One for the gaffer

Just for Gary, the tireless dynamo that drives Sideburn and all its offshoots. To be honest, all I want for Christmas is an ounce of my mate's energy. MP

2000ft over the canyon… but 6 inches UNDER the media radar.

Earlier this week we posted about the recreation of Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump, well, Eddie Braun successfully ‘jumped’ over the infamous 1400 ft canyon.

The launch was scheduled for today, September 17^th….but the EVEL SPIRIT team opted to do it yesterday, possibly because of better weather conditions. There seemed to be virtually no crowd watching.

It looked like a textbook exercise and everybody is smiling. Hats off to the team but this is possibly one of the most under-publicised events in recent history. I don’t know why this newsworthy event failed to get any media coverage. It was rather badly covered by a local TV news crew and (so far) captured with a couple of quite frankly, terrible amateur Youtube clips. I sincerely hope that this occasion has been properly documented.  

I acknowledge that times have maybe changed and everybody these days is ‘Extremed-Out’ but I can’t help but think that this just shows what a showman and entrepreneur Knievel was. Always able to ‘Bring the Circus to town’ in what seemed an effortless and flamboyant way, hawking his stunts on a global scale.

I read that Braun Spent $1.5 million of his own money to make this happen. Perhaps the EVEL SPIRIT team invested all their combined resources and energy into the mechanics of making a successful jump, maybe overlooking the pre-event publicity and build up. Or maybe the mainstream media just don’t care about an ongoing 42-year-old story. Either way, it seems criminal that this wasn’t presented ‘live’ on satellite TV and it didn’t make ‘News at Ten’. I found a picture of a tattoo belonging to an English chap who made the pilgrimage to Twin Falls Idaho to witness the jump. Ironically, this tattoo could possibly make a bigger internet splash than the jump itself.

In other news it seems Rocket Sky-Cycles are just like buses…you wait 42 years for one and then two turn up together. Apparently, on October 18^th , self-taught rocket scientist ‘Mad Mike Hughes’ will climb aboard his own version of Evel Knievel’s X-2 Sky-Cycle and endeavour to jump over the ghost town of Amboy in California. You couldn’t make it up!

Dave Skooter Farm

All photos: AP

Texas Chris Jenner

Back in May we organised a Yorkshire Ride Out with HebTroCo. Among a bunch of great bikes was a very neat very neat, street trackered XS650 built by and belonging to 'Texas' Chris Jenner and American living in the UK. Nothing particularly unusual, there were a few good looking street trackers among the mix. What was interesting was I knew Chris was heading to dirt track practice at Greenfield the next day on the very same bike.

Chris is a graduate of the University of Dirt Quake, yet another rider who has undertaken their first motorcycle race at Dirt Quake, only to be seduced by the action and atmosphere and then bought or built a bike to race more seriously.

Chris took off the front brake and light overnight in preparation for the practice. These aircooled Yamaha twins are solid machines, but it didn't stop Chris, a BMX rider, launching it off the Greenfield TT jump and even crossing it up in mid-air, looking like a 21st Century Kenny Roberts. Great photo by James Boddy.

The DTRA Greenfield TT is on this weekend. Spectator entry is free, but car parking is £5. There is a bar on site, camping, and two days of racing.
Aim for Greenfield Farm, Alford, Lincolnshire, LN13 0EB.

A report of the Yorkshire Ride-out will be in Sideburn 25, coming very soon. G

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!

Cindy on the Wall of Death

Cindy swaps her DKR Manx for a stripped-down Beezer twin to ride the wall of death. I love the signwritten BSA ads around the top of the wall.

We've booked the legendary Ken Fox Wall of Death for Dirt Quake V. They will be performing free shows on Friday night, after the the DTRA and Hooligan dirt track racing, then on Saturday during and after the Dirt Quake racing.

Dirt Quake V tickets are now on sale.
Friday is £5, Saturday is £15. Under 11s are free. 11-15 year-olds

All full price Saturday tickets bought in advance will be entered into a draw to win a custom Mutt Motorcycles street tracker worth over £4500. G

Woffinden wide-line

There's always an excuse for a bit of Woffy and here he is showing the form that's made him the reigning British and World Champion. He lines up against Troy Batchelor, Niels-Kristian Iversen and Nicki Pedersen in the second semi final at the Mitas Slovenian GP last September. MP

We Love Motorcycho

Last month we spent a few bromantic days in California and Nevada with Norman from Motorcycho: three grown, married men; fathers of eight children in total, sharing a cheap motel room and a budget rental car. It was humiliating in a kind of fun way.

Sideburn has stocked Motorcycho, the original lame-ass bikerzine, and it's related patches for years now, so we got Norman to write a bit about the history of his zine.

The true beginning of Motorcycho began around 1969 (above) when I picked up my first motorcycle magazine, which I probably still have, and a few years later my first minibike. I've never been without two wheels since! 

As far as the magazine is concerned, I had been doing a music zine through the late 80's and reached a point where it was time for a change. It was probably around this point I stumbled upon my first issue of Gearhead magazine. Issue #2 featured articles on biker movies, biker movie soundtracks and Davie Allan. I was big into motorcycle music by then, doing a weekly radio show at the local University station, and it became clear to me that the next logical progression for me was a zine about motorcycles and music! 

This would have been around 1994, my riding days were at a minimum due to the fact I had 4 small kids, so doing a zine was the perfect distraction! 

Cut and paste and a dot matrix printer kept it simple. The first bunch of issues had a lot more music and band interviews, but through the years that has pretty much disappeared. I had also wanted keep it simple and easy, that also has pretty much disappeared, which is why we only seem to put out one issue a year. 

Lately the mag is pretty much about friends and fun. I guess that's been the common thread throughout Motorcycho's existence… Motorcycles are FUN, and the people are the best! Whether it be riding minibikes in the back alley, roadtripping with a bunch of buddies on vintage tin or riding with my wife on the back on some twisty mountain road, it all brings a big grin to this guy's face! 

 Like a wise man once said: "I Dig Sickles"

Above and below, Norm with his youngest daughter Miki, a few years apart. I get the feeling Norm is one of the best dads ever.

Norm on his trusty TT impersonating his hero Evel. 

If this inspires you to buy some Motorcycho goods, head over to the Sideburn shop and click the Motorcycho label in the category box on the right. You get a free Sideburn sticker with every Motorcycho order from us. G

Race With The Devil

The fact this is brilliant is reason enough, but it's also a reflection of the healthy hot rod scene in the States in the mid 1950s, and showcases the great guitar of Cliff Gallup with two class breaks. Lyrics provided, because Gene, who'd have turned 80 this year, really turns on his Virginia slur. First released in 1956. MP

RACE WITH THE DEVIL (Davis, Vincent, 1956, Capitol 3530)

Well, I've led an evil life, so they say
But I'll out-run the Devil on judgement day

[Chorus]
I say, move hot rod, move man
Move hot rod, move man
A-move hot rod, move me on down the line

Well, me and the Devil sittin' at the stoplight
He started rollin', I was out of sight

[Chorus]

I was going pretty fast, looked behind
Here comes the Devil doin' ninety-nine

[Chorus] Let's drag now

I thought I was smart, the race was won
And here comes the Devil doin' hundred-and-one

[Chorus] Let's drag again

I was going pretty fast, looked behind
Here comes the Devil doin' ninety-nine

[Chorus]

Well, I've led an evil life, so they say
But I'll out-run the Devil on judgement day

[Chorus]

Ollie Brindley - Hero

No apologies for harping on about the Superprestigio for the last few days. It was an amazing race.

Apparently, it's on BT Sport from 6-8am tomorrow.

In this photo of the grand finale, the Superfinal you will see:

#4 Thomas Chareyre (multiple World Supermoto champ, I said he was a dark horse) going down having been nudged from behind going into turn 1 on lap 1.
Marc Marquez is so close to crashing, but manages to stay up, but pushes Dani Ribalta (yellow and black helmet) out wide.
#1 Jared Mees gets fouled up in the crash, losing momentum and running wide.
MotoGP star Bradley Smith in the pale blue sleeves (on the podium Philip Island earlier this year) is outside Mees and outside him is…
Ollie Brindley!

Little Ollie Brindley! The DTRA's Ollie Brindley. Ollie Brindley that smashed his shoulder to pieces (ask to see the scar) just four weeks ago while racing to qualify for this meeting. Ollie Brindley who turned 16 just one week ago.

Marquez, Mees,  Smith, Brindley!

Ollie came in sixth, ahead of Smith. Kenny Noyes was an amazing third.

The list of riders who didn't make this final includes - Shayna Texter, Alex Marquez, Tito Rabat, Troy Bayliss, Taddy Blasuziak, Toni Elias, Guy Martin, Mikka Kallio, Scott Redding, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Joona Kylmakorpi, Ivan Cervantes...

Thanks from Sideburn and the British dirt track community to Kawasaki UK for sponsoring both Ollie and Alan Birtwistle (who made the Open Class final).
If anyone out there wants to help out this young lad in terms of sponsorship (or any of the other young Brits who did amazingly well in Spain - Tim Neave put in a faster qualifying time than everyone except Brad Baker, Tom Neave was only a tenth behind), contact us and we'll put you in touch. G

In search of Mark Brelsford

Mark Brelsford is no easy man to track down, but we got him after a saga of midnight transatlantic phone calls, messages relayed up mountains by friends and futile emails lost mysteriously to the ether. After big crashes in 1973 and '74 the 1972 Grand National champion quit racing and moved to the great open spaces of Alaska. 'I'd had the last rites two times in the last two years and I thought I'd better get out while I'm still able to walk and talk.' In the new issue of Sideburn, (#19, available now), we hear Mark's memories of racing at Ascot Park in 1969, his first year as a Harley-Davidson team rider. David and Goliath even get a mention. He's shown a year or two later in the shot above - unknown photographer please drop us a line. MP

The Ballerina on the Golden Bicycle

To carry on the bicycle madness, it's a long, long time since we announced a new god or goddess, but now is the moment.
Tony Hawk: whatever. Ken Block: meh. Travis Pastrana: is that all you've got?
Check out Lilly Yokoi and prepare to have your frontal lobes spontaneously turn into broken biscuits.
I urge you to take the four-and-a-bit minutes to watch this.

And yeah, there'll be another motorbike post along in a few hours, or there's about 4500 behind this one. December 2010 was a good month on the Sideblog, if you want to relive past glories. G

The Original: Brat Style

People have become very confused. Some try to tell us 'Our show includes Brat Style bikes.' Others claim 'We make Brat Style bikes.' They don't. Only one company makes Brat Style bikes: Brat Style of Japan. The rest, those influenced and riding on the coat tails, make Brat Style-style bikes.

For Sideburn 18 (out now!) Japanese journalist, photographer, clothing designer and rocker, Hiro Maeda visited Brat Style's three-storey Tokyo HQ for Sideburn. He interviewed the top man, Mr. Go Takamine, and got the lowdown on the history of the company; why Go has moved to the USA; what the followers will be riding in four years time (basically what Go is building right now). And there isn't a panini seat in sight.

On another note - Ben pointed out there is a website in Italy called Brat Style and they've trademarked the name. Trademarking the name of a true trailblazer and a gent - how low can you go? GI

How to load a bike into a pick-up

 Jack Field is a hero! G

Iron and steel

Funny how things can pan out. A few weeks back, my wife found this knife in the street. It had clearly been lying there for a while and with no houses or shops nearby, she brought it home and I cleaned it up. It seems it was a promotional freebie, originally in a leather pouch and probably from the 1950s. I've seen others online stamped with Bayer and also made by Walter Kayser in Solingen, Germany, a town with a long history of blade making, the Sheffield of the Rhineland.

And this is Adolf Weil, a son of Solingen and known as the Iron Man thanks to his long career in motocross, most of which was spent as a Maico works rider, in fact the AW400 he's riding here in 1976 bears his initials. He won 14 national championships and three times came third in the 500cc world championships. At the age of 34 he won the Trans-AMA title. Adolf died in 2011, but the bike shop he set up in his home town when he retired from racing in 1977 is still run by his sons Frank and Jürgen. MP

Grease, hair and the craic

With the Classic TT running this weekend, it reminded me of this precious piece of documentary-making by David Wallace, who followed Joey Dunlop, Frank Kennedy and Mervyn Robinson through the 1977 season of real road racing at such as the North West 200, Cookstown and Carrowdore. It's all Transit vans and country music, flat-out test runs on quiet Irish back lanes, filthy fingernails and scraping together the pennies to go racing. Beautifully filmed and a snapshot of another world. MP

Donhou Speedster

Experiments in Speed from SpindleProductions on Vimeo.

I met Tom from Donhou Cycles at the Bike Shed Event earlier this year. He told me about the bike he was building, the one featured in this film. It sounded amazing. It is amazing. The man's a hero.

Thanks to Mark W for the link to this film. G

Mott Green

Nothing to do with bikes, everything to do with something ever close to Sideburn thinking - good people who get good stuff done.

The other day, listening to BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme, I was introduced to this bloke from the States, Mott Green, who'd fallen in love with Grenada in the southern Caribbean. He ended up living there and managed, against all odds - heat, humidity, lack of infrastructure and the rest of it - to set up a small factory, a co-operative, making high-quality organic chocolate, at the same time ensuring a very short chain between farmer and consumer, giving the farmers the best deal possible.

As a talented engineer, he got his hands dirty, inventing, installing and maintaining much of the plant necessary to make the venture work. Blimey, he even got an old-time sail-ship to take tens of thousands of bars of his award-winning chocolate across the Atlantic to Holland, where it was distributed by volunteers on bicycles.

Mott Green was killed in June just gone, electrocuted while repairing machinery at his factory. His energy lives on in the inspiration he's given to others. MP

The Sideburn Poet

I'm pretty sure Sideburn is the only motorcycle magazine to list a poet on the staff. And even if others had a poet, he'd be nothing like ours.
That's him above, bearded, after coming third in a big enduro race in the US and collecting his share of a $3000 purse.
Travis Newbold is his name. He races enduro, MX, flat track and he was the sixth fastest vehicle of any description at the 2012 Pike's Peak Hillclimb and 450 champ at that legendary race. He also runs a bike shop in Denver, Newbold's Motorbike Shop (photos below).
Read his poetry in Sideburn 12 and 13.
Check his 747 Rider blog too.
Oh, and he's coming all the way from Colorado to race at Dirt Quake 2. Are you going to be there? G

Style Guru: Kamen Rider

Forget selvedge denim cut-offs and vintage MX helmets. This is the look I'm after. 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.