redkow97

I was never into bikes as a kid. I thought "crotch rockets" were really dumb, actually. I became interested in bikes when I was 21. I sublet my room to a guy who bought a Honda Hawk for $600. I looked up the acceleration specs, and compared to cars, even a 20 yr old 650 twin is fast as fuck. That is what I have always loved about bikes - they ARE cheap. Relatively speaking. Thank you, Aaron, for the wheel info though. That is all stuff I did not know, and it's a solid starting point for any future projects.

this is what i'm afraid of. I want a 250 dirt frame with a CBR250 engine. Maybe that's a viable project, but it won't be cheap :-/

building your own wheels is not a horrible project, but the spokes are very expensive for some reason.

I would want to play with it at the track too. would probably have 2 sets of gearing; one for highway use, and one for hooligan kart track use. But that does indeed cut down on the costs, and it is something I have considered. using the EX250 wheels (maybe even the forks) was a thought, but at that point, i'm basically taking a dirt bike and just putting all the EX250 street parts onto that frame/engine. If I didn't say it in my first post, a front disk brake is also (almost) a must-have. I get nervous about stopping from highway speeds on drums alone.

Or rather, why are supermoto wheels so damn expensive? Dirt bikes seem somewhat overpriced for the on-road performance they offer, but I understand that they're built for use beyond that. Plus if you hunt around enough, you can find older dirt bikes in good condition for reasonable amounts of money (definitely under $2k) so with that said, the $700-$900 wheels become the major obstacle to building one. I guess my ultimate goal is also important here: I want EX250 top-speed (i.e. the ability to cruise at 75 mph if I ride to work), but I want a 275 lbs. (or less) package. I guess I have a mild preference for a supermoto style frame as well, but just for wheelies I have considered the following routes: - try to make a cheap EX250 lose 100 lbs. (probably not possible, but definitely cheap) - try to gear a 450 for highway speeds - try to find a DRZ400 that is beat up, and not 6,000 goddamn dollars... - Buy an older dirt chassis (or enduro) and attempt to stuff an EX250 (or some other) engine into it. (this idea is appealing because the older enduros already have streetable titles, signals, etc.) This is all mental masturbation at this point. I don't have funds set aside for this, but I'd probably trade the Katana (maybe plus cash) for something that fits my criteria. I think i'm chasing a unicorn here, but anything is possible with enough money and engineering. Are there other routes I'm not considering?

more relevant question might be how do you charge? Per piece? surface area? depends on how much material you use? I'm really resisting the urge to cost out powder coating the frame, hubs, hoops, bars, and swing-arm of the XR... must. not. make. cheap. bike. expensive!

if you're in a serious bind as far as transporting the bike, I would try to help you out for the cost of gas. Decide where you need the bike to go, and let everyone know where you're at. I'm sure someone will help you out. I've brought my trailer to work several times to pick my bike up from Anderson Door Racing headquarters on my way home from work

the rental bike info is NOT posted anywhere on the website. That was something brought up at the banquet that some people want changed. The club itself doesn't own the rental bikes. Kent (President) owns 1 and Russ (Administrator) owns 2. Neither are on facebook... There ARE email addresses on the "contact" page. https://sites.google.com/site/midwestminiracing/contact, and a few of the officers' names need to be changed after elections this past weekend, but someone will answer the generic OMRL gmail account, or you can contact Kent directly. If they're not responding, PM me and I'll text him

what part of East side? I live in Parma and work in Painesville.

if 3 people show up with scooters, they will score them on their own as an exhibition class. They may grid with another class, but they will be scored separately. I don't know what displacement everyone's scooter is, but those can run in the formula classes as well. I don't see them being competitive, but if you have 1 person to race against, that's still a race.

it's been pointed out to me that I did not factor in the cost of practice days (run at G&J and PIRC the day before races), gas, repairs, etc. That is absolutely correct - the numbers above are based on RACE FEES, transponder rental, and the gate fees I'm aware of at CRP. Obviously the bike burns gas and you have to pay to rent or buy the bike itself too. You also have to get yourself to the track. For me CRP and back is at least a full tank of gas, so that's $40-50. Realistically, I spend about $1,000 each season running 8-9 rounds, and racing 2 classes every weekend. This season I replaced some spokes and the front hoop on my bike. I also changed the oil once. My bike cost $475 and I put $300 into it with the front wheel and new tires. I think renting is $50 plus cost of any parts to repair it, but I have never done it.

The 2015 schedule is up at www.ohiominiGP.com, and it includes 2 weekends at G&J in Cincinnati, as well as our standard 1 round at PIRC, and 6 rounds at Circleville. There are up to 3 rental bikes available on any given weekend, and your first race is FREE. The only cost to you would be $10 at the gate, $10 to rent a transponder. I believe the club picks up the single-day race license, but a full season license is only $35 or so in the past. If you are sharing a bike, you can also share a transponder (my brother and I did this when he raced novice XR100 and I did Expert. Two novices could do this if one raced stock XR and one raced F3) I did some quick and dirty math on the cost of racing a full season of racing. That's ALL 9 ROUNDS: 1 class (including gate fees and transponder rental) will run you less than $500 for the full season (my numbers are not precise, because I don't recall exactly how much PIRC entry fees are) 2 classes will run you less than $700 for the full season 3 classes will be less than $850 for a full season. If you can race 4 or more classes, I believe your 4th class is free, so $850 pretty much buys you unlimited racing on any bike there's a class for. If you have a bike between 50cc and 150cc, it fits into one of the standard race classes. The club has also raced supermotos up to 650cc. If 3 off the same bike show up, they can ask for their own exhibition class (I'm looking at you, Grom owners.), or race it in an existing "formula" class, or both. It's a ton of fun, and a great group of people. Hope to see more OhioRiders out next year.

I had 17 for the race. I agree that it feel weird. It was almost as if a wheel was out of balance, but I think it was more likely an alignment issue. Seemed worst to me when I was off the gas, so it could have been something with engine-braking too. Regardless, I went faster on that kart than I had on any of the others in practice and qualifying. That wasn't saying much, but it was only during the race that I really started to figure out where there was grip in the braking zones. I was still pretty slow.

Pretty sure one of the deputies at work is a dealer. He takes my uncle to the SHOT show in Vegas every year.

I didn't look locally. Figured I'd rather throw money at a member before a stranger.

You're probably more familiar with that area of the law than I am, but yes, let's stay within the rules. No reason to make anything complicated. I'll keep you posted.

Since we run the dirt bike engines at sustained high rpm so much, I'm speculating that an oil cooler would make the engine more reliable, and allow it to maintain max hp throughout the duration of the race. It's something I might toy with trying for an F3 or F2 build.

isn't the banquet Sunday? What are you listed as on the Bud's site? I'm not in a huge hurry. Probably wouldn't use it until I can shoot it outside anyway...

I don't know if it's fair or not to consider NESBA and N2 as the same entity for purposes of that question, but I know when I first rode with Fastraxx in 2008, they only had dates at Nelson. I had previously done weekends at BeaveRun that year with NESBA and STT. But like I said in my prior post, I'm just speculating. Someone just ask Todd...

I have waffled on this gun for a couple of years now, and for $130-$180 (depending on if you get the 'target kit'), I just can't justify NOT buying it any longer. If anyone has one, I have cash in hand. I am not at all opposed to buying new, so if you're on the list of places I can ship to from Bud's Gun Shop or Cheaper Than Dirt, I have no issue with paying a reasonable fee for someone to process the background check bullshit. I have nothing to hide.

Or is it just easier for PIRC to have N2 contract all the bike track days, deal with WERA for 2 race weekends, and exclude all other MC orgs as superfluous?All fees being equal, dealing with two customers is easier than dealing with three.

The last time I registered for a track day at a facility that wasn't complete was Bluegrass, and STT wouldn't refund my membership fee (they did refund the trackday fee). Never again. $215 seems very reasonable for what the Full course promises to be though.

Sounds like you put more thought into it than I did with my seat-o-pants idea. Let me know how it works. I saw someone with an oil cooler on a big-bore XR100 (140) flat-track bike. I'm intrigued by the idea of adding oil coolers to bikes that don't have them stock.

Let the wild speculation begin! (joking ...sort of) I'll premise this by saying that it's Todd's show, and although I don't know him, he's always seemed like a person who makes decisions for valid reason. I would speculate that: - PIRC is jacking up prices. I can only go by their karting fees, but while I applaud the new management's investment in the facility, the improvements are being reflected in the fees. On top of that, the South Track has the WERA folks buzzing. I would bet most won't actually race there until the South track is DONE, but some people might show up just to see the progress. - Todd is track manager for Nelson Ledges, correct? Initially, I thought this might be a temporary arrangement, but if it's still in place, he's got a mild conflict of interest regarding where to book events. At the very least, it would be uncomfortable for him to book 3 weekends at other tracks if Nelson isn't in use at the same time. Or maybe Todd gets access to Nelson at a discount that's too good to pass up. PURE SPECULATION ON MY PART, but I think plausible reasons for the change. People can be upset if they choose to be, but it's a place to ride as fast as you dare. I hope people still show up for a few rounds, even if they're not down for the full season.

where are you guys getting these dates? I'm only finding 2014 schedules on the website.