I know nothing about vintage bike racing but my wife wants to race one. Anyone have or know of a good place to look for AHRMA ready bikes? CB350/360 cafe racer style?
Best bet finding a tech-ready scooter is in the pits at an AHRMA race - not only do you find retired machines, you learn the finer points that are not apparent to anyone but the actual racers. Check the class structure and head for the one with the fewest 'ringers' and avoid the fastest classes; best way to learn to race is on a bike that you can ride at 10 10ths instead of something intimidatingly fast and heavy. Many first time racers end up bailing on the sport when their starter track bike is a modified 600cc 150 MPH machine that guarantees some frightening situations and a last place as well. Too many of the same brand and size in a class guarantees a 'built to the hilt' bike; racing is no fun when it's a battle of the budgets.
Reemus, What area are you in? I may be able to get you in touch with a local racer. There are tons of classes and tons of bike options. The cb350 is a very common bike and can be raced in various states of build. A rd250 or rd400 is the same way. The cb160s are very popular and surprisingly fast. Then there are some smaller single cylinder 2 strokes that are very cheap and fun to race. Then you can go newer all the way late 80s and early 90s bikes like the FZR400, Hawk 650, EX500, and RZ350. There is 2 facebook pages visited by a lot of AHRMA guys called Historic Motorbike Racing Page, and Vintage Motorcycle Roadracing - North America. Post on there and you may find some stuff.
I've been racing AHRMA for a few years now and am seeing a number of new female riders come through. You want something reliable, light to push around, rather crash resistant and low HP (40+) - Get her started on a KTM RC390 - there are quite a few females riding these KTMs.
