BARE BONES MACHINE^®

Go to Racing 2001NEW!

General Racing Stuff ...

        Racing is at the very core of  BBM's existence. The name was derived as a name for our racing team years ago. It seemed an appropriate moniker at the time, struggling as we were (aren't all racers?) and in fact, is still appropriate today. A worthy quote from Cagiva's racing boss states " The best way to make a million dollars in racing is to start with THREE million!!! " Be that as it may, we have continued to run an in house effort every year as well as support several customer machines on the track. A fairly new application for our engines is mico sprint car racing. This first year effort  culminated with several wins in 1999 (more details on this will be forth coming…) Check out the BBM downdraft head on the micro sprint (click on picture). Jay spent a few hours on that one...

    BBM has always endeavored to build the ultimate single cylinder race bike within a given class with whatever resources we had at the time ( see machines ). I think you will agree that our track record speaks for itself. Single cylinder racing in the U.S. seems to be a cult following (or else you wouldn't be reading this). Basically, up until this year there was only one national championship series where these machines could be run and that was AHRMA, and that is what we did. We have competed in all of AHRMA's Supermono or S.O.S. (Sound of Singles) classes since 1995 and won all of them at one time or the other (some two or three times). The national scene was kinda neat because we got to compete at almost every major tack in the country. Got to go to exotic places like Talledega, Alabama and have the locals ask you "Ya'll ain't frum 'round heer ar yew?" and cultural exchanges like that. Seriously, we did meet a lot of awesome people and get to see some truly beautiful places. Grattan, Michigan for one. It's like like they cut out the woods (near a lake) and then built a nice golf course and then someone said "Nah..., What we need here is a really cool roadracing track." and then they paved a track through the rolling hillside with lush green grass and woods surrounding. Jay and Norm put mega- miles on Norm's van driving from one end of the country to the other (Daytona to Willow Springs). Wore one van completely out. Had to get another. Its tough on a vehicle pulling a 26 ft trailer. Not to mention the driver...
      In 1999 the grind and expense of the national circuit had taken it's toll on the "in-house team" which is basically Jay and I (you know, just like "Two Brothers" racing), so we decided to run in the local regional series in Colorado (MRA). We did go down to Daytona and win the Supermono II class in 99, but that was it. I should state for the record however, that Mark Hatten continued on in the AHRMA circuit in 1999 and nailed down his second championship in the 500cc class. We had pretty good success in the MRA, mixing it up with a variety of bikes in Light Weight Superbike and Formula Colorado and came away with the championships there. Norm, meanwhile has moved back east and is planning to "tie the knot" with a lovely lady back in Philly, and his racing activities are unclear at the moment.(???) He does have an ambitious honeymoon planned for this summer which includes riding (motorcycles:), travel to distant lands and other adventures we will have to wait to find out about... Which brings us to the present... 
    This year in 2000 we are planning to run in the MRA again and possibly do a couple AHRMA nationals. As I write this, Jay is in the shop prepping the bike for a track day this weekend (4/15/00). Over the winter, he made a new subframe out out square aluminum extrusion. He milled billet hardpoints and welded them to the frame so that the subsection can be bolted on and off. This subframe supports the oil tank, seat, and pipe hanger. Jeff has built a really trick stainless exhaust pipe which has a new bend and length and hand formed collector all of which is designed to move the "powerband" up the rev scale. I'll let you know how it works on the bike. As far as the technical design stuff goes, that's Jay's area and he is pretty good about answering email about most any technical inquiry. I don't go down that road too far... Anyway, Jay incorporated a rubber bushing into the subframe for the pipe hanger as well which should help reduce vibration. Beating back the vibration from the 680 is a big part of the design game. As a rider, you really have to learn to relax on the controls to reduce any feedback. Believe me, this ain't no CBR 600 smoothie. You get used to it after awhile... The engine should be all fresh. Jay put in a new piston and rings (after machining the valve pockets), reseated the valves, replaced some gears in the transmission and put in a new crank. I am not sure where we are now with the cam timing right now. I think he said he "lowered the deck height" which will affect the cam timing. We usually play with that quite a bit at the track for each setup. We generally retard in two degree increments until it "sings on top". Again, I just ride the thing and Jay sets it up for a given track. I am flying out there tomorrow to help "final" the bike on Friday and then check it out at Mead (Mountain View) on Saturday. The idea is to get any bugs out (of the bike and me) before the first race on April 30th. Later...C.W.
    Ok, Let's take this stuff to a new page and we'll call it ... Racing 2000

    The saga continues ... Countdown to Daytona begins .... Racing 2001
   

BBM Race Results Archives for past results.