Bike-urious brings you interesting motorcycles they find for sale (mostly) online every day. A first for them this year is a low dollar motorcycle race/skill competition called The Beater Olympics. Details like exactly what events will be held and how they will be scored are still being finalized, but generally there will be laps of a go kart track, skills tests, and more.
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With the range of events involved this really seems to be a combination of the 24 Hours of Lemons and the Dirtbag Challenge. The loosely laid out rules stipulate a bike costing just $500 (UPDATE: The rules have been changed to remove the strict $500 limit, at least for this first running), wheels, tires and brakes are exempt, fuel tanks are exempt (not sure why, really), take off the lights, safety wire the oil fill and plug, bikes must weigh less than 550lbs, and that is pretty much it.
The Grange circuit is in Southern California and hosts karts, drift events, drag racing (on an 1/8th mile), pocket bikes, supermoto, motorized bicycles, scooters, and other types of events. Needless to say it is a tight and technical track. The ideal bike for this even is most likely a beat up and ugly dirt bike on the stickiest (budget exempt) tires that will fit on its out of round wheels.
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Of course, the big challenge is the relay race, with 2 or more riders making laps on the Grange track. Then there is a drag race with the fastest 3 bikes getting bonus points. A "Turtle" race, which rewards the slowest rider who doesn't fall over of put a foot down. The skills aspects of the event include rolling a beer keg with the front wheel of the bike, and a tug of war (riders are hooked together, bikes are not).
Now, if you read this site regularly you'd know I make a hobby out of building low dollar bikes, my Okay-Z400 flat tracker was only about $600, but that included the cost of tires. The bosozoku Deus Bike Build Off CM400 has less than $1500 invented in it. If I can unload one of those bikes and free up some capital I will definitely be building a Beater Olympics bike.
A quick trip to Craigslist reveals 3 decent candidates:
A recently crashed but newish Suzuki Savage - If the fork isn't too badly bent, and the cases don't leak oil this ought to be a decent runner. Jack up the back and make it a hardtail to reduce the rake and trail and it should handle the cart track okay too.
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A Honda CM400 Automatic - This bike may be the perfect combination of lousy bike and crummy condition for an event like this. The automatic transmission mean there is no clutch which may be a blessing or a curse for the slow race, but I bet it wins the tug of war.
The event takes place September 26th at The Grange Motor Circuit in Apple Valley, CA.
So, what are you going to build? Also, does anyone want to join an official (unofficial) RideApart team?
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