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For Sale: Harley XG750R

Feb 16

For Sale: Harley XG750R

Rare opportunity to buy a genuine AFT Production Twins podium-scoring Harley-Davidson XG750R. This bikes is being sold by Chad Cose himself. The bike is currently in Ohio, but transport could be arranged. Chad says 'Was brand new at start of 2020 seasons. Maintained extremely well and in very good condition. Bike and stand only. $35,000' Contact Chad through his instagram @chadcose49 or by email chadcoseracing@aol.com #ForSale #HarleyXG750R #ChadCose

Best SB Artwork of 2020

Jan 10

Best SB Artwork of 2020

Following on from last weeks Best SB Photos of 2020 post, here are my ten favourite illustrations of the four issues we made in 2020. Sideburn has always used a lot of illustration, with some artists have only one appearance in the mag, others becoming regulars. Eight of these pieces were commissions, two were supplied as part of portfolio features. I've purposely only chosen one piece of work from each artist, and not included artwork we've used on our merch (which we also l

More AFT 2020 Rules

Dec 6, 2020

More AFT 2020 Rules

As promised, here are some more rules proposed by American Flat Track for 2021. AFT say they are in a final evaluation phase. We picked up on the SuperTwins engine and electronic rules first, but the ones below spell a big shake-up too. GI Memberships, Licenses, Credentials and Entries All Classes will utilize Team Owner structure (as introduced in SuperTwins in 2020) Details TBA So, this means that the team enters the race and 'supplies' the rider. I'm not 100% sure why they

Epic580 - Charity Ride

Nov 11, 2019

Epic580 - Charity Ride

2019 AFT Production Twins racer Cory Texter organised a 580-mile bicycle ride through the length of Florida to raise money for AFT Pro riders who were very seriously hurt in the back half of the 2019 season. The amount, and severity, of these recent injuries has really shocked the sport and Cory wanted to do something about it, as did his fellow racers: Brandon Robinson, Jarod Vanderkooi, James Rispoli, Chad Cose and Noah Chambers. The ride was completed yesterday. They're fi

Springfield Mile 2 Thoughts

Sep 4, 2019

Springfield Mile 2 Thoughts

So, it was supposed to be three nationals in three days, but it became four when rain on Saturday night into Sunday waterlogged the track. Fortunately, Monday is the US holiday of Labor Day, so the event was slid back one day. Again, there were only two classes racing, the Twins (Elite, Expert, whatever you want to call them) and Production Twins. AFT Singles don't race on the miles. Early on the track was marbly. Best Twins qualifying lap time was 0.5 slower than the best fr

Black Hills HM Thoughts

Aug 7, 2019

Black Hills HM Thoughts

Less than 40 hours since the Buffalo Chip podium the AFT riders were back in action at the Black Hills Half-Mile, another race that is part of Sturgis Bike Week. After the one-line TT of the Buffalo Chip, which I'm indifferent to, the Black Hills track is fast, allows various lines and offered up some great racing. Unfortunately, being an AFT addict in Europe is a ballache. I watched till about 12.15am, then set the alarm for 1.15, watched another 40 mins, set the alarm for 3

Buffalo Chip TT Thoughts

Aug 6, 2019

Buffalo Chip TT Thoughts

This is getting daft. Sunday's race was delayed nearly two hours because of rain, so the first singles practice started at 11pm UK time. I saw the new schedule, watched singles Qualifying 1 (Q1), then set my alarm for 1am and slept for a bit. I woke, watched the singles heats, then set the alarm for 3am and watched the semis and mains. It all finished, for me, after 4.30. I set the alarm for 7 for work on Monday and tried to get some sleep. And I'm not even that fussed about

Lima Half-Mile Thoughts

Jul 5, 2019

Lima Half-Mile Thoughts

This is a little bit later than usual for a couple of reasons, but I saw this race live in the flesh, having flown out to the Midwest and driven for hours on end to follow the fortunes of Red Torpedo-sponsored riders, Jared Mees and Shayna Texter. And it was a great experience. My full story will be in the next issue of Sideburn with photos by Ed Subias, but here are some thoughts. The race is promoted by Jared and Nichole Mees. That means they put up the money to bring the A

Daytona TT News

Feb 28, 2019

Daytona TT News

It's just two weeks until the Daytona TT, the opener for the 2019 AFT season. So, here's the round-up some news. DIRT + TARMAC + JUMPS The track is going to take in a section of famous Daytona banking, meaning it's going to be on both dirt and asphalt. It's be interesting to see how the twin suspension, that must be relatively plush for the jumps, copes with the banking, but I'm guessing they're not going to be on it for long. AFT say: 'To allow AFT to fine tune the transitio

AFT Stars at Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Jul 12, 2018

AFT Stars at Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Britain's premier motorsport garden party welcomes a number of AFT stars for this weekend's Festival of Speed. The FoS is the event where various historic and current motor racing vehicles parade up the hill, in front of a big crowd. There's more to it that that, but that's the gist. It's an non-competitive event. The Revival, later in the year, is the event where period costume is encouraged and pre-1967 vehicles race hard for honours. Mees, Baker, Carver, Cose, Briar Bauman

Indian Score First AFT Sweep of the Year

May 9, 2018

Indian Score First AFT Sweep of the Year

It took until round 4 of the AFT Twins season for Indian to score their first 1-2-3 sweep of the year. I know, total disaster, heads are going to roll for this... Last season they did it by round two, and there were only three Indian FTR750s in that whole race. At Calistoga, last weekend, nine entered (there would have been ten, but Bryan Smith is injured, see previous post). It was an incredibly impressive night for Indian's racing bike. Here's why... Indian filled the top f

Big A Custom Chassis

Dec 23, 2017

Big A Custom Chassis

Big A Customs are a new name to me, but I've seen their chassis and tanks for a few years without knowing. The company is from Pennsylvania and Jeffrey Carver scored a third at Lima in 2017 using one of their Kawasaki chassis. Above is one of Big A tank on a C&J Kawasaki frame. Bare Big A Customs Kawasaki linkage frames. Chad Cose with a neat Big A set-up form 2016. Chad always has the prettiest bikes. Distinctive Big A tanks in progress. Carver at Lima. Photo Kurt Bauer #Lim

American Flat Track Rule Changes

Nov 13, 2017

American Flat Track Rule Changes

These are all screengrabs from the updated AFT/AMA Pro Racing 2016 tech regs. Let's start with new ruling 3.1. This is slightly contentious because it is simply a rule about aesthetics, not necessarily technical advantage. As fans, Sideburn is behind AFT's rules when it comes to differentiating the sport from other forms of dirt biking. We like that the racers wear their team leathers at all events, not swap from leathers to generic MX clothing for short tracks and TT. 3.1 is

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