Thinking Around the Box
By: Shaun "Scrapyard" Kelly

Little box, big ideas.  

Lately, I've been getting the Motard itch. When the idea started gaining popularity stateside a few years back I immediately fell in love with it. Since then I've been trying to keep tabs on the scene. Just the thought of taking some vicious big bore thumper and putting it on asphalt sounds like a blast. Now actually make it handle and you have the ingredients for a serious urban assault weapon.

Not too long ago I got the chance to throw a leg over a couple purpose built motards. One being a privateer built Pro Class Yamaha WR450. The other being a modified DRZ400SM that handles both daily road duty and the occasional track day. What an absolute blast to ride both of them. The Yamaha was insane. It was a fleeting attempt to try and keep the front wheel on the ground. Although it made backing it in a natural reaction. The DRZ was as fun and so nimble it made any modern 600 feel heavy.

Although the one thing that did get me a bit annoyed was how tall they both were. Now I realize they are modified dirt bikes and are built for ground clearance. I'm not necessarily a short guy by any stretch. At 6'1" with a 34" inseam I still felt the need to slide a cheek off the seat so I could stand flat foot. Now this isn't a horrible ordeal but for street riding, I think it's a bit over kill, unless you're looking to launch the steps of you local library.

One idea that I've had kicking around was to build more of a street oriented big single. Modern road suspension, Dirt bike frame and engine, with some more ergonomic bodywork and stance. So basically, take that old CRF400 or YZ that's collecting dust or was crashed to bits and ditch all the over length suspension and huge wheels. Toss the dirt plastics and find or make maybe a little larger capacity tank and swap that super skinny seat for something with a little padding.

Earlier this year I ran across some guys in France that were building bikes for a low budget race class using a similar idea. They call them Monobikes. The bikes are all based on Big Bore singles using super bike suspension and geometry. So my idea seemed to have merit.

Last week I found and even cheaper idea that is trying to be created. Gavin Trippe, the founder of AMA Supermoto, Troy Lee and Roland Sands are all working on the next big idea in entry-level road racing. It is being coined as 450 Moto. The idea is to take a stock 450 4-stroke dirt bike and convert it to road race duty. Now you may be thinking, "Isn't that what Supermoto is?" This is a little different. Instead of using the dirt bike suspension, the bikes have been fitted with 600cc sport bike front forks, brakes and wheels. The rear shock is swapped for one suited for road work and the bars are exchanged for clip-ons. Subframes are converted for road race seating and the whole bike is wrapped in race fairings. The main goal is the original frame, swingarm and engine are all retained for a spec class racer. This sounds like a killer idea to get younger enthusiasts into racing for little money but also for those wanting to step into racing but can't afford the upkeep and supplies to campaign a 600 or larger sport bike.

But getting back to building fighters. Why not go a similar direction basing a project around a cheap dirt or trail oriented bike and converting it as far away from dirt bike as possible. Granted we are not working with big horsepower, but we are talking a 60hp bike with gobs of usable torque that weighs in at or below 300lbs. Throw in some true road suspension and wheels, some cool styling that is more street based and you get an all out light and nasty street thumper.