Indianapolis Dealer Show

We just got back from the 2010 Indy Motorcycle Dealer show. Each year the motorcycle community rolls into Indianapolis to show off their latest products. This was BBR’s 9th year with its own booth. We did a few shows before that by setting up our bikes in the Maxxis Tires and White Bros. booths. There have been some memorable years for sure. 2001 and 2002 were big years for full sized 4-strokes. Honda and Yamaha were jumping on the bandwagon with new 450’s and all of the aftermarket companies were in a race to see who could come up with the best upgrade parts. We kind-of took the opposite approach. We had spent the previous five years stuffing big and small 4-stroke engines into 2-stroke chassis. We had the opportunity to work with many of the OEMs on pre-production and prototype 450’s so we knew what was coming down the road. We decided to focus our attention on the bikes we loved – mini-bikes. By 2004 the mini bike scene was in full swing and every vendor booth in Indy had some sort of pit bike, or pit bike part, to offer. Half of them had no idea what the parts fit. Few had ever even swung a leg over a mini bike before, but that didn’t stop them. Either way, those were my favorite years because there were people standing 50 deep to get a look at the latest BBR bike or part. In the later years, it was all about the Chinese knock-off junk. Those bikes and Indy stories are legend by now so let’s not relive them here. I did notice at this year’s show that the knock off companies have focused on the side by side market. Have fun with that, guys! The show was a little slow this year due to all the “end of the world” stuff going on right now but it is always great to see our industry friends and riders there.

Bob Hannah signing a vintage DG helmet at the 2010 Indy Dealer Show

Brent Brown hanging out with the Nitro Circus gang at the 2010 Indy Dealer Show

The Steak 'n Shake became our home-away-from-home but none of us were brave enough to try the Wisconsin Buttery Steakburger.

MiniMoto SX

It’s almost MiniMoto time. I can’t wait. It’s always a blast! If you haven’t ever raced MiniMoto before grab a bike and get yourself to Las Vegas (May 7th). If nothing else, just to say you did it. It’s full on demolition derby and everyone is going at least twice as fast as it looks from the stands. Any time you are lined up in front of 6,000 fans on a mini bike it’s a great day! The cheapest class is probably the 16’/150 class, or maybe the stock 50 class. Both of these classes the bikes have to stay (kind-of) stock so it keeps the cost down. Heck, I might even race one of the shop XR75’s this year. Derek Costella, Ryan Abrigo, Timmy Weigand, Victor Sheldon (along with the usual BBR race gang) will all be there. Come by and say “Hi” or bring a bike to race, and try to knock one of our guys off the top step!

Alright, I have a lot of bikes to build before MiniMoto, so I'd better get back to it! See you there!

Duane



Blast From the Past

The blast from the past comes from the July 2002 Dirt Bike magazine. The story covers the 2002 White Bros. Four Stroke World Championships. These races were always a blast because Lori at Glenn-Helen would let the BBR crew run the mini-bike part of the races (probably because she wanted nothing to do with this bunch of crazies). People would come from all corners of the country to give it a shot. We would advertise that everyone makes the main no matter what. Sometimes it meant that we had to run a two row or even three row start. Nobody seemed to care. When everyone started to line up, I would tell them, “If you think you have a shot at winning, line up on the front row. If not, find a place in the back”. At least everyone got a shot at the big money. We even did a thing called “Wacky Payback”. For “Wacky Payback” we took every rider’s number and put it into a hat. We had the top five fastest guys draw a number out of the hat, so the rider with that number got paid the same as the top-level rider drawing their name (no matter how they finished!). It was a lot of fun!