Worms To Catch

Long-term Sideburn supporter and regular columnist, Guy Martin has a new autobiographical book, Worms To Catch, out this week.

Wait a minute, you're thinking. Didn't he have an autobiography out a couple of years ago and a follow-up called When You Dead, You Dead?

Well yes, but Guy lives life four times quicker than everyone else and these autobiographies are long-form diaries of one of the most interesting, daredevil, hardcore lives being lived anywhere in the world. This one includes the behind-the-scenes stories of the Wall of Death record, Land Speed record attempts, Transit van at the Silver State Classic, the 2400-mile Tour Divide mountain bike race, Dirt Quake and much more.

The books are available at all good book shops, online and some British supermarkets are doing deals on them.

Not only that. The cover of this soon to be bestseller was shot by Sam Christmas and taken from the Sideburn 26 shoot of Guy's Rob North wall of death bike. Buy Sideburn 26, then buy Worms To Catch.

Guy's own Guy Martin Proper website is selling an exclusive version of Worms To Catch that is personally signed by the rider and had a cover illustrated by Ryan Quickfall. G

New Stuff in the Shop

The Sideburn shop is mainly full of stuff we've produced, but we also stock items made by people we really like. Here are two examples.

We have a new print by Ryan Quickfall. He designed it, screen-printed it himself and then signed and numbered it. It is beautiful quality and we don't have many. The Demon Flat Track print is £30 plus post.

We also have a long-awaited re-stock of the Maxwell Paternoster sketch book, that is published in Spain. It's great, but I have to hide mine so my daughter doesn't colour it in... £20 plus post. We have even fewer of these...

See these items and much more at the Sideburn webshop. Support the independents! G

DTRA Yearbook One

Just in from the DTRA.

Following its most successful year of flat track motorcycle racing, the Dirt Track Riders Association is proud to announce the publication of DTRA Yearbook One. This high quality photo book celebrates the sport following the racers as they move around the country competing throughout the 2015 season. 

It looks into the people involved, the machinery used and takes a peek behind the scenes, as well as featuring plenty of race action. 

This not for profit book has been designed to celebrate a fantastic seasons racing and spread the word about dirt track racing in the UK. Anyone who buys the book will be directly keeping people having fun on motorcycles.

This 164-page full colour book is available from Dtra.bigcartel.com priced £22 plus postage. 

Orders will for pre-Xmas delivery.

Hoi Chi Minh Trail by C90

Criminally I don't make enough time to read books, so it's taken me over six months of dipping to get through this book but it's a good read. 'Ants' Bolingbroke-Kent is a well-traveled TV producer who had already explored Vietnam in preparation for more pampered adventure, but she decided to return on her ownsome to follow the route of the infamous Hoi Chi Minh trail (still littered with unexploded American bombs), which also crosses Laos and Cambodia. On a 1989 C90.

Four back-street engine re-builds later she made the 2000 miles unscathed. Most people she meets on the two month treck think she's mental for her choice of vehicle and lack of companion or logistical back-up, but she proves that her calm determination (and a bottle of stashed gin), will push her through and also makes her also more open to approach.

Wot no knobblies. BP

Stealing Speed by Mat Oxley

Sometime Sideburn contributor, Mat Oxley, has self-published/reprinted one of his books, and it's a goody. It's the story of Walter Kaaden, the Iron Curtain, WWII flying bombs, spies, defections and the Japanese buying German technology to finally build a really successful two-stroke.
Read a very good related post by our own Mick P - Walter Kaaden and Two-Strokes

Here's what Mat says about the reprint...

Finally reprinted in HARDBACK after several years out of print. Current best prices on Amazon for secondhand copies of Stealing Speed are £73 for a paperback and a ridiculous £640 for a hardback! This is why I decided to reprint the book, so you can once again buy it at a reasonable price.
The book itself costs £14.99. I have included post and packing in the prices on this site, so the UK total is £17.79, EU £21.85 and USA/Australia etc £25.99.

Get a copy direct from Mat at Stealing Speed. G

Frankenstein Scooters to Dracula’s Castle

This is the bizarre premise for the book: British family rides from Italy to Istanbul (through Transylvania) on holiday on a pair vintage scooters fitted with motorbike engines; writes about it; expects public to buy it. The title is as convoluted. But, because Martin ‘Sticky’ Round is such an entertaining writer (and, perhaps, because I have a long-held soft spot for old scooters), it worked for me.

I used to read Sticky’s stuff before I was a professional journalist and I still enjoy it now. He doesn’t try to re-invent the wheel (like he did with his Honda 250-two-stroke-powered Lambretta or his wife’s 400cc Suzuki-powered Maico) with his writing and it’s a fairly gentle, but engaging tale of man and wife and 11-year-old lad going on a very off-the-beaten track holiday (along with a friend and his 13-year-old daughter on another ancient, standard and – seemingly - woefully under-powered Lambretta). It is inspirational for anyone feeling they’re in a family holiday rut or fancy a bonding exercise with their sprog. And for anyone who thinks their bike isn’t up for touring, because it’s not a BMW GS with aluminium panniers.

The two-wheelers they’re riding might not be familiar or even desirable to readers, but the trials of touring on heavily modified, inappropriate machinery will ring a bell with chopper, street tracker or café racer riders.

The book is independently produced and available in large format paperback or ebook. G

Paperback Edition • ISBN: 978-0-9548216-2-3; • 196 Pages • 92 colour images • UK Price: £9.99 + P&P
Published by: Fingers in Pies Publications • Available from: www.scooterproducts.com

ebook (Amazon): • ISBN: 978-0-9548216-3-0 • Price £2.99 ebook (Smashwords edition - Apple, Nook Kobo etc) • ISBN: 978-0-9548216-4-7 • £2.99

Maxwell Paternoster Book: In stock

We have a limited number of this hard-to-find, new Maxwell Paternoster book in stock.

Published in Spain, it is a compilation of the british artist's sketchbook drawings. It includes: tigers wearing pompadour hair-dosand sideburns. Dogs rollerskating on a deadman’s face. A record player with Yeti’s feet. Skulls coming straight from hell. A skate-boarding squirrel. Wheelbarrows full of 'amazing shit', chilis and brain juice. Weird creatures beheading themselves with chainsaws. Wild bikers heading back home on the longest detour.

Softback
48pp
29 x 21cm (11.4 x 8.26in)

£18 plus post.
Get yours at the Sideburn shop.

Quickfall x Martin (+Sideburn)

Newcastle-based illustrator Ryan Quickfall has contributed a bunch of work to Sideburn - illustrations for the mag (some of which we now have as top quality, limited edition screen prints for sale), posters, T-shirts, stickers... He's also working for different clients around the world including Guy Martin - illustrating some of his 2014 calendar and the German magazine FastBike (nothing to do with the UK one with a similar name).
The Guy-related images above are for these two clients.

In other Guy news, his autobiography is out today and he's on the BBC's One Show this evening at 7pm. You can order signed copies from Guy Martin's online shop.

I'm starting the rumour now that Guy is going to race at Dirt Quake III (that Ryan also did the poster for). Just a rumour...

Finally, we have a few of the Ryan Quickfall-designed Gore Rider shirts (as worn by Guy on TV) in stock.  G

Rock Family Trees

You read the sleeve notes on albums, and take the booklets that come with decent CDs into the bog while you meditate. You have heated discussions with mates - with yourself - about who played marimba on the 1972 Afro-Silesian classic A BSA Killed My Marmoset. You need to read Rock Family Trees.

They're nothing new, so apologies to those who know them already, but I never fail to be awestruck by the work involved in their creation. Pete Frame drew and wrote them by hand and they start life as huge great things covering a large table before being shot and reduced down for print. They're obsessively detailed and you can lose yourself in them for hours.

The breadth of bands and artists covered is immense, though they're almost all on the pop/rock/folk spectrum with dips into jazz and other stuff here and there. He even does trees of genres, such as American Pop 1950-'64. You have to see these things to believe them. All three volumes are still available and are well worth tracking down. MP

Road Racers by Stephen Davison

Very few photographers can be credited with influencing a sport, but Irish photographer Davison has. His images turned British motorcyclists onto real road racing like never before and he helped make stars of riders like Guy Martin and Ryan Farquhar. This isn't some PR blurb sent out with this new 140-odd page hardback book, it's an eyewitness opinion from a me, a journalist who was working for the biggest British magazines when Stephen's photos started coming through. It's a bold statement, but I stand by it.

Very few British riders knew anything about road racing beyond the NW200 and the TT, and the latter was on its arse. Once British magazines started printing the stories, foreign mags followed. I first worked with Stephen in 2004 and have regularly been on assignments with him since.

Stephen's photos; Paul Phillips taking over the TT; affordable on-board cameras, that led to improved TV coverage and new, free digital channels that allowed for more space for quality footage have transformed the TT and road racing in general. But, I truly believe, Stephen helped get the ball rolling by showing the world not all racers had become sponsor-thanking athletes. Road racing has long had its characters and mavericks and Stephen has benefitted from a rich seam including McGuinness, all the Dunlops, Martin, Hutchinson, Finnegan, and the fans that line the courses, both day-trippers and the hardcore.

The book includes photos dating back to 2000 right up to the present. They are from Ireland, England, Isle of Man, Macau, Spain and the Czech Republic. They include race footage and intimate moments, including an incredible shot of Stephen's friend Ryan Farquhar under-going surgery and at the funeral of Farquhar's uncle.

The RRP is £17.99.

Big Book of Biker Flicks

The excellent Big Book of Biker Flicks is back in stock in the Sideburn shop.
They were slightly damaged in the post from the author so we've knocked the price down from £25 to £20. These are signed by the author, John Wooley. The only damage is a slight impact on the spine. It wouldn't stop me buying it.
These are the last we're getting because the stocks have run out. G

DTRA Round 6, Rye House, September 15

The latest in the series of 2013 Dirt Track Riders Association posters is by Spanish artist Brusco.
Sideburn is supporting the DTRA by using some of our favourite artists to create posters to promote the series.
We first met him when we went to Barcelona for the Sideburn Kiddo Party last year and like the variety of styles he uses.
Brusco has illustrated the poster for the penultimate round at Rye House, Hertfordshire on September

Spectators get in for free. Racing from 11.30.
If you want to race, in any of the classes, including mini bike, get in touch with the DTRA with all your questions.
If you want to be a flag marshal, that would be great too. You have to get there for 10.30-11am.

We did a short interview with the artist, Brusco.

Age: 35

Where do you live? 
Barcelona

What bike do you own? 
I used to ride a FXSTS Harley Springer, but now I'm selling it. These days I'm finishing my small Yamaha SR250, with a BratStyle look like. I can't wait to ride it!!

What's your dream bike?
May be an W650/800 or an SR500. I love the Japanese custom style.

Who is your favourite racer? 
When I was young I used to follow Mick Doohan, I really loved his races! but now I'm looking closer Marc Marquez, I think that he will bring us amazing moments.

If you were to start racing flat track, what bike would you choose?
I'm sure that I'd love an old school one. Maybe an OSSA, Bultaco or BSA.

What was the inspiration for your DTRA poster? 
What most impresses me about the photos of flat track races, is to see riders tilted to the maximum. I have tried to capture this moment and give it movement.

Finish this sentence. Racing is life, but… 
drawing is safer!

Click Sideburn DTRA 2013 posters to see the others.

Brusco also has a 10 page feature in Gary's new Motorcycle Graphics book. BP

Motorcycle Graphics now on sale

The book I edited featuring great artists from around the world is available for order direct from the publisher. Buyers outside Europe have to wait a while, but Amazon will have it in the future.

Read more about the book here.

Order Motorcycle Graphics by Gary Inman. G

Motorcycle Graphics: Outsider Art, Graphics and Illustration

I was approached by a UK publisher to compile a book highlighting the work of artists around the world. Their work had to be motorcycle and moto culture related. The publisher didn't want any fine art stuff, much more contemporary. He also wanted the emphasis on artists who hadn't been featured in other books of collected works (like those published by Korero, another company he is involved with). There is an overlap with a few, but not many, and where possible, no repetition.

Motorcycle Graphics: Outsider Art, Graphics and Illustration
Choppers, road rockets, greasers, desert sleds, café racers, dirt trackers and conceptual creations fire up the imaginations of 30 artists from four continents to create an orgy of art paying homage to the motorcycle. 

The work also had to be art on conventional media, so this isn't motorcycle as art, or the painting of helmets or petrol tanks. I think people will like it. I hope they do.

There isn't a load of writing, an intro and short bios of the 30 artists. The majority of the 256 pages is art, on good quality paper, printed well (going by Graffito's over books, this book is still at the printers) and between hard covers. It's going to be a chunky coffee table book that retails at £29.99

The publisher is offering an early bird discount. They say...

Anyone registering their interest in the book before 15th June by sending their email, will get a £5 discount, making the book £24.99 rather than £29.99, with free shipping in the UK. We're now expecting books in the UK in early July... 

 Email offers@graffitobooks.com

The email for trade orders if your shop wants to stock it is ian@graffitobooks.com

The artist list includes: Will Barras, Adi Gilbert, Maxwell Paternoster, Stevie Gee, Jeff Wright, Adam Nickel, Carby Tuckwell, Antonio Merinero, Raulowsky, Lennard Schuurmans, Tokyo Guns, Brusco, Dirty Donny, Ryan Quickfall, Chris Watson, Shawn McKinney, Lorenzo Eroticolor; Lapin, Will Pierce, Cay Brondum, Raid71...

Retrospective Scooters Book

This brand new book takes its name from a back street North London classic Vespa specialist. It's the work of photographer Paul Hart who shot the shop, its vintage Vespas and also the scooters the photographer himself bought from Retrospective over a six-year period. 

Paul explains the book was shot all on film, not digital, which always makes much more difference to the photographer (and other photographers) than the reader. Instagram's instant effects have dulled us to the joys of cross-processing. Nevertheless it's a lovely coffee table book for anyone with a soft spot for Piaggio's wasp. 

The 120-page book is a chunky large format softback and is limited to 130 copies. It'll sell out, guaranteeing its cult status. 

It was designed by David Hardy of (Team S Equipe and Enjoy the Ride) and the short passages are in English, Italian and German. I've been picking it up and putting it down all day. I've found it pretty inspirational (even though I'm a Lambretta man). 

Go to Vespamore to buy yours. G

One Motorcycle Show Books

So, Thor over at See See Motorcycles in Portland organises this great event called The One Motorcycle Show. I went this year and it was great. Every year they shoot the best bikes and now Thor wants to print high quality, heavyweight books of the first two years.

But because book publishing is so expensive, he raising money to produce them through a service called Kickstarter. You have to raise an agreed amount of money, then investors back the rest. But you have to do it in an agreed time and they're in the last SIX days.

There are plenty of different options, from donating $1 to over $5000 and you get something back for all the donations.

If the total isn't raised, you get your money back. I've seen samples of the books, made as one-offs to promote the fund, and they look really good with a massive variety of bikes and people.

Follow this link to find or more and to donate

One Motorcycle Show Kickstarter Fund. G

The One Motorcycle Show BOOKS

Thor Drake of the One Motorcycle Show, Portland, Oregon is using the funding site Kickstarter to produce a pair of beautiful motorcycle books. I've seen the sample books and want them on my bookshelf.
As I understand it, you pledge to buy the book, that raises the fee for the printing, then you get your book or books. If it doesn't reach the target, you get your money back.

This is what Thor (of See See Motorcycles) says (read this and click the picture above to watch the short video):

We are pre-selling the books from years 1 & 2. These are hardbound full quality books. Your contribution will help us kickstart these 2 finished books and give us the funds to start on the next two books from last year's show and this years show. Please go to http://the1moto.com/books/ follow the directions for purchase. It's easy and secure.

Big Book of Biker Flicks - Back In Stock

Big Book of Biker Flicks, signed by the author, in the Sideburn shop. G

Complete Grand National Championship Volume II

The Complete Grand National Championship Volume II 1970-1975 is finally finished! The new 562 page book details the explosion in popularity of GNC racing in the first half of the 1970’s. This was truly at the peak of the “Golden Era” of American motorcycle racing. Factory involvement was at it’s highest and the best riders competed on dirt tracks and road courses from coast to coast. Over two years in the making, the book has been painstakingly researched and covers each race and championship. It is packed with neat trivia and nearly 200 photographs, many never before published. Other highlights include a foreword by two-time Grand National Champion Dick Mann and a tribute to road race legend Cal Rayborn from his close friend, Jim McMurren. Like The Complete GNC Volume I, the detailed account fills in the gaps and tells the whole story of this exciting era for the first time.
$39.99 plus shipping, $3.99 for Media Mail, (U.S. only), Priority shipping available. The books will ship out from the publisher, which normally take 3-5 days. Paypal, check or Money order are fine. The book will only be available directly from me until late November, when it will also be on Ebay. The book is a must have for anyone interested in one of the greatest eras in American motorcycle racing. It will also make a perfect Christmas gift for any fan of GNC racing.

A note to international buyers; I now have an arrangement to ship your books directly from the publisher, greatly reducing most overseas shipping costs. Please contact me with your address for exact cost.

Please contact me at my new email address: gncbook@aol.com or gtammyp89@cs.com
Greg Pearson

If this book floats you're boat, you really need the Bible of Flat Track Racing too

Cast Iron and Kustom Graphics

Cast Iron is back in stock. We have a handful of both 1 and 2, but this heavyweight bookazine sold out in a blink last time. Go to the Sideburn shop. Signed copies of Biker Flicks are in too. And the hard to find Kustom Graphics 1 book. G