dirt Quake USA is Saturday-Sunday, June 20-21

You can read the articles at influx.co.uk, but here's a taster...

'For the first time since the British working class streetfighter scene of the mid-1990s – a sub-culture that spawned the definitive Triumph Speed Triple and every subsequent ‘hyper-naked’: Aprilia Tuono; KTM SuperDuke, Ducati Streetfighter… – it is motorcycle customisers, not solely racing or in-house design departments, that are leading development with their vitality. The crucial difference between the neo café racers and the streetfighters is the 21st century scene is clean-cut and affluent enough for boardroom inhabitants to relate to. There’s nothing illegal about the new scene. These people don’t look, or behave, like wrong ‘uns. They are ABC1s. Tasteful and urbane. The defining events do not take place outside a Midlands bike shop or on a wind-battered disused runway – but in hip, cultural magnets – Biarritz, Portland, East London’s Shoreditch.' G

Newbold's Motorbike Shop

Newbold's Motorbike Shop from Waylon Trostel on Vimeo.

Travis Newbold is an old friend of Sideburn. We first met up at the Las Vegas indoor short track back in 2010. I was there working for GQ Italy, Travis was doing what Travis does - racing on a shoestring, kickin' ass, taking names and sleeping in his van with his dog, Baja. He stuck out.

Anthony Co-Built liked what I told him about Travis, so he invited him over to the UK, saying 'You get yourself out here and we'll get you a bike to race and ride around on.' Travis did just that, raced short track with the UK series, went out to Holland to watch Anthony (Travis's permission to ride didn't come through), rode around on Doug's KTM, came to the Reilly Rocket Sideburn party and generally had a blast.

He's been back once more, for last year's Dirt Quake and Isle of Man TT. He is also Sideburn's poet, with a page in every issue since Sideburn 12.

Travis also opened his own bike shop, in the Wheat Ridge area of Denver, Colorado, with prize money from winning his class at the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb.

Recently, a local film student, Waylon Trostel, met Travis and said he'd like to make a film about him. This is the result. It wasn't commissioned by Travis, hence the somewhat at odds inclusion of the famous On Any Sunday clip, but it's still a nicely made film. It turns out Waylon didn't know On Any Sunday until Travis suggested he should watch it, and the student reacted the same way any sane person does the first time they see the film and wanted to tell everyone about it - hence the clip in this film.

It's well worth a watch.
Travis is a real hero.
See more about what Travis is up to at his blog 747 Rider.

Oh, and Newbold's Bike Shop stocks Sideburn. G

The Thrill Is On

Dave Skooter Farm has had this on DVD for years. We even showed it the Sideburn David Aldana Night back in 2011, but it has just appeared on YouTube.
This film, The Thrill Is On, was never properly released because, according to what David Aldana told us, the deal was he would get a cut of the profits from the makers if it ever sold over a certain amount. Once it got close to that amount it stopped being sold, so the filmmakers never had to pay the rider.
I bet they never realised, back in 1971-2, that YouTube would be invented and loads of flat track fans would see it and no one would get any money.
Anyway, enjoy it. Some great period footage of the season or two straight after On Any Sunday. G

The Making of On Any Sunday

1971 must-see (if you haven't 10 times already), seminal classic from surfing film maker Bruce Brown. SB#10 studies history. BP

Malcolm on it

As part of the day job, I've been researching a feature based around Steve McQueen (stop muttering at the back). Almost inevitably, Malcolm Smith comes up here and there but I'd never seen this pic of him before, except, I realised later, on the Troy Lee Designs helmet that was released a few years back, with artwork by Tom Fritz. Anyway, I just love the photo. He's on what I reckon is a 400 Cross and it's pinned. Mud flap on the front mudguard bent back, Smith's cheeks wind-rippled.

Smith was instrumental in getting Huskies imported to the States after testing one for motocross pioneer, promoter and subsequent Husqvarna importer Edison Dye. And Smith rode a 400 Cross in those closing beach sequences in On Any Sunday, but in this shot he's not messing about for the camera, he's got his race face on. If anyone knows who the photographer is, please shout. Loads more on the Husky, Malcolm and On Any Sunday at the excellent The Selvedge Yard, where I'm sure I first spotted this photo, but now I can't find it there. MP

Big Irons

Anybody got this record? BP

Catalina Race Results

Dimitri won his Premier Open Twin B Class. Felicitations!
From JC. Hilderbrand:
...."One of the most interesting racers, and certainly the best dressed, was Dimitri Coste. The Frenchman made the trek all the way from Europe to compete on his 1967 Triumph. Apparently something was lost in translation during the planning process and Coste mistakenly had a set of custom white leathers made up with the incorrect number. Considering the effort it took to get across the world for this event, race organizers gladly swapped numbers in order to ease the sting. The slender French rider overcame a few crashes, one that nearly took out two spectators, to win the Premier Open Twin B class."
Read about Dimitri and the Triumph he raced in Catalina in Sideburn 5.

The next sentence of the report then mentions another hero of ours...
"Another special rider is Homer Knapp. This grizzled motocross veteran raced a Harley-Davidson in the original Catalina GPs and he raced again today - on the same bike!" Duuuuuude. BP

Helmet Cam

Onboard vids are very inspiring, and thankfully you don't need to sport one of these neck breaker monsters anymore. Who's going to give us the idiots guide low down? And what to buy? VholdR? GoPro? BP

Frank Gillespie

Our friend Craig Randall (the fella whose photo album we raided for Sideburn 3) saw that Don Castro is interviewed for SB4. He says...

I used to hate it when Donny Castro lined up in a race with me. The result was a foregone conclusion. But one of our early contemporaries, Frank Gillespie, who was in On Any Sunday briefly, is in the picture from the same era. Beautiful Triumph.
Best, Craig

Nick and Miles

The 2009 Isle of Man TT will be memorable for a number of reasons. I was there to work, and I worked, but the whole trip was great. Fine roast chicken, chili Yorkshire puddings (yes) and homemade jaffa cakes at Dan and George's Manchester Sanctuary on the way there; a deserted ride to a packed 2am ferry; the 5am lap; sleeping on the sofa in the Red Torpedo house; stories of working for Marco Pierre White and Damien Hirst at Quo Vadis from Kev; fetching fuel with Guy Martin on the morning of the Senior; a leisurely night out in Peel with my mate Rupert...
But bumping into these two fellas was the highlight. I was walking up Nobles Park at the back of the pits when I spotted Nick, with the shaved head. He was wearing a 4Q Conditioning sweatshirt. Miles was sporting a Ken Howard T-shirt. I went to introduce myself and try to turn them onto Sideburn when they saw a Sideburn sticker on my notepad. 'Hey, you've got a Sideburn sticker,' said Nick. I told him who I was and he said he was wearing his Sideburn T-shirt.
The three of us talked about the tattoos (they're both tattooists, Nick co-owns Cult Classic in Essex, Miles works there and at the famous Frith Street Tattoo in London). Miles has McQueen's Bell helmets and On Any Sunday inked on his gut. We spoke about broody parrots, bikes, cars, boots, kinky judges, Australian bike gangs, Deus Ex Machina... We talked for about two and a half hours. Fellas, if you're reading this, it was a pleasure. GI

A world of cool events

Just none of them in Britain...

Meet Marin County’s own racing legend Mert Lawwill and enjoy a special screening of the classic Bruce Brown film On Any Sunday at the Lark Theater in Downtown Larkspur, CA., March 29th, 2009.
For over 20 years Mert has been developing and machining state-of-the-art prosthetic hands that have changed the lives of people who literally and figuratively need a hand. With help from Michael Aron of the Mojotown Project, he is now establishing a nonprofit organization to grant hands (or offset the costs) to those who don’t have the means to purchase them. The Mojotown Project’s special screening of On Any Sunday will kick off the fundraising efforts for MertsHands.org.
Seats are Limited, GET YOUR TICKET TODAY
If you go, remember the photographer and say a little prayer to whatever you believe in, please.
Thanks to Ivan for telling us about this.

Stockholm is beautiful, full of beautiful hedonists and cool cats. This'll be fun. And the Davida MotoPhoto exhibition has photos by Ben Part and Sideburn contributor, Fly Tipping.

This looks to be a very avant garde, nouvelle vague kinda get together. Right up our strasse. Shame it's in Italy. From OttoNero

it's an OUTRAGE!

Humble hero of the classic On Any Sunday, Malcolm Smith is up in arms...
'In defiance of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 which prohibits the sale of youth motorcycles and ATVs deemed unhealthy for children under 12 due to suspected high-levels of lead content, motorcycle dealer Malcolm Smith will sell these banned vehicles as a sign of protest. As a sign of support, a group of small business people and high-profile motorcycle industry celebrities, including racers Jeff Ward and Jeremy McGrath, Glen Helen Raceway owner Bud Feldkamp, and motorsport design guru Troy Lee have all agreed to be on hand to purchase banned units for use by their own children and grandchildren.'

This Thursday, March 19, 2009, 6:00am PST
At Malcolm Smith Motorsports
7599 Indiana Avenue, Riverside, CA 92504
http://www.malcolmsmith.com

Thanks to Hell For Leather for the tip-off. Take your kids down there and let them SCREAM!
What's the world coming to? BP

I'll never see On Any Sunday in the same light

In a reply to the recent post on Gary Nixon's Triumph, regular correspondent, and owner of the Shell Racing XS650 in SB1, AlMcQ wrote:

'That's a Trackmaster frame - and doesn't it look great! The Team also tried the triples on the dirt with stock and Rob North frames. Jim Rice crashed a triple at Sacramento in "On Any Sunday" sadly the cartwheeling bike killed a photographer at trackside. "

I never knew that, and only have McQ's (usually encyclopedic) word for it. I guess Bruce Brown didn't want to bring the film down, as it was essentially good propaganda for motorcycle sport, that was at a low ebb, but the poor photographer deserved a mention, didn't he?
The Motorcycle Hall of Fame (where this photo is from) mention the bike hitting the photographer, but not the outcome. You can see the point before the impact. Grisly stuff.
So, belatedly, commiserations to the family of the unnamed photographer from all at Sideburn. GI

On Any Sunday

OK so it's not sunny California, it's sunny Scunthorpe in Northern England - well not yet, it's 7am & decent folk are still in bed. We're hauling the Wood Rotax off the not so cool Fiat Multipla; its hardly Mert Lawwill & Jack Dunn in their Chevy van, but we feel cool none the less. Flat track is here to stay, comedy facial hair is not. BP