More Flat Trackers on UK eBay

eBay hound Kev H keeps sending us links to bikes on sale in the UK. These are for would-be DTRA racers.

One is a ready to race Suzuki 450, the others are a couple of DTRA vintage class compatible bikes that have the air of barn find/ on-going project about them, especially the one with the Can-Am tank. The two Triumphs are being sold by the same bloke who had the Triumph T100C on ice tyres a week or so ago. Looks like he bought a job lot of interesting, affordable vintage racers/projects.

1968 Triumph T100C

1970 Triumph T100C (wot no fork travel?)

2006 Suzuki RMZ450 DTX 

These sales are nothing to do with Sideburn. We know nothing about the quality or history of these bikes or even if they are what they purport to be, we're just passing on what's out there. G

Suzuki DTX on UK eBay

UPDATE: SOLD
I don't know anything about this bike, but it's got the right wheels to go racing and it's £1500 (with a 'make an offer' option). I don't think it would make a very good road bike (that the current owner seems planned for it), but that's just me.

Go to eBay

Thanks to Kev H for the link. G

Icon 100 Major Tom and Retrograde

Icon 1000 have done it again. To promote the release of their new Retrograde jacket they've unleashed their new GSX-R750 build, Major Tom. Then they flew it, regular Icon stunt collaborator Ernie Vigil and a good looking model to the moon to shoot the video. G

Dirty Diana

Great story from our old mate Pete 'Eat The Rich' Stansfield...

In March this year I posted a photo of my little Suzuki B120 on Instagram (@eattherich) and asked if any lady would like to ride it at Dirt Quake. The first email I had was off Diana from London, she has ridden a 125, she is a girl and more importantly wrote a proper email using full words and good grammar. She also looked fairly small, essential for a bike with a manufacturers claim of 10bhp (46 years ago)

We swapped a couple of emails, a friend in London had shared my post with her and she fancied the idea although she had not heard of Dirt Quake and had never seen a speedway track. A month later she confirmed that her entry had been accepted, she would be working in Yorkshire in July so would call in if there was an opportunity.

On the Tuesday before the event she called at my workshop, we had a quick chat and she rode the bike round the yard. I liked her straight away, she was bright and confident, but still had no idea what it was all about. It was only at this point that she discovered it was a race. One slight problem, she was going to Latitude Festival so would drive up alone on Saturday morning and back again later. 

Bearing in mind I was the only person at Dirt Quake she had ever met and that was only for 5 minutes, I've got to say I was a bit sceptical as to whether it would happen. With that in mind Dave B (sometime Sideburn journalist and team's head gardener) and I got agreeably stupid after watching the racing on Friday night and fell into bed around 2.00am. Bang on 9.00am Di messaged me asking if there was anything I wanted from Tesco. Water! She soon galvanised our vagueness into some sort of action and while her team manager (me) messed about searching for the wallet I had somehow lost the night before ( it was in my sleeping bag) she went and filled in her licence forms, signed on and pushed the bike down to the pits.

While the gardener and I were quietly nervous on her behalf she was jumping up and down with excitement and after a lap of practise it was obvious she was up for the job. Sixth out of 12 in her first heat/first race/first proper ride on the bike/first time at a track was way better than i'd imagined.

As the track got harder and grippier the girls on faster bikes (all of the others) got to use their superior speed but she still held on to 8th in the final. We shared a beer, watched the prize-giving and Diana left for Latitude talking about a day at a flat track school (she is actually going to Pete Boast's school very soon). She does need a faster bike though, we're working on it !

I kept reading about girls doing their first race but they had all had a bit of practise and family/friends round them. I reckon what she did was pretty impressive and she's definitely hooked now. Real nice girl too. Pete

Big Foot Spotted

Helicopter + frozen lake + Suzuki Boulevard 800 mutant = fun

Read all about this Canadian bike, and it's builder, Bill Hitchon, in Sideburn 20.

Thanks to Norm Motorcycho for the link. G

The Full Fat

So, if the Suzuki Boulevard V-twin from Sideburn 20 wasn't mad enough, the owner, Bill decided to fit a few hundred ice screws into the tyres...

Then strap it using a rope under a helicopter...

Fly it over beautiful Canada...



And place it on a frozen lake for some ice riding. I suppose you've got to have a hobby.
Read all about this bike in Sideburn 20. G

Thanks to Motorcycho Norm for the tip-off.

UPDATE: Death Spray DTX For Sale

SOLD - WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THE NEW OWNER ON IT THIS SEASON.

The bike David Death Spray rode in the Rookie class last year. Clean and ready to race. Perfect for someone wanting to get involved with the DTRA this year.

Suzuki RMZ 450
Excel rims
R6 forks
Ready to race
£1850 / London

Icon New Jack

 

Another great bike from Icon Motorsports , the US riding kits company that builds some fantastic bikes for their new product range photoshoots (Icon Basehawk jacket in this case).
This time they've updated a 1982 Katana with:

Oil cooler in the headlight opening and LED streetlight below
Bandit 1200 motor (some people talk about it being 'bigger', it has slightly more capacity than the original, but it's actually more compact front to rear)
Mikuni flatslides
Two British Nitron shocks in the monoshock position (like a prototype Rossi M1 from 2008 or so)
Modified Suzuki TL1000R Swingarm
Twin fillers
New tail
EBC discs and Nissin four-pots
USD Showas from a 2002-era Fireblade
Honda SP2 wheels

I love it. G

Next Big Thing

Looking to ditch all this heritage wear, bare metal petrol tanks, air-cooled BMWs and facial hair? We hear you.
Yellow GSX-Rs and shaved-in patterns are a few years off, and it'll be oh so 'carefully curated' but it's coming.
Mark our words...

I love a gilet

When is it going to be vogue to race in a nylon bodywarmer again? Come on Icon, get on it. G

The Southern 100

Guy Martin won at the Southern 100, at the DTRA and Chopper class at Dirt Quake, then at Armoy this weekend. He's on fire.
This beautiful photo is from the Southern 100 meet held on the Isle of Man every July. I attended the race back in 2011 and it was fantastic. See my snaps here. G

Photo: wpfotos.co.uk

FTWCo Visit

Last month I visited the Mid-West to go to the Mama Tried Show and took the opportunity to detour the six-hour drive to Des Moines, Iowa, for a flying visit to the new headquarters of FTWCo. I'd been to the old HQ a couple of years ago (on a cross-country ride). I arrived at 10.30pm and stayed talking till 3am with the two owners of FTWCo: Brad (aka Fatty. Red shirt) and Jeff Wright (the man behind Church of Choppers) plus the photographer and film-maker, Michael Schmidt (green shirt) who I was working with.
Their unit is an Aladdin's cave of creativity and good stuff.

Jeff's One Shot collection.

The back of the headquarters is for bike-building. The front is the admin and T-shirt printing. Jeff does 90% of the art. Brad runs the business side of things. 

Jeff's Honda CB1100EX. Hyperpro shocks; Over Engineering swingarm; RCD-Tec fuel filler; Yoshimura exhaust; hand painted tank logos. It had 2 miles - TWO MILES - on the clock, when I took this photo.

 Brad's ironhead Sportster street tracker.

 Jeff's slabside GSX-R project.

 Road-going dune buggy with a keg fuel tank.

Up for 30 hours or more and still laughing. I love FTWCo.

The Black Arrow on Bubble Visor

Lenny at Bubble Visor sent me some questions to go with some photos of my Suzuki street bike project, the Black Arrow, taken at Racefit last summer. You can see more photos and read the Q&A at Bubble Visor.
Massive thanks to Mat for these photos. They were taken a few months ago and the bike is now a runner with a custom wiring loom, chain, the whole lot! G

Dr Big

From Volker in Germany

The basic for the conversion is the enduro suzuki DR Big 750. I thought the big single cylinder engine with 779 ccm deserved better than to toil in an obese enduro. The 12 litre tank of a Yamaha SR500 took place after some adjustments. There followed a cafe racer seat (also various adjustments needed) and supermoto wheels in size 3.5 x 17 with tyres 120'er and rear 4.5 x 17 with tyres 150'er. Most cables have been painstakingly well hidden. 
A fork brace took place in the series fork that has been refined with wilbers springs . Lamp , turn signals , handlebars, mirrors, etc. were changed of course. Devil exhaust with a stainless steel manifold plays the song of the single cylinder. 
All in all it takes a little brain power to fit it all together, but I'm happy with the result. The fun she has refueled with 170Kg on winding country roads is fantastic. 
With best regards from germany, Volker