Once a year Roland Sands Design/Performance Machine rents the Streets of Willow and invites their friends to bring out whatever they want to turn some laps on, or in. You see everything on the track from choppers to hot-rods. We were interested in riding one RSD creation in particular; the single-cylinder roadracer Roland and crew built out of Troy Lee’s donor Honda CRF450X dirtbike.
As this bike was built to inspire a class of Thumper roadracers, the converted ’crosser’s displacement, frame, swingarm, ignition and gearbox are kept stock to keep the racing close. Changes are made by swapping out suspension parts, adding clip-on handlebars and matching up HotBodies fiberglass sourced from a 250 GP bike. In the near future, a spec fairing kit will be made readily available. Additional options include aftermarket brakes, an A.I.M. Sports instrument cluster and the finishing touch, a set of RSD wheels to get the bike rolling in style. One of these lightweight single-cylinder racebikes can be fashioned out of any modern motorcrosser and so far just about everyone who has seen what Roland calls his “MonoGP” bike wants to put one together, including yours truly.
Sands was first to sample the fruits of his labor. “There’s so much front-end grip you can trail-brake down to the apex with the rear wheel in the air!” he said. “It’s so encouraging to be this close with the setup our first time out on the bike.” After Roland, I had to relinquish my ride to Cycle World Road Test Editor Don Canet, as my wrist was in plaster and my arm still in a sling. It’s only fair, as Don gave 450cc four-stroke motorcrossers their first taste of pavement 10 years ago when he started the STTARS Supermoto racing series.
What’s exciting about these purpose-built racers is that one could be put together for less than $10,000. That accessibility could be the catalyst for some close and exciting racing in the not-so-distant future. Race promoter Gavin Trippe’s goal is to see the AMA using the rules he has laid out to develop the class within the next couple of years. “This concept bike is a blueprint for a new AMA class that services the gap below the 600cc Supersport four-cylinder bikes,” Trippe explains. The man’s track record for new racing classes is pretty good; you may remember that Trippe co-founded the ABC-TV Superbikers concept years ago.
“We’ve been excited about the possibilities of the series since the first time Gavin mentioned it to us.” said AMA Pro Racing’s Keith Keiser. “The program was designed to train 12- to 15-year-olds for Supersport but even an old guy like me is interested in riding one of these. In 2008, we’ll recognize the class in WERA and we’ll possibly have a class in the AMA in ’09.”
Meanwhile, check your local club roadracing chapters, where I’m sure more Thumpers will start showing up after seeing how nicely this Roland Sands example turned out. Seeing the semi-finished concept bike also makes it easy to imagine the possibility of a new-style Grand National Championship series, reminiscent of the days when the boys used the same basic workhorse of a motorcycle to compete on dirt-tracks, TTs and roadrace courses, with simple suspension changes and a few other mods. There’s lots of potential.
