Bastie Racing Heritage

Sideburn's French ambassador, Hubert Bastie sent tells this great story about his family background...

Many of us, DTRA riders, are from a family of racers. The same for me.

My dad was born in 1950 in Paris. He rode Husqvarna, Ossa and Bultacos from 1973 to 1983. But I never saw him riding, not e even once (but last year he competed in a Super veteran race, after 33 years of not racing). Why? Because he just stopped everything when my brother came to the world.

What did he leave us from his racing years? Tons of bikes? Cool riding gear? Did he take us ride as youngsters? NO! Nothing!

He was just ok to help me to buy a trials bike, a Gas Gas 125, at 16, but I'd been focussed on a 1985 YZ since I was 12! For him motocross is baaaad and dangerous. That's so strange for a man who finished the seventh at first edition of Le Touquet, who won races in the French Enduro Championship.

Here is what he left:
3 helmets in the Garage, that became nice bird's nest.
One single Husqvarna Jersey.
Some trophies And a used Trelleborg tyre and tooooons of pictures...

 1981 Husqvarna 250

  1981 Husqvarna 250

 1982 Husqvarna

                                                                    1982 Husqvarna

 The one on the left became my mum 

 Ossa Trials

 The shirt I wore in DTRA

 Broken shock at Le Touquet in 1981

 The helmet cemetery today

With his road bike a Z1, one of the first in France

LAB2V

Still hobbling, but still buzzing with contentment.
LA (actually Palmdale) > Barstow > Las Vegas 32nd annual dual sport enduro was fantastic. Until doing the Sideburn Morocco tour in April, I only had limited green laning experience in Wiltshire and Wales. I figured if I could conquer the cathedral dunes of the Sahara, the Mojave would be a piece of piss. Too cocky too soon. It's 'only' two days as opposed to five on the trot, but up at 5am only to come to a crumbling halt at 5:30pm the days are much longer. The dust is a demon in its own right.

I'll write a longer piece in the next issue of the magazine, but this is primarily to say I survived, and a big Thank You to Julian of Deus Emporium LA for all he did to facilitate my ride.

Thank you Jaime Dempsey and the rest of the Deus road crew who kept us topped up. The brand new Husqvarna FE350 was amazeballs. (I thought I'd miss the extra 100cc I had with the the 450 KTM EXC in Morocco but I didn't).

Gary Pasquale, not your average ADV rider, home baked Yamaha XS650 crosser, Biltwell metal flake lid, army surplus kit, rode like a scalded wolverine.

decision time on the afternoon of the final day. Take the 'hard route' up Red Rock Canyon or not? (the road book lists alternative 'bale out' and 'easy route' short cut options for the flagging hearted). I'm knackered, my right foot is f*€kd, I'm under-dressed for the chillier mountain temperatures, and there is talk of Youtube featured perilous danger. I can't resist. BP

Viva Vince

Вездеход в чемодане

Penton: The Movie

From regular correspondent, Roger F...

Narrated by Country singing star and motorcyclist Lyle Lovett and a host of off-road racing stars, the full length movie about John Penton hits theaters this June and I can without reservation, proclaim it a must see for anyone who has ridden on knobby tires. He flat out revolutionized woods riding in the U.S., developed Penton motorcycles, and helped put American riders on the map in the ISDT. Penton was eventually absorbed by a little backwater manufacturer named KTM and set KTM on the road to becoming arguably the most successful off-road motorcycle producer in the world today. Check it out... Roger

Read the cap

I've got a couple of these somewhere, from the days when I owned the cooking versions of the bikes that did the business in the Sixties. As fuel caps go, one of the finest. MP
Thanks to David Nimrod on Flickr for the pic.

Rugged

Oddball '70s Simca GL1000 and SWM 2-stroke enduro. What rugged beauty. BP

Brown Laning

(not prison slang). 3º out on the Marlborough Downs with three friends. Jason on his pristine Ducati 450 scrambler that he raced in the street tracker class at Dirt Quake - most people with a vehicle in this condition would not offer it to the twin gods of Caca and Risk on a frozen muddy December, Anthony Co-Built on his Yamaha YZ350, me on a YZ450 borrowed from Geoff Co-Built. Every November I'm convinced that I am a bear that shouldn't be woken from hibernation until April, but then I'd miss out on this. Humans have more fun. BP

Not the expression you would expect from someone who has just done a face-plant on slimey chalk, and broken his front mudguard in half - unless that man is called Jason smiley bear.

Austin Vince Adventure Travel Film Festival

Friday 5pm 17th August – Monday 3pm 20th August.
10 Epic adventure travel films hosted by Austin Vince, made between 1920s to present day. Sherborne Girls School, Bradford Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT93QN. More info on the Davida website HERE. BP

ZP at Sachsenring

New ZP Moto spotted by Sideburn reader Martin H who says...

Spotted this one at the German GP on Sunday - looks even nicer with these colours to me. 
Martin 

It does look good, but still not 20 thousand euros good.
Hey Co-Built, can you build me one, please? G

Straight outta Zschopau

I love this retro-styled enduro, ZP Moto 450. GasGas (not Yam, thanks Anthony) engine, RWU forks, steel frame, twin shocks. Inspired by the MZ Six Days bike, like those below.
There's only one small problem: it costs over €20,000. G
Find out more at http://zpmoto.de/

Alley Sweeper 2012

From Danker in Portland, Oregon.

Well, you missed it and it was a good'un! Two solid weeks of rain and then the sun shone down on glorious muddy tracks. I've finally found the right right machine for the Urban Enduro. After riding smaller and smaller machines I've settled on a 1967 Honda Trail90. It has just the right amount of power and dirt cred for riding through unsuspecting people's back yards and riverside hobo encampments. Here's a vid  


It sounds like Dirt Quake is shaping up to be super sweet. We wish you guys the best of luck! Cheers, Danker, Sang-Froid Riding Club 

Twin Shock Enduro

Great photos from Streetracker blog. Ride it, don't hide it. G

Enduro Chic

Part of a cracking series of 11 pages of photos in this months French GQ #46, by Dimitri Coste, impeccable in front and behind the camera. BP

Mud Fun

BRrrr December. It's hovering around 5°C. Thursday is grim all day. For Friday, Co Built Anthony has organized a group of 5 riders (me, GI, Guy S, Chippy and himself) to ride enduro on the Marlborough Downs, following ancient bridleways, byways and sections of the historic Ridgeway. The most optimistic man in UK motorcycling has promised sun. And he delivers. It's glorious. We meet up 7 miles north of Marlborough. Chippy was on the road at 4:30am to buy a garish 1988 Suzuki RM250 on the way. Gary 5:30. The rest of us live closer.
Anthony's KTM 450EXC that I'm going to borrow has seen action in Africa, and a week at the hands of Travis - I'm not sure which is more grueling? It doesn't want to start. Fault finding requires partial disassembly with molegrips. Anthony goes into Paris-Dakar mode and it's soon brought back to life.
Seemingly easy tracks prove to be very skiddy where the ground is chalk. I crash 4 times. More daunting deeply rutted cesspools are hairy but fun. These photos show open country but most of tracks were more like covered rabbit runs through ancient woodland that would eject us in yet another picturesque Wiltshire village for 2 minutes of tarmac before Anthony would lead us into a farmyard and onto the next. What a blissful day.
Last week I wasn't sure if my dicky back could take the punishment, but after a day's country rutting I feel like I've been given a rejuvenating all-limb going-over by an Swedish Amazon masseur (including a light whipping of hawthorn sticks). BP