Sideburn 35 OUT NOW

Sideburn 35 is out now.

COVER: Steph Bolam on the Rebels Alliance SR500 Rough Diamond 

BIKES: Rebels Alliance SR500 Rough Diamond; Lloyd Brothers AFT Ducati 821 Twin; Fuller Moto Ducati Pro Street Tracker; Royal Enfield Interceptor 650; Sur Les Chapeaux de Roues Honda CRF450; Durex Suzuki GSX-R750: Harley Sportster 1200 Hooligan racer; Newbold Yamaha XS650 dirt bike: Honda XR75 mini flat tracker; Bultaco Astro; River Rat C and J Kawasaki 650 AFT Twin 

PEOPLE: Brandon Robinson; Kevin Atherton; Wilbur Skipp; Joy Lewis 

INTERVIEW: Brandon Robinson 

HOW TO: Spanner like a pro with Brent Armbruster 

EVENTS: Bultaco Astro Cup, Atlanta; Swank Rally, Terminal 1, Italy 

ADVENTURE: In South Africa with Motosafari 

PAGES: 116

Just £6 plus post. Order from Sideburn.bigcartel.com

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This issue is also available in digital form for £2.50. Go to Sideburn Digital ISSUU

 

Sideburn 30

Another milestone reached. Issue 30! And our regular readers tell us it keeps getting better. That's the idea. This another fat 116-page issue squeezed, like blood from a stone, out of Sideburn's Lincolnshire HQ.

BUY SIDEBURN 30

COVER STAR: Manon Hache; Co-Built Rotax and Chris Piascick art
BIKES: Bottpower XR1R Pikes Peak special; budget Yamaha FZ-07 framer; monoshock H-D Sportster; Wedge BMW 310; Honda 650 Mablethorpe Sand Racer
EVENTS: Travis at Pikes Peak; The Springfield Mile; Pendine Speed Trials; DirtQuake VI
HOW TO: Use your brake to go faster by Johnny Lewis
PEOPLE: Marco Belli; Sean Flynn and Dana Stone
PORTFOLIO: The photography of Kristina Fender
MOVIE: Godspeed! You Black Emperor
ADVENTURE: Across frozen Mongolia on Enfield 500 combinations
PAGES: 116

BUY SIDEBURN 30

Bottpower to Race Pikes Peak with Travis

Sideburn is proud to have brokered a deal to put our staff poet, track tester and roving ambassador, Travis Newbold on  a very special version of Bottpower's XR1 to compete at Pikes Peak in 2017 (subject to entry being accepted, see below).

The Spanish company's XR1R will use an engine from the track-only Buell XBRR. Only 56 of this fully-faired, Daytona-focussed racers were built, during the time of Harley's ownership of Buell, and two have been loaned to the team by their customers. The engine will be in Bott's own titanium spine chassis. The styling of the bike will be very similar to the XR1R (above). I hope there is room for 747 on the side number plate.

The main sponsor for the Bottpower Pikes Peak project are our friends at Kriega, the British-based innovative moto-luggage firm who have advertised in Sideburn since issue 1, and who we featured in Sideburn 21.

Entries for the motorcycle and ATV classes at Pikes Peak have been slashed in recent years (perhaps as a result of two deaths in two years), so the team's official entry is being considered. Fingers crossed.

Travis has won his class in previous years and came second in 2015 on the Buell-powered Ronin. he was only beaten by an HRC-backed Honda America Fireblade.

You can read more about Pikes Peak in a story written by Guy Martin in Sideburn 18. We only have two of these issues left.

Keep up with the Bottpower Pike Peak project at the Bottpower blog. G

Travis of the Himalayas

From Anthony Brown who rode on the recent Sideburn x Helmet Stories Himalaya tour...

The riders on the Sideburn Himalaya trip were generous people.

Travis had packed light and we all set about kitting him up with some new riding gear

Newbold Wears:

Kufi Hat - purchased from hippy shop in Daramasala (£1.50)

Tibetian wool scarf - Purchased from a small shop in Killar (£3.00)

Sunglasses - Models Own

Axo original Finnish MX pants - Found on market still in small village close to Pangi Valley (£5.00 we didnt barter too much they were unworn)

Woolie Jumper- Colorado thrift store

Mandels - Models own

Backpack - Brought from outfitters enroute (£2.50)

We blew the £10 budget by 50p but I think the backpack bonds the whole outfit together.

Travis at the Lost Highway Festival

We're going to have a lot more input on this blog from staff poet and test rider, Travis Newbold.
Travis rode the Indian Hooligan at the Supersprestigio in Las Vegas last November. Read the report ins Sideburn 24.

Here's his report from the recent hooligan race in a music festival, the Lost Highway:

A few weeks ago I hopped on an airplane from Detroit to LAX with my leathers and helmet to ride the #47 Indian for Roland Sands again. I rented a minivan (it was actually pretty cool but minivans are still really not cool!). I hit up In 'N Out for a burger, Family Eollar for a blanket and after making it to the track I slept in the back with a fast food bag for a pillow. I awoke with the sun to an empty music arena. I walked the track and noted how slick and off camber it was and then did reverse donuts in the mini van. As people started to show up the temperature rose up into the hundreds. I knew the hill side grasstrack was going to give the Hooligan nutters some hell.

The first practice session was like watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger scene involving a rocket launcher. Sean from Suicide Machine dude crushed his helmet. He said if he could find another lid he thought he was good to race still. No.

I rode smooth but knew I would have to push to qualify for the main as only first place transferred to the main. In my heat I had a shit start and worked my way into 1st and then lost the front coming in. I used every bit of muscle I had to lift the giant scout back up and kept going. It paid as another crashed out and I ended up third. giving me a a transfer to the B main where first place would make the main.

I won the B Main but I was pushing so hard across the finish line that I wiped out. The big girl had my hot shoe pinned underneath of her. It was like being sat upon by a huge fat chick inside a sauna. I got out from under her and heaved her back up. I franticly reattached my hot shoe and with sweat dumping out my face I lined up for the main.

I wiped out once more causing a first corner red flag restart. I was totally exhausted. I made it to the last corner of the last lap and right before the finish line I just had to butt surf the grass once more. I think I ended up fifth and I will tell you cold beer never tasted so good. What a great crowd of racers Roland draws. The track was surprisingly great for racing and taught a lot of respect for soft rider inputs.

As the darkness came and temps dropped below 100 I hoofed it up the hill to a secret weird balcony like spot and watched good ol' Mike Ness and the rest of Social Distortion kick out some good old stuff from the early days. Living the good life. Until a security guard awoke me at 4:30 from my sweaty slumber. "Can't sleep here hon, venue is closed." Well back to the airport and on with the real world. Travis
Photos: Preston Burroughs

Aaron from Suicide Machine Co. Read about them in Sideburn 23.

RSD's Cameron Brewer on the Pickle Tracker Sportster

Andy Bell, Double denim and sleeveless hooligan wrestling. 

Watch the video to see Travis talk words.

Travis Welcomes Visitors

The Deus blog keeps on trucking with high quality content and I check it regularly. Today I was treated to the joy of seeing Sideburn's Travis and his great Denver bike shop on there.

The post was written by Deus Venice USA big cheese Julian Heppekausen with photos taken on disposable film cameras. Co-Built Geoff shows up in the photos too.

See all the photos and read the short Shop Visit report at the Deus Blog. G

 Newbold's Motorbike Shop stocks Sideburn! You should too.

 Race bikes in for work.

 Travis and his wife, Rachel. 

 The famous Baja. 

Travis and the Ronin at Pikes Peak

This is a video of our poet, regular contributor and friend Travis racing the firebreathing Ronin at Pikes Peak last year. The video is long because it shows three full 10 or so minute runs from different angles, but I'll be honest and say I didn't watch them all right through.

The beginning of the film is loaded with emotion and significance as Travis hugs his wife before the start, she kisses him on the chinbar of his helmet and walks to the side wiping a tear from behind her sunglasses. Earlier in the week their good friend Carl Sorensen crashed in practice and died. Travis had been weighing up the opportunity versus risk since then and came to a decision. Watch how he leaves the startline to see how committed he was to his decision. Travis would come second overall behind Honda America's official CBR1000 entry.

You can either watch the entire film, flick through the different angles or choose one angle and watch the whole race, but at the very least have a flick through to see the landscape change from lush forest to barren rockfield to snowline. At 35:16 Travis passes as a deer at over 100mph.

At the beginning the mechanic uses the line 'Colorado bike, Colorado rider, Colorado race'. It made me smile because I used that line when I visited Ronin in Denver to be the first journalist in the world to ride the road bike and put the idea of this Pikes Peak project in Ronin's mind. Who doesn't love it when a plan comes together?

Read my Ronin road test in Sideburn 19. G

UPDATE: This post was supposed to go up yesterday but was SNAFU'd. Sorry!

Travis Triumphant

Travis Newbold, Sideburn's very own moto poet, roadtripped the 1250 miles from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon to check out The One Motorcycle Show and take part in the Salem indoor dirt track races the organisers had put on this year.
The laidback motorcycle shop owner won the vintage class and came second in the Hooligan class racing one of Roland Sands Indian Scout hooligan racers.
He's a class act.

Travis updates his blog from time to time and I like it a lot - 747rider.blogspot.com

Photo: Nevin Pontius (another class act)

Superhooligan!

Next Saturday in Vegas!
This will be the ultimate fistfight in a phone booth at the indoor arena at the Orleans Hotel, Las Vegas.

Friday night is the finale of the 2015 GNC series. Jared Mees has to be favourite to take the title. He's 7 points clear of Bryan Smith and has had better short track results for the last few years, but Smith's first ever national win was on a short track (though now he is the undisputed mile master - five wins this season, to Mees' one win). And anything can happen on a track like this.

Then on Saturday night is the first Superprestigio of the Americas. It's not attracting the calibre of names that the Spanish one has, and the support race was supposed to the the Roland Sands Designs/ Indian Motorcycles Superhooligan, but I think most people are going to be looking forward to the nuts on the modified street bikes more than the pros on the 450s.

Sideburn's own poet, Travis Newbold, is going to representing Sideburn on an 2015 Indian. It's going to be wild. Americans! Get out there if you can.

And if you can't, everyone can watch it livestreaming on fanschoice.tv G

Artwork by Adi Gilbert/99 Secs

Ronin Variants

The final editions of the 47 Ronin all have special one-off paintjobs. Some are still for sale, with prices starting at $45,000.

Sideburn's editor (me, Gary Inman) was the first journalist to visit the company's impressive Denver headquarters. We featured the bike and company in Sideburn 19. Our resident poet race it at Pikes Peak and wrote about the experience in Sideburn 22. G

Sideburn's Poet vs Pikes Peak

Travis Newbold is our hero. And our poet. And he's racing in the support class at the US Superprestigio in Las Vegas, November 21.
Watch him race the Ronin to second overall at Pikes Peak (and crash while celebrating).

Read about Sideburn's in-person visit (by me, the editor) to Ronin HQ in Sideburn 19. While blogs all over the world trot out some vapid tosh (Brembo this, bhp that) without really checking the details, and many independent mags just print emails verbatim, we put the leg work and air miles in to do things properly (or as properly as a niche magazine with a decidedly un-mainstream cult following can). We don't bang our own drum very often, but if you've never bought Sideburn and are subconsciously judging it by the level of 'journalism' in some other motorcycle mags and blogs, then please don't. We're better. Miles better.
Drum-banging endeth. G

Travis Newbold + Ronin x Pikes Peak

Last Sunday Sideburn's poet, Travis Newbold was preparing to race the 1190cc Ronin race special up Pikes Peak. Below are his thoughts, but first a bit of background (some of which has been covered before in the 5000-plus posts on this blog, so sorry if you know it already).

I first met Travis at the Las Vegas indoor short track races in January, 2010. He stood out, because he has the roughest bike, biggest smile and a dog named Baja. I didn't realise this was Travis's first ever dirt track race. He did well, I took some photos, made a short interview and he went in the magazine. Then, through the wonder of blogs, he became friends with Anthony Co-Built, kept in touch with Sideburn and planned to visit Europe to race and tour about. He's done that twice now, plus I stayed with Travis and his wife, Rachel, when I visited Denver in October 2014 (Travis even said my off-the-cuff advice gave him the confidence to ask his now wife to start dating!). Travis started posting some poems on his blog (747 Rider). We liked them and Sideburn started running them in the magazine from issue 13, always with a shot of Travis in action or hanging out at a race.

When I visited Denver it was to ride the Ronin. The feature went into Sideburn 19, and while I was there I suggested they should race the bike at Pikes Peak. It's one of the few races specials can compete in. My thinking was Colorado race, Colorado bike (nominally), Colorado rider. I suggested they contact Travis, a Pikes Peak regular, class winner and local bike shop owner. A couple of people at Ronin already knew of him. The two parties got in touch and the result was a well-supported effort, two trips to the mountain to practice prior to the race itself and a very excited Travis.

Travis kindly plastered Sideburn's logo on the team shirt's, backdrop and one of the bike's cast alloy, front girder fork legs.

Very sadly, one of Travis's best friends, and an absolutely lovely fella, Carl Sorenson (217), died during the official practice, in the days before the race. Carl's family encouraged Travis to keep racing, and, somehow, he got in the frame of mind to do it.
Travis and Ronin came second overall to a Honda America-supported, HRC CBR1000RR. An incredible result for a bike with radical front suspension in its first ever race.
This is what he wrote when he got back home... G
(Pike Peak photos: Warren)

It was a crazy week. Despite loosing Carl I felt solid. But as soon as the green flag waved and I went to launch the angry warthog into warp speed I knew it was going to be tough to make it to the top. In an effort to not over heat the bike we started with a cold engine. It would not take throttle for the first mile or so and once it did take throttle it nearly spit me off as the rear tyre was struggling despite having our own tyre guy. It bucked me over the highside so hard, I have no clue how I held on and saved it. It did it nearly every time I gave it any throttle coming out of a corner. In one corner I had to stand it up and ride into the drainage ditch. I kept it pinned. 

Then just below Devils Playground it over-heated and went into limp mode until cooling down coming into Bottomless Pit. I hammered on. Near the top I approached Carl's corner and fought so hard to keep the throttle twisted. I crossed the line and went to slide a broadie on the last dirt corner. Bar lock. No steering. I high sided the high dollar machine but at least I was in the background of HRC rider Tigert [and racewinner] giving his TV interview. I stole the camera's attention. 

The Ronin crew were all so supportive and never once put any kind of pressure on me. Everybody was impressed with each other and so many people came together. It was amazing. Leaving the start with Rachel and Lacey [Carl's widow] standing together was something I will not forget. It has me thinking that 8 years and 6 trophies on the hill is enough. Time to go do something else. Life is short and adventures should be many. Friends and family are so dear. I have so much respect for life. It is hard to put into words. It is a matter of keeping the balance. I know Johnny and Dusty [at Ronin] really want to build me another race bike of some sort for me and Mike Mayberry [Ronin co-founder] was very impressed by me, even after crashing in victory celebration, so hopefully I can continue my foray into tarmac racing. But in the meantime I am heading to the dirt ovals and that is something I know I will always be fond of. Thanks again for igniting the whole amazing adventure.
Travis 747