Metalsport Wheels

We had an email from a friend in California telling us about a new wheel company. MetalSports wheels is run by Rodney Aguiar, a custom bike builder who worked at Roland Sands Designs and Performance Machine for years. Here's what he says...

I'm just a regular guy not a big business. I knew there was a demand in the flat track world for billet wheels so I stepped up and spent my money to get people a quality well-designed wheel. I worked designing product for Roland Sands for the last five years and quit there in Feb of last year. I knew it was a gamble making them but I wanted people to have the option of running a billet wheel if they so choose. I've been an amateur roadracer and have been riding motorcycles since I was 5. My friend, Mark Cernicky, introduced me to flat track four or five years back and I thought it was so cool that it was such a grass roots form of racing. People were doing it for the love of racing and I wanted to try and help out those racers that wanted something new and fresh. Long story short I was trying to stoke people out.

See more at MetalSports Wheels

Dutch Brothers KTM

More of the Dutch Brothers KTM with 19in Superwheels and Goldentyre road legal DT rubber.
And below, the drawing Jan-Willem of the Dutch Brothers drew as a young boy.
Check out the similarity of the wheels the young Jan-Willem drew and the ones the older Jan-Willem (who works in the Formula 1 engineering industry) made as prototypes. A clear vision. G

Coolbeth wins Knoxville Half-Mile

With the intake restrictors* removed Harley's filled the top six at yesterday's Knoxville half-mile. Kenny Coolbeth, #2, won on the Zanotti bike we featured in Sideburn 11. This is his first National win with the team he joined in the winter, and his first since losing his ride with the official Harley team.

*For years, certain bikes have had to use intake restrictors that strangle the performance of the engine, in an effort to create a level playing field (don't ask us why). They crudely allow less fuel and air charge to transfer from the carbs to the combustion area. For 2014 they're no longer being forced on teams. A Kawasaki won the Springfield Mile. A Harley won the half-mile, but I think Harleys have won every half-mile for the last 200 years).

Sammy Halbert, #7, won the Dash for Cash and came third in the main

Jake Johnson, #5, who rode a Ducati in the Ramspur colours at Springfield, was on an XR750 in the same colours and came in second.

Brad Baker was sixth, 9secs off the lead in the 12.5-mile race. We don't know if this is still a hangover from his broken leg injury or points to the much-held belief that private teams can currently get more out of the XR750 that the factory can.

Mikey Martin on the Bonneville Performance Triumph, 11th in the main. A solid result for a team that is quick but suffers from minor reliability problems just when they don't want them. 

UPDATE
both Mikey, and Shayna below, are sporting the new Super Wheels designed by Dutch Brothers Jan-Willem

Shayna Texter, #25A, earned her national number by making the 18-rider main (out of 34 riders who tried to qualify). Her Latus Castrol Triumph had horrific handling issues at Springfield, but they tested between the two races and went some way to curing it, but she was still more than a lap down. Jeremy Higgins, #82, came back after missing a few races to come 13th on the Baer Kawasaki.

After completely dominating Springfield, Jake Johnson found himself down in 7th, the first of seven Kawasakis to make the main. There were also were also two Triumphs, one Suzuki and the eight XR750s.

Never happier than when he's holding a big cheque. Sammy Halbert.

1. Coolbeth. 2. Johnson. 3. Halbert.
That's how it stands in the combined championship standings too.

Next race is Lima Half-Mile on June 28.

All photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing.

Superwheels

These are the lightweight, forged alloy race wheels that will also be road legal, designed by Jan-Willem of the Dutch Brothers (a Formula 1 engineer and amateur flat track racer).

This is a picture of the second generation prototype superwheels they include some performance and cosmetic refinements. Three sets will go to selected GNC teams, which I would like to thank for their trust and commitment. 
One set will tested for fatigue, impact and corrosion restance. This is required to be approved for legal street use in Europe. The fifth set will be used on a very exciting street-legal-ready-to-race project. 

The Superwheels are now very close to be released for production and to really turn this into a succesful mission, it needs a passionate, hands-on, creative marketing partner if this person is out there, he/she is most likely to read Sideburn so if you feel that this is something you like to do please get in touch.
jw@dutch-brothers.com

Super Wheels in the Flesh

Gary already posted the blurb on Jan-Willem's Super Wheels.
I've seen them up close at Noyes Camp in Spain. Unlike me, J-W does not hand-file bits of scrap iron in his garden shed. J-W's world is inhabited by robots wielding surgical instruments. J-W utilizes only refined high-tech alloys. These new wheels are as state-of-the-art as can be. The prototypes fitted here to Tom's awesome J&M framed Sportser were machined from spun blanks, but the production versions would look identical but be forged.

Inspired by the beloved BMX Skyway mags of our youth, I'd like to see them in garish colours too. Rad. BP

Super Wheels

One of the most enthusiastic dirt track fans in the whole of Europe, Jan-Willem of the Dutch Brothers,  has developed some new 19in wheels suitable for road or race bikes. J-W works in the F1 industry, so even though we haven't seen these wheels, we have no doubt they'll be the business. This is what he says.

We have made one set of prototypes to see interest, the real wheels would be forged and final machined, same as motoGP wheels. the would be street legal in europe and cost around 1000€/pc depending on hub type and finish. I would love to have them made but it depends on interest. They are only 4kgs so good for racing too.

Contact him if you are interested through jw@dutch-brothers.com

Sam Christmas PV snaps

Sam's private view evening was properly rammed, there was even a bouncer to sluicegate the swelling torrents of the usual suspects plus a hundred more. Well done Sam, great portraits. Good times. An impressive bike turn-out despite the chill. The show runs until the 3rd Feb. Go see it. BP

Burning Man

Davida went with a small contingent to Burning Man this year. This was Fid's personal favorite, a Honda CX500 powered avgas tank car; with (the nerd in me says) Mini 1275 Rostyle wheels (but then they look bigger than 10"?).

This is their Evel Knievel Speedster. BP

MV Airgusta

Our good friend Jason has celebrated news of the UK coming out of recession by fitting a spare MV Agusta F4 wheel to the workshop wall to keep his airhose tidy. Recycling, the sensible thing to do. G

Invader?

GI posted this picture from the Indy Mile a few weeks back, but what is the crazy 4-spoke wheel Shawn Baer #32 has on the front of his bike? Looks like an Invader chopper mag! BP

Dirk's New Bike

This has been on my desktop for months. Jan-Willem Dutch Brother sent me it. It's Dirk's new bike, a Wood-Rotax on lovely Performance Machine 8-spokes. He bought it after seeing an advert on VFT then imported it. A steady dribble of framers are coming to Europe from the US and,of course, more are being built here by companies like Co-Built, Zaeta and Red Max.

If anyone has those PM wheels for sale, let us know, please. G

Eddie Kidd Big Nuts

1980, young stuntman Eddie Kidd and Beverley Pilkington model for Big D nuts. Starter for 10, 'What's the bike?' BP

Volusia Holiday Snaps

Classics share the track at Volusia.
Mees with a new number and new beard.
How cool?
The Halbert pit.
The most excellent Jason Griffin from Sideburn 4
Hanging out.
Camp Coolbeth
Nichole Cheza's bikes.
Lowell Carson and his XR750. Tasty old PM wheels. Anyone got any they want to sell to Sideburn?

Our friend Tom from the Shed-Brewed blog got in touch to say his girlfriend had booked a holiday to Florida, coincidentally when Speed Week was on. I recommended he check out Volusia. These are his shots (see more at his blog) and this is what he said...

Evening Gary.
Florida was good. back today. not slep yet, got no idea ho long I've ben awake.
Volusia rocked, great recommend, thanks.
Got snap happy in the pits, but watched most of teh racing with beer and hot dogs and burgers.
You'll be chuffed to know one of teh racers, Lyle (?) Carson came running over when he saw te Sideburn shirt and was spouting of at how great a mag it was and how he was trying to get people into it. Jason Griffin was full of praise too.
Saw Discovery do its final landing too.
T

New Zaeta Wheels

This is Marco Belli's European Flat Track Championship-winning Zaeta DT. Check out the new wheels. Beautiful. Read about Zaeta in Sideburn 5. G

Project RE's wheels

Project Royal Enfield has wheels and tyres. And they're beauties: 19in black rims, Talon black hubs, stainless spokes and nicely scrubbed in Maxxis DT-1s, bought secondhand from my mate, Ben. For now, they're hung from a ceiling using an ingenious, space-saving method learned while doing a feature for Performance Bikes. The double-threaded special screw is well, screwed into the wooden joist, then the long hex nut screws on and a length of threaded bar screws into it. Next, push the hub over the threaded bar, put a big washer and a nut on and your wheels are hung perpendicular to the ceiling well out of the way. I left this threaded bar a bit long, but it's not big deal. Thanks for the tip Sam. M8 Machine Thread to Wood Thread Dowels are available from ScrewFix or any decent ironmonger. G

Wheels?

David at Krook Street Racing asked if I knew what make this front wheel is. I don't. I bet at least one of you do. Please tell us. G

Bob's Sporty

Thought you guys might enjoy this one off Harley Racer Replica. Highly modified Trackmaster frame, Kimtab Magneisum wheels, custom body work, and tons of handmade bits.
Trying to get it out there to see if someone will recognize it from the past. There was so much work done to this bike that it is
amazing.
Had one email that said they thought it was in a magazine about 30 years ago from Bonneville and had a Hilborn injection system ran out the side of it?
Prepping a Champion Big Bore Honda XL for the Vegas indoor for 2011.
Enjoy the coverage of the VEGAS auction and races, all of us that live here truly appreciate the coverage.
Enjoy
Bob & LInda Neilson, Las Vegas, NV.

Thanks Bob. Don't know if we'll make it to Vegas next year as much as we'd like to. Thanks for the photos. The bike is wild. GI

Project FT Update

We bought a cheapie Apico clutch lever that was anodised a hideous off-gold, then had our friends at Racefit re-anodise it black. Carl's stuck the tyres on the original rims too. The front is a Dunlop K180 race tyre (thanks Jason), the rear is a brand new, Van-Van front Dunlop K180 road tyre (thanks Bryn).
Now we need some discs, but we want a bigger 320mm disc for the front (because we've swapped the forks) and can't find one that will fit the hub. It looks like we'll have to get one made up. G