Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127672
:' P O C B E Engines Only Honda XR100 dirt tracker R JE l IK : . ".. , . . By Donn Maeda Photos by AI King ha t do Wayne Ra iney, Kenny Roberts, Ricky Graham, Chris Carr, Jimmy Filice and Scott Russell all have in common? Yes, they're all World and National Champions, but there's something else. At one time or another, all have practiced on minibikes! Sa y what? Well, th ink about it. A motocross racer can practice just about anywh ere that there's a good-sized chunk of dirt, but where does a dirt track racer practice? The last time we checked , there weren't an abundance of mile and half-mile oval tracks available for open practice. With the exception of a short track here and there, there really isn't an ywhere for a dirt tracker to practice his slide, especially on a 750cc tw in! The majority of a dirt tracker 's experience is gained at the races. It's also no secret that many top road racers are former dirt trackers. The sliding skills learned while wearin g a steel shoe are a definite ad vantage when it comes time to take to the pa vement. Don 't bel ieve us? Pa s t d irt- tracker sturned- road -racers include Eddie lawson, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, Bubba Shobe rt, Kevin Schwantz, Jimmy Filice and Doug Chandler, to nam e just a few. Practicing on a modified Honda XR100 helps them keep their sliding skills fine-tuned . lfI 30 " ::' (Above) Decked out with a steel shoe and all, Associate Editor Donn Maeda does his best Ricky Graham Imitation aboard our Engines Only Honda XR100 project bike. The mini bike was a good tool for learning the fi ne art of sliding. (Below) With the fat tires. huge exhaust pipe and la~k of a front fender. the XR100 takes on a whole new look. res th ese hot-rod , though there are a s to take to a bigion, the builder of in the know is ly. Nye, a forgtime tuner for the founder, . esOnly. onda XRlOOs d you know ou star t riding them you begin to wa ore power than your buddy. Pretty soo , we were making th em tricker and tricker, an d I noticed that no one really made a true bolt-on big-bore kit. I guess you cou ld say tha t's how I got sta rted." According to Nye, just about any latemod el XRlOO will do. "The XRlOO has been around for years and years. Ou r kit will fit on any XR100 model from '79 to '94. What's grea t about these bikes is that a lot of people have them just 'sitting in their garages. Modifying them to go flat tra ck in g is n ' t m a kin g the b ike an advanced-rider-o nly machine, either. Beg inners a nd entry- leve l rid ers ca n have just as good a time on the bikes as a World Championsh ip contender." Oka y, Frank, we'll see abou t that. In the four years that I hav e been an editor at Cycle News, my horizons have been broadened cons id era bly: When I fir st joi ned th e CN sta ff, m y ex p erie n ce a boa r d m otorcycl es was li mited to mot ocross, m otoc ross, motocross, b u t since th en , I have com peted in a hare and hound, taken my first ride aboard a street bike, cut a few laps aro und a road ra ce circuit, crashe d m y brains o u t aboard a trials bike, and even taken part in an embarrassing Harley-Davidson 883 dirt tracker intro. What was that? Yes, it's true. I had the pleasur e (is that the correct word?) of taking pa rt in the 1992 introduction of the Harley-Davidson 883 dirt track