Small Wheels, Big Risk - mazdeuce races mini moto

Long before I ever drove a car, I rode small dirt bikes. And long before I ever wanted to drive cars on track, I wanted to do the same with motorcycles. Life is what it is, and the risk profile of riding motorcycles on track has never quite meshed with my day job of being a stay at home dad. Time passes, kids get older, and people start riding smaller and smaller bikes on kart tracks here in Texas. It's still risky, but not at all what it was when I looked into it 18 years ago and the "slow" groups were 600's on big tracks. 

A year ago I was ready to make this leap but a kid had a medical thing and I stepped back. I couple of months ago I got a new student at a local autocross and things swung back into motion when I learned that he rides bikes on track including small bikes on small tracks. A week ago he let me know that he snagged a smoking deal on some leathers that he hoped would fit him. One set did, but the other set wouldn't zip up and he thought it would probably fit me. I would say that it does. 

This is how it starts. I don't have a bike or even a current motorcycle helmet, but I do have leathers. I haven't been on a motorcycle at all in the last couple of years.

I'm currenlty looking for a small dirt bike (Honda xr100 or the like) becasue the kids want to learn to ride around the yard. I hope to do a few track days on it and then move to a Grom and enter actual races locally. That's the end goal, to race a race in the next two years or so. This thread will be slow. Lots of real life, lots of learning, lots of convincing my wife that this is all a good idea. 

Awesome!  I did a season on a TTR125 and still occasionally race endurance events on Adventure Piggy's CRF100 (he's WAY faster than me).  Those bikes are incredibly tough and 30-40 mph has never felt so fast.  It's everything you're hoping it is.

Nice. Lately I’ve been looking at 90s era 2-stroke dirt bikes way more than I should be. Would love to see my son or daughters learn to ride a pw50 like I did when I was 5. 

cool!  I'm in to see what fun lies ahead.

In all honesty I'm completely lost. I haven't felt this out of place since I started autocross. I'm trying to figure out road race boots. So confusing. I think showing up to my first event will be the hardest part. 

Yes, yes, yes...this sounds pertinent to my interests! A local club here hosts the “Bol d’Oregon,” a smallbore motorcycle roadracing enduro on a kart track. I’ve fantasized about rounding up some buddies to participate and diving in, but haven’t yet. Following with interest...

Just picked this little guy up. Starts first kick. Runs and shifts good. Needs wheels/tires/safety wire to go on track. Eventual suspension. Time to destroy my lawn with it for now. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

I learned to ride on the twin to that bike! have fun! 

In reply to Professor_Brap :

I'm super excited. We'll see which kids fit on it when I get them home from school. Teach them about clutches and kick starting and what not. 

She's a natural. Stalled it once. Just riding around in first, but she loves it. 

Also, tiny dirt bikes are the best things EVER! Not sure how I forgot that. 

This reminds me I should get out my not tiny dirtbike and do something other than look at it on the rare occasion i go into my dad’s barn

Awesome!  Looking forward to reading about your mini-moto adventures!

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

I love the tricycle barely in view behind her back tire. Quite the contrast! :-)

Is a 1981 RM125 Suzuki kinda on the 'Large' end for this journey???

There's a local group that does track days on the same kart track where they run the Bol d'Oregon. And an ad in that fb group for a Derbi GP50 with an 80cc engine swap. I'm still having pangs.

Have fun!

This is... Pertinent to my interests. I wanna race cheaply and with fairly low risk of injury. Racing Groms seems like one of the best ways to meet those criteria.

I am following because we have an xr70 pit bike that we mostly use for exercising the dogs without exercising ourselves. But also because I had no idea grown men could race them and I want to try it too.

In reply to 759NRNG :

The group I plan to race with Texas Mini GP maxes out at 85cc for two strokes. I'm not sure about the group I'm doing open lapping with but I'll learn more on Sunday. 

In all honesty this whole thing is confusing. Getting into car stuff is easy by comparison. At least autocross. Hopefully my journey will demystify some of it and a bunch of you can come join me!

In reply to klodkrawler05 :

I kind of knew about this because my One Lap co-driver raced supermoto for a bit and the little bikes often ran during the same weekends. We also ran across an open lapping group on the kart track when we were at NOLA for a track weekend about a year ago. Cars are much more approachable (if more expensive) through autocross and HPDE. The gear to do this will run you about the same as a full road race suit/helmet/gloves/hans which is a steep buy in to drive around a kids dirt bike. The bike itself should be ready to lap for less that $1500 all in and at that point it should be good for a whole season of lapping with just gas. If I get competitive with racing I'll figure out how to spend money. 

All of the gear assembled and ridden around the yard. Feels weird off the bike, great on. 

All of the safery wiring is done, catch can built and installed on the XR100. The plan was to ride it tomorrow at the kart track but UPS lost the tires and knobbies aren't allowed. Luckily my buddy still has his KX65. In the mean time the kids are taking countless laps. Kid#2 is all about shifting now. I think it will make him more comfortable in the Miata too. 

Back in 2007ish I went with a buddy to the FIRM to race with a group of mini racers in the kart track. I was really surprised how competitive those guys were. 

I have six or seven bikes, of the smooth and bumpy tire ilk. If I could only keep one, it would be a toss up between my commuting bike and my xr100. 

Most smiles award definitely goes to the xr.   Nothing like throwing down with other grown adult men on little bikes. 

In reply to jfryjfry :

I may or may not be shopping for another one, but I probably am. 

Everything about riding kids dirt bikes on track is silly, including hauling to the track in the back of a Mazda3. 

I did a bunch of laps. I fell over. Leathers did their job. It was the most fun ever. Pictures incoming.