From all-round creative maverick, Rufus Day.

Hope all is well at Sideburn. The other day I made a patch out of the tote bag you posted me a while ago. I made a short animated loop of it too. It was edited to work on instagram, so the file should open on your phone ok. Anyway hope you like it. Cheers! Rufus

The first Snow Quake is an experiment, and it doesn't make sense for a lot of riders to buy ice tyres for one ride a year, so Mike of Survivor Customs set about making his own. Here's what he says...

You want a half decent enduro/ motorcross tyre with some decent tread.  The length of screw will depend on the tyre tread depth, I reckon you want blocks at least 20mm deep,so if you use a 25mm screws you will need to line it with something 5mm thick at least 
I researched and spoke to a couple of people who made their own studded tyres, and discovered you need the screw to go right through the tyre carcass this will help it stay in as it bites into the cord. Hence why you need a liner. 

The screws I used were sourced from a local bolt and fasteners shop... they are M6 x 25mm Hex head self tapping screws with an 8mm head. These are also known as roofing or tech screws but you don't want the ones with the self drilling tips you want the pointed ones. 
I made a tyre liner from an old speedway tyre you need to cut the bead and half of the wall off each side of the tyre so it slots inside underneath the tread .... the screws slightly bite into the inner / liner securing the screws so I'm told. 
Once the screws were all fitted securely I used an angle grinder to cut slots in the heads roughly half the depth of the head... this is important because this is the tread of your tyre. The grooves make them grip. You need to change the angle of the grooves. In the centre of the tyre, the grooves should be horizontal, that means across the tyre. The outside screws, used when leaning, need vertical grooves. The screws inbetween need diagonal cuts. 

UPDATE: Bob in Minnesota (where they know a lot about ice racing) says to remember to tape the joint of the liner to stop it nipping the tube. I'm sure Mike at Survivor would have done that, but forgot to say in this quick how to he kindly wrote for us.
Hope it kind of makes sense... these methods are tried and tested, but I've never ridden on ice before so I thought it was best to use some seasoned knowledge, to make these on the cheap.

Click to find out more about the Snow Quake race we're promoting with Deus ex Machina and Pirelli in the Italian Alps. G

Bitterly succumbing to peer pressure of my friends and business acquaintances in the 21st century, I finally bought a smart phone. I wasn't surprised that my old large SIM card was not compatible with the iPhone 6 and it's nano tray. So how can I transfer all my contacts? Oh the local phone shop will have some sort of card reader - not. Oh you can cut it down - except the nano cards metal circuit-board is smaller than that of the older type and is not going to take kindly to being guillotined. And I can't email them to the new phone as the crappy old LG A100 is a t-e-l-e-p-h-o-n-e only. No internet, No Camera, No nothing else. The speaker is such bad quality you can better hear what someone is saying with two cans and a bit of string. And the contract was terminated before I had the idea of texting them across (which would have probably meant one by one anyway). Shoit. Brainwave.
1) Crank up the LG transfer all the contacts from the original SIM card to limited phone memory.
2) Remove the SIM from behind the battery and mark carefully where the six tiny brass studs are that make electrical contact with the various sections of the etched gold circuit-board. I used a TipEx pen.
3) Insert the new nano SIM into the old phones card carrier - its going to be a loose fit, but the stud position, and your careful marking mean you can manoeuvre it into the precise position. I used a small piece of Sellotape to stop it sliding about - fearing a short-circuiting of the wrong studs touching the wrong parts of the circuit-board.
4) Replace the battery. Crank up the old phone and transfer contacts on to the new nano SIM.
5) Take out the nano SIM and insert it into your new phone....Bobs your uncle, Fanny's your aunt. BP
.....and now I'm an instagram addict.
As predicted, it's as moreish as crack cocaine.
@partdirection

Dirt Quake's influence continues to reverberate around the world. This time in Greece. It was organised by Sideburn stockists, The Real Intellectuals, here's what they say...

The first Rotten Race took place in Athens, Greece, organized by the city’s very own “The Real Intellectuals”, the creative collective behind handmade motorcycle supplies in the center of Athens.

Answering the need for a flat track event in a country where side sliding is nearly unknown, and following the flair of similar events organized in UK and elsewhere, the first Rotten Race invited riders of all sorts and machines to compete on a DIY track. The location: a traditional horse riding club on the outskirts of the city, which turned into a small scale oval track, ideal for rubber burning and mud-inflicted pain. 

Three distinct classes were available to all Rotten Racers: the custom class, full of scramblers, trackers, cafι racers and vintage machines, the factory off-road class and the “Tiny Rottens”, a class dedicated to miniature two-wheeled machines and Italian Vespas. 

The yellow/black flag dropped a hundred times, and knockout races made a day filled with mud, dirt, rocks and hay fly by. Once the dirt settled down, another class had a chance to race: that of single-horsepower. First comes the Quake, then the Aftershock, but after all is gone, the earth will be rotten and perfect for racing. Dirt freaks finally have a place to race, with or without knobby tires. Stay Rotten. 

Lee John Phillips is nuts.
I am currently cataloguing the entire contents of my late grandfather's tool shed. I estimate the project to take around 5 years and will involve me illustrating in excess of 100,000 items.
A man after my own OCD heart, producing fantastically obsessive drawings. Never before has a U-bend looked so magical. BP

After last year's Rye House race, I foresaw that my CCM wasn't going to get much action for the coming year so I took the precaution of draining the fuel and disconnecting the battery. I've been told horror stories of sheds catching fire due to mysterious electrical fires so am not keen on leaving a trickle charger on unattended. if I'm going to do a session in my shed or garden, I just flick it on charge for the day to keep it healthy.
The Rotax 604 engine seems to sump a lot of its oil if not turned over regularly. Mine spat out about 500ml when I tried to fire it up after a year off the job last week. Age-wise it's probably due an oil change but it hasn't seen much action and it's not deathly black, so I just topped it up with fresh. It did some gastronomic gurgles, spluttered, farted then started, for the first few crank ups.
I'm now wise to the short shelf life of modern fuel, but I thought best to crack the carb open and check for gremlins before just filling the tank and returning to Hoddesdon.
The Dell’Orto float bowl was showing the usual signs of light oxidisation. But more alarming was the contents of the big nut on the bottom. It looked like a chipmunk had crumbled a digestive in there.
Odd for a drained system??? After poke about with one of these excellent multi-point picks and a liberal spray of carb cleaner it was good to party.
No speed enhancing miracles have been gifted to man or machine in the past year, but it was good to be back, and I had a lot of fun.
Thanks to Anthony and Anna - and the ever faithful volunteer marshals, for organising another smoooooth DTRA race day. BP

Yeah another off-topic special: "Genius invention combats water evaporation". Doesn't exactly sound like a Sideburn blog worthy news but check out the video below of 96,000,000 black plastic balls bouncing down into an LA reservoir and tell me you are not a little bit turned on. Ok maybe not as captivating as Magali Noël singing Rififi but still.
If you are into black plastic balls as much as me you can read more about them in the LA Times.
Something with two wheels and an engine will be along shortly. BP

What ever happened to the Highland flat tracker? Did any complete bikes make it to the competition circuit? The American owned company, born from the original Swedish brand in 1997, now only makes engines rather than whole bikes. BP

UPDATE:
From Jan-Willem and Tom of the Dutch Brothers...

Tom did some research on this and more know more details and accuracies 

I spoke to the owner at the Intermot or EICMA during the period the XR1200 was launched (2009?) This prototype was build by Dale Lineaweaver, the same person who build Kenny Noyes formula USA-winning Husaberg. 

That's most likely the connection for this project. 

Highland modified the bike, put it on 18" (streetlegal) tires and made some ugly bodywork on it.

At some point the found an American investor and made big plans. They built a new factory in america and shortly after all key people crashed in a little air plane.

The mystery BM' has been traced to the Activa Garage, Dirty Sunday event in Eauze, France, held last September. It looks like a great event.
Check out the DIY studded Fat Boy tyre on this Harley chop. Serge Nuques, 'Knight of Groland', in his element. More info (and scroll down for a full set of Patrick Douki's photos) on the Classic Racer Facebook page.
And here's a video from their first event in 2013. BP

I've been doing a bit of sand racing at Mablethorpe. It's an environment that finds the smallest weak link and and makes it a big deal.
Among my exhaust cracking in half, shock falling to bits and water in the electrics, I couldn't manage to keep any stick-on numbers on my boards. So I decided to channel my inner Ornamental Conifer and paint them. I used my daughter's paintbrush and a tub of £3 Plastikote from Wilko's. I plastered it on thickly. If you want to copy, but you're a dim-bulb (or concentrating on something else more important) and can't work out how to do it, I attach a step-by-step guide
Start with the numbers you want to copy. I used the House Industries font created for the DTRA.
Get some greaseproof paper from the kitchen cupboard. Trace over the numbers, being careful the first number is still in place when you start tracing the second one.
Turn the greaseproof paper over and 'scrub' over the back of the numbers to transfer them to a piece of think cardboard.
Cut out the numbers with a sharp knife (not on the dining table).
Draw the numbers in pencil onto your number board and start painting!
As I said, I was after thick rather than pretty and really slapped it on.
 Voila!
 I was so pleased I did my front number plate too.

Cut-down plastic milk bottle drink rack on my OM Flyer. 50 Acre Wood trails. BP

Diesel fitters seem to have an affinity to the (now sold out) Sideburn bobble hat. Christmas Eve, and while you were running about buying last minute presents, young ike dove into the engine bay of our Berlingo, and ripped out the manifold and stinky EGR, to change the glowplugs which were dying.
Having watched two Youtube DIY videos, my 'expert' skill was duly humbled upon reassembly when, with with the family on-board for a Christmas treat, the F*&#er wouldn't rev above 2000rpm, and would hardly pull out of our parking space.
Water contamination from over eager cleaning was suspected and Boxing day was spent draining the fuel, disassembling the EGR, and further cussing chasing my tail on French car forums. Pulling the rubber pipes off the electronic vacuum regulator (which duh, had been topsy-turvy), revealed an inactive EGR valve. So all dandy now. BP

It's not often that anthropological archaeology and The Sun newspaper get mentioned in the same sentence.

I love stories of ancient texts getting discovered in wall plaster of old houses being restored. Poems scribed by builders back in 1880-something not to be re-read until a few centuries later.
When I put in a new (period-correct Amsterdamse School) door in my last house, I hid a newspaper with 9-11 front page inside the paneling.
When I moved my young family to Bristol, we bought an old dresser in Bedminster, and the drawers were lined with 1950's promotional newspapers printed by the local Wills Tobacco factory for their workers, extolling the heath virtues of smoking fags. Fascinating.

It's only taken me 10 months to lay a reclaimed parquet floor in my kitchen extension. The cherry, next year, will be plumbing in a hand-me-down Danish ABC Pejse wood burning stove. Before I put down a new steel hearth plate, I couldn't resist mummifying a classic front page from The Sun - the first and last time I will by this comic. BP

I'd like to see François go head-to-head with Colin Furze's pulse jet he fired up at Dirt Quake III. BP

Did away with some iffy graphics on my daughters BMX lid with a rattle-can of German Montana Acrylic, in flat flouro pink. It's specifically designed as a graffiti paint. It's seems hardy enough, but not entirely compatible with the regular acrylic primer. BP

Best moto GIF ever? From Death Spray Custom. And just in case you thought it was just natty Photoshop, check Shane Watts showing you how to DIY on his KTM. BP