Next up is a 2000 Honda Rebel. I once played with a Harley Sportster but it was just too heavy and bulky for what I wanted - a makeshift dualsport cruiser. So here is the Rebel, purchased for $700 and stripped down with some knobby tires added.
After building it, I met an autocross dude with similar taste in bikes. He hosts "The Woodsman Cup" a couple of times a year on his property near Orlando. It is about a 1/4 mile loop of groomed track through the woods. All kinds of people show up for this party with live music and keg beer. The only catch is no dirt bikes allowed! I was in the "twin" class based on my engine and actually won my class of about 8 riders! lol!
Heres a video from the event, although not my class:Woodsman Video
The last machine is an 18' Mako skiff that I picked up in the fall. Its used mostly for relaxing, but it is fun to put the hammer down on some glass smooth water, drop in some fishing lines, and/or crack a few beers. I'm planning to do some fun gopro stuff with it soon. It came with a built-in stereo that I hated at first, because in saltwater, every system is just one more thing to break! But it bumps nicely and really makes a day on the water more enjoyable.
Theres the intro to the fleet. Future posts will document my gasoline powered adventures!!
Oh yeah. There is also a Chump Miata build in the mix. It has been sitting stagnant for a while. Hopefully some of my future updates involve this thing.
That motorcycle is retarded and I love it. What size motor?
All you need is an airplane and you'd be worshiped as a god.
In reply to mazdeuce:
The Rebel is a 4-stroke 250cc. It doesn't have a lot of power, but its enough to go with its light and nimble frame. Build for that one: Rebel build
mazdeuce wrote:
All you need is an airplane and you'd be worshiped as a god.
My grandfather flew 747s for PanAm for many years. He was actually their most senior pilot when they closed their doors. I had every opportunity to get my pilot's license with him. I very much regret not doing it :(
Wow, this is awesome! I'm loving the bike too, very cool. I'll be following along for sure!
Those were the bikes we had for our MSF class. I really liked them. I keep thinking a want a Suzuki TU250. Fuel injected air cooled single. I really like small bikes.
Snagged a Torsen diff for the miata off of CL on Thursday and spent Friday after work swapping the soft tires onto the Bmw for Sunday's autocross at the local circle track. They utilize the infield figure 8 and the banking. It's a good time. Since I was dirty, I also turned up the coils on the miata for next weekends rallycross at the FIRM. They have a really sweet venue that is half Tarmac and half dirt. I might say it's my favorite driving scenario to date.
The Bmw and the miata have the same bolt pattern. This is hugely efficient when stocking wheels/tires.
Here is the only one I've found from last weekend's rallycross at The FIRM. What a rad day! $50 entry fee got you unlimited runs on the rallycross track and also open lapping on the 1.6 mile road course. I wasn't planning to push the miata too hard on the road course, as it doesn't have track pads or even performance brake fluid. However, it handled a 20 minute session with no issues. Great day!
Last weekend was The Woodsman Cup. It was even more fun than the last time! My buddy's band came out to play on the flatbed trailer, my little brother came out to party and root me on, my friend from Brooklyn flew down to join and and do some go-pro filming, and my new knobby rear tire helped me to defend my Woodsman title! Its such an awesome event - I spotted a guy on one of the grom bikes rocking a GRM t-shirt. There were about 80 riders total, and we all had a blast! I'm on the Honda Rebel with the black front wheel and white rear wheel. We camped out Saturday night after the racing and loaded up early on Sunday to go hit the St Pete Grand Prix.
Oh man, that mini bike looks like loads of fun! Or like an accident waiting to happen...
Time to drop of a few more photos.
This is a really cool description of the Grassroots motorcycle race known as The Woodsman Cup
I picked up a pair of universal gas shocks on ebay for $75 for the pair. No doubt they're chinese, but the ride is a bit smoother than the Rebel 450 shocks I had bolted on previously and they allow for some ride height adjustment as well. They'll probably get spray-bombed black.
I bolted her together and went riding with my buddy on his bone stock junker rebel. It still handles some dirt just fine :)
My little brother's bachelor party was last weekend and we spent it camping out for a few nights at Ginnie Springs, which is a gorgeous place in north FL with crystal clear springs feeding a natural lazy river. Everyone floats around in tubes, bbqs, and enjoys the beautiful surroundings. This was a perfect place to tear it up on the minibike!
Threw a boat day in the mix too.
The chump miata also got moved to a local shop to hopefully get the cage finally finished up. One of our teammates just sold his minty e30 m3 for a pretty penny and is pumped to get the miata motivated again and get it out on track. We're tentatively aiming for the next chump race at Sebring.
Slingin some dirt! Test n tune in Kissimmee. $30 and run all day. No timing equipment. Just 12 cars and unlimited runs!
In about a half hour, I have the coils spun down and the snow tires swapped for some sticky meats and she's ready for this weekend's autocross. I've offered to let one of my buddies co-drive. He's a racing fan and turns great laps at the kart track, but has never tried any autocross. I'm excited to share the fun!
So jealous how many grassroots style events yall have in florida...in Mississippi if you don't drag race its a once a month autocross, and sadly no rallyx or anything similar
chiodos wrote:
So jealous how many grassroots style events yall have in florida...in Mississippi if you don't drag race its a once a month autocross, and sadly no rallyx or anything similar
Honestly, it is pretty awesome how many events are around the state. I don't even attend half of the ones I'd like to get to. Most stuff is within a 2 hr drive, but I do go the FIRM in Starke occasionally, which is about 3 hrs away.
Enyar wrote:
Where do you live?
I'm in Bradenton, FL.
I've got the miata loaded up with the Torsen and some spares this morning. I'll be cruising it over to my Dads for a Saturday of swapping.
I also grabbed this lil Ranger for 1200. It runs perfect and is in great shape! My plan is to eventually cage it and race "bro-lite" with it. Google it if you don't know what that is- it's awesome! But for now, I'm just going to do a cheap wannabe prerunner build with a 2" front lift and flip the shackles to lower the rear. I'm hoping to find some 30" ish tires on CL for cheap.
My goals:
The diff is out of the trunk and into its new home. It's always fun hangin with my Dad and wrenching for the day!
Did a nice turf out/donut in the lot next door before heading back home, you know...to test it out.
I've been working on the Ranger the last couple of evenings. I flipped the shackle supports on the leaf springs which is good for 2" of lowering in the rear. I was really hoping to be sitting level or have a little bit of reverse rake for a prerunner-look, but it wasn't quite enough drop to achieve that. So, on the next step, adding $40 worth of ebay spacers (2") under the front coils. This should give me the stance I'm after. Also grabbed some bfg all-terrains with about 50% tread left on 15"s.
I've been doing DEs with the Porsche club with it for a few years and last year became an instructor with PCA. 
Car #2 is a Miata. Initially I picked up a '92 for a super deal. It was a super sturdy beater that handled 2 years of rally-x and $2k challenges with barely a hiccup. A clutch slave cylinder was the only casualty in those 2 years! I may have been the top-finishing autocrosser in the $2014 challenge without using a pro driver. I'm not sure - I'd like to see that stat. Rallycross Vid Miata Story 
I recently found another killer deal on a Miata, this one is a 1.8. So I did some shuffling and ended up making a few hundred bucks on the swap 
I had been planning to attend the "Bay Bottom Crawl" auto-x down on Sugarloaf Key for several months and this miata swap happened about a week prior to the event. I was scrambling to get the car ready and was actually bolting in the roll-bar (required for the event) the morning of. It was a really bad-ass event. Speeds about 80 mph on an old, bumpy surface with mangroves and saltwater to both sides! Its on an old residential loop that never got developed - about 2.5 miles long. Crawl Video 
The FTD was taken by a Formula Ford with a turbo. The red Miata will pick up where the black one left off with auto-x, rally-x and Challenge duties.
