PROJECT MOTO3
Following an ambitious and possibly senseless moment, Dangerous has decided to morph his dirt bike into a Moto3 wannabe.
It seems sacrilege to be dismantling my perfectly functioning RM-Z250 crosser, but it’s all for a good cause. See, as much as I like motocross, I like road racing a whole lot more. And I’m a particularly massive fan of Moto3. It’s a mental class that’s guaranteed to deliver hard fought battles between similarly levelled machinery, with equally tapped (and brave) jockeys on-board.
That’s the one to get your popcorn ready for, because it’s always the most entertaining. So out of respect for that spectacle, I’ve decided to build a Moto3 bike from my Suzuki. Its lightweight design, potent 250cc single motor and race focused pedigree should make for a good platform to work from, but there’s a hell of a lot of stuff to do and sort if this bike’s going to be half decent come the end of the intended bodgery.
The off-road wheels and suspension are amongst the first bits to bin off, with the intention of finding some suitable road going substitutes to bolt in their place. I’ve seen crossers get converted to road bikes before, so I’m trying to see past the obvious discrepancies in fork length and wheel size. But, I guess, the biggest headache is going to be sourcing the right yokes that will allow for the right rake and trail. Get that wrong and I’ll either end up with something as long as a chopper, or as twitchy as Gary Glitter in a police station.
The wheelbase is going to be crucial, so I’m going to take a few measurements from existing Moto3 bikes to try and gain an idea of where we need to be aiming. Same goess for weight, which for GP eligib bility has a minimum demandd of 152kg for the bike and rider combined. Considering I way half that amount on my own, I don’t imagine we’ll be breaking that rule any time soon. Being realistic, while there’s absolutely zero chance of getting this bike racing in Moto3, there’s a glimmer of hope it could end up doing a few rounds of BSB’s Motostar championship. That’s a great feeder ground for young talent, and the spec of bikes being raced is eye-wateringly high… which is a bugger for us.
Still, I’ve had a load of good mates step in to help out on this build, and I’m pretty confident we’ll end up with something respectable. Or at least I bloody hope so. The bike’s soon to be heading over to Hull where Clive White of Rapier Paintwork is gagging to start ripping the Suzuki apart. From there, it’s anyone’s guess what’ll happen next, so stay tuned to find out.