Red Marley Hillclimb

Milo rode the only Harley – and the only hand-shift bike – at today's muddy and wet Red Marley Hillclimb. I think he was probably the only racer wearing his mum's coat, too.

'Course we had to go and watch!

Top man. Top day out.

Before you say goodbye

Kevin Goveia's super-fine '73 Ironhead is up for sale (you may have seen it advertised on Born Loser) but we managed to snaffle some great photos of the bike for GKM before it sells.

It's on the east coast, north of NYC, and if you have a hankering and some dosh, contact Kevin directly at speedandnoise@yahoo.com to see if it's still for sale.

Feature coming soon!

The Pan with the golden gun

OK, OK, no guns involved... I just couldn't stretch the pun quite far enough.

More Swedish goodness from Ulf Forsberg, coming soon in GKM.

Missing you already, issue 4...

A few highlights in case you missed it.

Denmark here we come

OK... it's official, GKM will be at the The Castle Run on 12 May. A few of us are heading over for what looks like a great event in wonderful surroundings, organised by James.

So if you want to buy the latest issue or back issues... or tees or stickers... come and say hello.

I've never been to Denmark before... even though my wife (née Neilson) has Danish ancestry. Should be good.

Oakland HA show winners

I posted the first spread of this feature on Oakland Hells Angels Tommy Thomas and Vern Heinrich's bikes a few weeks back. It was sent to me by Terry (whose flathead was in issue 25), scanned from his own copy of Choppers magazine from May, '68.

These bikes both won trophies at the San Mateo Car Show (remember, no custom bike shows back then) and if some of the details look familiar, you can be sure some of the current scene's bike-building names have been poring over these same pages...

Thanks again, Terry. Stellar stuff.

Dean or Frank?

For me, it's always been Dean.

Although all we heard was Frank Sinatra when we were growing up, I loved Dean Martin's voice as soon as I heard it; I spent countless evenings in the late '80s and early nineties wallowing in the sentimentality of 'Little ol' wine drinker, me' which featured on the famous jukebox in Bradley's bar in Hanway Place. As San Miguel carried me away, I always chose Dean to accompany me on my journey into oblivion.

Frank? I think he's overrated. So shoot me.

Flathead from Finland

Juha's 45 is proof yet again that you don't need to do much to these old sloggers to make 'em cool. I like this: looks like fun. Coming soon.

The official dual whitewall revival starts here.

Ticking over

In the nine months (yes) I have been without my motorcycle, I've had time to reconfigure it in my head many times over.

And I have some plans, that may or may not come to fruition and may or may not involve my wheel covers (spun by Barrie and Simon), an old buddy seat, mental styling and a return to a 16" rim on the back.

My mind is ticking over... and apparently my Pan is too. Though I still don't have it back (don't ask).

They're on their way!

Start checking your postboxes tomorrow UK... then Europe... then USA and Canada... then the rest of you.

I still get excited when a new issue arrives. Hope you do too.

For sale: Rico's Shovelhead

Yep, Rico is selling his GNRS-winning daily rider... well known through the 'Choppertown' film. Wish I had the money!

"Interested in buying bike – we're in Pomona Ca.

909-208-8795 Rico Fodrey"

Email- hibondmodified@hotmail.com

Issue 26... subs start shipping this week

I love Grant Peterson's '78 Shovelhead... in fact, it's probably the Shovel I would put in my garage if I had unlimited choice and budget.

So he's on the cover of the new ish... and we talk to him inside about his influences and interesting path from fabricator to automotive journalist.

What else? We have a super-cool Panhead chopper from a member of Alcatraz MC in Sweden; ChopperLab's GKM Award-winning Panhead from Italy; a bad-to-the-bone Pan from Jason Parker in Toronto; Bill Mize's extraordinary '47 Knucklehead; Chubb's superbly-finished Shovel from the UK; Death Science Kyle's '77 Sportster; Ichiro's beautiful '37 ULH bob-job – one of two he owns; a lovely nickel-plated Triumph from England and Mochi's coverage of the Tokyo Breakfast Club's monthly meet...

I'd buy it if I didn't publish it– honest!

You can pre-order HERE.

Tutti Frutti

'Gadjo Dilo' is one of my favourite films... can't remember how or when I first saw it, but the music is sublime... and so is Rona Hartner. She can dance...

There's a reason I have a gypsy woman tattoo!

Flawless execution

Always liked the NY, urban, hardcore, club-influenced style that Psycho Cycles produced, bike after bike. You can't beat this formula; from Iron Horse issue 135, 1995.

Proper old stuff

I buy pretty much anything in print that relates to old custom H-Ds, so snapped up Alan Mayes' book 'Old School Choppers' off eBay a few years ago... super cheap.

I think he writes for The Horse magazine, and to be honest much of the book is of no interest to me. But there are a few gems in there, all from Dale Walksler's 'Wheels Through Time Museum'. (From the top) 1925 JDCB cutdown (described as a '24 JDCA in the book), 1928 JDH Two Cam, '37 UMG TT Special and early forties Knucklehead bitsa. There's some very interesting info in the book about these machines (I won't breach copyright even further by relaying it all here) and it makes me even more determined to one day get to Dale's amazing museum.

Check out his videos on YouTube; here's one of my favourites: Dale giving that JDCB some stick...

F**k this, let's read

Matt 'n' Dean keep it fresh yet again with the new DicE, offering a free patch for subscribers (but I simply can't wear it with that apostrophe missing) and some lovely content... including two bikes I would have killed to feature in GKM: Milo's 45 and the Love Cycles lil' '39 Knuck that really influenced my Panhead.

Honestly, we are poles apart in lots of ways as publications (which is why we co-exist so well), but some recent features they've introduced like the Mullins Chaindrive tech pages and 'Favourite Things' spreads had me stabbing myself in the face with my cereal spoon, they are such nice ideas.

Damn them.

Folk art, man

I don't know what it is actually. But, no doubt like you, I find pleasure in the krust, rust and personality of old chopper parts.

I can imagine some fella buying this taillight and then gouging it in his garage, somewhere in Nowheresville Arizona, putting it on his Triumph with no thought for the future or the fact some bloke on another continent would one day be pondering over his scratchings.

I share the Japanese fascination with trying to guess the stories that could be told by these old bits and pieces.

The Trip Out Pete Party

It's been cleverly disguised as the DicE party on the Friday night at the Trip Out, but we have it on good authority that the evening will belong to Yorkshire's funkiest rag and bone man, Pete Stansfield, who will be enjoying a major celebration. (That's not his house in the photo by the way, or at least the one he claims to live in.)

It's going to be a big night on a great weekend... don't miss it.