Extreme Weight Loss

This stunning liquid-cooled Harley XG750 Street is featured in Sideburn 25. It was built by Asterisk of Japan, whose Kawasaki KX500 was previously featured in SB13.

It has a custom frame and hand-formed bodywork. The stock bike weighs 223kg (492lb). The Asterisk bike weighs 152kg (335lbs). Those Roland Sands Designs 19in wheels look the business too. G

Road Apples // Pemberton Speedway Flat Track

Pemberton Speedway from Blaine Connolly on Vimeo.

Becky from Canada got in touch. She pointed us to a video and her great looking blog (where I have pinched some nice photos to post below). It's a mixture of adventures on TT500s, choppers shows, women on bikes, amateur flat track and amazing Canadian scenery. Becky wrote...

I always check out your blog and thought this would be something you'd be into posting about! 

Blaine Connolly made this little edit about the Pemberton Flat Track Races that Sam Villanueva hosted. There's some photos as well as some more information on www.themroadapples.com I love your stuff keep killing it!
Becky Goebel

 Neat Street 750 racer.

Harley 750 Street Race Bike

Sam from Vancouver, a veteran of Dirt Quake USA I, built this bike for a Canadian Harley contest. The basis for all the bikes in the competition is the new Harley 750 Street, the liquid-cooled 'entry level' bike. It's clearly meant to stir interest in a bike that is proving to be a bit of a slow burn, but some look great.

If you want to vote for Sam's bike, like we have, go to
https://www.hdstreetbattle.com/custom-consultants.html
Then click British Columbia
Then click the photo bike and Vote.
It takes 30 secs. You don't have to sign up or give any details

Some blurb on the bike...

We are Trev Deeley Motorcycles. We grew up racing in the dirt. We didn't build a "street tracker". We built a Dirt Track race bike. You won't find a horn, turn signals, head light or a tail light; instead just three number plates, dressed in Trev's racing number. No front brake, no front fender and no speedo on this machine either, there is no need for them. We trimmed the fat. No keys, just a tethered kill switch, custom stainless exhaust with a racing open end cap, spoked wheels, chain drive and proper race compound tires. Go fast, turn left.

New GNC Framers in Progress

DTX bikes*  can produce good racing, and they're a good way for some into the sport, but the hope that killing framers** would bring more mainstream advertising and support into AMA Pro Flat Track has been proven not to work.
Instead, the main thing it's done, from my fan's perspective, is lost some of flat track's unique identity. Imagine you were a motorbike enthusiast, travelling through the US on holiday and heard that a big flat track race was happening just up the road and you could get along to see it.
You don't do any research; you don't know much about the sport, except what you've seen in On Any Sunday. So you just roll up and pay your money at the turnstiles and take a seat with a beer. But it's a short track race. And everyone looks like a motocrosser. No one is in the cool leathers you've seen photos of. And the bikes don't look like you expected. They all look like motocross guys. But they're not even doing jumps!
Eventually you might get into the racing, because that's still good, but the whole experience is dulled. And sport has to be an experience if it's going to reach beyond the hardcore.

I don't blame the AMA for trying, but go back through the blog and you'll see we were never fans of the idea. And neither are we Luddites, kicking against progress and digging our heels in. But pro flat track isn't growing and no one is addressing this issue, yet. The aesthetic appeal of flat track bikes and flat track riders in their leathers is one of its great strengths.

So I was pretty excited when our friend Roger F sent us links to photos of brand new framers being built around engines that haven't been used in pro flat track before. Thanks Roger!

* modified modern motocross 450s
** modern engines in custom, dirt track specific chassis, with dirt track tanks and bodywork

This first one uses Harley-Davidson's new liquid-cooled 750 Street engine. It's being built by a dealer from Maryland, Harley-Davidson of Frederick. This is an engine Jared Mees talks about in his exclusive interview in Sideburn 20.
The chassis is a traditional cradle frame, but with a twin backbone. This is a wet-sump engine, so no need for oil-in-frame.
I don't think H-D of Frederick have plans to race this actual bike, they are developing the chassis to sell for road and track.

An update on H-D of Frederick's Facebook shows the exhaust in progress.

 The project on its 19in wheels.

The amazing rear suspension linkages made by M3 Racing.

C and J Yamaha FZ-O7

The other interesting brand new framer is the Yamaha FZ-07 in a C and J chassis. 

Because Yamaha designed this twin to hang from a frame, not be surrounded by a cradle frame, the design is less traditional and, in many ways, more modern.

According to Southland Fabrications (where these shots are taken from), C and J have already shipped ten chassis with another ten coming soon.
Can it have similar success to that of the Kawasaki 650 framers?

Southland Fabrications add that:
Race Tech Suspension has shocks available already. 
Grand Prix Glass has tail sections available
Metalsports Racing wheels have wheels available.
Fred @ RaceTec Racecraft has aluminum tanks available as well.

Cory Texter was racing the Babe DeMay/ Memphis Shades Yamaha FZ framer out in Florida and Georgia before Daytona (below). He had some teething problems, but the twins season doesn't start till the end of May, so they have time to shake it down. He said it was fast straight out of the box as a stock engine.

And that's another thing, AMA, why have 10 weeks of hibernation between Daytona and the next round? I know the weather is unpredictable in the mid-west, but surely there's a better way. G

Static photo: Flat Track Live

Kustom Kommune Street 750

Our soon to be newest dealer, Kustom Kommune in Melbourne, Australia, built this modified 750 Street after being given it by Harley-Davidson.

Yamaha superbike front forks look great. Front fairing is a nice twist on a number board, while the alloy bodywork is distracts from the front rad without pushing too many boundaries. The seat frames are totally new and converting the rear end for a traditional twin shock to dual shocks working in a cantilever position is clever, though I have no idea how wheel it would work.

Engine and exhaust headers are stock and prove it's not an ugly engine. Belt drive is retained.

WHO ARE KUSTOM KOMMUNE?
Based just outside central Melbourne, Kustom Kommune offer a communal area and work bays where owners without their own garages, tools, per even experience, can use to repair and service their own bikes. There is also storage for bikes and spare parts.

 

 

Photos via silodrome

Harley Street 750 On Ice

The extreme sports juggernaut that is the X Games is considering including motorcycle ice racing in future event. Concurrently, Harley Davidson are pushing their new entry level liquid-cooled Street 750 (called, the, er, Street 750) and enrolled Brad Baker and Mr and Mrs Mees to promote the cause.

They want fans to tweet their opinions with the hashtag - #XGIceRace. We've never been to a X Games, but if it turns people onto flat track in some way, it can't be a bad thing. Twits should tweet something encouraging, but don't forget the hashtag.

Talking to AMA Pro Racing about the Street 750, Jared Mees said, “The Harley-Davidson Street 750 definitely gets up and runs. The throttle response is more instant and it’s definitely a lot snappier and has a lower center of gravity than the Harley-Davidson XR750. I think Harley-Davidson should consider this bike to compete at the Grand National level at some point. I would be all for this decision.” G