The 28th issue, and the first of 2017, our tenth year of existence, is a solid chocolate bunny of moto goodness. This is a Harley heavy issue, but it's not one-dimensional. There are stories of riding across the USA on a 1915 board track racer; a blueprint and history of the '52 KR750; the highest of high-tech XG750s built by Suicide Machine Co in Long Beach, Ca; we have a bunch of racing V-twins from 1930s VLs to the hottest hooligans; a great survivor WR and an exclusive interview with the head of Harley-Davidson's design studio about the XG750R factory racer.

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Sure, that's a lot of Harleys, but on top of that SIDEBURN 28 has poetry; desert survival gear; Icon 1000's mean Dethgrip Kawasaki Vulcan (yes, really); the wonderful photography of Götz Göppert; a shop profile of See See's new Reno outpost; Dave 'B-Movie' Bevan's reappraisal of The Northville Cemetery Massacre; our regular Ask Guy Martin page, and last, but never least, Wayne Rainey's Trophy Queen.

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Remember, the Sideburn blog is now at www.sideburnmagazine.com

We're going to have a lot more input on this blog from staff poet and test rider, Travis Newbold.
Travis rode the Indian Hooligan at the Supersprestigio in Las Vegas last November. Read the report ins Sideburn 24.

Here's his report from the recent hooligan race in a music festival, the Lost Highway:

A few weeks ago I hopped on an airplane from Detroit to LAX with my leathers and helmet to ride the #47 Indian for Roland Sands again. I rented a minivan (it was actually pretty cool but minivans are still really not cool!). I hit up In 'N Out for a burger, Family Eollar for a blanket and after making it to the track I slept in the back with a fast food bag for a pillow. I awoke with the sun to an empty music arena. I walked the track and noted how slick and off camber it was and then did reverse donuts in the mini van. As people started to show up the temperature rose up into the hundreds. I knew the hill side grasstrack was going to give the Hooligan nutters some hell.
The first practice session was like watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger scene involving a rocket launcher. Sean from Suicide Machine dude crushed his helmet. He said if he could find another lid he thought he was good to race still. No.

I rode smooth but knew I would have to push to qualify for the main as only first place transferred to the main. In my heat I had a shit start and worked my way into 1st and then lost the front coming in. I used every bit of muscle I had to lift the giant scout back up and kept going. It paid as another crashed out and I ended up third. giving me a a transfer to the B main where first place would make the main.

I won the B Main but I was pushing so hard across the finish line that I wiped out. The big girl had my hot shoe pinned underneath of her. It was like being sat upon by a huge fat chick inside a sauna. I got out from under her and heaved her back up. I franticly reattached my hot shoe and with sweat dumping out my face I lined up for the main.

I wiped out once more causing a first corner red flag restart. I was totally exhausted. I made it to the last corner of the last lap and right before the finish line I just had to butt surf the grass once more. I think I ended up fifth and I will tell you cold beer never tasted so good. What a great crowd of racers Roland draws. The track was surprisingly great for racing and taught a lot of respect for soft rider inputs.

As the darkness came and temps dropped below 100 I hoofed it up the hill to a secret weird balcony like spot and watched good ol' Mike Ness and the rest of Social Distortion kick out some good old stuff from the early days. Living the good life. Until a security guard awoke me at 4:30 from my sweaty slumber. "Can't sleep here hon, venue is closed." Well back to the airport and on with the real world. Travis
Photos: Preston Burroughs

Hooligan flat track is really catching on in the US, and while there aren't too many people racing it yet, it's getting a huge amount of coverage. It's a class flat track for heavy street bikes, and is used by race organisers to up entry numbers at club races and add interest in between the more traditional race classes. The most popular bike is the Harley Evo Sportster, cheap in the US, the right manufacturer for many people, tough and with lots of knowledge and parts available to make them work surprisingly well.

We ran a feature on a few Hooligans in Sideburn 21, with a beginner's guide on how to convert a Sportster for short track hooligan racing written by Aaron of Suicide Machine Co.

We also hosted a very, very competitive Harley-Davidson-sponsored Hooligan race at Dirt Quake USA. The scene got a ton more coverage at last week's Sturgis rally in South Dakota.

If you don't already know, Sturgis is an enormous Harley rally in a stunning area for riding. The GNC hold the mid-week Black Hills National there and the promoters put on a demo race on National night, while The Speed Merchant and Harley-Davidson promoted a Hooligan race the next night on the Sturgis half-mile.

Racers travelled from all over the country to compete and the race was won by FTWCo rider Jordan Baber on a Sportster he and FTWCo's Brad were still building the day of the race. And they won it with a Sideburn sticker on board!

We'll post video footage of the race if/when we find it. Point us to good footage if you have seen it, please. The video below was made by Preston Burroughs as an advert to promote the race. G