How do I get started racing

[cbr806]

Yeh - come out & check it out.  Road America 4-22 if you're in the midwest.  I'm 42 & 195 & I'm fairly compeditive.  Had never owned a sport bike until I bought my F3 race bike and only road one twice (but have been riding since age 5).  That was when I was 38.  If you want to go with an F3, a friend of mine has an F3 race bike he's going to sell.  cbr806@yahoo.com.  Good luck.

[251am]

What about my son?  He is 8 years old and is riding on the dirt..  he wants something like a YSR50.  I have talked with Ozzie Saez who runs the mini GP...  Anybody got any ideas about the YSR50 and what it is made for?  Was it made for kids?

I think the YSRs are pretty good for grommits. Might wanna look at dirt track too-Aztalan if you're in the Midwest. I think they have a series for kids.

BTW- You might get some more specific lines on some help if we know where you are at geographically.

[Eric Kelcher]

The  YSR is a very fun bike to start out on. You ned  to find  an appropriate  venue for it  many  of the kart tracks run  some sort of mini-motard or YSR series.  YSR were last made inn  early 90' and are becoming  kind  of a collector iteeem,  I know I would neveer  sell mine as my daughteer will bee riding it in a few years.
The  YSR  specs were pretty simple 5 speed air cooled 50cc 2 stroke making  about 6hp top speed ~55. prices rang all over  the place  ~750(for abused stock model)-2000 (aftermarket shock, dual front  springs, suspension bushings,  good bodywork, etc)

The new geeneration of these is the Honda NS50R but as with all things they have progresed same basic size  50cc but watr cooled make  closer to 10hpp and  top speed closer to 70.  price around 1500 gray market

CCS does not have a place for these size bikes or for riders of that age.

For the youngest kids that truely fit on these small bikes I think it is unfortunate that the speeds have gone up so much these kids are still learning.

[Super Dave]

What about my son?  He is 8 years old and is riding on the dirt..  he wants something like a YSR50.  I have talked with Ozzie Saez who runs the mini GP...  Anybody got any ideas about the YSR50 and what it is made for?  Was it made for kids?

The Yamaha YSR50 was released in 1987, I believe.  It was a street bike.    So, it wasn't "made" for kids, but it's small enough that kids could ride it.  Power, like Eric pointed out, is low.  What's your son racing now?  Probably something that is certainly more powerful.  For racers coming from dirt track or MX, it's really just a matter of teaching them how to sit on a road racer differently.  Everything falls in place after that.

Mini GP bikes are more powerful and have larger wheels.  I think they usually have 16's where YSR's have 12's.  

Last year of YSR's was in around 1991 or so.

At eight years old, I don't know of any track day providers that are going to have anything for your son.  And a YSR is not appropriate because of it's lack of speed.  

For you...yeah, a track day might be what you need.  Lightweight classes are great.  The expense for tires is reasonable compared to bigger bikes.  Cost of decent road race tires is high and they are a real consumable compared to anything in the dirt.

Really, I suppose I'd need to know where you're located to give you better ideas.