Norton Bultaco Firewater

Steve RedMax built 'The Reverend' for short track racing in the UK. There are are far easier ways to go about preparing a vehicle for such a task, but Steve would never walk that line. He likes his firewater.

"I’d bought a Knight Bultaco [to sell on] that someone had bought in the States to race grasstrack in the UK. It was a lovely bit of kit, but no one was interested in buying it. That’s when the tape measure came out. I worked out I could get the Commando engine out of my café racer into it with half an inch to spare.’

Oh yeah, the engine would fit in, but the gearbox wouldn’t. That didn’t stop Steve though. ‘I thought I could use a speedway bike’s cross-shaft,’ he explains. Speedway bikes have one gear, permanently engaged. Steve ended up linking the NEB cross-shaft to the output sprocket with a super-short primary chain. ‘The clutch is old-fashioned with new tech. It has five or six weird looking 3mm thick clutch plates in an alloy clutch basket.’ Next, he rebuilt and tuned the parallel twin. ‘I changed the bearings; bored it out to 920cc; fitted a 4S cam, the genuine Norton Norvil racing cam; new valves and springs… It revved like a two-stroke even when it had the standard cam. I also fitted a Norvil two-into-one intake manifold because two carbs wouldn’t fit. A Mikuni flatslide is mounted on it."

Read the full story, in Sideburn #8

JvB Ducati

This stunning Ducati Pantah hybrid was built by Jens van Brauck of JvB Moto. Our friend Ralf at Fast Bike Germany sent us this photo. Look what's on Jens' helmet. Yep, a Sideburn sticker.

JvB featured in a story written by a doyen of Euro moto journalism, Jan Leek, in Sideburn 8. GAnd here is Jens (and another bit of product placement towards the end of the vid) riding modified Triumph scramblers with chums from LSL, Germany's premier Triumph specials builder. BP

What it's all about

Gary Nixon. On it. Photographer unknown. This is why people, even rank amateurs like us, start racing flat track. One day, sooner or later, you get one to sample one of these. For some it's in their first race, some, like me, have to wait a lot longer before years of road conditioning can be ignored.

Read Mat Oxley's great interview with Gary Nixon, illustrated by Dan Mahony's fantastic photos, in Sideburn 8. G

Paris Mode

I love this photo. It's by Vincent Perouse and features in, with a bunch of others from this shoot, and on the cover, of Sideburn 8. Always loved that Ruby Honet lid too. G

A Young Bad Ass UPDATED

Dan B in Washington state sent this fantastic photo in...

 GARY NIXON late-sixties, a young bad ass pushing his own bike with his tools. Hard tail frame total loss ignition and the ama number one plate when you had to road race and flat track to win number one.

 Read Mat Oxley's great interview with the late Gary Nixon in Sideburn 8. G

UPDATE: Jan from the Dutch Brothers sent this, below, Asking, Which Young Bad Ass is whic?

Streetmaster Race Bike - EXCLUSIVE

From L-R: Richard 'Mule' Pollock, Richard 'Streetmaster' Varner, Jeff Johnson, Shawn Kump
The legendary Dick 'Bugsy' Mann checking out the bike.

The Streetmaster, built by Mule, is the high water mark of street tracker's, the one all others will be judged against. And now there's a race version, tested at Perris, California. Exclusive news from Mule himself...

Richard Varner who IS Streetmaster decided we should build a race bike to showcase our chassis and other parts soon to be available. So that's what we did. Racing intent is start out locally and see how it goes with the strong possibility of bigger things later this year.

The motor has the 270 degree crank with the total emphasis on traction and torque. Weight is very low (I plan to get it weighed this week) and handling is neutral and superb according to test pilot Pro Jeff Johnson. Power is good and more dyno work, gear sorting and refinement will take place over the next couple weeks. All in all, a great first outing with perfect weather. More to come for sure.
Mule

The $75,000 Streetmaster prototype (with titanium spokes!) was featured in Sideburn 8

Mule Video

Nice video to advertise the fact Mule has gone into full-time bike building after years of building some of the world's finest street trackers purely at weekends and during evenings.

Read the Mule Story in Sideburn 3 and Mule's incredible Streetmaster Bonnevile in Sideburn 8.
Good luck Mule. G

100 Reasons To Buy SB#8

only one click away

Strange but true...
With each new issue of Sideburn, we make a slide-puzzle of the story pages and shuffle them around until the picture forms - hours of fun! BP

DIY Dirt Track

Following on from Captain Highside's step-by-step DIY Hotshoe in Sideburn #3, in Sideburn 8 Skooter Farm Dave gives us the lowdown on building your own mini oval (with a lot of help from your friends)(also handy if you've got an old CJ and some grid-iron to use as a harrow)(and a steam roller)(and lots of sandwiches). BP

Happy Customer

Hi Gary and Ben,
When I got home today Sideburn 8 was in my mailbox. I knew it was in there as soon as I opened the box, because that fine ink smell - I love that smell - wafted out and up under the chinbar of my helmet. Ahh...
You don't need me to tell you how truly excellent Sideburn always is, there are much more accomplished folks than me who can attest...but I will, anyway. I love the sensibility, taste, focus, selection, and presentation you guys bring together. There's absolutely nothing in it that doesn't fit my eye. An engineer co-worker told me once long ago that he went to church because "sometimes it's nice to hang around people that think like you do." I sympathetically resonate with each Sideburn issue for the same reason. And it looks like there are believers scattered far and wide: Blitz bikes, Mule, Nixon, Coolbeth...Ralph White, for Christ's sake, DIY DT, and damned if Dann'ys Cub doesn't look like it's as light as a feather...great stuff.
Again.
I told myself I wouldn't fawn this time, that it's just a squeak of appreciation lost amid the general roar... I couldn't help it. Damn, you fellows do a nice job.
Thanks so much,
John

Gary Nixon For President

Mat Oxley writes an indepth feature on the legend of Gary Nixon for Sideburn 8. Classic archive photos by Dan Mahony. BP

Cub

There were countless classy bikes at Verona earlier this year - and plenty of gash ones. But Danny Hard 9's baby Triumph was a pleasant surprise. We pushed the bike through the heaving masses to the prison yard-like parking lot outside. Glaring neon blue sky, glaring sparkly blue metalflake, and a shiny bald head. Some photos just make themselves. Get the full story in Sideburn 8. BP

Scott Parker

Who? What? When? Why? How? of Sideburn 8, Scott Parker turned pro at 16 with a Bultaco and spent the next 25 years climbing the ladder with an ever evolving XR750. Illustration James Chappell. BP

"Tally Ho!"

If you're the kind of person who is bothered by sand in your picnic sandwiches on the beach, then Warzone Speedway is not for you. Trevor Davies' book recounts getting a mouthfuls of the stuff whilst dodging bullets. In Sideburn 8 Mick Phillips takes a light hearted flick through this history book. BP

German Industrial Design

There was a time, not too long ago, when German specials had all the grace and lines of a tuba horn mated to debris from a beer hall on the last night of Oktoberfest. And then came Jens vom Brauck, first with Flat Red and then with the Scrambler, both based on Ducatis.
JVB Ducati in Sideburn 8 words Jan Leek photos Björn Leek. BP

Mule Streetmaster

Chucking money at bikes doesn't guarantee Bigger Better Faster. You need some science too. And every piece of Mule's new age Bonneville (what's left of the Hinckley original) has been under an electron microscope. There's not an atom out of place. Yours for a snip at $75,000. Read the full story in Sideburn 8. Photography by David Folch. BP

The Real Great Escape

Sideburn 8 teasers continue...If you thought our Zombie sweat was gruesome, The Real Great Escape reveals the dark secret of the directors cut ending of our rampaging hero Capt Hilts, high on Nazi blood. Illustations from the midnight sketchbook of Maxwell Paternoster. BP

The Reverend

The first story in Sideburn 8 was shot at the 11th hour. The usual mad shuffle to jig another issue together. Stories that had already been set happily in place were shunted to SB#9. Steve Red Max' new olde bike just had to be IN. A Norton Commando engine tyre-ironed into a 2-stroke 250 Bultaco Knight frame [corrected!]. Impossible? Yes! - unless you junk the gearbox and rig it as a single speed fixie. And if you, like Steve for the photo shoot, decide to ride it like a modern YZF250 crosser, that clutch is gonna burn baby burn. BP

Sideburn 8. Pre Order Now

Ok, Sideburn 8 is at the printers and we're really happy with how it's looking. We're now taking pre-orders (to help us get a bunch of envelopes written before they land). No price increase despite the fact paper costs are going through the roof. Not only that, every order through the Sideburn shop will get the new exclusive Zombie sticker (see below, shown on the back of a smartphone). Existing and new subscribers will get one too.

We also have a new Sideburn Soul embroidered patch and Warzone Speedway book in the shop.

SB#8 Work In Progress

Just a couple of stories to finish and a few loose ends. Gary, Mick and I have been quietly beavering away. It's yet another mad fusion of flavours. Funny to think when were busy with SB#1 we were worried how soon we would run out of stories. Thankfully this thing has its own legs now - not that we know which way it's going to turn next.Alfresco studio, photographing a stack of WWII snap shots of desert speedway-riding allied troops. BP