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Cover 1: Will Davis & friends by Flat Trak Fotos Cover 2: Herald Brute 500 & Jake Eady by Max Howard sideburnmagazine.com@sideburnmagsideburnmag SIDEBURN IS THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN FLAT TRACK This issue of Sideburn was created under lockdown conditions thanks to these stars: Dave & Kathy at Flat Trak Fotos; Max Howard; Elliot & Gareth at Herald; Brandon LaJoie; all at Moto Anatomy x Royal Enfield; Cory Texter; Kayl Kolkman; Chad Cose; Ronnie Jones; Sammy Sabedra; Jonas Hendrix; Fabio Affuso; Mark Ward; Andy DiBrino; Nick Zaback; Ryan Quickfall; Scott Toepfer; The Malle Mile Crew; Jason C; Ross Sharp; Anthony Co-Built; Brusco; Todd Marella; Ed Subias; Adam Brinkworth; Lou Melchior; Speedseekers Chris; Victor Packo; Calli Faraway; Preston Burroughs; Lucky Luke; Prankur Rana; Carl CFM; Cheetah; Hermann Köpf; Carlos Fernández Laser; Patricia Sevilla Ciordes; Max I; Kristen Lassen, Scott Hunter, Giselle, Helen & all at American Flat Track; the DTRA; a thousand thank yous to all our advertisers old and new. Support those who support the scene. The opinions expressed in Sideburn magazine are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazine’s publisher or editors. Sideburn is published four times a year by Inman Ink Ltd Editor: Gary Inman Deputy editor: Mick Phillips Art editor: Kar Lee For©2020sideburnmag@gmail.comenquiriesadvertising/commercialpleaseemail:Sideburnmagazine None of this magazine can be reproduced without publisher’s consent sideburnmag@gmail.com SIDEBURN 44 will be published in spring 2021. To subscribe go to sideburn.bigcartel.com 3 This issue is dedicated to Caylee Hankins

6 FIRST DATE Royal Enfield’s dramatic debut 18 BAUMANBACK-T0-BACK How Briar held on to the title 20 AFT 2020 DATA Season number crunch 22 CHAD COSE Grilling the California Kid 30 BRUTE FORCE First ride of the new Herald 40 KTM HOOLIGAN A 790 so good they rewrote the rules to rein it in 50 M.A.R.S. Remembering the Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series 57 BRUSCO Portfolio of Barcelona’s rudest lowbrow artist 64 EL CHORIZO Spicy Spanish Co-Built Yamaha XS650 71 HAPPY PLACE A grotto of dirt-bike delights 78 OUTDATED. TOO HEAVY. WINNER Kayl Kolkman pulls a Knight Honda RS600 out of storage 86 LITTLE DUKE FRAMER Teeny Swanson Ducati 250 93 STURGIS 2020 ‘I’ve never let the fear of death get in the way of a good time’ 5 #43 Regulars 26 C-Tech: Suspension 98 Have Fun!! Japanese Flat Track 100 Racewear 105 Sideburn merchandise 106 Trophy Queen Illustration: Ryan Quickfall

Words: Breeann Poland Photos: Brandon LaJoie

The arrival of Royal Enfield in top-level flat track is a key moment for the ambitious sport. Johnny Lewis and the Moto Anatomy team premiered the 650 twin at what would be an eventful Williams Grove weekend

First Date

For years, flat track fans have called for more largescale motorcycle manufacturers to support the sport. Time and again those calls have fallen on deaf ears. But why should it be that way? Flat track is less expensive than road racing, is one of the fastest-growing two-

‘Y

We were at the AFT’s Williams Grove Half-Mile, the first weekend that Royal Enfield’s Harris 650 Twin FT, run by the Moto Anatomy team, took to the track. The bike had arrived, in pieces, just a few days previously from the UK, leaving Johnny and mechanic Ben Groh just one day and night before the weekend to get it race ready. And now, with the clock against them, they were dealing with the fallout of the ‘incident’...

OU HAVE THREE minutes.’ The words echoed through the 10 x 20ft pop-up in the pits at Mechanicsburg, PA, as a torque wrench, feeler gauge and breaker bar switched hands while measurements and specs were read off WhatsApp messages.

But this is not where the story started. This race bike is the marriage of a concept, or rather an idea, from Adrian Sellers, Industrial Designer at Royal Enfield’s tech centre in the UK, plus a strong network of support from Harris Performance and industry partners [see SB41 for the full back story].

7 >

The team urged Johnny to delegate tasks in the last week of build-up, encouraging him to rest and save energy, but he wasn’t having it. He needed to touch and feel, to turn the wrenches and tighten bolts. He pointed out, over and over, that in order to develop this motorcycle he needed to be the one to put it together, to make adjustments, then to ride the damn thing.

Johnny and Adrian are both extremely hands-on and had been bouncing ideas off each other for the past year, plus there were multiple meetings and trips overseas to get this concept going. There had been no pressure from Royal Enfield on Johnny, but he puts pressure on himself. He’s no youngster, hadn’t raced competitively in over a year, and felt he had a lot to prove. However, he’s an athlete and is just about as stubborn as they come.

At 7.45pm on Thursday 10 September, Johnny started the racebike for the first time. He threw on his helmet, but with light rain coming down, the maiden ride didn’t

So, let’s go back to 7 September, the week before the bike’s first race, and an online meeting with Adrian, Johnny and me, Breeann Poland (Marketing and Communications, Royal Enfield Americas). There’s nervous chatter about if the bike would arrive from the UK in time [due to Covid courier delays] and whether it could be assembled in time to race. What’s that old saying? It takes a village to raise a child? Well, it takes just as many to get a motorcycle built and ready to race.

Adrian enjoys a good challenge, and he also has faith in Enfield’s 650-twin engine platform that was launched two years ago. His persistence and belief that Royal Enfield could go racing is testament to that. But he likes to point out that this year – and even next – will be development years for the Twin FT effort [see our interview with Adrian Sellers overleaf].

wheeled sports and there is no shortage of talent itching to ride under those spotlights.

(clockwise from top left) S&S, Öhlins, Harris...; ‘I’ve slept four hours in the last two days, don’t expect me to crack a smile’; This is the non-linkage Harris frame. The team also have one with linkage rear suspension; L-R: Trevor Quayle, Johnny, Breeann Poland, Ben Groh; Ben and Trevor change a head gasket in less time than it takes us to change our gearing; Johnny getting to know his bike better; Side-mounted oil cooler is normally hidden by a cover; The Lewis family back in the pits. We hope Johnny’s vest is lucky because there’s got to be an excuse for it

FATHER OF THE

I couldn’t speak to the historical efficacy of ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday’, but I’m sure it works in some sense and for some brands who stake their brand on performance. Our goal isn’t to win – it’s to be there, to have fun. So maybe for us it’s, ‘Fun on Sunday, Sell on Monday’. And that’s worked out pretty well for us.

Because it looked like fun. We pride ourselves on being an easy and accessible brand, and flat track is by far one of the most relaxed and accessible forms of racing. So there was an immediate synergy there. Flat track is also one of the only motorsports that is actually growing now, and we saw an opportunity to both participate within the existing racing series, but also help to broaden its audience while helping a whole new audience in India to both engage with the sport and become better riders through trying it out. So we don’t look at our flat track racing as just a competitive effort – it’s a facet of our broader goal of spreading the joy of flat track, along with our Slide Schools and Build Train Race programmes.

‘During his semi, the head gasket blew and as white smoke billowed across the track Johnny was black flagged’

The bike ran sweetly enough for Johnny to work his way through practice, qualifying and into the semi, adjustments being made along the way. He kept reminding himself that this is a development year and an opportunity not only to bring other manufacturers into the sport, but also to prove he’s still got what it takes. Each team member went up to Johnny before the main with words of support and encouragement. Just relax and enjoy the ride. He didn’t disappoint and finished a solid sixth against a group of talented riders, but this was a double-header weekend and there was still another race day to go...

You have chosen a very different way of entering racing to how Indian did it with their FTR750. What are the risks, for a company of RE’s size, of developing their race bike so publicly?

Adrian Sellers is Royal Enfield’s Group Manager – Industrial Design and we’re calling him the father of this project

When budgets and resources are being discussed, what is the most persuasive element to convince upper management to invest in racing? Marketing? Product development? ‘Halo’? Brand building…?

last longer than a lap of the back lot of Solid Performance, Downingtown, PA. But even that was enough to inform Johnny he had to make adjustments, so he wrenched away for a few more hours.

Making adjustments to a motorcycle doesn’t guarantee better results. You mess up, you succeed, but nothing is a given. Saturday didn’t go as smoothly as the team had hoped. Practice and qualifying went relatively well, but during his semi, while tailing current champ Cory Texter, the head gasket blew and, as white smoke billowed across the track, Johnny was black flagged and had to lean his motorcycle against the fence and sit out

It’s all about intention. While I couldn’t speak to another brands’ aims, most do it with an eye towards establishing credibility in a market. We aren’t there to go out and dominate, we’re there to surprise people. I

Royal Enfield don’t have a particularly strong history in motorcycle sport, why enter now and why flat track?

It’s really all of the above. But, more than anything, it comes back to showing how much fun motorcycling can be and reaching out to people who may not have looked at our brand before – helping them to see us in a different light.

Has ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ ever been proven to work, or is it a handy justification?

Bright and early the next morning, Johnny arrived in the paddock looking like he’d had less than two hours’ sleep, but eager to pull the motorcycle out and finally get on track. It was race day. Production Twins practice was the first time this bike had been really ridden. After the session, he came back into the pits with a cheeky smile and we all knew it was going to be an eventful weekend.

The project’s second race weekend, at the Devil’s Bowl Half-Mile, Texas, didn’t go according to plan, what happened?

Can we expect a Royal Enfield street tracker? If so, when? If not, why not?

mean, we’re starting with a platform that was never meant to do this, and we’re doing it anyway. We want people to be able to follow our journey, to be part of it. As we encourage people to learn flat track through our schools, we also want to show people that we are learning too. It’s all a part of our brand ethos of approachability. We’re not trying to be a 1% thing, we’re out there to have fun on motorbikes. Sometimes you fall down, it’s how you get back up that really shows what you are as a company. And we want everyone to be there with us, every step of the way.

Does it surprise you that Harley never translated dirt track success into street tracker sales, or are we missing something fundamental that

You had to ask, didn’t you? Rather depends on how successful our effort is, and how positive the response is to what we are doing. Have to say, the response has been really amazing so far.

Lots of race fans expect their favourite company, with a ‘suitable’ engine and history in the sport, to enter AFT. Can you surmise why so few companies choose to support teams in AFT?

Please share the bare bones of short-, medium- and long-term plans for the race team.

AFT is still growing. It’s always been a bit of an outlier, rooted largely in a grassroots US scene. That’s changing now and I hope we’ll see even more brands joining in.

As they say, that’s racing. Anything can happen when you are tuning a motor beyond what it was originally designed to be. In this case, a valve broke and damaged the head to a level that we weren’t able to repair on the weekend. Because of delays in our supply chain due to Covid-19, we weren’t able to supply the spares we had originally planned, and so that was it for the weekend. In all honesty, we expected something like this to happen at some point – and likely earlier rather than later. It’s all part of the development. We got some good data from the weekend though, and every time something goes wrong, we fix it, and that’s one less thing we have to worry

Harris is a great part of the RE family. Their contributions to our current and future models have been instrumental in making these motorcycles what they are. And, of course, the incredible work they have done on this chassis – going from zero knowledge about what’s necessary for flat track to making a really well-sorted chassis – just shows how those 40 years of racing history benefit Royal Enfield. So we want to celebrate that and give credit where credit is due.

This activity, as with our Bonneville Salt Flats effort, etc, is rooted in testing and pushing the capabilities of our motors. We design them to be mass produced, but it’s exciting for us to push them beyond that, tightening up the tolerances, looking for the limits of what they can do. It’s useful internally, as it opens up new possibilities and considerations that we may not have had before.

Pretty simple, really. Year one: learn, develop, survive, try not to come last. Year two: consistent competitive results – podium would be nice, but just having a package that can give other teams a run for it would be a success. Year three: depends on where we’re at after year two, but we’d love to be able to offer our platforms to other teams as well. It’s up to us to prove that we have something that other teams would want.

The Harris logos are prominent on Johnny’s race suit. Can we expect Harris to become something like AMG is to Mercedes or Abarth to Fiat?

Street trackers are pretty niche in terms of mass-market appeal, so it’s unlikely you’d have extraordinary sales with one. Having said that, it’s also quite difficult to get the proportions of a flat tracker on a street bike. Many of the dynamics that work really well for flat track racing just don’t work well when you are on a motorway, for example.

It’s early in the race programme’s life (assuming RE’s involvement lasts longer than that of the Ducati Scrambler), but what can a race project like this do for the company internally, and was that a consideration?

‘Johnny looked defeated, but the team rallied round and refused to let this be the end of the weekend’

the rest of the race. A while later, a dejected rider and bruised motorcycle made their way back to the pits. Johnny looked defeated, but the team rallied round and refused to let this be the end of the weekend. He was still eligible for the main, thanks to having made it to the semis and there being fewer than 16 entries. Johnny and the crew had one hour and 23 minutes to rebuild the top end and make it to the grid. Service manuals were opened on the photographer’s laptop, calls and texts were fired off to the team back in the UK, where it was the wee small hours of Sunday morning, and four people started spinning wrenches...

‘You have three minutes’ echoed through the tent as the last fasteners were tightened and Johnny pulled on his helmet. With the clock ticking, the Twin FT was started up to burn off oil that had been blown into the exhausts. Johnny heard his name announced as he jumped on the bike and made his way to the last row of the grid.

Not only did Johnny finish the race, he fought his way from 15th to finally pass Nick Armstrong on the last corner to grab a solid seventh place just behind Harley XG750R-mounted Chad Cose. Not bad for a first weekend’s racing.

And this is not where the story ends...

12 12 19 19 10 10 29 29 30 30 Race against the clock 10% oilMidnight12%giveNeverup29%30%endingHappySmells like team spirit 19% Royal HarrisEnfield650Twin Williams Grove Half-Mile There was sincemanufacturerworldthroughoutexcitmentthedirttrackatthefirstnewtodebutIndianin2016 >

The race win

Five weeks later Johnny won Daytona. He shares his thoughts

wins races, it’s usable power. I think we can get some really usable power out of this motor, even compared to other bikes in the Production Class.

knew that the concept of the bike could be competitive on half-miles. I’d had good qualifying, second to fourth in different sessions, but we’d had some DNFs. Once I saw Daytona Short Track on the schedule I knew we didn’t need horsepower, we needed torque and a good understanding of the chassis, and I told myself I was going to win it.

The Twin FT feels like racing a Rotax compared to a CRF450 in a framer. The Enfield doesn’t have huge crank weight, but all the other pieces inside the motor are heavy right now, so everything turns a little slower. I can feel it, but I don’t think it’s a negative. If we can gain a little more rpm –our max rpm is very low right now – that will help. Keeping momentum, rolling through the corners, is needed to go fast on this bike. I think the chassis is going to have a lot to do with it and I pretty happy with the chassis.

Daytona Short Track was the only race I used the linkage chassis. It was the first race chassis I got, but Harris built a nonlinkage chassis too. The reason I’d swapped to non-linkage was to simplify things when I was concentrating on the motor side of the package. Understanding the characteristics of a linkage chassis are a lot harder. On a linkage chassis, changing one thing affects another. It took time to work it out, but when I did I learned new things about the chassis.

Johnny leads into Daytona Short Track’s Turn 1 on his way to a win that made waves around the motorcycle world. Even the cone is floored by it

Photo: Scott Hunter/AFT

Should you bet on me for the 2021 Production Twin title? We can give it a good challenge. I’ve heard rumours about the 2021 schedule that all three classes will race TTs. I’ve also -heard we’ll go to Daytona Short Track as a double-header, and all that suits us. If it were all miles, then no, but clay halfmiles, short tracks, TTs and one or two miles, I’d say yeah, throw your money down.

To be competitive on the miles we need horsepower, obviously, but we can drop some weight too. The bike we ran at Daytona had 64bhp and the max we’ve seen so far is 83, so we’re down 10-12bhp even with our best motor. But it isn’t outright horsepower that

HARLEY-DAVIDSON

Back-To-Back BaumanPhoto:

IT WAS NEVER going to be easy for Briar Bauman to retain his AFT Twins #1 plate. In the pre-season, Jared Mees said he’d secretly carried an injury for most of 2019. Then, when the racing eventually started at Volusia, four months later than scheduled, Mees was on a mission, reeling off a pair of wins. But Bauman was second both nights. Then onto the Indy Mile, and it was Briar who scored a double win, moving to the top of the standings. From then on he didn’t relinquish the lead,

but neither did he break the formidable Mees. After 13 races, Bauman led by just 9pts going into the final double-header at the Daytona Short Track. And anything can happen on a slick short track like Daytona. With a second place in Friday’s race, and his rival coming fourth, Briar had one hand on the title. Rain delay after rain delay on day two would jangle anyone’s nerves, but the Californian stayed characteristically cool, finished a safe fourth, and became a two-time AFT champ.

Scott Hunter/American Flat Track

SIDEBURN IS THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN FLAT TRACK Events No. of Races States Raced In Season Duration (days) 2020 15 8 92 2019 18 14 198 Number Of Different Winners SuperTwins* Production Twins Singles 2020 5 5 7 2019 5 5 8 Riders Who Scored Points Year SuperTwins* Production Twins Singles 2020 21 28 26 2019 36 37 50 % decrease 42% 24% 48% 2020 AFT Season Data Crunching the numbers and comparing the 2020 and 2019 seasons 2020 Top Threes NameSuperTwins Bike Points Wins Briar Bauman Indian 309 6 Jared Mees Indian 300 5 Sammy Halbert Indian 239 1 Production Twins Name Bike Points Wins James Rispoli HD 313 7 Cory Texter Yam 292 4 Ben Lowe Yam 240 1 NameSingles Bike Points Wins Dallas Daniels Yam 283 8 Max Whale Kaw 215 1 Henry Wiles Hon 208 2 Types Of Track (SuperTwins* class) 26 33 28 26 16 47 47.5 60 27 6.5 6.5 13 6.5 26 33 28 26 16 2019 (18 races) 2020 (15 races) 26 16 47 47.5 33 13 6.5 26 33 28 26 16 60 27 6.5 6.5 26.5%TrackShort 47%Half-mileMile26.5% TT 17%Short22%Track 28%Half-mile Mile 33% Wins By Manufacturer * The premier class was named AFT Twins in 2019 and AFT SuperTwins in 2020. SuperTwins Indian 100% Production Twins 47.5%DavidsonHarley33%YamahaKawasaki13% Royal Enfield 6.5% 6.5%Suzuki 26 33 28 26 16 47 47.5 60 27 6.5 6.5 33 13 6.5 26 Singles 60%Yamaha27%Honda 6.5%Kawasaki 20

KRIEGA.COM #RIDEKRIEGA

Appendix

me, but they were there. Stevie Bonsey and Mikey Rush are a bit older than me, but all riders from that whole area of California are all pretty tight.

In 2018 I was on the podium [in AFT Twins1] and was sixth overall in the championship. I went all in and did it on my own, with the help of Indian of Oklahoma City, but nothing came of it. So, I redirected my focus to kind of make myself a little more valuable to my sponsors and chose to compete for wins and championships [in AFT Singles and Production Twins, rather than the factory-dominated SuperTwins class]. It’s tough physically, tough mentally. You have very little time to adapt while you’re racing. Everybody else is just focused on one bike, it creates a whole different dynamic, but it’s something I’m getting more comfortable with each week. I believe I can make more in race winnings, contingency... things like that, racing in both the 450 and Production Twins classes [rather than just SuperTwins]. My goal is still to be the first person in the sport to win two

chad cose

Interview: Gary Inman Illustration: Mark Ward

I’m one of the only guys here in the States, outside of travelling overseas for racing, who stays on the road and doesn’t really go back home during the season. It’s been like that since I turned pro, so I’ve gotten used to it, but it doesn’t get any easier, especially with my nephews and nieces growing up. I want to be there to see them.

Are there any friends from that time who you still race with now?

1. AFT Twins was formerly called Expert and is now AFT SuperTwins. Chad was third at the 2018 Texas Half-Mile. He made the main at 17 of the 18 races, only failing at round 1, the Daytona TT. Only Henry Wiles (second overall in 2018) and Sammy Halbert (11th) scored points in more mains in 2018. Jared Mees made them all but was disqualified from Altanta and therefore didn’t score.

Lodi, California. That’s where I grew up racing and it was 1999, I believe. I was eight years old, on a Yamaha PW50. I think I was last and I got lapped, but it was fun. Growing up, I played a lot of sports, so I think we went from a baseball game to that race, and it was definitely a new experience. I did pretty bad at first. My family never really raced. My dad was a motorcycle enthusiast and liked trail riding and things like that, but as far as racing, he got me a bike and one day we went to a track and I guess I caught the bug. My parents weren’t really hard on me as far as pressuring me to go racing.

I grew up racing with a lot of the guys from the West Coast. The Bauman brothers are a little bit younger than

Yeah. I stay on the road for a large portion of the year, so I only get to briefly see my family when we do the California rounds, so I haven’t seen my family since February, going on eight months now, and that’s a struggle.

It was 2008, but 2009 was my full rookie year in the GNC [Grand National Championship – forerunner of the AFT Championship]. At the time, there was Pro Sport, which is essentially AFT Singles now. I won that championship. And there was Basic Twins, which is essentially AFT Production Twins, and

We see you competing in both AFT Singles and Production Twins at every race, but when and where was your first race?

There were times where I’d rather stay home and play a baseball game. I got to go on the weekends and see a whole different friend group, aside from school friends or baseball friends. The camaraderie is what kept me going, but later on it got to be more competitive. At first, it was really just the fun of it.

There was no Californian race for you in the 2020 season, you must be disappointed.

When did you turn pro, and what was the class structure then?

Who? What? When? Why? Where?

I finished second in that. It was a good year, but transitioning to my rookie expert year was difficult. I didn’t do very well and got bounced from team to team. I really feel like now is when I’m kind of starting to come into my own. I still think I have a lot to prove.

Now you’re competing in two classes at every AFT race. Why?

There’s a tremendous amount of competition and everybody takes being an athlete a lot more seriously than they did in 2010 even, and I enjoy that, the Appendix

The uncertainty of the security. You could have a great weekend and make a lot of money and then the next race you could hurt yourself or have a bad weekend. That weighs heavily on your shoulders from week to week. You have to perform to support yourself and pay the bills.

I don’t want to say it’s the worst, and I say this with a lot of respect for Ron Wood, but his Honda Africa Twin3 wasn’t necessarily ready for the racetrack when I rode it. Beautifullybuilt bike, but we had clearance issues and kept dragging the cases and lifting the rear wheel off the ground. It was the first time on track and we all knew it needed more development, but it was a handful.

And what’s the worst bike you’ve had the misfortune to ride?

championships, in the Production and Singles classes, in the same season.

I think that there’s nothing broken, really, about the racing. It’s more

What’s the best bike you’ve ever raced?

We had this series a few years back, that kind of flopped, called the Steel Shoe Nationals. I raced my mechanic Tom Englehart’s2 personal bike. It’s a Honda 450 in a J&M chassis. I don’t think I’ve ever lost on it. I won every heat race, every dash for cash, and every main event. That bike is the most fun I’ve ever had riding a motorcycle.

2. Tom is the mechanic with the long, ZZ Top-style beard you can spot on AFT’s race coverage. 3. We featured the Wood Honda Africa Twin, Ron Wood’s last ground-up bike build, in Sideburn 31.

Flat track in general is a hidden gem.

And the worst thing?

about getting it to the masses, getting it out there as a mainstream sport, so the people can enjoy it. From a personal standpoint, I’d have more cushion tracks. I think they’re more fan-friendly, better racing, more excitement, and it showcases what we can do better. But those tracks aren’t in the up-to-date facilities that AFT want to use. I understand that too. It’s give and take. The riders are not necessarily a hundred percent pumped with the racetracks, but we also understand that we have to work with AFT to reach the bigger markets.

What’s the best thing about being a pro flat tracker in the AFT era?

If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change about AFT?

athleticism and being an athlete. At the same time, I like the family atmosphere and all the rider camaraderie. I get to do what I love for a living with people that I really care about and love.

Made in the USA • sscycle.com • @sscycle • #sscycle Stainless 2:1 Exhaust for Royal Enfield 650 Twins Available February 2021 for street & race applications Made in the USA • sscycle.com • @sscycle • #sscycle Stainless 2:1 Exhaust for Royal Enfield 650 Twins Available February 2021 for street & race applications

Over the years, general suspension settings used at the professional level in our sport have changed a lot. In the 14 years I’ve raced as a professional, I haven’t seen ideas or theories regarding other aspects of the set-up vary as much as they have for suspension. You might attribute that to the sport’s progression from bikes with custombuilt chassis (framers), to bikes with stock motocross chassis (DTX) set up for ovals. However, in my opinion, even the theory behind setting up a DTX bike has changed significantly over the last decade.

A key element is sag. Sag is the difference in length between fully extended suspension (with the wheel off the ground, not on a paddock stand) and with the rider sat on the bike, wheels on the ground. A good rear sag number is between 34-38mm. When we set the sag on my twins with our Motool sag checker, I sit on the bike in full gear and adjust it accordingly. It’s possible to check sag with a tape measure or ruler, too. Track conditions can change this measurement.

ALL CHANGE

STOCK CAN ROCK

ON THE REBOUND

A lot of fans ask if there is a big difference in suspension settings on older twins like the Harley-Davidson XR750 and the bikes we race today, like the Indian FTR750 or the Yamaha MT-07 (on which I won the 2019 AFT Production Twins championship). To be honest, the theory hasn’t changed a lot regarding those bikes.

When the track is smooth and slick, I typically want to speed up the rebound to make the bike react faster. If the track is rough, with a lot of grip, we soften up the compression and slow down the rebound, so it’s not trying to buck me off the seat when I give it throttle. A lot of this is rider preference. I’ve ridden some motorcycles that barely move when I jump on the seat. Riders who have a more aggressive style, like JR Schnabel, like the bike set up a little more stiff, where smaller and smoother riders, like my sister Shayna, have their settings tweaked for a little bit faster rebound and softer damping.

LEAD, DON’T FOLLOW

the Honda. DTX bikes worked well on certain tracks back then, but many still opted to ride more rigid-chassis framers.

Keeping up with what people feel works best can put a major dent in your budget and be exhausting. I have a twin-cylinder, linkageframed 700cc motorcycle that I often pull out for big outlaw races or AMA All-Star events. I’ve won a lot of races over the past five years on this motorcycle, varying from rough, cushion half-mile tracks to slick, clay short tracks. I don’t touch a damn clicker on the bike. The days I make the most suspension adjustments at the track are the days I’m sucking the most. The biggest advice I can give regarding suspension is don’t chase what everyone else is doing or what they say works for them. Every rider has a different style that translates to very different suspension settings. Also, comfort on a bike is very important and often overlooked. Just because something might work better in theory, doesn’t mean that you will go faster. I don’t care how good the bike should work or how hooked up it is, if you’re not comfortable riding it, you won’t win races. Set up the bike close to what seems ideal and then go testing to make the necessary adjustments needed to go fast.

In pro-level motocross, high-dollar suspension such as cone valves and coated forks are almost essential. The cost of A-kit suspension can reach almost $10,000, but it’s not as important in flat track. There are some top teams in American Flat Track that utilise this option, but many of the adjustments needed to contend at the front in the Singles class can be done starting with the stock set up.

Sussing suspension set-up

A lot of suspension ideas and settings are trendy. There was a point in time when everyone was running upside-down forks, but now you hardly see them at all. One year everyone wants to use Honda CBR forks on their twins, then Yamaha R6 forks work better and everyone switches, and then the following year Jared Mees wins a lot of races on Öhlins forks, so everyone buys them.

Illustration: Prankur Rana

27 Soft or hard? More sag or less? Sorted suspension will make the most of your engine. AFT champion Cory ‘C-Tex’ Texter talks us through the ups and downs

These days, most DTX bikes are set up taller in the rear. In the early days, the bikes were lowered around 5in (127mm), now you see more around 4in (102mm). Chassis dynamics of the bikes have changed quite a bit. Initially, the DTX bikes were set up more balanced from the front to the rear, but now geometry has changed and you need the rear shock to be longer than what’s on the front to get it to work most efficiently. Most of this is figured out through testing, but it’s not easy because the bike manufacturers change geometry every two to three years, which makes previous years’ suspension notes obsolete. Everyone wants to talk about how much better framers work than DTX bikes, but the handling has become so good on these stock-chassis bikes that now almost every rider opts to ride their DTX bike over their framer when the option presents itself.

C-TECH

SUSPENSION IS ONE of the most talked about components of a motorcycle in all forms of riding and racing. You can have the trickest engine in the paddock, but if you’re riding with awful suspension, you’re not going to be successful. Ask any pro racer if they’d rather have a fast bike that handles like crap or a slow bike that handles amazing, almost all of them would choose theOutsiderslatter. might assume suspension settings are more basic in flat track than something like motocross, because we mostly only turn left and ideally (but hardly ever, it seems), the tracks should be smooth. In motocross, there are dozens of different obstacles, but traction is almost never an issue with knobby tyres. But in flat track, how suspension works to create traction is everything. Ride as aggressively as you want, but without good suspension dictating how much drive you get off the corner, you won’t be near the front of the pack.

When I started racing flat track in 2003, my Honda CRF450 DTX bike was basically set up like a framer. The rear was very low to the ground and there wasn’t a whole bunch of sag on the shock (see below). The forks were short and most of us ran wide AFAM handlebars. Some of us even cut up the subframe and shortened the swingarm to change the ergonomics to mimic what we all were familiar with, bikes with chassis such as C&J, J&M, Wood, Knight and Champion. The first year Honda came out with their CRF450 was 2002 and that basically changed the game and direction of our sport. We already had the Yamaha YZ400 and YZ426, but they weren’t sought after like

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Always wear a helmet, protective eyewear and clothing and insist your passenger does the same. Ride within the limits of the law and your own abilities. Read and understand your owner’s manual. Never ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Copyright © 2020 Indian Motorcycle International, LLC. All rights reserved.

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SCRAMBLERSTYLINGWITHMODERNPERFORMANCE.

Brute Force

Brit-built Herald Brute 500 tested by Dirt Track Riders Association boss at London’s laid-back Malle Mile

Words: Anthony Brown Photos: Max Howard

31 >

The easy-going atmosphere of the Malle Mile reminds me of the late ’80s VMCC1 hillclimb. It’s like going back in time in more ways than one. Post-lockdown GB is a place where virtually every event for the previous five months (and next three months) has been cancelled or postponed. I don’t know how the organisers managed to make this event happen, but rolling onto the Malle Mile site was like landing in a pre-Covid utopia, free of 2020 doom and gloom. And that was even before I met the bike I was going to ride, the brand-new Brute.

LAST time I rode a hillclimb. I apassengeringwassidecarbeing

Appendix

1. The Vintage Motor Cycle Club, founded in 1946, at the time for riders of pre-1930s

Britain.

The Brute 500 is the first result of that decision. It’s a modern take on a street tracker, but it’s more than that.

driven by my dad. There was an entry of maybe 50 combinations and the track was a bumpy, grassy incline, straight up the side of a farmer’s field. We ripped the Triumph 5T sidecar up that hill all day long and won a trophy. No one cared about our victory except us, but I still remember it. Fast-forward to 2020 and Sideburn asked me to go along to the Malle Mile for the weekend to ride the pre-production Herald Brute 500. I’m all over it.

1987:bikes.THE

Herald is the motorcycle branch of Encocam, a UK-based, family-owned company who have been in operation for over 30 years and are world leaders in automotive crash-testing products. The Herald side of their business was launched in 2009 as an importer of Chinese bikes, one of the first in Europe to start selling the new breed of inexpensive, classic-style, smallcapacity motorcycles aimed at new riders and commuters. Over the years, Herald would tweak and eventually restyle the bikes they brought in until the ended up with the Brat, a very different proposition to the other companies rebadging these imported theirdesignimportedtogaveengineeringcapabilitiesmanufacturingdecidedHerald’slightweights.single-cylinderIn2014,managementtheirlargeandstrongteamthemtheabilityexpandbeyondthebikesandtoandmanufactureownmotorcyclesin

Front brake UK

Levers UK*

Rims Taiwan

Shock Linkage UK*

Engine China

Herald say, ‘We kept the focus on producing as much as we can in the UK. When UK suppliers have not been available, we have looked to Europe first.’

Bars UK*

Rear brake Spain

Forks Taiwan

*Made in-house by Herald or their sister company, Racetek

Switches Italy

Yokes UK*

Airbox UK

Bodywork UK

Seat UK

Petrol tank Italy

ECU Italy

Wiring loom UK*

Rear shock Taiwan

Where was the Brute made?

Exhaust China

Frame and swingarm UK

Dirty great Brute. Jake Edey slings the prototype at a hill in South London to see what the new Herald is made of

2. The new-generation Fantic Caballero was first shown at the EICMA show, Milan, in November 2016. 3. Another of Encocam’s brands.

DTRA racer Gareth Williamson is the engineer behind the bike. Having someone who stands behind the Brute and is prepared to ride the bike like he stole it says a lot about the ethos and commitment of the Herald guys. Gareth gave me the short version of the Brute 500’s birth and‘Thedevelopment.projecthad a number of false starts, but was kicked off properly when I joined the company, in mid2017. I started with a clean sheet and the idea to create a base bike that we could build a number of variants off, such as a scrambler and café racer. The first and biggest hurdle was the engine. The cost of developing our own engine would have been too great,’ he says, ‘and having no motorcycle manufacturing history at that time meant we couldn’t get our foot in the door with any European engine manufacturers, which left us with the option of going to Asia for an engine. We selected the Zongshen NC450 which, at a later date, Fantic announced they would use in the Caballero2. Zongshen are one of the largest and most well-regarded motorcycle manufacturers in China. The fact that Norton formed an agreement to work with them for their 650 Twin speaks of this.’

There are tons of nice little features and unique components, from the Racetek3 levers to the carbonfibre tail, that seem to be the result of a design team pushing hard to make an impact. ‘We wanted to design a bike

The Brute’s styling is definitely not retro and represents something different from many of its competitors. ‘We worked with Renfrew, a design agency in Leicester, to develop the overall aesthetic of the bike,’ says Gareth. ‘The biggest advantage was that it enabled us to really understand what we wanted to achieve with the bike. About this time, late 2017, I stumbled upon Sideburn and the British flat track and DTRA community. I’d been following the trend in the custom bike scene towards more tracker builds, and that, along with reading about the community that existed in the UK, convinced me these were the people we wanted to build bikes for. It fitted with the image we were building with the brand. I began racing with the DTRA as a way to better understand flat track culture, and to feed that back into the business and design.’

Appendix

A pair of good knobblies and this bike would be a great scrambler for ruining all the bunkers at the local golf club or greenlaning. With slicks, you could carve up a gokart track and leave some decent black lines. The Brute is a combination of parts manufactured on different sides of the globe. Its design has its roots in off-road sport and yet the bike would be totally at home bar hopping and ruling a big city.

Because of Herald’s birth as an importer and re-badger of Far Eastern bikes, they will have to work hard to get the message out that the Brute isn’t a facelifted budget bike, something that still bears a stigma in established motorcycle markets. But the Brute really isn’t, as Gareth explains, ‘The frame and swingarm castings are produced in Bedford, UK. All final machining is in-house. For welding, we use a local company, Arch Motor and Manufacturing [nothing to do with Keanu] who have nearly 60 years’ experience. They specialise in highperformance chassis production and manufactured nearly all the British F1 chassis in pre-carbon monocoque era, plus the Ariel Atoms4 and many Lotus and Ford RS200 chassis, to name a few.’

And while we’re talking about traditions, it was just what I needed in these unsettling times to be a part of the Malle Mile and its laid-back grassroots bike racing –another great British tradition.

that could be a base for our customers to show their creativity, with a clean frame design that can be adaptable to a number of styles, a removable subframe, and by keeping the electronic interference to a minimum,’ says Gareth.

I’d happily race the Herald around a dirt oval in a street-bike class and would be equally as comfortable to load it up with soft luggage and take it on a 2000-mile

The Brute was shared by a few riders on the day, and I wasn’t the fastest up the hill on it, that crown goes to young gun, motocross demon Jake Edey. I was talking to Jake about his impressions and we agreed that while it’s not like a rip-snorting, tuned ’crosser, the motor has plenty of go. Herald clearly had faith in the build quality and strength of the bike, and that faith was repaid. It was abused up the hill without complaint for the whole of the Malle Mile weekend.

After spearing his fellow racer with a flagpole, DTRA boss Anthony leads the battle of the Heralds on the lower slopes of the hillclimb

I noticed the UK components too, including the HEL brakes and Racetek triple clamps. Herald has got the spec of the bike dead right.

trip, ripping round the mountain passes of Europe. It’s the sort of bike that could lend itself to lots of uses and styles of riding and I really like it for that flexibility.

Appendix 4. ‘Naked’ British sportscar famous for its exposed ladder-frame chassis.

10 40 25 25 batteredPrototypesbut not broken 25%British design 40%effortInternational25%Sideburninspiration10% Herald Brute 500 Malle Mile

It’s great to see a UK company pushing on with motorcycle design and helping to keep the tradition of motorcycle development alive in the UK. ‘We’re currently having our new factory fitted out in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, which will house the complete Brute production line, with production scheduled to begin in February 2021,’ says Gareth.

Andy DiBrino won back-to-back SuperHooligan titles on a Harley XG750, collecting a brand new Indian FTR750 as a prize. Then he built a KTM. Why? Words: Andy DiBrino Photos: Nick Zaback 2019 KTM 400lbmin.SuperHooligan336lbBuildPOWER:SuperHooligan79095bhpweight:(152kg)weight:(181kg)

41 > If you build a dirt trackchangegamechanger,expectaruletofollow

Hooligans on tarmac can be both hard and forgiving. The challenge that presents itself is the grip, at times. You have a bike set up for dirt, where you’re searching for every ounce of traction possible most of the time. When you put that bike on a good tarmac surface where grip is plentiful, it can be a twitchy, wheelieing, bucking bronco of a beast. Longer wheelbases and stock swingarms are great on tarmac. For beginners, the tarmac races are probably easier to ride than dirt. You don’t see people washing out and falling as much. Crashing a bike on tarmac definitely sucks though, potentially damaging you and the bike pretty good. Another plus point is it’s easier for promoters to put on races without having to bring in dirt, and then listen to everyone bitch about how the track sucks because it’s not prepared a certain way, or it’s too dusty.

AFTER WINNING the SuperHooligan National Championship, I was bored of the Harley, and the KTM had a lot of appeal.

Appendix 1. bycreatedwasthatclasstheinfieldplayingevenmorearetaintowasincreaseweightThe

Later, during testing, I discovered Rain or Street mode were better for flat track. It made the power more manageable and easier to put down. With hindsight, the 790 Duke is a street bike intended to be ridden on the street, not the dirt, so Track mode, designed for paved tracks, was not ideal. Since then, my electronics have actually locked themselves into Street mode, which, luckily, is my favourite of the bunch.

I remember the first time racing the KTM on dirt was at Perris Auto Speedway Half-Mile, when the SuperHooligans were a support class for the AFT national. Joe Kopp2 and I had an epic battle, but I had a lot of wheelspin and he prevailed.

It makes substantially more power and weighs substantially less, or it did before SuperHooligans made a minimum weight rule of 400lbs (181kg)1. KTM’s brand is about being ‘ready-to-race’ and being performance oriented, so naturally it’s a better basis for a race bike.

EVEN

inIndianofinvestmentthebyleveldifferentatomovedthenSportsters,modifiedofowners Scouts.DesignSandsRolandthe 2. racingstartedwhoChampion,NationalGrand2000The NextnexttheisKoppKodycareer.racingson’shisfinancehelptomoneywintoSuperHooligans way.thebyThing,Big>

Originally, the KTM was a lot lighter, and a bit more nimble, but traction on dirt was always the challenge with the bike. The thing rips on the dirt, but whenever we have asphalt races, the bike really shines. I had some killer battles against Joe Kopp during the 2019 season.

A lot of the most recent SuperHooligan races were on tarmac, with jumps added, and that suits me. I love the variety of tracks we’ve had the last couple years. You can’t compare the series to anything else. I’m not an old-school flat tracker, so I’m not concerned with things being traditional. I still enjoy a proper flat track, though.

The KTM comes with a selection of riding modes with different throttle profiles and power characteristics, so it’s far more advanced in the electronics aspect compared to a Harley hoolugan. Initially, I struggled on the bike because I raced in Track mode, which is the most aggressive. I thought, Hey, I’m racing on a track, so I should be in Track mode.

Andy ripping it up at Park,MotorsportsRidgeWA,duringthefilmingofHooliGhana

‘The challenge that presents itself is the grip, at times.’

Because of the SuperHooligans 2020 rule change, I had to add something like 70lbs (32kg) of ballast to my bike and now it feels a lot more like the Harley. Savage Custom made me some bolt-on lead pieces and a skid plate to get the bike to the weight limit and it actually gave it mad traction. So far I haven’t struggled for grip, and I’ve had to do things to try to take some away. Sit on the KTM and it feels like a real race bike. That’s what I love about it.

I didn’t really spare any expense on the build, because it’s my pride and joy. I got FTR750 triple clamps; gold Öhlins; Samco hoses; Durelle and RSD quick-change wheels; custom Saddlemen seat and plenty more goodies.

Savage Custom has built about five of these bikes now, and he’s cranking out all the parts you could want for a 790. Give him a call.

He was riding my old Harley, the one I won the 2018 title with. It always seemed like his bike put the power down better on dirt than mine. Any scenario where I had grip, I could beat him or use the power of the KTM to my advantage. Obviously, suspension set-up played a factor with getting the KTM to grip, and Joe was always smarter when it came to set-up than me. It was hit and miss for me at times, but I felt like I had a better bike package than in 2018. Joe did a bit more development to my old Harley, so it would be fun to hop back on it and see how she feels after all the changes he made.

The next thing is to ditch the stock electronics and get a Motec system or something. The stock Bosch electronics are a nightmare to deal with and have issues if you start tampering. They’re not meant to be modified.

If you’re on a limited budget, I’d advise a custom swingarm, subframe and fuel tank. Do those three things to get the wheelbase shorter and the bike ergonomics more suited for flat track. The 790 is far more work to set up and prepare for hooligan racing than a Harley, but they are very rewarding and trick.

I’ve spent an easy $20,000 in modifications and parts alone, but keep in mind I paid for multiple versions of custom parts. Mine was the first ever build of one of these things and went through some trial and error.

Savage Custom Fabrication is behind all the custom stuff you see, aside from the new C&J swingarm. Travis at Savage fabricated the original swingarm that utilised the stock KTM rear brake set-up, as well as the subframe, fuel tank, bodywork, foot controls, front brake set-up, steering stem, and all sorts of miscellaneous things. Plus, he had to engineer some parts to get the bike up to weight, which cost me additional money. I had to get whole new fork and shock assemblies built to handle the additional weight, too.

The weights are not fitted in these photos, but the skid plate is pretty badass. The lead weight plate that is bolted to the skid plate weighs about 40lbs (18kg). There is also a 25lb (11kg) brick that fits in the pocket of the swingarm and engine. The rest of the handicap weight is made up of little things in secret spots.

‘i’ve spent an easy $20,000 andmodificationsinparts’

MORE MONEY

APPENDIX

When I won the SuperHooligan series in 2017 and got the FTR750 prize, Indian called and wanted to basically support me for three or four races and make a story out of it, but Chris Carr1 shut that down real quick. He didn’t want to set the precedent that if you win a hooligan championship you’re qualified for AFT Twins. I was qualified and might have been able to fight it a bit, but I didn’t. I understood his side of things and I wasn’t opposed to trying out the Singles class first.

1. Seven-time AMA Grand National Flat Track champ, who, at the time, was American Flat Track’s Chief Competition Officer.

AFT would be a lot more desirable to me if there were more TTs. In 2019, for fun, I raced the AFT Singles class at Buffalo Chip TT again, and finished 10th on the same stock Husky. The Production Twins class is sure looking cool these days though. Put some Production Twins TT events on and maybe you’ll see me show up with my hooligan bike! To make my bike AFT legal though, I’d have to spend another $5000-plus to do a throttle body and cable throttle conversion, plus ditch the stock electronics.

I gave the AFT thing a go at Daytona, Calistoga, Sacramento, Buffalo Chip and Rapid City in 2018. I didn’t have any support and I rode a stock-motored Husqvarna FC450. I literally was alone at the Sturgis races, changing my own gearing, and I put it in the main and finished 12th at the Chip TT. I didn’t impress at the half-miles or mile, but I was just out getting experience. And again, on a stock, untuned bike. Meanwhile, I had paying sponsors who wanted me to race SuperHooligans. So it was hard to turn down and I really enjoyed it.

Stripped of strugglesballast,SuperHooliganitsDiBrinotokeepbothwheelsonthedeck

ForTHANSUPERHOOLIGANSINAFTawhileitlookedlikeDiBrino was moving into pro flat track after winning the first SuperHooligan series. But… he explains

Doing AFT was on my own dime and I just didn’t have enough money to give that a proper shot while still road racing, riding motocross, and everything I do. Road racing has always been a money-burner. Nothing I have ever done outside of SuperHooligans has actually made me money. As a kid trying to avoid a real job and call motorcycle racing my job, I had to go where the money was. People give me crap, saying I was cherrypicking or I should be doing AFT, but I love racing SuperHooligans and I love the opportunities I’ve had within the hooligan world.

45.476982, 8.583481 Via Case sparse, 8 - Agonate (NO) ITALY ditraversoschool.it

The Genesis

The tracks were all ovals and ranged from quarter-miles up to Myrtle Beach’s 5/8ths. They were car racing tracks, but 95% of the racers rode them like dirt tracks. Early on, a few road racers tried this style of racing, but with little success.

I believe the MARS series started in 1990, though I don’t remember exactly, and ran through until 1998. The races were held during the regular Grand National dirt track season, but for the most part on ‘off weekends’ from the AMA GNC. I don’t believe there were many, if any conflicts. The prize money was good, but not up to GNC level at the time [there was a lot more prize money around then], so it attracted many of the top riders.

m.a.r.s.

51 > m.a.r.s.

Photos: Flat Trak Photos

Ken Lilly from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, (a long-time sponsor of Will Davis) started the MARS series. The Barberville, Florida, races (and one year in St. Augustine, Florida) were organised to coincide with Daytona Bike Week. The Myrtle Beach, SC race ran during their bike week too, but most were stand-alone races.

In the early years the races drew large crowds, but towards the end the attendances had dropped off. The series popularity was waning, but what finally killed it was when Ken Lilly, who raced some low-level pro races himself, was severely injured in an amateur race and was unable to keep things going.

Seeing Andy DiBrino thrashing his hooligan dirt tracker on tarmac reminded us of MARS, the Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series. Dave Hoenig supplies the photos and memories

Above, future World Superbike racer Mike Hale mixes things up in the Sportster 883 class ahead of Jay Springsteen, at Barberville, Fl, in 1993.

The Founder

part, the damaged caused in crashes wasn’t any worse than on dirt, but the speed involved definitely upped the danger factor, or at least the perception of it. A lot of riders were hesitant to try it, but most who did said there wasn’t that much difference between flat tracking on dirt or asphalt. Steve Morehead, who had 23 career GNC wins on dirt and did well on asphalt, said the main thing was you couldn’t tell when things were going bad and when they did you couldn’t catch back up like you could on dirt. It was a case of everything felt great until it didn’t.

ForDangerthemost

MostSet-upriders

used their dirt track set-ups and tyres. The biggest difference between asphalt and dirt concerned tyres though. Everyone used the same Goodyears or Dunlops they’d use in the GNC, but some would run old, used tyres and they would last all night. Others, like Rusty Rogers (right), could go through a brand-new tyre in one 15-lap race.

the series only had two champions in its history.

I’m pretty sure Will Davis (above) won the first two years, then Rusty Rogers in 1992. Will won 1993-1998. Will won with smooth, consistent races; Rusty (left) won with a very large right wrist, which also got him into trouble sometimes. Both were a lot of fun to watch.

IfChampionsIrememberrightly,

Mick Phillips Illustrations & captions: Brusco BRUSCO

Words:

57 > Make time to catch up with the Catalonian artist and illustrator

‘The truth is, I’ve always combined my work as an illustrator with my work as a publicist. It’s difficult to earn a living in Spain from illustration, even more so from lowbrow illustration. This is why it was necessary to work in both disciplines. 93URBAN was my brand and with it I showed my communication work as well as my work as an illustrator.

The urge was still strong by the time Hugo left high school, so he studied art at university for four years.

Career-wise, Hugo gravitated towards advertising, publicity and communication, and for more than ten years headed his own company, 93URBAN. But illustration work always ran alongside.

(previous page) Thruxton Boy T-shirt design for Motone; (above) Sant Jordi. For social media to mymyday;patronCatalonia’scelebratesaint’s(below)PimpBellhelmetatoldstudio

truth is, like all kids, I was always drawing and fantasising with pencils. I don’t know any kid who doesn’t draw. I think the difference for me is that I never stopped.’

‘Just ask the walls of my parent’s house! The

‘I never finished. Maybe one day I will. While there I alternated my formal studies with studies of comics, caricatures, airbrushing… anything I could. Later on, I discovered digital tools and fell in love. Tools like Photoshop, Director, Flash and Freehand. I’m completely self-taught in this area.’

We wondered when he first felt himself to be an illustrator. ‘I guess the first time someone asked me for a piece to fulfil a need. I had to move from drawing freely, drawing what I wanted, to putting myself in the shoes of the client to satisfy a request. That’s when I changed from an artist to an illustrator.’

ARCELONA. FAMOUS FOR plenty. La Ramblas, Gaudi’s architectural gems, FC Barcelona, and having the highest saturation of motorcycles per capita of any European city. OK, most of those are sub125cc scooters, but come on, it’s not what you ride,There’sright?aparticular son of Catalonian soil who’s been getting under Sideburn’s fingernails for the best part of a decade. He’s well known to you, of course, given that you’ll all have bought the editor’s sumptuous Motorcycle Graphics hardback. But even if that’s still mouldering on your wishlist, this Spaniard’s louche lowbrow loveliness won’t have escaped your attention, be it on event posters – including for the DTRA – helmets, bikes, sign-writing, T-shirts, tattoos – you know, such as the one your mum got on her left buttock last Christmas.

Brusco, or rather Hugo Jose Maria Corral, was born in Catalonia’s capital in 1978 and, apart from his first few years when the family lived in a small town on the coast, he’s lived there all his life, right now with his cat, Chopper. He’s become a well-loved presence on the scene and with good reason, but when were the seeds of this creativity sown?

Artwork for Kaff merchandisingGarage

The Brusco nickname came about after his ‘straight’ clients were surprised when a tattooed ad agency bloke arrived on his Harley. They told him later that they’d been worried he’d be ‘brusco’, Spanish for ‘rude’. Hugo adopted the name.

This was precisely the reason for the birth of Brusco Artworks, the need to separate my work in communication and publicity from my more gritty stuff, like my drawings of pinups, hot rods, kustom kulture…’

The last ten or 15 years have seen a blossoming of lowbrow art and design and while Brusco is a part of that, at heart he’s also a fan. ‘Nowadays there are so many good artists, from friends in the profession to greats of the past, so many we’d need a few beers to cover them all. There lots of great professionals working these days; people I admire and who I’d love to work with some day. Artists like Adam Nickel, Derek Yaniger, Adi Gilbert, Ryan Quickfall, Shawn Dickinson, McBess and the sadly deceased Dry‘OnBritish.principle,

I enjoy all types of illustration, regardless of technique and style. What I don’t like is the new wave of “ugly” illustration that seems to seek out “ugliness”. It frequently tries to hide a lack of skill or knowledge on the part of the artist. I’m old school and think that in order to destroy you must first know how to create. I can get behind ugliness as part of the process or as stylistic evolution, but when it comes from a lack of skill... no.’ If you want to gain some of those skills, you can join a Brusco signwriting workshop at weekends.

These days, everyone’s a photographer, or think they are, but what can illustration offer over a well-composed photograph? ‘I think the secret weapon of illustration is that it has

‘THE LEVEL OF DEPTH YOU CAN GIVE A DRAWING WOULD BE AEXPENSIVECOMPLICATEDEXTREMELYORTODOINPHOTOGRAPH’

Hugo’s talents are wide-ranging and, as he said, early on in his career he became fascinated by the palette of digital tools that have become ever-more rich and flexible over the past quarter century.

‘I always start my work digitally. I’ve got used to sketching digitally. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mural, a helmet or a print. Normally, artists start with a pencil, but in the end digital tools improve the workflow by speeding up the process and, above all, you can always rely on Cmd+Z (undo), the greatest invention after the wheel and penicillin.’

(clockwise from above) Illustration for Guy Martin’s 2020 charity calendar; Hand-painted helmet for Pimp my Bell exhibition; T-shirt design with the logo and mascot I created for the Black Cat shop; Launch party poster for Sideburn issue #11 at Kiddo Motors in Barcelona in 2012

@bruscobybrusco.com

‘Right now I have a Triumph Legend TT transformed into a bobber. I’m going to change it soon, unfortunately, for a 2005 Speedmaster, because of the anti-pollution regulations in my city. The motorcycle I’ve enjoyed the most has been without a doubt the Legend; I rode it to London from Barcelona. But I also have a soft spot for my 2005 Springer Twin Cam, which I had completely transformed. It was a great bike! And my Spazio [Honda’s big-nosed 250cc Star Trek scooter] is perfect for moving around the city.’

‘I guess that a tattoo is the highest expression of confidence in my work, because it’s for life. But I still don’t dominate the medium; I still have a lot to learn. It’s always exciting to come across someone wearing your shirt or to see your packaging in the supermarket or in a barbershop.’

moviewithcustommixingIllustrationcurrentbikestraditionalmonsters

It’s apparent from his art that the bike world, especially kustom kulture, is close to Hugo’s heart, but does that go back a long way? ‘I come from a family that always had motorcycles at home. My father was passionate about them and my mother is the best co-pilot in the world! They loved travelling on motorcycles. I inherited my love from my parents when I was very young, especially of Harleys. Although they never had a Harley, they had Triumph, Vespa, Kawasaki Vulcan, Lambretta, Ducati… But what really marked me was my father’s dream of owning a Harley, a dream he gave to me and that I was able to fulfil. I was raised with his dream and little by little I’ve turned it into my passion and part of my profession.

So what’s on the horizon for Brusco? ‘Right now I’m in the studio of an artist I admire who is also a good friend, Inocuo The Sign, and with him you never know what you’ll end up doing. Our last projects were for the opening of the Davis Cup (3D mapping) and painting murals for the Wanda Museum of Atlético de Madrid (the world-famous football club). Let’s see what’s next.’

infinite possibilities for storytelling. There are no limits except for those of the artist. The level of depth you can give a drawing would be extremely complicated or expensive to do in a photograph. And let’s not forget the power of colour and line to communicate and draw the eye.

Affuso El Chorizo

Words: Jonas Hendrix Photos: Fabio

One spicy bike, owned by one spicy hunk of man-meat

65 >

Once I’d decided who was going to build my frame I needed an engine. Bingo! At La Corona’s workshop in Barcelona there was a scrap Yamaha XS650 that used to belong to a friend of ours. Diego, my partner-in-crime at the workshop, had purchased it at a friendly price, so I decided to buy it to fulfil my dream of owning a proper flat track bike.

I drove the 1500km (just short of 1000 miles) from Barcelona to Lelystad in the Netherlands, did the races, finished the laps and had a blast, but learned the

FAMILIAR story, but I don’t apologise for telling my version of it. I was bitten by the flat track bug and decided I wanted to have something truly vintage. Living in Spain, I thought I couldn’t get my hands on a Wood Rotax, Trackmaster or Staracer, so I decided to go European and chose to have a custom chromoly frame made by Co-Built, an English bike-building company I’d been following for a while.

Hoos Racing Specialties, another Yamaha specialist, in Davenport, Iowa, sold me the shaved left-side engine cover and the right-side gearshift conversion kit. (The gear shift kit is now fitted, but I still need to get the hang of it). They also supplied the Shell1 camshaft and covers and a few other bits and pieces.

Appendix

1. Shell Racing Specialties, run by the late, legendary Shell Thuet, who tuned Yamaha XS650s for Kenny Roberts, Hank Scott, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and others.

I had an engine, but there were a lot of missing parts. I started hunting for what I needed and completely rebuilt the top end at the same time. I have to admit, I didn’t bother investigating the bottom end. Two years and some races later, it’s still going.

I bought a big-bore kit from XS specialists Heiden in the Netherlands, which bumps the capacity up to 750cc. I contacted Geoff at Co-Built to tell him I had an engine, paid the deposit for the chassis and got in the Co-Built queue while I carried on with the engine.

When my slot at Co-Built came up, Geoff had got hold of an XS engine block to build the jig around. The frame, exhaust and a few other bits were built in a few weeks and arrived from England just days before Hells Race 2019. I decided to try to finish the bike for the race and give it… hell. Xarly from Vintage Addiction and Jordi Ciscar of OSB Motorcycles, both based in Barcelona, helped me finish the Yamaha in time for van loading. I didn’t even try to run in the new piston, I was counting on the Lelystad track to do the trick.

Then came the opportunity to ship the bike to Paris to be able go from there to Wales for the DTRA’s Amman Valley races with the French lot. I was in.

Jonas ‘El Patron’ Hendrix brings the good times to Europe’s dirt track; (left) In action at Rocco’s Ranch, Barcelona, the track owned by the Cardus brothers

I’ve now raced the bike my friends nicknamed El Chorizo in Spain, France, The Netherlands, England and Wales. And I’m hungry for more. two-stroke Harley short tracker was featured in SB42. 750

carburation was off. The bike, even with its 750cc bigbore, wasn’t making any power and the rear hub I was using wasn’t the correct one. I went back to Barcelona with a plan to figure it out.

Back in Spain, I replaced the carbs with flatslides and now it feels like a completely different bike. But the trouble wasn’t over, because I left petrol in the fibreglass tank and ruined it, so I had Survivor Customs in England

European tour

The race weekend started on Friday at Rye House speedway track, near London, with a practice session and birthday party for Nico, one of the Frenchies. Again my bike had problems. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, because I hadn’t touched the carbs. James, aka Kingdom of Kicks, was also at Rye House and sent me to his mechanic in London to get the bike set up on a dyno. It was something I should have had done in Barcelona, but I was too lazy. Now with 55 horsepower at the back wheel, we carried on to Wales, four hours away, raced in the Amman Valley mud after the track was soaked with rain, and loved every single bit of it.

use it as a shell to make an alloy tank and new cover for my Harley SX-2502

Appendix 2. Jonas’s

17 10 40 33 33%mustardFrenchWelshmud17%40%sausageSpanish10%HollandHellish El Chorizo

HAPPYPLACE Words:SomewhereinBelgium…ChrisScheltensPhotos:VictorPacko

Chris Scheltens

He’s smiling on the inside

I got my first dirt bike when I was 15, a Kawasaki KD125 that I shared with some friends. There were a lot of MX events where I lived and I always sneaked out to attend them. I couldn’t ask my parents to come along because it was strictly forbidden to go to these things. I think they were afraid I would come home with a mullet.

A while later, I bought a 1950 Chevy that I wanted to customise (I’m still working on it) and went to all the car meetings in Europe. That’s where I discovered the chopper scene that I only knew from magazines and books. I couldn’t afford Milwaukee steel, so I had to satisfy myself chopping a Yamaha XS400. Eventually, working my ass off [Chris now owns a tattoo supply business, Lucky 7 Supplies, in Belgium], I could afford a 1986 Sportster. I still have it and enjoy riding it.

At the same time I bought the Sportster, my friends and I were playing around with Suzuki DR400s, because they were a lot cheaper than the Yamaha XT500. I had the most fun on that DR. Before I knew it, someone suggested going to Dirt Quake to check that out. After that, things happened fast for me. I was finally making some real money and I was able to buy the Triumph I’m race now.

Last year, I bought an almost stock 1976 Harley Ironhead and rode it all summer with no problems. In the winter I ride my ’80s Kawasaki KZ1000P cop bike. To take mail order packages to the Post Office I use my starship scooter, a Honda Spazio, that’s so ugly it’s cool.

NFORTUNATELY, I DON’T have a story where my dad was a one-percenter or he raced bikes and that my mom travelled the whole of Europe on the back of a Harley, but I was always into American custom cars and bikes. It didn’t matter if they were race bikes, choppers or motocross, I always loved old stuff.

My bike life started with some wheeling and dealing to get my first moped. I stored it at my friend’s place because I wasn’t allowed to have one. Once my parents saw I was serious about it, I took it home. My grandfather always supported my love of bikes and helped paint them or would just spend time cleaning them with me. I had Honda mopeds from the ’60s: ST50, ST70, SS, CD, Z50A, Z50J, Cub… I got the bug bad, travelling Europe on them and organising big events where even Japanese guys were coming over to take pictures and do interviews. From there on it went fast and I met a lot of people in different scenes.

RIDING

‘I like the people I meet buying the part or bike. They always have great stories’

For flat track, I use the Triumph 750. I’m currently busy building a two-stroke flat tracker. It has a Co-Built frame and swingarm, Ossa engine, Kimtab wheels and unique Tracy fibreglass body [the one Chris is holding on the first page]. We don’t have a flat track circuit here in Belgium so every time we want to go left we have to drive 300km to Lelystad, or further.

machines, Top

Anything before 1980 does the trick for me, so it’s all twin shock. I have such a wide taste and sometimes I fall in love with a bike that is infamous for shitty reliability or bad handling, but I don’t care, I buy what I like and not what others think is cool. I could be riding an enduro on Saturday then be on a trip to the coast on a chopper the next day. I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of friends with the same state of mind.

the stuff I buy, but I also want to use it. I’m not afraid to use a €500 Vizor-Vu visor or €300 boots where others would put them in a museum or behind glass. I’m trying to give it a second life. It’s such a great passion and it’s the reason I work. I’m not the guy who goes to a soccer match and gets pissed in the pub every Sunday. I’d rather spend my money on that specific part or hard-to-find book. I try not to sell anything, though I might if I have three of them. I give a lot away to people. I’d rather make someone happy, if they promise they will use it and not resell it. Or just a simple trade will do.

Chairman of the Hoard: Chris’s eclectic collection spans pinball Trump show-quality

card games,

ICOLLECTINGlikehistoryingeneral

GARAGE TIME

If we’re riding an MX track I like to use one of my Bultaco Pursangs – MK5 or MK8 – or the CZ 360. Unfortunately, all the MX tracks in Belgium are closing and the few that are left are built for modern bikes, with big jumps and table tops.

vintage taxidermyrarearmour,first-generationscramblers,bodycutawayengines,clobber,toysand

Nothing I have here makes me happier than anything else. I like everything. The old tools, the motocross jerseys, leathers and boots, helmets and visors, the banners from forgotten bike dealers… It truly is my happy place.

and I get a little buzz out of finding a rare piece. I like the people I meet buying the part or bike. They always have great stories; it could be buying a CZ pin or an old MX jersey from an 80-year-old.Itrytorespect

I’m not the best mechanic. I’ll try, and when I get stuck I know I can rely on my best buddy David (@fastlathe on Instagram). He’s a real wizard and a perfectionist on every level. He has a very nice collection of Bultacos and recently bought a huge stock of ’Taco parts, so we’re good for a few years. Still, I think my favourite bike is my DR400, the cheapest bike in my collection, but it’s got me everywhere. I discovered the DTRA with it after racing at Dirt Quake, and it’s taken me on nice weekends in the Ardennes and France...

I bought this from a guy in Belgium who wanted to build a rally car and was selling it because his wife said he couldn’t build the car unless one thing went. So, David bought the whole Bultaco stock – he had good haul – and I bought this bike. I paid top dollar for it and I’ve only ridden it twice, but I’ll make some time in the near future to (ab)use it, I promise. Ever since I bought it, the previous owner has wanted to buy it back, but I’m keeping it. It’s such a milestone in MX history.

In my eyes, the most beautiful MX bike ever, and totally impractical because of its fibreglass body. I dreamt about it when I was a kid and I knew it was so hard to find and expensive, but I never stopped looking. At one point, I discovered an online ad from someone who had one for sale. The ad was from the early 2000s, but I didn’t want to give up. It was in Spanish, so I asked a friend to call the number in the hope the seller would still know who he sold it to. He did! And the ‘new’ owner lived around the corner

from his house. He went round and asked if he wanted to sell. It was still there in his garage after 20 years! I did a deal and a week later I made the 3000km (1900-mile) round trip to pick it up.

METISSE BULTACO

OSSA STILETTO

Once in the garage, we saw it was the wrong Ossa engine and a lot of fibreglass was missing or cracked, but I didn’t care, I had a Stiletto! Sourcing everything and buying the missing parts took me a year, then it went over to my friend David’s place and he made it into a gem.

outdated.tooheavy.winner.

Kayl Kolkman takes a rare Knight Honda RS600 to the Perris Shoot-Out

Words: Gary Inman Photos: Scott Toepfer

79 > theRS600,Air-cooledtakingracewin

‘It started off a little shaky when we first got there, because the bike didn’t want to start, but we found a loose earth wire and figured it out in time. The bike didn’t feel the greatest in practice, but I made some changes before the time trials and ended up squeaking into the Dash For Cash [the four-lap sprint race for the four fastest qualifiers]. I ended up winning it on the Honda, making some money and getting a Roland Sands Design Hammer wheel, which was perfect, because I really needed one for my twin. I also won both heats and the Framer Shootout main. I ended up having a good battle with Brandon Robinson in the Open Pro class and got edged out for the clean sweep, but no complaints, it was a lot of fun.’

‘It’s hard to say if I would have been any faster on a DTX that night, because I have a lot of laps on one at that track. The RS and the DTX both have strengths. I felt like I could get through the middle of the corner really good on the RS, and it’s so easy to ride I might be able to run more consistent laps on it too. My DTX bike, a 2007 Honda CRF450, could get off the corner a little harder and get through the rough stuff better, but if we were >

‘While I was riding at Jeff Blackmore’s ranch3 we were talking about the Pro Framer Shootout that was coming up at Perris. He offered me the Honda RS600 to ride and it sounded like fun. We changed the bars, put some fresh tyres on it and took it to the races.’

Kayl’s night at Perris doesn’t start great, but quickly improves. Boy, does it improve… ‘I signed up for two classes, the Framer Shootout and also the Open Pro,’ he explains. The Open Pro is for elite riders on whichever bike they choose to ride, whether it’s a DTX, framer, twin or even vintage.

This Honda is old and heavy compared to the liquidcooled 450 framers Kayl was up against, so why was it so effective? ‘The engine worked great and that was my first time racing it. I was really impressed. It’s very forgiving and easy to ride, because it doesn’t rev up really quick compared to a new 450, and puts the power to the ground. The bike didn’t feel heavy while I was riding it.

‘I wasn’t looking around for a bike to ride, I was really busy just trying to keep my race programme rolling and was just going to race my twin,’ says Kayl, talking about his Southland Fabrication-framed Yamaha FZ-07.

1. As we note, and will continue to for those who aren’t Grade A American Flat Track scholars, Expert is the catch-all for the premier class of pro flat track. It has been called Expert, GNC1, AFT Twins and currently SuperTwins. Kolkman had not competed in the SuperTwins class at the time of writing. 2. ‘Outlaw’ is the description of a race not organised by an AMA-affiliated club. There’s nothing illegal about it. 3. The Blackmore Ranch in Murrieta, Ca, is not open to the public, and doesn’t host races, but describes itself as ‘An “Action Sports Ranch”, working with athletes of several different sporting genres and providing rarely found private grounds for our athlete friends to test, train, hang out and have fun. The Ranch also provides backdrops and lots for the photography, music and film industries.’

T’S THE NIGHT before an American Flat Track national round. The big guns are in Southern California for the 2019 Perris Half-Mile at the fairground car track. But on the other side of town, at the Perris short track, the prize money is blood in the water and the sharks are circling. Riders from all over the country are in town a day early and looking to make a killing.

> Appendix

Kayl Kolkman would be here anyway. #98 is an AFT regular, in both the Production and Expert Twins1 class, but this is one of his local tracks and that prize money is making his mouth water. He isn’t intimidated going barto-bar with the factory riders of AFT, especially not on this parched short track. And tonight, the Perris purists promoting this outlaw2 race have included a headlinegrabbing class for framers. Framers are dirt track race bikes with custom-made steel chassis, not the modified motocross bikes that have grown to dominate pro short track racing.

If this photo doesn’t explain why we go on about our love for framers nothing ever will. Just look at it!

‘IT REALLY COMES DOWN TO RIDING THEM DIFFERENTLY. I DON’T FEEL AS COMFORTABLE ON A DTX WHEN THE BIKE IS STEPPED-OUT AND I’M HANGING OFF THE SIDE’

‘For me, it really comes down to riding them differently. Typically, I don’t feel as comfortable on a DTX when the bike is stepped-out and I’m hanging off the side, riding it sideways through the middle of the corner, so I’ll square off the corner more to not have to ride it sideways as much.’ When Kayl says ‘square off the corner’, he means making his line around the track into more of a diamond shape by braking deeper into the middle of the turn, slowing more mid-corner and then turning the bike very sharply, with the help of a big fistful of brapp. This means he can complete the bike’s turn over a shorter distance and get the bike stood back up more vertically to fire it down the straight.

‘Well, I don’t think the other guys want to hear it, but the shocks were pretty soft and that was causing it. I think one or both of them were blown out and leaking, so to get the bike stiff enough we ended up cranking a bunch of preload into the rear springs. That made it ride pretty high in the rear, making it hard to finish the corner, so I would go a little wide and break the thing loose again to finish it.’ Easy, right? Right…

going from the readings off the fun meter, I’m picking the RS all day. It’s just a really fun bike to ride.’

Kayl was crossed-up coming off the corners, which is great for the photographers and crowd entertainment, but points to the bike struggling to get traction, although that’s something his results seem to contradict. So, what was happening?

Many of the new generation of singles riders have next to no experience of framers, all they’ve known is DTX, but those a few years older, like Kayl, can compare the riding style that the two different breeds of bikes require.

Kolkman’s Southland Fabrication-framed Yamaha FZ-07 twin seems a world apart from the air-cooled single, but that Honda hauls

If framers were allowed to compete in the AFT Singles class, could or would a framer win the season overall? ‘I would like to think so,’ says Kayl, ‘but the DTX bikes have come a long way over the years, and a lot of the kids racing the Singles class probably haven’t even ridden a framer. But yeah, it’s definitely possible. It would just take the right combo of rider and bike to win it, I Thatthink.’scenario doesn’t fit into AFT’s plans4 for their Singles class, but, like the Perris purists, we know framers rule.

Blown shocks 12% winnerWinner,dinnerChicken10%19% Big, thumperole 30% New rubber 29%

He continues, ‘On a framer, I’ll make the corner rounder and carry more momentum. Perris has a good shape, it’s usually pretty smooth with a good, consistent surface that you can really flick the bike around on, so it really suits framers. If a track gets too rough then a DTX bike is quicker.’

12 12 19 19 10 10 29 29 30 30Honda RS600 Perris Appendix2019 4. AFT’s Singles class is exclusively for stock-framed 450cc motorcycles, so it is a DTX class. This allows it to appeal to the majority of manufacturers and importers. Kayl ends the first day he ever rode the Honda with a wheelie past the flag and a fistful of dollars. Racing’s easy for some

I found out that the frame was built by Ken Swanson, originally from California, who moved up to Clyde, NY, and ran his shop in Geneva, NY, just across from the Paradise Speedway track. He started production around February 1966.

Words: Hermann Köpf Photos: Carlos Fernández Laser, Hermann Köpf

‘Ken’s former employee, Rick Berg, remembers, ‘He was a Ducati man, dealer and a hell of a competitive racer, but after a bad crash in 1967 on a half-mile in Ohio, he didn’t race anymore.’nto turn 3 on the half-mile, he came back

The original photo that sparked the hunt; The build begins; Period advert for ‘lightweight dirt track frames’

Little Duke Framer

Proof that mooching on the internet isn’t always a waste of time

EARS AGO, WHEN I was surfing around, I found a photo of a Ducati-powered flat track bike and was instantly hooked by its low and lightweight look and the typically ’60s scallop-painted gas tank. I’m a Ducati fan, and this flat track bike seemed exotic, so I wanted to know more about it.

87 >

Swanson short track frame suits pilots.pint-sizedHermannis6ft3in

The

I’d been posting photos of the build on Facebook and Bill Millburn wrote this lengthy comment: ‘First Swanson frames appear [sic] at the Utica Memorial Stadium indoor short track, Feb 20, 1966. Marion Pyron had one with a Ducati H&H engine. Tom and Norm Robinson were on Bultaco four-speed Swansons. The frames weighed 14 pounds. Available for the 250 BSA, 250 Ducati, 250 Bultaco four-speed and five-speed and the 500 and 650 BSA twins. There was also a Norton drag frame and a ‘universal’ frame. I believe Tim Hurley had one for the 250 Parilla, which looked very similar to the Ducati frame. The Ducati and 250 Bultaco five-speed frames were single downtube. Neil Keen, Dick Mann, and Billy O’Brien were major players in 1967 and ’68 with Swanson Bultacos, but then the TIG-welded nickel-plated Sonicweld frames appeared and the world changed. All of the Swanson frames that I have pictures of feature a one-piece backbone that starts at the top of the steering head, runs back, bends at about 90 degrees and runs down to a cross piece connecting the lower rails. On the single-downtube frames, there is also a brace running back from the lower part of the steering head horizontally that gets joined to the backbone before the 90-degree bend.’

A couple of years after my initial searching, I still couldn’t forget the draw of the bike with the scallop tank, and I put a wanted ad on vft.org (a site with great ads for vintage and modern flat track bikes and parts) and a few days later a guy from Salina, KS, offered me a rigid frame that seemed to be a real Swanson one. It’d been lying around in his garage for years. Some emails and photos later, the frame was shipped and I picked it up at the German toll authority and so the work (and real search) began.

I finally found a 250cc engine from a Spanish-built Ducati Mototrans Deluxe. Some details are different to the Italian original, for example the 69mm bore and 66mm stroke instead of Ducati’s 74 x 57.8mm. As my frame is a twin-downtube model, probably designed for a four-speed Bultaco, I had to widen the bottom tubes to accommodate the crankcase and weld new mounts.

While rebuilding the engine, I installed new bearings, a hotter 350cc camshaft, high-compression Woessner piston, Sachse Elektronik ignition and a stronger oil pump made by German Ducati guru Ottmar Unmüssig I ditched the alternator, so it’s running on a lightweight,

Most talk on the internet about these frames specifically for Ducati engines is that only about 12 were built before Ken had to close his shop in the ’70s. From what I’ve heard he now lives somewhere in Florida.

A newspaper advertisement for the Swanson frames from back in the day describes ‘lightweight dirt track frames made from top quality aircraft tubing, available immediately…’ And indeed, there are frames around which were designed for BSA, Bultaco, Ducati and Triumph engines. Some had a single downtube, but most had two. Prices started from $125, going up to $150 for the heavier BSA twins.

> ‘Most talk on the thehishadbeforewereaboutisDucatiframesaboutinternettheseforenginesthatonlytwelvebuiltKentocloseshopin’70s’

It runs great for an almost-55-year-old, 250cc fourstroke, thanks to the modern internals. But of course, it couldn’t compete with 1970s two-strokes or big bikes in the vintage class – not after the first corner at least. It’s a really light and quick starter, and sliding it into corners is really easy, but a lack of horsepower (and riding skills) makes it hard to come out of corners fast or even with a proper drift.

Anyway, the process of researching these rigid racing frames, collecting the parts over the years and the fact that Ducati singles were quite popular on short tracks back in the day, has resulted in a lovely period racer, I reckon. And it’s worth every cent I spent on it.

CiordesSevillaPatriciaPhoto:

lithium battery mounted to the top of the lower triple clamp, along with a Dyna mini-coil. It’s fitted with a 32mm Dell’Orto and runs 19in Shinko tyres on vintage Sun alloy rims I got from a friend in LA. I fitted shortened 35mm Spanish Telesco forks, that came with the engine, a BSA Victor alloy gas tank I found on eBay and a short megaphone pipe. No brakes, as it used to be in the ’60s. Oh, and it is way too small for me.

I’m hooked on old Ducatis, having a couple of beveland belt-driven relative youngsters in my garage, which I mostly take to vintage races and don’t really ride on public roads. So this little short tracker was an obvious outlet for my passion. And who knows, maybe the current project on my workbench – a 750cc Pantah engine and frame – will really pick me up out of corners next season.

founder ofHermannChronicles,magazineandKrowdraceGermany’sofseriesrunsthebikeBrummmisourkindfella

PREPARED TO GET LOST WWW.MALLELONDON.COM

Sturgis 2020 has become the most infamous motorcycle gathering since Hollister ’47. Sideburn contributor Preston Burroughs forgot his mask Words & photos: Preston Burroughs ‘I neverhaveletthefearofdeathgetinthewayofagoodtime’SWIPE 93 >

Sideburn had been in existence for 11 years before we decided we needed a disclaimer to distance ourselves from the opinions of our contributors. It...

SWIPE

pinch to zoom

#hellyeah just

...was Preston’s writing that forced us to introduce it. We’ll retain the disclaimer for this issue too. Looks like he enjoyed himself, though SWIPE trollin’ on by

2. Preston is neither a statistician nor an epidemiologist.

I have never let the fear of death get in the way of a good time. Just imagine if we let fear dictate the sports we participated in. Soon flat track – and motorcycles in general – would be a thing of the past. The scariest part of this year is how quickly people have willingly given up their freedoms. I’m dysfunctionally free, so when I heard I shouldn’t go to Sturgis, which happens to be one of my favourite places on earth, I couldn’t wait to go. Trading freedoms for safety is a slippery slope. First it’s public gatherings, then it’s bungee jumping, fast cars and motorcycles. I for one can’t live in a world without bungee

There are also the hard-ass dentists who ride zero days of the year, trailer their bikes in and as soon as it’s off the trailer they become Outlaw Bill for the week. Those are usually the guys who eat shit after a couple beers and get a nice memorial plaque on the side of the road to remind everyone else not to ride like an idiot. They blindly love Trump. Mostly because their neighbours all have Trump flags waving and it’s fun to be part of a team. Plus, who wouldn’t want a T-shirt with their president on it doing a wheelie, flipping off the camera with Sarah Palin on the back?

us daily that we wilfully ignore. I’m not ready to give up drinking, smoking, fast cars, bungee jumping or riding motorcycles and yet statistically speaking2 those are all a lot more dangerous than Covid.

Sometimesjumping.Ifeel it’s my civic duty to stick it to The Man, and if I can stick it to The Man while having fun it’s a Thetwofer.people you meet at Sturgis are like the people you meet at an old truck stop diner. They’re interesting, they haven’t showered in a few days, they usually have good dirty jokes and a pretty loose perspective on life. They like loud shit, fast shit and big tits. Fun to hang out with, but you might not want to list them as a plusone for any black-tie dinners. Some are better than others. Some who say they’re going to pray for you but probably never do, but if they have a cooler full of beer they’re going to make sure you got one. Their wife has massive boobs and an even bigger heart and will make you a sandwich and tell you about how perfect you’d be with her niece.

There’s so much talk of tolerance, but does it go both ways?

I love Sturgis for the same reason I love Burning Man1 People can act how they want. Some of these people are doctors or lawyers back home, but while they’re in South Dakota they can be Laura the Hot Dog Lady who walks around with a wiener in her front pocket to prove her lack of gag reflex to anyone interested. People doing what they want will always be cool to me.

I catch a lot of flak for the amount of love I have for the Sturgis rally, because my friends just don’t get it. Why would a true motorcycle enthusiast want to go somewhere with 500,000 bikers who trailer their motorcycles into town to ride up and down Main Street revving their Harley until the headers are red hot? Because it’s fun to watch! No one went to the taping of the Jerry Springer Show to be inspired, they went to laugh at the guests. That’s how Sturgis has always been for me. My voice is gone by the second day because I yell ‘Revvvvvv it uppppp!’ at every bike I see, and they all obey. I turn into a troll there. Hey man can I rev your bike? ‘Sure,’ they say, and I gun the sucker until they shut it off. If an old woman who shouldn’t be dressed in a leather bikini walks by, I tell her she looks beautiful and ask to take her photo. It makes her day and it makes mine too. I mean, where else in the world can you find a fifth-grade math teacher dressed head-to-toe in leather with a chain hanging from both nipples and running back up to her necklace?

2020 WAS like a movie, but not one of those new corny movies with a big budget and a shit story, more like the old ones with dodgy characters, low budgets and slow camera moves. And like most movies, this one took place in a different time. Even though it wasn’t, it felt like the time before the coronavirus locked everything down, before masks were mandatory, and before cops were hated.

If the thought of me having a blast at the largest gathering to ever take place during a pandemic is offending anyone, hear me out. Remember when the anti-drug commercials would say how bad weed was? They’d rant about how it would ruin your life, but then you smoked weed and realised those commercials were full of shit. Then all you wanted to do was smoke weed. That’s exactly how everyone at Sturgis felt. We’d been locked down for months and when we finally got out of the house we felt like rebellious teenagers. Mask? How about we see how many people can share the same ice cream cone at a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony concert. We shared drinks, ice cream cones and women and none of us got sick. ‘They’ say that you can get Covid and pass it on to someone else without ever knowing you had it, but ‘they’ also said weed would make you go insane and kill your neighbour and I love my neighbour… So, you gonna listen or you gonna live?

I’m not some shithead who hates old people or is careless of their wellbeing. I hate the thought of anyone dying, but there’s a laundry list of things that could kill

Sturgis gets a bad name. Mostly from people who’ve never been. They think it’s a bunch of rednecks holding hate rallies, but if those people do exist there I haven’t come into contact with them. The people I continue to meet year after year mix good ol’ Southern hospitality and a caring community formed around motorcycle people. If your shit’s broke someone will spend hours helping you fix it. Need gas? Need a ride? Need a beer? I’ve always been able to find everything I need there, usually from someone with a smile. If we do run into an asshole we put them on blast and teach them a lesson by trolling them until they realise how dumb they are.

Appendix

STURGIS

1. Anything goes, off-grid festival with Mad Max overtones held annually in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

HAVE FUN!! the jp style Words: Toshiyuki ‘Cheetah’ Osawa 海外のフラットトラックのマシーンってほんとカッコいいと思うフレーマー、DTX、ビンテージから現行車まであこがれる車両はいっぱいあるいらないものは何もついてない、本当のシンプルそして武骨、でもそんなのもう知ってる。日本独自のFTレーサーがあってもいいんじゃないの？日本にはだいたい同じサイズのレーストラックしかない自分の経験だと200ｍぐらいのサイズだと大排気量でミドルでも小排気量でもどれでも楽しめると思う。言い方を変えるとそれぞれの楽しみ方がある。ぶっちゃけテク次第では互角に戦えちゃったりするからね。そう考えれば日本には海外に負けないベースになるちっちゃいバイクがいっぱいあるカブやダックス、CD、、、へたしたら倉庫に眠ってたりするんじゃないかな？ただの足としか見てなかったちっちゃいバイクもセッティングを出していけばビックリするぐらい速くカッコよく乗れることは HAVE FUN!!で証明できたと思う。 differentbe unique style

99 HAVE FUN!!wow!!muchjob!!great みんなと同じバイクに乗る必要はないどんなバイクでも速くカッコよく堂々と乗っていればそれが COOL!! だってあれじゃんフラットトラックは唯一どんなバイクでも楽しめるモータースポーツだし。 cool

They remind me of Dave Aldana, of course. I was bloody lucky to race him at the DTRA’s Peterborough round in 2018 and wore them out of respect.

1950 Small City Cycles Born Free 5 Triumph Thunderbird chop

7 Lewis Leathers Super Phantom jacket

It has a leather grip and the balance is ace. It’s my favourite tool, because my spannering abilities don’t stretch much beyond hammers and gaffer tape.

12 Vanson x Supreme gloves

15 1969 Chevy El Camino SS

2008 Death Spray Custom Ducati Desmosedici

3 Bell Moto 4

6 DSC cap

This was a gift from my mate, Captain Morgs. He came round my house the night before he set off on a tour of Europe on his chopper and had no tent or goggles or even gloves. I lent him the stuff he needed and he came back with this rad knife as a thank you.

It’s got a big block and paint by David Death Spray.

14 Hot shoe

Supreme bottle opener with a leather clasp by Roofer. I like beer.

10 8-Wing wallet

Name: Adam Brinkworth

Age: 54

2016 H-D XG750 Noise Cycles hooligan

I’m proud to be part of a team with Dimitri Coste, Rory Demonlung, Geoff Co-Built , Logan Supreme and, of course, Guy Bonzorro.

4 Simpson M50

Death Spray knows I admire Charles and Ray Eames so the 8 he painted on this jacket uses their typeface.

13 Bottle opener

Trusted: Adam ‘Brink’ Brinkworth heads his own design firm and is a DTRA stalwart. He laid out his Chevy El Camino with so much essential race-day kit, we made this a four-page special

Death Spray Custom is awesome, and this cap reminds me to visit his Welsh surf spots when I’m in Wales.

Made in Portland, Oregon, with precision, craft and the best material quality. These are a vintage pair and they keep on giving.

5 Leica M6 film camera

16 Lewis Leathers Super Sportsman jacket

It’s one of the re-issued ones, covered in shit-hot stickers from people I admire. Goggles are Supreme x Fox. This helmet has seen the Himalayas, when I took it on the Sideburn Nepal trip in 2019.

9 Thorogood 6in Moc Toe boots

1 Estwing hammer

My lovely wife, Louise, bought this steel shoe for me for Christmas years ago. I have no idea who made it. She is very understanding and has to put up with my dangerous interests.

Job: CEO of Brinkworth Design

My mate Roofer made this 8-Wing wallet and lanyard for me and now I never lose my shit late at night.

(portrait)HinatsuSaki(action),FarawayCalliMelchior,LouPhotos:

Hometown: London, UK

2 Cork-handle knife

Track Bikes

1942 H-D WLC flat tracker

Racewear

Bought from Bonzorro. It’s an early one with elliptical logo badge. It went to LA to be painted by Ornamental Conifer. I love the 8 he painted so much I had it tattooed on my arm by Paul Vagabond.

The last of the analogue rangefinders and has the built-in light meter. It reminds me to slow down and take memories of the folk and places I love.

These are still covered in dust and marks from that epic, lifetime ride with Sideburn up the Himalayas.

1970 BSA A65 flat tracker

2019 Sunday Motors 147

Road Bikes

1952 Noise Cycles Born Free 5 H-D Panhead

11 Bonzorro Factory Team T-shirt

1975 Pangea Speed Born Free 4 H-D Sportster/Evo

It has all the period stickers and 100% goggles. It always reminds me of my love for the DTRA as it was the first lid I raced flat track in.

8 Langlitz Leathers pants

1976 Cro Customs Born Free 4 H-D Cone Shovel

101 > 14 15 16 12 10 9 765 4 3 2 13 1 11 8

first ever skate trip to the UK back in 1981 or ’82.

Fitted with Indys and Spitfire wheels. It was first skated in the suspended bowl my company designed for Supreme’s San Francisco shop.

8 Alpinestars Tech 10 boots

5 Portuguese blanket

The other part of that Xmas gift from my wife Louise. They’re important, because a year earlier I had broken

Racewear

my ankle in a crash at a Brands Hatch track day on my Ducati.

4 Vans Cabs

From good folk. Pole position is held by the Sideburn sticker.

7 Yeti suit

A quality collab and a muchappreciated gift from Supreme.

12 Winged B keyring

1 Stickers

Helmet, gloves, hot shoe, clean goggles, yeti suit... you’re good to go

I’ve been skating with one since the ’70s and now use one for dirt track racing after an off last year.

Another Dirt Quake outfit made by Kath Leone. I wore it when I raced my Pangea Speed Harley [Golden Dawn] in the Chopper class. This suit is one of two. My daughter, Marnie, also raced at Dirt Quake on her road-legal grasstrack bike, featured in Sideburn 27, and she has a matching one. The suit has a perforated chest for summer racing and late-night partying.

10 Rector wrist guard

6 Bell Moto 3 helmet

I bought these when I went to the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show in Japan and had them signed by Steve Caballero and Vans founder Steve Van Doran. That was the first time I’d met Caballero since skating with him on his

3 Eames Girl skateboard

2 Brink Panther suit

This was made by a mate of mine, Kath Leone, who likes to make animal suits for friends. Milo Hiscox named it Brink rather than Pink Panther. It was made for my first Dirt Quake and has the winged Bs on both arms; gold leather heat protectors on the inside leg to stop it melting and a detachable cock and balls that looks good laying on any petrol tank [unhitchable appendages not shown].

My Snow Quake lid, painted by David Death Spray. The blue metalflake depicts breaking ice.

This was gift from Rob and Keith at Belgian clothing company Eat Dust. I love what they do and who they are. I gave them some advice and they gave me this brilliant blanket as a thank you. It keeps me warm in the cab at night at cold race meetings.

We drove the El Camino on its first ever road trip to the Italian mountains to race at the first Snow Quake in 2016. It was bloody freezing, so luckily I had this Kath Leone yeti suit that works in -15˚C temperatures. I was the only racer warm as toast.

9 Disco race suit

11 Supreme Honda HRC Fox race pants

Made by Bonzorro some years ago for my 50th birthday. He gave it to me on a morning skate session and they’ve held the keys to the El Camino ever since.

11 9 8 7 6534 2 12 1 10

Lucky Luke’s Part Supply

Illustration:

The KR750 Cat Look how happy this little dude is. Share his good vibes by buying some of our gear and supporting the independents Order limited-edition Sideburn merchandise and some of our favourite products from other makers Shipped worldwide Visit Sideburn.bigcartel.com

RJ: We would each be handed a bottle of champagne and we would pop the cork and chase the trophy girls around, spraying them.

RJ: Steve and I were extremely good on half miles. Ricky Graham was great on everything but short tracks. I think Steve got the holeshot but I was able to get underneath him in the middle of three and four. He stayed stuck to my rear wheel waiting for a mistake, but it never came.

RJ: I was racing for the Loral Lake Racing team. Lorraine and Al (Loral) Bergstrom and Rod Lake. Rick Canode was my mechanic. Paul Bergstrom was my teammate.

SB: Can you describe the track and why you went well there?

SB: Back in this era, the early ’90s, what was the normal course of events after the podium? What happened next?

RJ: I was elated. Breaking my back six weeks earlier and winning the second race back was a big deal. It was my one and only win on the Loral Lake team. I was glad to be able to give them a win. They supported my racing from ’93-’99. Lorraine and Al have both since passed. Great people.

RJ: Sedalia 1994 was the last national I ever won. It was just six weeks after a wreck in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where I fractured three vertebrae. Steve Morehead and I battled the whole way.

SB: You’re with Steve Morehead and Ricky Graham, meaning no one from the factory Harley team is on the podium. Was that unusual back then?

SB: If you had to guess, what was going through your mind at that exact moment?

RJ: Good times. My whole family had come up from Oklahoma City, since it wasn’t that far. It turned out to be my final national win. I’m thankful they were all there to see it. It had been three years since my last win. A lot of struggling rewarded with a win. I didn’t get to keep the trophy girl. Dang.

RJ: It was a clay track that grooved up. I usually went well on groove tracks, but especially half-miles.

SB: Hi Ronnie, thanks for getting back to us. The photo is from Sedalia, MO and dated 7/23/1994. What do you remember of that race and how it played out?

SB: What bike were you racing and for which team? And which tuner was in your corner?

>> From: Ronnie Jones To: sideburnmag@gmail.com Date: 23 September 2020 Subject: Sideburn calling Ronnie 35 23 17 15 5 15 15 40 10 23 15 Sedalia, MO 1994 50 23%of...shadespurpleUnderwire10% Taller 17%Expert35%neededcabinettrophygrip15%glowGolden

Not sure. The promoter eventually stopped promoting and passed away just this year. It is the same track where Will Davis lost his life.

SB: There is a lot going on in this photo. What does it remind you of?

SB: Any idea why that race fell off the RJ:schedule?

107

Photo: Flat Trak Fotos

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