Building Championship Winning Bikes

Let’s talk about race bikes this week and what goes into building a championship winning bike. We will talk specifically about Derek Costella’s 50 and 110 since he is the current champ.

First, let’s take a look at the rules that govern Derek’s bikes. In 2003, Tim Clark gave us a call and said he was thinking of putting a race on in Las Vegas. We were stoked at the idea of an adult playbike race. Larry Kuebler (our Sales Manager) and I jumped on a plane to get face to face with Tim and check out the arena. Once the Orleans Arena was decided on, we had to come up with the rules for the first MiniMoto SX. The 50 and 110 classes were still in their infancy and there weren’t many after market race parts available for these two bikes. Our thought was to set a wheel size, wheel base limit, and require them to be air cooled. This would allow manufacturers room to develop frames and motor parts with out too much restriction. It would also keep it simple for the racers and spectators to understand. I personally wanted to make the 50s use a 10 inch front wheel (to keep them small and hard to ride) plus use a short wheel base. We also discussed a no "4-valve head" rule due to cost - but both of these were shot down. Enough people were already using them so it would have been hard to go back. The rules have pretty much stayed the same since that first MiniMoto and have become industry standard – except for one – the fifty wheel base. It grew by two inches from 44 to 46. I opposed this change because, all of a sudden, you could take a 110 and put 50 wheels on it and race the 50 class. The 150 class had already been dropped and now the 50 class was morphing into the 110 class. Why not allow water cooling, cradles, and bigger wheels too? Shoot, let’s just race 450s! Oh wait; there’s already a series for those…

With the current rules in place we decided to increase the BBR 50 wheelbase right to the new limit. We also tested a 50 wheeled 110 just to make sure it wasn’t the way to go. The frame on the perimeter 50 was stretched and the footpegs were moved back. This gave the bike a roomier feel plus it put more weight on the front wheel helping to get rid of the front end push that 50s are so famous for. Different fork and shock lengths were tried until the perfect balance was achieved. The next step in chassis setup was tires. We knew we had to go bigger. The motors had become more powerful than any 50 chassis or 10 inch wheel could ever handle. It was obvious that if we were going to keep from spinning the tiny rear wheel and pushing the front tire we were going to have to go huge in the tire department. We went with 3.50x10 in the rear and 2.75x12 in the front. Problem solved. The next step to building the ultimate 50 was to smooth the engine out. If you are spinning the tire you are not going forward. Plus the harder the power comes on the worse the bike handles. Picture how good a stock 2.7 H.P. Honda 50 handles. The stock Honda 50 is so slow it doesn’t push the front tire, wheelie out of the corners, or spin the back tire. That is why it is so fun to ride. Now picture putting a 20 H.P. motor into that same stock bike. It would be a nightmare to hang onto and the suspension wouldn’t even know what to do. The trick is to come up with a power spread that keeps you moving forward and not fighting the bike. This is why the CRF450R has been so successful over the years. Some people confuse smoothness for slow, but as Jeanie Carmichael once told us, “the stopwatch doesn’t lie”.

The actual motor we use in the 50 is the Daytona dual over head cam 4-valved setup. It has proven to be a very reliable race engine - plus they are quality Japanese parts you can count on. We do our own porting to move the power curve to fit each rider. We also use flywheel weights and different carb sizes all to personalize the power curve. I did test some of the Chinese 50 engines to see what they were all about. They use a Honda 50 style bottom end with a 110 style top - but no two of them are the same. By the time you get them going fast enough to win they aren’t that much cheaper than building a real motor. Plus, when the clutch basket comes flying out the side of the cases, most riders don’t think that is as funny as I do. Daytona is working on a complete race motor in a box that is going to be priced right and make MX power right out of the box. I have been testing one all summer and, for a production motor, it is awesome. It will definitely change everything. It should be available before Christmas (watch our website). You can check out the Daytona factory here:

Once we had the 50 frame, suspension, and engine up to speed it was time to start spinning laps. The BBR test track is at my house so it makes it easy to ride as much as possible and let’s face it, isn’t that why we are all doing this? I have a great bunch of riders that come over on a regular basis so we can get some real feedback quickly. Everyone from pros, kids, neighbors, and even the secretary, all give input on BBR bikes and parts.

Once the in-house testing is complete we call in the big guns to check our work. We flew Timmy Weigand up (Honda test rider and factory Honda WORCS racer) to spin laps on the 50 to get his input. Right from the start he loved the 50. The sketchy handling was gone and the motor was smoothed out. A simple fork revalve and a shock spring swap and he was ready to go. Timmy even strung together one of the biggest double jump combos I have ever seen on a 50. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that on video, but we did get this:


Next up was Derek. Derek is the fastest mini-bike rider in the world. I’ve been lucky enough to ride with everyone from MC to RC and RV. Derek can throw it down and finds speed where there is none. The best part is that no one has more fun riding minis than Derek. He always has a huge smile under his helmet.

Derek flew up from Vegas to test the new bikes. Since I am personally responsible for global warming (I think there’s a hole in the ozone above my house!) it decided to snow in April. Who cares - we rode anyway and you can check out the video here (also some testing in Las Vegas at start of video):


To avoid destroying the bikes in the mud, we decided to ship them to Vegas and test at Derek’s home track. At first Derek thought he wanted to race the 50 class on a 110 with 50 wheels because of the huge power the 110 makes. But in the end, the stop watch prevailed and he was faster on the 50. The other problem with the 110/50 combo is ground clearance. There is none. Saw a lot of guys on this combo struggling to get through the whoops at MiniMoto. If you are dragging the skidplate around the track it isn’t going to work. After a few tweaks to the brakes, to make them like a light switch (like Derek wants), new fork springs, and a header swap was all Derek needed to run away from the best riders in the world at MiniMoto in the 50 class.

With the 50 dialed in, it was time to concentrate on the 110. The engineers at Kitaco emailed us in December (2007) and said they were working on a 4-valved 110 head they wanted us to try. It would be a brand new design (not based on any other motor). At first we were hesitant because we already had the 110 dialed with the perfect MX style of power. I had tested all of the big stroker engines and short piston setups, but most were a mess: All they did was make lots of noise and a lot of wheel spin. Since testing is what we love to do we decided to find out what the 4-valve was all about. Brent, Kurt, and I jumped on a plane and flew over to Kitaco in Japan. When we got there we were surprised to find out we were the first American distributor to ever visit them in Japan. We hooked up with their head engineer, who designs and engineers all of Kitaco’s engine parts. He showed us the very first 4-valved head and let us take one for a spin in the parking lot. It definitely made big power, but was it the right kind of power to win? We would find out shortly. The employees at Kitaco, told us they wanted to fly to Las Vegas to watch the 4-valved head win. That is why they contacted us. We laughed and told them that it’s not that easy. There is a huge luck factor that can play out at anytime. But they insisted. We got back to the states and the testing began. Right out of the box the production Kitaco 160 4-valve top end was dyno testing the same as our full race motor from one year earlier. The power curve was a little lower because it is basically a stroked to 143 motor (up to 160cc). No problem. We developed a slightly larger D2 exhaust (that now comes standard with the V3 frame)and ported the head to flow a bit higher to let the bike "over-rev". What we ended up with is a race motor making two more horsepower than we previously had made, while still keeping the same magic power curve. Plus it was cheaper and easier to build in the long run. At first, Derek wasn’t sure about the new motor. He likes the bike to steer on a dime and anytime you add more power it messes with the handling. But once he had some time riding the new motor against the old motor, he realized he could shift up a gear in the whoops and pound them even harder. It was a “done deal”! For our other BBR riders the extra power was also welcome. With the new power range of the motor, a riding mistake could be made and a simple stab at the clutch would get things going again instantly. Since the new bikes were going to debute in Vegas we decided to polish the frames and come up with new graphics to match the bike. You’ve probably all seen photos by now, but here is a photo of Derek’s 110 winning bike:

Hopefully, it is obvious that building a championship bike is more than sitting on the dyno trying to squeeze out peak horsepower. Of course, we have an in-house dyno, but peak horsepower doesn't win races. BBR's specialty has always been building a great package. Innovative frame design, works quality suspension and brakes, and engine development that delivers usable power. Thanks to the hard work of everybody at BBR, it all paid off with Derek being the first person ever to win both classes at MiniMoto SX.

Question of the Week

"What is the fix for the front brake on my Marzocchis? They drag all the time and almost stop the front wheel in the air. Plus they’re next to impossible to bleed." - Daniel

Hey Daniel; we gave up on the Formula brake a long time ago. It is basically a mountain bike brake. The worst part is they use a non-floating caliper, so as the brake pads wear, the brake drags even more. The other thing is that if the rotor gets bent it just drags on itself. And you have to be a genius to bleed these things. You’re going to end up bleeding yourself before it is over. Take them off and put them in the circular file, because we have you covered. Chris came up with a mini CR style full-floating brake a couple of years ago that gives you big bike performance and feel. It even uses your favorite "big bike" CR brake lever. It works with the stock Marzocchi hub or we have a trick billet aluminum hub that will spoke into stock style rims (in colors!). Also, Galfer provides a tough wave rotor for this setup. Click here for the 110 brake, and here for the 50 brake. Hope this helps. As always feel free to give us a ring anytime. We love to talk motorcycles!

Blast from the Past

This week's blast from the past is from the January 2005 Dirt Rider Magazine and our buddies over there (Jimmy Lewis, Karl Kramer, Dick Burlson and the whole crew). At that time, the mini bike scene was exploding so the largest off road magazine decided to put a mini-bike on the cover. This was also Jimmy Lewis’ first issue with Dirt Rider as Editor. Being the mini-bike nut that he is, he called looking for the ultimate mini-bike. Ricky Carmichael had just switched to Suzuki so we were in the middle of building his personal 110's when we got the call. It was Jimmy’s lucky day. At the time there were very few parts for the 110. The biggest bore kit available was a 130. We knew that wasn’t going to be enough for RC, so we took a 150F Honda piston and started machining it to come up with the first 160cc kit. Chris Gosselaar would use a version of this kit and bike to win MiniMoto 2005.


OK that’s it for this week. Thanks for helping us live the dream!

Duane

150F Playbikes

Let’s talk about the 150F bikes this week. There has been a lot of interest in this size bike again with the introduction of the KLX140. Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki have also updated the TT-R125, CRF100, CRF150, and DRZ125 in recent years. It is great to see the interest again in these bikes and it is great to see that this portion of our business is strong. Some people don’t understand why adults would ride slow playbikes that are nearly the size of a full-sized motorcycle. The reality is that these bikes are a blast to ride with your buddies. They make great trainers for real MX (with less chance of getting hurt) and it takes real skill to make one go fast. Name any top motocross star and you can just about bet they have a 150 playbike in their garage.

Lets start by going back to the first real 4-stroke play bike; the 1973 Honda XR75. This bike was a hit right from the start. The smooth power delivery, sharp handling, reliability, and incredible performance potential all made for the perfect storm. Performance companies popped up all over the place. Companies like DG, PK racing, J.W.R.P., Redline, and a host of others all started building parts for the little XR. It didn’t take long for adults to start riding and modifying them for pit-bikes and backyard fun. There was even a mini-bike race the night before the nationals that most of the stars of the day competed in. If you are into XR75s check out this video:


Eventually, the XR75 movement turned into the XR100 movement with the introduction of the first XR 100 in 1981. The bike had an all new engine and big 16"/19" wheels for the first time. The larger wheels made the bike adult friendly and a great bike for the wife or girlfriend. Adult backyard races were starting to pop up all over the country. Langtown became the most famous race since it was located in Southern California with all of the magazines and factories nearby. The race took on a life all its own with semi-trucks and factory backed riders, all making the trek to the tiny backyard track for a shot at the Langtown title. The hand made bikes that showed up there to race were as much a part of the show as the race itself. Some of the trickest bikes in the world came from the desire to win at Langtown. Aluminum frames, carbon fiber tanks, disc brakes, and stroker motors were the norm. Every imaginable hybrid bike made its way through Langtown over the years. If you want to see more, click on the photo below to view video of this legendary race.


The next step of the evolution came with the introduction of the TT-R125 in 2000. This bike was like a fully modified XR100 right out of the box. It had a front disc brake, 125cc motor, fair suspension, and YZ looks. BBR had a field day with this bike building pipes, bore kits, filters, and springs. You name it, we built it. We even built a perimeter framed version and took it to the White Bros. 4-stroke World Championships. With Rich Taylor onboard we walked away with the championship. It instantly made the TT-R the bike to beat. In 2001 BBR took over the 150cc class and put up a huge $6000 pro purse. That was a huge amount for that time period, and even bigger considering that it was for an adult minibike race. 87 riders showed up on homemade XR100s and TT-R125s from all over the country. Instead of having qualifiers it was decided to run a three row start and let everyone bang bars together on the Glen Helen track. What a Blast! The list of riders was a "who’s who" in the motorcycle industry. From current national pros to former national champions, they all showed up for a shot at the $6000 purse. Lance Smail walked away with the win with Jimmy Lewis in tow. I wish I could have raced, what many consider to be the best 150 race ever, but I had exploded my foot the day before. It was frustrating watching the race go on without me. I did get to help do the TV announcing (in a Vicodin haze and on crutches). Click on the photo to watch the video:


Honda introduced the next generation of play bikes with the 150F in 2003. This bike was aimed at adults with its friendly size and 156cc motor. The bike sparked a whole new group of riders that were too big or too fast for the XR100. The 150F had some girth to it and was over-built so that it could take a beating. A big-bike pro could get on the 150F without worrying about snapping it in half. Honda gave BBR a pre-production bike to start working with. The first thing we did, in typical BBR fashion, was pull the motor out and toss the rest of the bike away. We built a perimeter framed bike and headed to Langtown with it. Steve Lamson was set to race it but had to fly to Japan for some testing. Luckily, team Honda Manager, Eric Kehoe, stepped in and took the job. He ended up finishing second to Roncada that year in his first attempt at Langtown. It was impressive. He didn’t win, but the writing was on the wall, and the CRF150F was here to stay. The perimeter 150F was a huge success and went on to become the standard for 150 racing. At the first Mini-Moto race in Vegas 2004 the 150 class was the premier class with Stanton, Cooper, McGrath, Taylor, Antunez, and Emig all banging bars for the title. All twelve bikes in the main were BBR framed 150s.

Suzuki didn’t want to be left out of the fun so they introduced a bike that was similar to the TT-R125. It was an instant hit with the Suzuki crowd. It never caught on as big as the XRs, TT-Rs, or CRFs because it was a little late to the party, but it is one of the best bikes Suzuki ever built. BBR makes a ton of parts for the DRZ125, so if you are a Suzuki nut we’ve got you covered.

OK, let’s talk about the KLX140. This is the first new 150cc sized play bike to come along in years…and it’s a great one! It has a new 140cc engine with great torque, a steel perimeter frame, front and rear disc brakes, and a good rear shock. Overall, the bike is a blast to ride right out of the box. The best part is that the bike can be easily modified. This is a good thing, because in stock trim, the bike is pretty tame. With its 86 decibel pipe and a 20mm carb, it seems like you can run faster than the bike can go. No big deal. Modifying the bike is half the fun of owning a play bike. BBR already has a D2 pipe, carb kit, suspension mods, graphics, and other parts in stock. If you're a KLX140 owner, feel free to give us a call. You can check out the video of us testing the KLX here:


The 150 bikes are going stronger than ever, there are plenty of places to race them, and best of all, they are inexpensive, quiet, and can be modified as little or as much as you like. The other great thing about this bike is that there is a company who dedicates itself to making the best performance parts money can buy for them. Just give our BBR Toll Free Line a call (1-888-MOTO-BBR), and we'll get you anything you need for your CRF150F, KLX140, TT-R125 or DRZ125. And don't forget, we still have hundreds of parts for the CRF100...one of the bikes that started it all.

Question of the Week

"Hey guys, love the new website! Will the U-flow filter do any thing for my bone stock KLX110 or do I need a pipe, or bore kit?" Bob in SoCal

Thanks Bob! Absolutely, the KLX is one of he most corked up bikes of all time. The stock filter setup is about as restrictive as you can get and have the bike still run. If you were to pull the stock air box off, and try to ride the bike without it, you would find out that the bike is jetted from the factory very lean to compensate for the restrictive air box. With the U-Flow filter installed ALONE, you have to go up almost twenty sizes on the main jet! At $129.95, the U-Flow is definitely the best bang-for-the-buck for the KLX110. It does more than any cam, pipe, and even some of the bore kits out there. If you don’t agree once you get it on the bike, we will be happy to take it back! I have seen guys on the web taking radiator hoses, PVC tube, etc. trying to do the same thing. Trust me - we tried all of that but it made the bike slower in most cases. The trick is in the exact formation of the U-Flow boot which creates the perfect dead-air space right at the mouth of the carb. Every single modern 4-stroke uses this technology. Can you name one bike that comes from the factory with the filter clamped right on the carb? OK, maybe some Maicos did, but we are trying to move forward in time here! It just hasn’t trickled down to the play bikes yet. Another trick you can do if you are going to run the stock pipe, with the U-Flow, is to drill out the stock header. Simply take the stock exhaust off and take a 5/8 drill bit or a dremel tool and drill or grind out the restrictor washer that is welded into the pipe right where it goes into the head. This will give you a noticeable increase in top end. It’s no BBR pipe, but when combined with the U-Flow it’s a great setup if you need to keep your 110 whisper-quiet. Hope this answers your question. - Duane

Blast from the Past

This week’s, "Blast from the Past" comes from Motocross Journal and all our friends over there (Jimmy Mac, Tim Olson, and the Hi-Torque gang). The issue is February 2000, and keeping with our 150 sized bike theme, the featured article is the 1999 BBR perimeter framed XR100 Lance Smail Replica. Click on the photo to see the complete story.


We carved this bike out of a block of aluminum, pre-CNC days at BBR. The bike used CR80 components (wheels, forks, shock). BBR teamed up with Powroll on the motor. We ended up using the XR80 crank and stroking it up to 121cc’s. It worked pretty good on a tight track like Langtown. We ran the PVL ignition that had a fixed ignition curve so it was a nightmare to start and a nightmare to dial in. I believe we melted at least two of these ignitions just during the testing process. The day after these photos were taken, we headed over to Langtown...or at least tried to. Our good friend Lance has had a few dozen injuries over the years, and on the morning of the race his back decided to go out. He crawled to the bathroom of the Holiday Inn and laid down in the shower for an hour before he could even stand. A dozen Ibuprofen later and Lance was ready to race. Lance pulled the holeshot and blocked his way to the first moto win. Moto two was a different story. He got a bad start and just didn’t have the strength to aggressively move his way to the front. A 4th place finish, for third overall, was all he could come up with. Looking back, it was amazing he raced at all! Lance and BBR would have their day. The next year Lance, Brad Hagseth, and Timmy Weigand stormed Langtown with a BBR 1-2-3 sweep. This was one of many dominating performances at Langtown for BBR, and we look back on those days with great memories. The event, the bikes, and the people were all very unique. Thanks Bob Langen for so many great years!

Alright back to riding! Call us anytime and, as always, thanks for helping us live the dream.

Duane

9/15 - This week at BBR

Hey guys - Duane here. We are going to do a weekly blog to keep everyone up to date on what’s happening at BBR and in the mini bike world. We will try to post it every Friday (if they can pry me away from the race shop or get me off the bikes long enough to write this). As always, if you have a question you would like to ask me, or my brothers (Brent and Chris), feel free to shoot us an E-mail at sales@bbrmotorsports.com. If it is a good question, we will use it here for all to see. If you need an immediate answer to a question, simply give us a ring anytime and our friendly staff will help you out. The other cool thing that we will add to this column is a “blast from the past” article. The media has been great to BBR over the years so we will dig up some of those great old tests and stories from Dirt Bike, Motocross Action, Dirt Rider, Motocross Journal, MX Racer, Transworld MX, Mini Moto, Pit-Racer, etc. and run them here. There have been some classics, like: “If NASA Made Dirt Bikes”, The “Worlds Best 4-stroke”, “Ready, Set, Drool”. We will post a new one every week.

Also, check out our Photo Gallery. It is a work in progress, but we are slowly adding all the photos from our old website plus lots of new stuff. We have about 1500 photos right now, but we're adding 50+ per day. Eventually, we hope to have our complete collection on-line. The coolest thing is that you can search the photos for common keywords. So, if you're a vintage XR75 guy, type XR75 in the search box and click on the Search button. You'll see all the photos that have "XR75" in the title or description. Go here to check it out: Photo Gallery

So what is going on at BBR right now? You name it. As always, we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. That’s when everyone seems to be at their best around here! The big news is the release of the new V3 (version 3) 110 Aluminum Perimeter frame kit. It has been a ton of work, but it is our best frame yet. We are still trying to make as many BBR parts in house as we can. I am positive it has been the key to our success so far, especially with our frame kits. By making the parts in-house it allows us to make immediate changes during testing or even during a production run. The V3 frame was started about two years ago with the intent to fit both the 50 motor and the 110 motor. This was no easy feat with all the different versions of these two motors floating around, not to mention all the different carbs, manifolds, pegs, and exhaust. Of course, we’ve been building and racing 110 sized bikes with the 50 motor for over 5 years. Those frames were purpose built for the Honda motor. The new frame can switch motors just by swapping the motor mounts (and a new exhaust header). How cool is that?

The original 110 Perimeter Frame kit was designed when the biggest motor kits available were 130cc. Now there are 4-valve heads, stroker cranks, giant carbs, and good filters. All of this was taken into consideration when updating the frame. Also, the riding style has changed. The riders are going bigger, farther, and faster then ever before. Minor changes in tube sizes and material thickness allowed us to create the best handing frame we've ever produced.

The new frame was completely designed on the computer. I might even be ready to concede that the computer is smarter than me when it comes to stress testing and fitment issues. But until it can spin laps on the bike and give real world feed back, I won’t be completely converted (or out of a job!). Once the prototype was done the real fun began. We let the BBR crew pound out the laps, plus some of the fastest guys in the world, and made adjustments accordingly. Trying to get everyone to agree on the same settings is impossible when you are trying to build a bike that kids can ride, as well as vets and women, and of course still be able to win at the highest level.

I think we hit our goals from all the reaction and results so far. The V3 has led every lap of every pro race it has been in so far. Derek Costella pulled the holeshot and ran away at Vegas, with Ryan Abrigo in tow. Then Abrigo ran away at the Summer National with Costella in tow. We’re really happy with the results and we’re confident that you’ll love it too. We joke that the only person who won't appreciate this frame kit is a 9 year old girl with low self esteem. Hope you have as much fun and success with it as we have!

Blast from the Past

OK – This week’s blast from the past comes from Motocross Action Mag. and all of the guys over there. In the August 1998 issue, MXA tested the BBR perimeter framed YZ400. This was the pre CNC machine days at BBR so we basically took a band saw, a Bridgeport mill, lathe, and a huge pile of passion for MX and carved this bike out! This was pre CR450F, so we can safely say that this one came from our soul. The bike also used all YZ geometry, suspension, and components. Enjoy!


Alright – that’s it for this week. Thanks for helping us live the American dream!

Duane