Honda Grom or Kayo minigp bike for Training

I am thinking about getting a Honda Grom or a Kayo minigp bike to practice on a smaller track. Can anyone share their experience with either bike? I am considering these bikes because the Kayo is setup like a sportbike and the Honda Grom has a kit to transform the body to a sportbike. I want to retain the same riding style as my bigger sportbike. Some people might suggest a Honda NSR, but the supply is very limited. Thank you for your input.

 

The Grom is not a race bike. You can put bodywork on it and throw thousands of dollars at it, and it still isn't a race bike. Of those 2, I would say Kayo.

...But what you really want is an RS chassis with a 65-105cc 2-stroke engine in it. THAT is a race bike that you can run on small tracks.

My vote is still CRF100 with a front wheel from an 80. You'll spend 30% off the money and get 90% of the benefits.

 

If it is only for kart track use I can't see the Grom being a better tool than the Kayo. Obviously the Grom can be used on the street as well so it is a bit more "practical". I am in the XR100/CRF100 camp as well though. It is the cheap/durable way to tear up the kart track.

 

pocketbike gets my vote! they can keep up with anything on a kart track. that being said if I had to choose between a grom and a kayo and price wasn't a factor id go with the kayo.....but with the grom you can do some dirt riding also which is great training.

 

+3... for turning laps and being dead anvil reliable... a honda 100 is going to be hard to beat for the money. You can go with a TTR for a few more bucks if you want a disc brake and a slightly better chassis You can ride exactly like a bigger sportbike. Crash the wholly heck out of either... and continue riding. A grom or Kayo has too much bodywork & requires too much $$ to be a "throw away" bike just yet. Plus they run 12" tires and the stickier tires need warmers.
On top of which you can compete at a number of places like Ohio, NJ, Dublin, Ga, and Bushnell, FL on the East coast.

 

Are those even a thing anymore? I have a couple of blatas from many moons ago. They are more a garage decoration than a riding tool...lol.

 

Pocket bikes are scary. Saw one at Herrin's last weekend. The owner looped it on the driveway, then rented a 100 the rest of the weekend.

FWIW, Josh has a TTR, an NSF and a 100. I only saw him on the 100 this past weekend.

If that's good enough for him...

 

Forgot - the kayo can be set up for GP or standard shift, I believe, so that's a plus.

 

Are the 2 Kayo's Josh bought available to rent yet?

 

I didn't see them, but that doesn't mean no.

 

They were in the barn last time i was there. I'll have to call and ask. I'd like to rent one for a day to try it.

 

I believe they are for sale. Last I asked about them.

 

I race a 50cc water-cooled Polini.

I race a 50cc water cooled Polini. We have a small series in Florida between Miami-gp, Immokalee, and BMP. We piggy back with AMA southeast supermoto so yeah its a real thing but barely our grids are small but its alot of fun and they are fast but its not for everyone although we do have kids as young as 5 and adults as old as 50

 

I hadnt really kept up with them...cause you dont really see them much. I bet the watercooled one is fast. My little blata would do about 35mph...but rattle your teeth out

 

Those mini pocket bikes look terrifying lol

The one thing I really hate about the XR/CRF is the brakes. I mean they are just terrible. The 16in wheels with BT45s are more than adequate for grip and pretty predictable and I have my forks setup decently for next to nothing cost wise. Unfortunately there is not as good of options on the rear shock without putting some real money at it.

I do think one of the biggest pros to the motard style bikes is their crash-ability. I would have had to purchase some extra body work by now for the Kayo and who knows what else lol. And I have two 100s setup for kart work and am still not at the cost of the single Kayo.

 

with a few minor tweaks... the front brakes can be made to work pretty good. Enough to stoppie! Just use stock pads and keep the drum clean.

 

^^ I have brand new OEM shoes, brand new OEM cable, and I sand and brake clean the inside of the drum each time the wheel is off. I also perform the "hold the brake while tightening the axle" trick to align the shoes and drum as best as possible. Those things took them from "Oh my goodness I am going through the fence" to "if I hold them long enough trail braking I will probably make the corner". I don't think mine could stoppie with me on it, even if I tried. All joking aside, they are tolerable when taken care of right and setup, but are one of the weakest aspects of the bike.

 

Thanks everyone for their input. I really appreciate it.

 

I have a kayo that I was given to rent and let people try at Cmp, i've only ridden it once so far but I can give some input on it. and i've had the same xr100 and riding it for 3 years doing supermoto.
I like the kayo for what it is, with the bigger tail it's not cramped. the engine is a china version of the tt125, so all yamaha parts bolt right up.
blair at svrider has all kinds of parts and he's a great resource for any problems or questions.
from what little i've ridden it, handles well, the brakes are good and the the engine feels like the other small singles i've ridden.
whats not great about them, it's heavy... the quality of the bolts etc is good but not jap quality, so you have to take your time working on it the first few times till you get use to it.
the 100, like everyone has said is rock solid. you can beat on it all day everyday and it doesn't miss a beat, you can do supermoto and flat track with it and use it as a pit bike.
the 100 is a great training bike for a lot of reasons, including being able to do so many different things with it. and it's cheap.. half the cost then anything else.
but if you're looking for specific road racing training the kayo is better because of the riding position imo.
the grom i can't really speak to but everyone i know that has one put's more money into it before riding it on track.

 

How old is your hub? I gather that part of my problem is using EBC shoes instead of OEM (which are supposedly thicker?), but I'm also using the original hub on my 2000... Granted, until I bought it 3 years ago, this bike was only off-road, and the front brake probably wasn't getting beat on, but old is old.

I can pull the lever to the bar, and still end up jamming on the rear brake to avoid disaster...