Norcal club events and racing?

I'm new to this so maybe I haven't looked far enough, but I was wondering if there are any local get-togethers in the SF bay area and any moped and bicycle racing in Norcal.

From my initial searches it seems that there used to be, but it has fizzled out or just hasn't picked up or been scheduled for this year. I think it would be fun to organize some stuff with your help to get things going again, especially some racing which would be great fun and could be organized in parking lots with cones if we couldn't get time on a kart track or similar. Maybe we could get some help from the moped community like the fold at Moped Army and vendors such as Treatland.

So, if such thing exists already for 2012, please let me know, otherwise, whattaya say? Lets GTG, show off our rides, and go fast!

Bump

Having local racing would really be great fun, if you're in the area we should organize something or try to put back together the pieces that fell apart this year.

Hmmm, I wonder what the insurance requirements for an event like this would be, that's the biggest obstacle because it needs to have full coverage in order to be able to find a venue for lot owner's liability.

That's okay, I'm sure that if enough of us chime in here we can at least do a GTG and ride together somewhere nice.

When I get the time I'll sign up to the Mopedarmy forum and see if we can collaborate for a road ride, and possibly with Pocketbike Planet forum to revive the racing. If enough of us can show genuine interest I can talk to the people who run the Infineon Kart track and see if maybe we could be a support race for the Super Motard events there, since that would lessen the cost of having emergency personnel there as well as the total event liability, which is covered by K&K there, if I'm correct. We could always do an informal road rally, but it won't be timed or to the extreme like going to the track could be, and of course we would observe all the laws of the road to the fullest extent of the law!

The racing is my only real motivation to make a fast bike right now, because I know I'll just get popped by radar and told it's a motorcycle and that I need to register it as such eventually. I think I'm going to go ahead and get my M1, and if I get pulled over, promise to slow down and detune the bike. My bike maxes at 27mph right now, and I might keep it that way to avoid that whole situation, but I do have a taste for speed! I find the moped laws kind of unsafe in a way, limiting top speed to below the common speed limit makes your bike a rolling roadblock to cars and a nuisance to push bikers, instead of being able to go with the flow. That's another thread though, end rant.

I'm gonna keep bumping this thing, if you live in Northern California and would be interested in attending events and GTG's please at least shout out in this thread to let me know that you exist and are interested. If there's no interest, well, I'm not gonna bother trying to organize something because especially for racing events, the more the merrier, and the cheaper the events will be.

Speak up and be counted, or forever have no events!

Finding an outdoor kart track, if Infineon doesn't work out, should be relatively easy. Maybe even just at a commercial outdoor karting facility, since renting out the track would be easy and we could use their karts as well. As far as full size race tracks are concerned, Infineon's road course is out of the question, it's so expensive! Stockton might be an option since they're cheaper, but we'd have to set up cones or something to make it interesting. Long sweeping turns like the Stockton outer oval would be a matter of folks banging off the rev limiter for an extended amount of time at dangerously high speed, something not good for the bikes and potentially the rider, so I think Kart tracks are the way to go, especially because they emphasize skill, and would be easier to rent. Petaluma has a dirt oval used for sprint car races, but I can imaginethe carnage and dirtied racebikes from running there.

I think the first step is seeing who can actually make it to an event with lots of prior notice, possibly during a holiday weekend so it's easier to get time off, and go from there. I think a ride in a nice area of Marin, Sonoma, Napa, The Peninsula, SF, Davis, or other intersting places to ride MB's would also be fun, and if enough people are local we could do that regularly because it's cheaper than racing. Shoot, most of our bikes are slow enough that we could street race and still abide by the laws concerning MB's, I know mine is currently!

bump

Right on! Glad you hear you guys are up for an event. I was by the kart track yesterday and there was motard practice going on. I guess it's becoming increasingly popular so hopefully I can get a chance and see if their schedules have some holes which can be filled where we can run motorbikes!

If you're in NorCal, give a shout here and let us know you exist and might be interested in attending GTG's or events, power comes in numbers!

I wonder how many people are into this in NorCal, especially around the SF Bay?

It seems like the riders up here don't participate on the forum very much, so it's hard to gauge interest.

The big first step should be planning a nice ride to see how many people are actually riders up here. I think Point Reyes would be a nice place to ride with great scenery.

I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to work on this in the following month because I just sprained my ankle badly so my mobility is compromised right now. If anybody else would like to try to get anything going anywhere, please do.

Sorry, no progress as of yet, I'm ear deep in shiza building a souped up MX650 electric dirtbike and a 10hp Morini s6 clone Schwinn OCC bobber racebike thing, on top of that I'm still healing from the ankle accident, trying to get enough work in my trade at the track, and just sprained or broke my dang wrist falling off a ladder onto pave. I just haven't been able to focus, and four wheel motorsports feed me so I need to place priority there obviously.

I'd like to get to a physical/mental/fiscal/schedule happy point to build my Mercedes drift car, I've kinda given up on it for the time being, broken and busy with bull, that was my long term goal for the last five years so I should at least roast a couple sets of hoops before I give up on that pipe dream. I'm going to ''finish'' the OCC before modifying on the drift car further, it'll never get done otherwise, and I get more thrills having oh shoot moments on the bike than getting ass backwards driftee on the mountain because of that whole mortal danger excitation thing, lol.

I will TRY, to see what I can do for a racing event. If worst comes to worst I can probably find a parking lot at a strip mall that only has weekday business, and arrange with the landowners to set up some cones and mess around on the weekend. I will consider it a complete success if we have a single event this year, it'll surely be packed with fun to last for months!

We also may be able to get tarmac at Hamilton Airfield in Novato, CA, maybe you guys have friends or family in the military that might be able to turn a blind eye or talk to someone about the usage fees and insurance coverage for such an event. From my experience at Sears Point Raceway, K&K insurance is preferred for motorsports events/businesses due to it being their realm of expertise. If anybody's an insurance agent or knows one who can help, this is THE most important step in this whole process due to the expense of medical care, it was the same thing when I was a skater gromit and events were seldom in the Northeast due to the huge liability for the landowners.

I still think the first step is just having an informal get together to take stock of who wants to do this, who's serious, who can help and knows contacts, what type of bikes we have and the classification if we were to race, and just seeing if we can gel enough to make this happen. My gas bike isn't gonna be done for a while, but if you don't mind waiting up for my slow ass electric bike I guess I could use that for the time being.

We really need some serious organization to make this happen, unfortunately I cannot shoulder the responsibility solely, because I'm broke as **** and a student, but I should be able to get us kart track time if we all commit and put our money where our mouths are.

Honestly, for me right now I get so much of a thrill just going this fast on a bicycle frame that a rip at a nice switchback coastal road with minimal traffic would be just as fun as a race weekend. It would be infinitely easier to arrange, and we could all just meet up at a beach parking lot and go from there. All we need is one or two pickup trucks in case somebody breaks down and needs a way to get their bike back to parking, since motorized bicycles can display personality on occasion.

I really would like to get into this further and develop our culture, which is so cool and DIY, this is like the way Formula One was back in the fifties, with cars run out the back of a cottage, towed on a flatbed behind a farm truck. I want to see 50cc momentum racing come back at all levels of budget and technology, my greatest joy is wringing the last drop out of lightweight underpowered things, certainly more satisfying than buying something uber powerful and never exploring its limits!

here's my email, I don't really check the PM's on here:

racekar_1 AT hotmaildotcom <--- messed with slightly so spambots don't fill my box with boner pill ads lol

I've been struggling away at building my bike at home on my free time, if I have motivation from fellow enthusiasts to go for a ride, maybe I'll put the project on thrash fast-track and I can join you and rip some coastal roads with our 2 stroke fury!