Fighterama

Don't forget kiddies, it's just one week to go until the event that is probably the world's most important as far as stretfighters are concerned - Fighterama.
Held in a converted nuclear power plant in Kalkar, on the western border of Germany, and thus rather convenient for those people travelling from Calais, the event will showcase the very best of German streetfightered bikes and aftermarket parts (just the array of bodywork available is a total mind-fuck). There'll be a show bike display, dozens of aftermarket manufacturers and professional bike builders, clothing, a stunt show, a burn out pit, girly dancers, and of course the Streetfighters stand, plus all the lunacy that occurs when dozens of german 'fighter fans are in proximity of alcohol...
More details from Fighterama

Fighting Talk 190

These days, with the streetfighter movement really snowballing in Australia and the United States, as well as across mainland Europe and even further afield, international bikes are coming in thick and fast. And these aren’t lacklustre second-rate copies, with faded colours and some bloke going for a wee halfway through like the DVDs you buy on the beach on Koh Phangan, but full-on proper streetfighters with their own original features and quite often a recognisable ‘national style’...

Read the full transcript in SF190, in the shops now...

Ain't No Yank...

But it is a V8, and is is of rather a large capacity, for a bike engine at least.
Showcased by Holeshot Racing at last month's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend, the engine is essentially a pair of siamesed Hayabusa engines, joined at the hip.
The eight cylinder motors have already been used in a number of other applications (yup, cars) but this is the first time we've seen it in a bike - it's a Funny Bike style chassis, but is yet to ahve the rest of the engine's drive train in place. This particular engine uses two big bored 1400cc Busa top ends, so is of an impressive 2800cc capacity. More details from Holeshot

Winter Ride?

Although, at the time of writing, the northern sub-office is bathing in bright Autumnal sunshine, we all know that the weather's going to be taking a turn for the worse any day now, and many people have already taken their bike off the road for the next bout of over-winter tinkering and modifying. Those that continue to ride invariably use a dull 'winer hack' (summat tedious like a CB125 or GS500), but here's an idea for those that want something slightly more exciting as a winter plaything - after all, we don't get much snow in the UK so a snowmobile is out of the question...

Back Again...

... and online.
You lucky subscribers should have received SF190 this morning, and the extra special issue - Global Pandemic - is whizzing off the printers' presses as we speak.
And now we get stuck straight into SF191!

Blog On Hold

SF190 is still dragging its feet on the way out the door, and once it's gone it'll be swiftly followed by Will and MDM, who are off to recuperate from the double issue deadline traumas...
Will is off to cuddle some African wildlife...

While MDM is going to try and consume as much of this as possible...

We'll be back soon...

Any Minute Now!

SF190 will be winging its way through the ether, and popping out at the printers, ready to be duplicated and sent to you, our lovely readers!
With two turbos, a Spondon, two Gixers, a FireBlade, and R1 and a ZX-10R, a Bandit and probably the most beautiful Martek in the world, and the latest updates on the British drag racing scene and three project bikes (yup, three, there's a new one!) it'll arrive at subscribers' houses in a week, and at newsagents on the 5th November, the same time as the special extra issue!

Last Chance To Straightline in 2009

Sunday 25th October, yes, in just two days time, is Straightliners last event of the year, with a Run-What-You-Brung meeting at Santa Pod. And I just mis-typed that as Ruin-What-You-Brung which, in some people's case, may be entirely accurate...
It'll be £35 for the day, with unlimited track time, but don't fiorget to take your driving licence...

We're Good To You...

The SF team have worked day and night to bring you a special, full fat, extra issue of the mag, complete with seventeen previously unseen feature bikes, and loads of previously unpublished photos from events, feature bike shoots and studio shoots too.
Streetfighters 'Global Pandemic' has just been sent to press, and will be in the shops from November 5th (remember, remember).

Still Not Convinced...

... that you need to 'get political' and join a riders' rights group?
Have a look at this...

Lunatics!

Of the Brits who have travelled over to Fighterama in years gone by, many of them make comment on the Lunatics barking mad, end-of-year party which has, traditionally, coincided neatly with the big show. This year, however, the Lunatics bash is earlier than Fighterama, and held in Hannover.
Finding yourself with nothing to do for Halloween? Get yourself over to Hannover...

Bummer

The rumour mill is right, Buell have gone tits up...
Eric's on the verge of tears
Having stated that production would stop at the end of October for two months, it now appears that the eclectic range of peg-scratching Buells has come to an end...

How Bloody Much?

Jay Leno, vastly famous (and famously vast) American talk show host and compulsive petrolhead, has sold his second generation V-MAX in order to raise some cash for one of his favourite charities.
Mildy modified, the Max went for an astounding $150,000, although the winning bidder did get a tour of Leno's palatial garage which, in itself, would probably take about four weeks...

Anglesey Builders?

Spotted by eagle-eyed compulsive bloggist, Blue at BSH, this small news item was clocked in a Welsh newspaper and brought to our attention:-

"BIKERS on Anglesey can get a masterclass on building street fighter motorbikes next week.
The Anglesey Motorcycle Club is hosting a special meeting in the bar of the Anglesey Circuit race track, Ty Croes, on Monday at 7pm.
Guest speakers are Tim Holland and Ben Jones, who specialise in the building of street fighter bikes.
A club spokesman said: “This is a fantastic chance to listen to people with real expertise and ask any questions they might have about their own projects. The event is completely free to all.”

Regular readers of Streetfighters will recognise Tim Holland's name - he's had a number of feature bikes, including a gorgeous Spondon GSX-R 1000 - although the news piece doesn't mention any kind of contact details, so you'll just have to wing it and turn up!

Slo-mo hero

While we'll be bringing you more info on last weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend in a future issue of the mag, we'd just like to show you this awesome video of Maltese loony Simon Giordmania as a way of congratulating him on his first seven second quarter at the weekend.
The video isn't actually of the seven second run, but it does show you just how much a Superstreet bike can move around on the launch and on its way up the track.
The video comes courtesy of Blackett Photography, house photographers at Santa Pod.
Be patient, the action starts at about 1:20... and watch how the rear offloads on the shift into second.

Extreme Performance Bike Weekend

This next weekend, the 10th and 11th of October, sees the third Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod, and it's set to be the biggest yet!
Incorporating not only the finals of the ACU Drag bike championship, but also the Straightliners championship too, close and exciting racing is guaranteed, with a number of classes in both championships set to go to the wire.

For those folk entering in an ACU or Straightliners class (and remember, Straightliners will take on-the-day entries), there's a Perfect Light Award sponsored by Eurodragster.com/Speedflow with a £50 prize for the first racer to clock a perfect reaction time! There's also a further fifty quid up for grabs in the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET award, payable to the first person who runs a perfect ET in their bracket class. More details from Eurodragster
As this year is the tenth anniversary for Suzuki's Hayabusa, Suzuki GB are in attendance, with a selection of test bikes for use on the roads around Santa Pod (so take your driving licence), as well as two racing classes specifically for Hayabusas and B-Kings (bog standard, and mildly modified, open to bikes witrh aftermarket exhausts and fuelling computers like Power Commanders).
There's also the final of the Straightliners Stunt Championship, which'll include Suzuki's own pet stunter, Matti Griffin.

Additionally, there's the second annual Muscle Bike Show, a ride-in show catering for the big, brutal muscle bikes of yore - stuff like Zed Thous, Katanas and CBX Thous, alongside modern muscle like GSX 1400s, ZRX 12 and 13s and the new V-MAX. This year also has a new category, that of Developed Muscle, designed to incorporate those bikes that were a development of the original muscle bikes, and which have been further developed by their owners to produce more power than most folk would consider sensible - yes, this is the class for turbo, nitrous nutter GSX-Rs!

The Santa Pod gates are open from 5pm on Friday, tickets are £10 per day or £25 for the whole weekend, including camping. More details are available from Extreme Performance Bike

Run To The Wall

On this next Saturday, the 10th October 2009, the Ride To The Wall charity motorcycle event will be taking place.
The aim of the event is to support and raise funds to support the families of troops killed in all conflicts since World War II by maintaining the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The meeting point is Drayton Manor near Tamworth, and overnight camping is available along with the usual facilities. The memorial service will be read by Lionel Fanthorpe and this time the RAF will be providing a Spitfire flypast as well.
This is the only event of its kind which gives motorcyclists in this country the opportunity to show the respect that the members of the Armed Forces deserve, and raise money for the upkeep of the National Memorial. More details and online registration are available at www.rttw.org.

Pardon?

No, sorry, I can't hear what you're saying...you'll have to speak up!
Eh? You're from where? No, it's no good, I can't hear you. It's that damn bike behind you sitting on tickover, it's drowning out everything you say...



Spotted by a reader at the Bol D'Or, it was one of many acoustically-enhanced internal combustion-engined devices on site built, seemingly, for the singular purpose of making as much noise as possible...

Crossbow Party

This Saturday sees Nottinghamshire nightclub MFN play host to the fourth Crossbow calendar party, with the bext display of calendar bikes so far, the Ignition Girls on hand to add some glamour, and live music from The Fabulous Teddies.
MFN is at Shipley Gate, Nottinghamshire, NG16 3JE, and you can get more details from Crossbow

SF189 Fighting Talk

When I sat down to write up the Bulldog Bash for last month’s issue, I was all ready to rant and moan about the police presence at the Stratford-upon-Avon event.
However, I quickly realised that this would put the wrong kind of slant on the annual event and that there was already enough media coverage about the Warwickshire police’s bully boy tactics and Assistant Chief Constable Bill Holland’s rabid witterings, so I concentrated on the event itself rather than what occurred outside the show gates. However, the under-hand, over-the-top approach to policing the Bulldog is not to be forgotten. After all, Ass Chief Con Holland has promised to be even more focussed on stopping the event in the future, despite the very vocal public objections to his principles.
As I write this, just over five weeks have passed since the Bulldog, and people have already started forgetting about Holland’s reasoning behind his actions. After all, the event went ahead without any problems, the majority of motorcyclists managed to ride to and from the event without any hindrances (only eleven arrests, three of which were for previous offences, from 448 searches, despite there being 450 officers on duty each day), so there’s no reason to dwell on it. Is there?

Read the full transcript in SF189, in the shops now...