VIBA Scrambler LARA800 Vs Snow Quake

VIBA Motor of France brought one of their limited edition LARA800 Scramblers to Snow Quake. It's based on a modern MV Agusta 800 liquid-cooled triple and they allowed Dirt Quake veteran Pierre-Alexandre Treust race it on their own handmade ice tyres (Treust was Toy Story's Woody on a full fat BMW airhead Boxer at DQIV. You can see him in this post).

The day didn't start well for the €32,300 (plus tax) exclus-crambler. The top of the lightweight battery cracked, perhaps due to the frigid temperatures, and shorted. But VIBA boss, Yann, had packed a spare (very professional). Once they got going, and Pierre got his eye in, the bike ran well and the pilot was brave, on a bike with not much steering lock. For those who don't know, you really want a lot of steering lock on a bike you're trying to powerslide. If a bike doesn't have much lock, the forks hit the lock stops before the back end has stopped over-steering and then it wants to highside and there's not much a rider can do about that. Especially on ice.

The way people rode heavy street bikes on the Ice Rosa Ring was an real eye-opener. Legends, the lot of them.

More Snow Quake reports from other racers coming over the next few days. G

Snow Quake Success!

El Solitario heavyweights!

Just a quick post to say a massive thanks to all the racers who drove and flew from far and wide to race at Snow Quake. I put my hands together for Dave Skooter Farm and Anthony Co-Built for race-flagging and organisational support on the day.

Thanks to the hardcore fans who came from as far away as Athens, Greece and Vigo, Spain.

Mille grazie to Pirelli Moto, Deus Ex Machina and Marco Belli of Di Traverso for helping make it happen.

More reports to follow. G

 Marco Belli was incredible on the Deus Yamaha XJR1300 on Pirelli spikes.

Pierre-Alexandre Truest raced the Lara MV 800

My ice tyres were crap. Anthony's electrics were playing up. I took the electrics off mine and we shared Anthony's bike. Team work!

Nick Ashley makes the party and Paolo Sormani is always a pleasure.

Dirt Quake hero Serge Nuques raced a Honda chopper. Park it like you stole it. G

Skijoring Freaks

This came in from Karl in Austria, reacting to a post from last week.

The video from 1953 in Tyrol is great. 

I am from Upper-Austria. Skijöring has been very popular all around our area till the beginning of the 1970s. Safety was not that much in the forefront. It was more or less all about speed and giving gas. More and more laws and terms by the government, uncomprehending neighbours and also a lack of snow made it pretty difficult and expelled the Skijöring freaks. 
That's a really big pity. I have sent pictures of Skijöring in my area. 

Greetings from Vocklabruck. 
Karl

Frenzied practice for Snow Quake

Yes, these plucky fun-seekers are so keen to be in top form for Snow Quake that they wangled a trip back to the Tyrol in 1953 to practise. Note 1: there is no skiing class for Snow Quake. Note 2: but we are talking Snow Quake. MP

DIY Ice Tyres: Updated

The first Snow Quake is an experiment, and it doesn't make sense for a lot of riders to buy ice tyres for one ride a year, so Mike of Survivor Customs set about making his own. Here's what he says...

You want a half decent enduro/ motorcross tyre with some decent tread.  The length of screw will depend on the tyre tread depth, I reckon you want blocks at least 20mm deep,so if you use a 25mm screws you will need to line it with something 5mm thick at least 

I researched and spoke to a couple of people who made their own studded tyres, and discovered you need the screw to go right through the tyre carcass this will help it stay in as it bites into the cord. Hence why you need a liner. 

The screws I used were sourced from a local bolt and fasteners shop... they are M6 x 25mm Hex head self tapping screws with an 8mm head. These are also known as roofing or tech screws but you don't want the ones with the self drilling tips you want the pointed ones. 

I made a tyre liner from an old speedway tyre you need to cut the bead and half of the wall off each side of the tyre so it slots inside underneath the tread .... the screws slightly bite into the inner / liner securing the screws so I'm told. 

Once the screws were all fitted securely I used an angle grinder to cut slots in the heads roughly half the depth of the head... this is important because this is the tread of your tyre. The grooves make them grip. You need to change the angle of the grooves. In the centre of the tyre, the grooves should be horizontal, that means across the tyre. The outside screws, used when leaning, need vertical grooves. The screws inbetween need diagonal cuts. 

UPDATE: Bob in Minnesota (where they know a lot about ice racing) says to remember to tape the joint of the liner to stop it nipping the tube. I'm sure Mike at Survivor would have done that, but forgot to say in this quick how to he kindly wrote for us.

Hope it kind of makes sense... these methods are tried and tested, but I've never ridden on ice before so I thought it was best to use some seasoned knowledge, to make these on the cheap.

Click to find out more about the Snow Quake race we're promoting with Deus ex Machina and Pirelli in the Italian Alps. G

SNOW QUAKE!

It’s Dirt Quake on Ice!

WHAT: Europe’s best looking dirt track race bikes and inappropriate road bikes on a challenging snow and ice race track, kindly supported by Pirelli. 

For this, the first Snow Quake, competitors are being invited from all over Europe to race their custom bikes on the ice.

Spectating is free.

WHERE: Ice Rosa Ring, high in the Italian Alps. http://www.icerosaring.it/

WHEN: 10:00 – 15:00, Thursday 21 January, 2016

AFTER PARTY: At the Deus Portal of Possibilities, Vi Thaon di Revel, Milan on 20:00 on Thursday night.

Technical regulations

Bikes: Flat track, vintage scrambler or enduro; inappropriate road only.

Modern motocross, DTX or Enduro are not allowed.

Tyres: Studded, not spiked. Buy specialist tyres or see Sideburn blog in next day or so for how to make your own tyres.

Long mudguards front and rear.

Brakes: There will be classes for bikes fitted with front and rear brakes or rear brake only. Classes for race bikes or inappropriate road bikes.

Make a road trip of it

The excellent Motor Bike Expo takes place in Verona, starting the next day, Friday 22 January, until the Sunday. 

The show has a huge custom area, the biggest of any European show, plus massive racing area and all the regular manufacturers and accessories.  

Big Foot Spotted

Helicopter + frozen lake + Suzuki Boulevard 800 mutant = fun

Read all about this Canadian bike, and it's builder, Bill Hitchon, in Sideburn 20.

Thanks to Norm Motorcycho for the link. G

L'Alpine Classique

More people having fun, and looking super-stylish, up a mountain.
The motorcycle is a Belgian FN -
Via A Piece of Chic.
Photos: Vianney Tisseau & Rémi Dargegen for www.classicdriver.com. G

Northern Lights Optic Yamaha Snow Bike

Northern Lights Optic 2015 from Northern Lights Optic on Vimeo.
Great idea for marketing a new sunglasses company was to built this bike and put it in a video.

The bike is a turned XT500 in a Framecrafters chassis. Read more at Bike Exif.

The sunglass company in questions is Northern Lights Optic. G

LED Surfer

Minibike conquers Pikes Peak

This is a great story from and starring our friend, regular correspondent and occasional magazine contributor,  Roger F from Ohio.

Here's a blast from the past. I just got my new issue of Sideburn magazine with a cover story about Guy Martin and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, and there was also a minibike picture posted on FB by a friend that caused me to look around for these pictures and maybe put together the little minibike basketcase that fell into my lap last week. Serendipity. 

In the fall of 1971, I was enlisted to help another student in high school get a motorcycle license endorsement so he could ride a minibike up the famous Pikes Peak mountain as a promotion for a new Mercury brand centrifugal clutch. Centrifugal clutches were a weak point for minibikes back then, as kids would thrash them, slipping them unmercifully, making expensive replacement necessary. Unfortunately, a week prior to going their rider gets mono, so at the last minute, I'm drafted to fill in. The advertising account manager, a mechanic and I are packed into a station wagon and drive out to Colorado, right before the road closes for the winter. 

We had three days out there to make it to the top, and back then, only the first five miles were paved. The rest was an exceptionally well cared for, wide dirt road that could be navigated safely by tourists in their automobiles. There was no real skill required to ride the road, just twist the throttle and endure the cold. 

The first day we had great weather, but despite preparation beforehand, the bike was still jetted too rich for the altitude and ran out of breath about a couple thousand feet from the summit. Overnight in the hotel room, the carb was rejetted, but the next day the weather turned bad and we were stopped at the cabin at the end of the pavement due too snow and wind at higher elevations. 

We had one day remaining and it was do or die. The weather was clear but cold, and we made it without incident. The bike was still hampered by a lack of power as I got closer to the summit, and I was consciously taking wide lines to conserve momentum in order to make it. By the time I got to the top, my speed was down under 10mph and the motor was struggling, but that clutch never faltered, even after miles of hard work over the three days on the mountain. 

The publicity was very successful, and the ad manager ghost wrote my account for Mini Cycle magazine, and the story also appeared in the AMA magazine and several local newspapers. The attached pictures are b/w promo shots taken on our way down for the ad campaign. It really was a cool little minibike, despite the lights, horn and mirror tacked on to make it quasi street legal..
Roger

L'Etoffe Des Heros

Lovely video from our friends at silk scarf makers, A Piece of Chic in Lyon. G

The Swedes are at it too...

From Per in Sweden

'This is our Swedish answer to the Russian unimoto. Ducati 750SS/ 140 km/h'

Russian Uni-Moto Ice Racing

News from Sochi, the craziest and most uplifting thing we've seen this year, is the Russian bid to introduce and new Winter Olympics sport for the 2016 Winter Olympic Games (to be held in Maidstone, Kent, UK). Uni-Moto Ice Drag Racing. It's no more ridiculous than some of the current official 'sports', so we think it has a strong chance of success. Especially with the rampant bribing the Russian authorities are willing to indulge in.

We'd seen a few photos drifting around the net, but thanks to Grant Robinson for alerting us to the source - Russian photographer Dimitry Ruzov.

This, from the nation that was first to put a man in space (and got him back safely). See what delights a nation can come up with when they're not involved in some superpower cock-measuring contest? G