Taking a minimoto license and the 2015 season in pictures

Now we had the bikes and gear we joined the club with a family membership of just 300:- for the year! and began going to practice days during the year when we could, these took place on either Tuesday evenings or on Sunday morning / afternoons.

After a couple of these we heard that the license course was coming up, we decided to jump in on that and in a couple of weeks we were sitting in a classroom taking the racing license, this was held by Åke Rydergren at the club,  we were in the company of a few other riders that needed to take the course, it took the best part of day and Åke guided us through the rules and regulations of svemo, he gave us his advice and guided us through the "what to do and what not to do´s" - by the end of it he had pretty much covered the lot! Now we knew what was expected of us - the next thing to do was to pay the membership to svemo and send away for the appropriate licenses - we decided to wait with the racing in the first year and instead use it as a test year -  Just last week (April 2016) we applied at svemo and got our race licenses, these cost around 1000:- each and last for year.

Our bikes GRC-polini and DM-BZM

So we got our selves some bikes,

First we brought a GRC polini aircooled engine minimoto that was for sale from a club member in Borlänge, A quick trip up north and the deal was made -We paid about 6000:- for the bike which had been raced before and had received many upgrades by the former owner- the bike had improved front forks and frame, hydraulic brakes and came with a few spare parts. This bike was set up and ready to race in the Junior A class.

So this became Lewis`s bike

Then we purchased a DM midimoto with BZM aircooled engine from Thomas at our club, the bike was also set up for the Junior A class, had hydraulic brakes and was ready to race - price was similar - around 7000kr

  we were now ready enough to go to the track and begin to play 

 We had a blast on our new bikes!

Getting into minimoto´s more bikes - Blata

Blata minimoto´s more reading here

 

Blata s.r.o. is a Czech production company who develops for over 17 years minibikes, motorcycles and scooters.

ultima RM special

origami B1 cicra 2008

ultima junior concept

Getting into minimoto - The Bikes - DM, Polini

More Minimotos

Dm Telai - Minimoto chassis - you can read more info here at their site.

"The minibike project was born in 1991 to face a new challenge.
Year after year, it has been an extremely interesting test, especially because we realized this category may have been propedeutical, and now we know it’s really like this, to the training of riders for higher categories.
Many of the guys who started racing minibikes, now are competing at a high level in the italian, european and world speed championships.
Officially recognized by the F.M.I., the world of minibike, with nearly 700 riders, is the specialty that has the largest number of practitioners.
Since 1995, considering the growing number of pilots, F.M.I. officially established the minibikes Italian league for senior and junior categories.
Since today, DM WON 59 ITALIAN TITLES and many EUROPEAN TITLES.
DM is now the point of reference and professional support which can offer a guarantee of quality and safety to anyone who wants to look out to the world of minibikes."



Dm framed midimoto´s



 

                Polini mini/midimoto` You can check out more here

911 6.2hp aircooled and GP4 air

Getting into minimoto - The Bikes - classes and GRC

So Minimoto bikes - first of all you need to know what class to ride in, form there you can find a bike to race - these are the classes in Sweden - more info at svemo
Classes

A Junior
For riders aged between 7-10 years it is possible to start competing in this class . The vehicle may be type mini or midi . The engine must not exceed 40cc 2t / 90cc 4t .
Junior B
For riders aged between 10-14 years it is possible to start competing in this class . The vehicle may be type mini or midi . The engine must not exceed 40cc 2t / 90cc 4t .
Minimoto Senior Open 40
From age 14 upwards it is possible to start competing in this class . The vehicle may be type mini or midi . The engine must not exceed 40cc 2t / 90cc 4t .
Minimoto Senior Open 50
From age 14 upwards14, it is possible to start competing in this class . The vehicle may be type mini or midi . The engine must not exceed 50cc 2 -stroke and 110cc 4 stroke .

Bikes can be both water and aircooled - here is a selection of some available .

This is the GRC - read more here


 
 Water cooled midimoto

 Air cooled Minimoto

Grc have been around for a long time 
circa 1991
circa 1995

1999


 

2006

2008

2013

"Getting into Minimoto" part 2 Gearing up

So we sold the Osets and started to buy the equipment to get started...

Here is a rough guide to costs involved - all prices are in local currency and that would be the SEK or Swedish Kronor 

First we needed the protection - from head to foot - here is what we found....

searched on Blocket and found a brand new full 1 piece leathers for Travis 1000kr - make unknown, looks like Pakistan or such - but have protected well after many spills and slides, this pair has a nice little hump in the back, we removed the built in basic foam back protector and instead prefer to run with aftermarket back protectors. The leathers have elbow, shoulder and knee protection as well as sliders - we have repaired the leathers after too many slides on the bum, this was done by a local shoe leather repair shop for a few hundred SEK.

We also decided to get leathers that fitted well, sure they will be growing out of them extremely quickly, but buying to baggy and you risk having the leathers twist during slides and falls resulting in the protection pads moving and not doing their intended job - ie whats the pint then ?

Nothing like the feeling of getting your first set of leathers

 Helmets - We made sure the helmets we brought have been designed with children in mind - Of course making sure that buying the size with the correct fit, its also important to consider the weight, it should be as little as possible as the neck muscles in juniors are still developing and don't need to try and support any more weight than they need to - These Airoh light weight helmets were found through Starol racing in Enköping thanks to Håken - price around 1500:- each

  Then became the lessons in looking after your lid !

 Boots - A Special short design for Minimoto racing - this allows the ankle to bend, yet still have all the protection you need and importantly over the ankle bone, they have sliders and protection and padding built in to the most likely impact areas. Approx 800:- we choose the style martin but other brands are out there.

 Gloves - made for small hands, full grain leather, Carbon protection over knuckles - approx 450:- a pair,  you can get these and everything else for minimoto racing at Ryder racing

 Lewis has a 1 piece set of half leather for Minimoto - by Berik - from a club member 500:- second/3rd/4th  hand - the club car park is where all the trading is done,  either end of the season and some times during - there is always some one that is growing in or out of something and the prices are more then fair.

So all the gear and no idea!

Next up finding some bikes to ride...