Deus Bike Build-Off Public Vote

Back in May I was invited out to the Deus Bike Build-Off in Milan, Italy, and asked to be one of the judges. You can see the earlier posts here (Deus Milano Bike Build-Off).

Now the public vote is open to choose the Global People's Vote, and it reminded me to post these photos of some of the finalists.

The builder of this Monster 750 street tracker got the stance dead right, I reckon. It might be a little long, but I could see someone having fun against the Harley Sportsters in the Hooligan class on something like this. 

 Another Ducati street tracker mash-up.

 Dagger Cycles neat SRX600.

Judges looking studious. Clockwise from front left, Raffaele Paolucci (Sideburn contributor, great photographer, shot Sideburn 11 cover); Vincent from Wheels and Waves (who shot one of Sideburn 12's two covers); Paola Furlan (web journalist); Roberto Ungaro (editor of Riders magazine); me!; Fabric Roux (editor, found of French magazine Moto Heroes).

 2 Right Hands' Yamaha XS

 CZ Chopper.

Euro dirt track hero, Jacopo Monti. He's in Sideburn 21 riding the KTM 690 Duke he build for his friend. His little Motobi Motoretta minibike was converted to fuel in frame. The 'tank' was a leather rucksack that Jacopo made himself, It unclips from the bike.

 Honda Domi scrambler.

K Model BMW was neat, but I cut off the bottom to show the setting. Deus Milan is in a courtyard, with residential apartments looking down on it. If you get chance, make sure you go to this great shop. Elsewhere on the same street is Officine Mermaid's two shops and cafe and a couple of other interesting moto-themed shops.
I also like how European bike show crowds, especially Italian ones, look quite like no other crowds on earth.

 Brand new RnineT modified by a local BMW garage, with a bunch of nice touches.

 The MC was Virgin radio's  DJ Ringo. He's bike mad and a big deal in Italy.

Go to the Deus Bike Build Off Global People's Choice page to vote for your favourite. G

Four Days: A Poem

A poem by Andy Charlton

four days ticking.. 
tick tock tick tock 

toothbrush cleanpants bikelock 
organise delegate restock 
tick tock tick tock 

anticipate roadrage roadblock 
vanburger wee-stop gridlock 
tick tock tick tock 

satnav smartphone truckstop 
turnstile sliproad laneswap 
tick tock tick tock 

bikepark valvestop fuelblock 
check tent lock-stop sunblock 
tick tock tick tock 

duct-tape myrace shitstops 
lineout gate-up heartstop
tick tock tick tock 

smokescreen burntmud throttlestop 
leanforward benzine clutchdrop

...............Dirtquake...............

Women Mud Wrestling - But Not As You Know It

DIRT QUAKE IV is this coming week end.
We take a tried and tested sport (motorcycle flat track racing), say "Bo Ya!" and turn it on its head, including the guest list. Favouring the green (as in clueless, not ecologically aware) and mad (as in good, not bad). And as we appreciate boys can get a little rowdy at parties - even if there is not excess alcohol, or speedboats, or kicker-ramps involved, we decided to give the ladies their own class. Ranging in age from 20 to 50. From CBT fresh to the worldly travelled. Bultaco, BSA, Suzuki, Velocette, and anything else in-between, all speeding around and around and around. And if that doesn't prove entertaining enough, we add a deluge of mud. BP

Stickers Packs!

Two different packs to choose from: Ryan Quickfall and Chris Watson.
Five vinyl stickers in each.
£3.50 each plus post.

Get them from sideburn.bigcartel.com

Indy Mile

Another great race, showing how very different lines can work on a deep cushion mile.
But THREE red flags, so pick the bones out of this one.
AMA Pro Flat Track has been unpredictable and exciting this year, but the red flags aren't going to help those who want to get flat track on mainstream TV (the X Games put the sport in front of the masses, but I can't see it happening for the whole season).

Go to fanschoice.tv to watch the 2015 Indy Mile. G

Not angry just disappointed

I had my inkling of what Mad Max Fury Road was going to be like after seeing the trailer, and gave my thoughts here (What have you done?). But I always intended to go and see it at a cinema, not wait for the DVD.

After it was released, I thought I'd got it all wrong, that I'd been a bit hasty, because I listen to a film podcast from the BBC, Kermode & Mayo's Film Review, and they and their listeners were almost universally positive.

Well, it finally came to my small town cinema last night, and I paid my £5.30 and sat down to all 120 mins of it.

And I was right. I thought it was shite. G

This mash-up below shows you all you need to see. Contains spoilers.

Rock Hard

I hate gadgets, and I'm tight, so the likelihood of me splashing out on a flashy gold designer bicycle pump is NIL. Especially one that sounds like it's named after Mexican royalty. But that's just what's happened...

Steaming down the local highstreet, I could feel that the tyres on my Moulton were on the squiggly side, making the handling even more squirrely than usual. So I pulled into the nearest bicycle shop to blow them up. Factory rated at 100psi, but I rarely achieve that hardness with my own crappy old column pump. I didn't pay attention to the particular brand / model of pump at the shop, but did take special note of the blingy Snap-It™ valve, which made the the process easy and scientifically successful. Rock hard in just a few effortless pumps. Hmm. I keep a miniature donut ring of BluTac on my Presta valves, so as to maintain an airtight seal, but the two-piece (revolvable) screw-on + rubber o-ring of this baby, means none of the usual hissing of air escaping its vocation. And the airline is long enough that you don't need to park right next to it.

Once you've bought a snazzy bike, there is a whole industry dedicated to trying to get you to spend wedge on the latest fad. The next ridiculous size up of MTB wheel, some new outer space developed lycra wear, or an over engineered titanium tool of debatable usefulness (going on a diet will save you much more weight and money). The Birzman Zacoo Maha IV sounds like a serious contender in such a field. But after a boring evening researching column pumps on the internet, many fingers pointed to his royal highness Birz' IV. It turns out he/she is actually of Taiwanese descent. None of my four pumps - at least one of them manufactured by a reputable brand, do what they are meant to do. And the local garage now charges for the use of its airline, so I thought what the hell, lets go crazy. The Snap-It™ is also Schrader valve compatible, so it should be able to pump up my motorbike tyres too.

Evans Cylces have a great deal on at the moment. The Birz' IV is £24 inc delivery - not a stupid amount of money when its RRP is £37.

The pressure gauge goes all the way up to an eye watering 160psi - what vehicles have tyres that hard?! So my only gripe would be that the dial is not set with more increments lower down the scale, which would be really useful for a flat track motorcycle where you are around the 20psi mark, and a few poofs either way are critical. The Snap-It™ does have a blow-off button for deflating (without having to remove it from the tyre), but you would still need to take it off to use a proper tyre gauge for more accurate low readings.

Birzman Zacoo Maha IV had absolutely no problem of making short work of my flat CCM tyre. Or the saggy Space Hopper in the garden (theres a screw-on adaptor for that and footballs included). I might have go out and pump up the tyres of all the cars parked on my street. Just for fun. BP

SB20 in the back issue deal

Issue 20 is now included in the back issue deal. Here's how it works:

You get a limited edition navy blue Sideburn Umlaut T-shirt, as modelled by Guy Martin here (at the Metzeler factory), and one back issue of your choice for £15 plus post.

Back issues included in this deal are: 20, 19, 16, 14, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5

Go to Sideburn.bigcartel.com to buy for FIFTEEN POUNDS!

Once there all you have to do is choose the issue you want and the T-shirt size from the long dropdown menu, and then go to the check out (or keep shopping. Yeah, keep shopping).

We only have a few of these shirts left. We only have one size Small.  We have a handful of M, L and XL, but XXL has sold out.

Photo: Metzeler

DQ Racer Interviews on Facebook

We don't do a lot with our Facebook page, because of a misguided loyalty to this blog, but DQ co-organiser Dave Arnold has posted a bunch of short interviews with some former Dirt Quake racers, go check them out at Sideburn Magazine's Facebook. G

Photos: Vince Perraud, unknown, Matt Jamieson,

The Rusty Butcher

WTF with Rusty Butcher from Biltwell Inc. on Vimeo.
If you're not on instagram, or other social media, you might not know the Rusty Butcher. Mark is a former motocross rider who makes leather goods and other stuff, then started modifying harley Sportsters and having his friend, Preston Burroughs (who is a fearless rider himself), film and photograph him.
We met Mark at Perris and then him, his buddy Cory, and Preston all trucked up to Castle Rock, 20-plus hour drive from their home, to compete at Dirt Quake USA.

This Biltwell film is a good introduction to the fella. G