BLOG | sideburn

For Sale: Survivor Customs Rotax

Feb 27

For Sale: Survivor Customs Rotax

I'm pretty sure this bike featured in SB34 when it belonged to Mike Hill. The current owner says... Rotax 604 with an enduro cam 40mm Dellorto round slide carb Full custom twinshock conversion and swinging arm with marzocchi shocks Custom subframe Knight seat unit and polycarbonate fuel cell cover R6 forks and yokes Renthal enduro bars KTM rear hub laced to an Excel rim Talon front spool hub laced to an Excel rim Good Dunlop tyres and also have quite a few spare Maxxis and Du

DTRA: Reschedule

Sastre Kawasaki Twin

Feb 14

Sastre Kawasaki Twin

This stock frame Kawasaki ER-6n, just showed up on instagram. It was built by Pep Sastre, one of the top technicians at Kawasaki Spain, for, we hope, his son Ferran to race. I say hope, because Ferran is an absolute demon racer. He competed in the DTRA for the last couple of years, coming close to winning the title in 2019, and has also raced as an amateur in America, where he won big races. The bike was hashtagged as a hooligan, but as a 650 Twin it's too small for most hool

DMOL Devitt Hooligan

Feb 10

DMOL Devitt Hooligan

Despite the disruption of 2020, the US hooligan scene shows no sign of diminishing. There is a recognisable split between the RSD National Superhooligan series and the local scenes around the US. New hooligan bikes seem to be being built on a weekly basis. The recent Winter Throwdown race, organised in Florida by Cory Texter, had a massive entry of hooligans from as far away as Milwaukee. The UK and Euro hooligan scene is smaller, but still offers up some high class racing an

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

Sean Kelly's Winning Formula

Jan 8

Sean Kelly's Winning Formula

The interest in the DTRA's Vintage class grows with every year. Four-strokes and two-strokes are mixed on the track, but split into two championships, and Sean Kelly proved you didn't need anyone's idea of a typical flat tracker, or a big budget, to win the two-stroke title, as he did in 2019. Here Sean shares the story of his Suzuki TS400. (Action photos: Braking Point Images) Motorcycles have always been the family trade but not always in the blood. As a third-generation mo

Throwback Thursday: Rox

Dec 17, 2020

Throwback Thursday: Rox

I found these photos on my laptop, but I can't remember when they're from. If I had to guess, I'd say 2014. I'm pretty sure they're all taken at King's Lynn. I do know they're all by Ian Roxburgh, who used to shoot the races for the DTRA. He had/has a great eye. We have some super snappers covering the races now (Jon Braking Point and Paul France) but I still miss Rox. Above is Co-Built Geoff Cain on one of the Rotax framers he made the chassis for. A young Ollie Brindley. No

Inman Column: Running a Marathon in Clogs

Nov 24, 2020

Inman Column: Running a Marathon in Clogs

Regular blog readers will know I've been a columnist for magazines including Café Racer, GQ Italia, Rolling Stone Italy and Bike over the years. Some I packed in, others dried up with editors changed. I still contribute to Café Racer in France as I have for over ten years. Every now and then I repost the columns here. This one is from 2019. Type Inman Column into the search bar to see the others. GI Three years ago I was at the first Dirt Track Riders Association race of the

DirtHub

DTRA 2020

Sep 22, 2020

DTRA 2020

It's been a weird year for everyone and British flat track has been derailed by much bigger forces, but they've kept monitoring the situation, organising, reacting and staying positive. They're trying to sneak in two meetings before the end of the year. Here's the information. It’s been a funny year for everybody racing motorcycles, so we wanted to put together a couple of races where we can all ride together before the end of the season. A few years back we ran a race at the

Voodoo Framer

Sep 13, 2020

Voodoo Framer

From time to time people ask if we're short of things to put in the magazine. What? We can't fit everything in, there's so many stories I want in Sideburn. As a result we made the STORIES section of our website as a depository for photos and stories too good for a fleeting blog post, but we can't fit in the magazine in a timely manner. The latest story we've posted is about Barry The Punk's Survivor Customs CRF450 framer, the bike he calls Voodoo. See the bike by clicking Who

Greenfield Practice Bikes

Jul 26, 2020

Greenfield Practice Bikes

A couple of weekends ago the DTRA ran two days of practice at Greenfield Dirt Track in Lincolnshire, UK. The classes were split and riders had to choose if they wanted to ride on Saturday or Sunday, social distancing meaning the numbers were limited. These are some of the most eye-catching bikes (and people) from the weekend. The first three photos are Lucky Luke (with his Sideburn x Biltwell goggles) and Harley WL flathead racer . Luke is a tattooer who runs Hard Luck with J

Shedbuilt XG750 Hooligan

Jul 5, 2020

Shedbuilt XG750 Hooligan

Sideburn reader and DTRA racer Tim Newbrook tells us about his recently finished hooligan build. There I was, just a young lad looking at a new poster on my bedroom wall of a Harley Davidson in front of the big HD Logo, I can’t remember what bike it actually was, apart from the fact that it was orange and had wide bars, but I knew I wanted one . . even at 10 years old Fast forward 45 years and there I am again, looking at a picture of a Harley Davidson, the difference is this

New To Thunderbikes

Jun 19, 2020

New To Thunderbikes

First a bit of background. Back in the very early days of UK flat track, Peter Boast (Godfather of UK flat track) introduced a class called Thunderbikes, a description that isn't really used anywhere else in the world. The Thunderbike class was designed for heavyweight framers, twins and modified roadbikes and, before the scene was big enough to support a dedicated vintage class, vintage bikes too. A lot of UK Thunderbikes, old Yam 500s, XS650s, Honda 500s and Rotax 600s, wou

For Sale: XG 750 Hooligan

Jun 13, 2020

For Sale: XG 750 Hooligan

Maidstone Harley are selling the race-winning hooligan bike that Grant Martin came second in the 2018 DTRA Hooligan championship on. It's on eBay with a starting bid of £3000, but it says the reserve has not been met. I've never understood why the price doesn't start at the reserve, but then I've never sold anything on eBay so... This bike featured in a couple of Sideburn videos that you can see below. Harley Street 750 Hooligan Thanks to Kev for the tip-off. This is what the

1982, Monkey Masks and Raleigh Burners

Apr 16, 2020

1982, Monkey Masks and Raleigh Burners

This is an email from Sideburn reader and our mate, Russ that I've turned into a blog post. You'll see why. GI I got my stack of Sideburn back issues. It's been a long day but I've just sat down for a read of the mags. For some atmosphere I've put on my DVD of the 1982 World Individual Speedway championship. Did you ever watch it? I think I mentioned it years ago, it's great. If you didn't see it let me know and I'll tell you why you should. In fact I'll tell you anyway! Earl

DTRA 2020 Update

Mar 30, 2020

DTRA 2020 Update

Like every race series in the world, the DTRA is being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. There will definitely not be any races before June and the DTRA will watch the developments before making further decisions to see if a June race is possible.. The DTRA's head honcho, Anthony Brown, has made it clear that he doesn't want to run races at a time where on track injuries could put further strain on the NHS. Good News 1: The new number plate, available exclusively to club mem

Lockdown Colouring-In 4: Brink

Mar 28, 2020

Lockdown Colouring-In 4: Brink

Below is the fourth link to a Takashi Urashima image to colour-in. https://www.dropbox.com/s/25lhw3bmdb8ud0o/Sideburn%20Brink%20copyright%20Takashi%20Urashima.jpg?dl=0 This one is a bit different because it's our pal and fellow racer, Brink, with one of his street bikes, Golden Dawn, a Harley bosozuko-style chop built by Pangea Speed in Utah. Come back later in the week for the next instalment. Work remains the copyright of Takashi Urashima. If you want to buy the magazine w

Lockdown Colouring-In 3: 'Texas' Chris Jenner

Mar 26, 2020

Lockdown Colouring-In 3: 'Texas' Chris Jenner

Below is the third link to a Takashi Urashima image to colour-in. https://www.dropbox.com/s/23cmu4oufnbdpbc/Sideburn%20Chris%20Jenner%20copyright%20Takashi%20Urashima.jpg?dl=0 This is 'Texas' Chris Jenner, a regular DTRA Thunderbike racer, styling it over the jump at the Greenfield TT, Lincolnshire, UK. Come back later in the week for the next instalment. Work remains the copyright of Takashi Urashima. If you want to buy the magazine with the free colouring-in supplement, ORD

Lockdown Colouring-In 2:
Lucky Luke

Mar 24, 2020

Lockdown Colouring-In 2: Lucky Luke

Below is the second link to a Takashi Urashima image to colour-in. https://www.dropbox.com/s/8j43lnnm7elrm6j/Sideburn%20Lucky%20Luke%20K%20copyright%20Takashi%20Urashima.jpg?dl=0 This is Lucky Luke - London-based tattoo artist who drew our KR750 Cat T-shirt artwork. I took the original photo, in the scrutineering queue at the Redcar round of the 2019 DTRA season. Luke competes in the Vintage class on his street legal Triumph. Come back later in the week for the next instalm

1

2 3 4 5