Mini moto(ard) wheels?

[spideyrdr]

Much to the chagrin of my already-bulging garage, I am kicking around the idea of mini moto racing. It is just a wild hair I am looking into, but there are some things I am trying to figure out.

1) A Chinese-made 150 4 stroke with decently upgraded suspension - can it be competitive with the two-strokers in the respective classes? The F3-F5 classes seem to be dominated in the standings by the 2 strokes but I don't know if that means they are just that much better or happen to be ridden by veteran riders who stole their kid's 65cc KTM and are flogging it on the track.

2) Where the hell does one get wheels for the road racing tires? It looks like the ones that typically come on these bikes are maybe too narrow and come in 14"/12" sizes but 12" are preferred for this zany activity. I would actually like to have the dirty wheels/tires combo in case I would like to get on a trail while camping or something, so if anyone has any beads on replacement hoops AND hubs, please chime in.

Thanks for any and all input. Just don't tell my garage what I am up to.

Jamie

[Zach929rr]

M&m racing might have some rim solutions.

[vort3xr6]

Mmracing.biz is where my rims came from.

KX-65's are generally raced because they are easier to come by. The power band is strong, and parts are readily available.

Minimoto racing is some of the best times I have ever had on the track. An absolute blast and so addicting.

[mikesf4i]

Rad mfg makes hubs and rims for most minis. We had Woodys build the wheels for our minis but just had Epic build us a set of Warp 9 rims for a kx125 supermoto bike.

Btw. Not all of the F3 and F5 bikes at the top of the standings are kids bikes stolen by veteran riders. One is a kids bike ridden by a kid.

[spideyrdr]

Thanks for the feedback. So it would appear there would be a need to pick up a set of wheels for sure. An added, yet digestible, expense. It's good to know.

@miksf4i, I was kidding around about the 'stolen' bikes and saw a few little squirts out there in some of the videos, including some of Brad's. I hope some day my daughter is out there (though, since she's just barely a year old now it will be a little while). :)

[Zach929rr]

The first thing I would be concerned about it the durability of your china knock off bike tbh.

[spideyrdr]

The first thing I would be concerned about it the durability of your china knock off bike tbh.

"Durability" is actually taking a back seat to "safe". Any bike could crap out for stupid reasons. When this thread was meant to do was give me an idea of what's involved in general, whether it be on a KTM, Kawi, SSR, or some god-knows-what. It seems with a decent frame and good suspension components, you can get into the madness, but the wheel question was bugging me. As was the relative dominance of the 2-strokers in the standings. I might have to come out and watch a race!

[Zach929rr]

If you can find another 12" rear rim for your mini, you can lace the front hub onto it.

And yes, riding mini's is a blast. I have a 65 that needs to get the rims laced and trued up. I can't really speak on 2 v 4 since I haven't been to the races yet. I wouldn't even worry about it.

[vort3xr6]

Another reason the KX is so widely used, is the ability to set it up on the cheap.

For the front, most people just drop in PVC spacers that act as increased preload. It makes a world of difference.

For the rear, an SV-650 shock drops right in with little to no modification.

Like zach said, buying new rims is not completely necessary. You can take a stock rear rim and lace it up to a front hub and mount tires.

The chinese bikes do well and have plenty of power to be competitive. I just think most of these racers are trying to make this the most cost effective racing possible. And the kx 65 accomplishes that.

[spideyrdr]

I have been digging on this all day (don't tell my boss) and I can see where there are some options.

Hubs are friggen expensive though. Am I wrong that it would be around $400 to get a complete wheel?

[mikesf4i]

Just have someone lace new rims onto your stock hubs. That's what we did with Adams KTM. We put new hubs on Noahs KX because the old ones were trashed.

[vort3xr6]

Tell Adam if he brings his A-game on sunday I am toast. Not many passing opportunities at bandimere. But I was keeping up with hammer!

[coax]

The KX65 is the most popular mini moto racer in the country period. There is good reason for that. As others have mentioned, it is fairly cheap, parts are readily available, 6 speeds, killer engine and powerband (bone stock and friggin sick when modded), disk brakes, tons on Craigslist, and ect... I love those things, but don't have one because they are so prevalent.

The 4 stroke China bikes do pretty good, as long as basic maintenance is done. I know of two people who are running the same topend for two seasons, but they do maintenance (ocassionally check valves, change oil about every three race days). They do only have 4 speed transmissions though. You can switch the power around just by changing cams, pipes, intake tract tuning and such, without removing metal. Different strokes for different blokes.

[mikesf4i]

Brad
We won't be making the race this Sunday. We have the opportunity to go to HPR and ride with Jason Disalvo and the guys from Chicane track days. Its going to mess up our points standings but I think we are going to learn a lot.

[vort3xr6]

Brad
We won't be making the race this Sunday. We have the opportunity to go to HPR and ride with Jason Disalvo and the guys from Chicane track days. Its going to mess up our points standings but I think we are going to learn a lot.

Bummer! I was looking forward to dicing with him. Tell him good luck and no brakes on the 250 going into 4! lol

[coax]

Mike
You guys have a throwaway race this year, as does everyone else. Only your best eight race days per class count out of the total of 9 for the season! It sounds like a good opportunity.

[duelist13]

Hey Spidey, I just caught on to this thread. Glad to hear you're thinking about racing minis, you won't regret stepping in.

Most of the companies (I'm riding an SSR), offer 12" cast tubeless aluminum motard wheels. SSR/SGRUSA (my vendor) sent me a spare set of 12" steel tubed spoked motard wheels along with the dirt wheels. Let me know if you have any questions.

[spideyrdr]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I did some legwork and got some leads on the various possibilities and decided that I might look into this in the 'off season' since my schedule would keep me from getting to the track too much on the mini this year.

I am going try to make it out to IMI Sunday to watch you foolios do your thing! I hope everyone has a blast out there!

[mikesf4i]

We will be at Bandimere on Sunday.

[duelist13]

Spidey, if you want to check out the SSR 150 motard, come out to the IMI race on the 24th of July and I can try to answer your questions. Bring your helmet :).