Falling in to the Flat-track rabbit hole

Planting a seed and watching it grow 

Ever since i was a little boy and read the my dad's "moto73" magazine article about dirt track. It stuck in to my mind. At the time (1988 give or take) the american had a lot of presence in the GP500. The article explains how their riding style was derived from Dirt Track. And how a so called Mr (k.) Roberts ran a Training school in california using XR100 with special tyres to hone in essential skills of riding a bike up and slightly over the edge. At the time it resonated with me as dad got me an XR75, mainly used to hoon around my parents house and alongst side the canal, on a dirt road. I dreamt of riding and sliding on a oval.

Several years later (8) i was in my moped years, i fixed up a "VESPA CIAO". Which ran like an absolute beast if kept above a certain speed. I took that particular moped to a field of grass nearby (adjacent to a primary school) and ran on an imaginary oval. I went round an around, and felt fast remembering the article mentioned above.

As time lingered on, i got stuck in moped-cross and eventually building an supermoto bike which again can be led back to the TT-variant of flat track. 

As thoroughly discussed in a different blog i really debated building a flattracker from a RD350. Once that project was finished, and i became a father of a busy family and turned 40 😅. The article came back in to my mind. I was in luck that i did find an exceptional good blog : "sideburn". Which told stories about the UK flatrack scene and the rise, fall and rise of the dutch scene.  i did buy some merch and a couple of issues.

All and above led to enrolling into the DEUS-flatrack experience at lelystad. Had heaps of fun, on a small sunday-cup bike. i drove home with a grin that would last for days.

One year later i tried the Flat-track academy, again a try-out type of deal on the track of roden. Were they let us ride a Royal Enfield SCRAM411. a taller bike with double the power of the sunday ones.

Again that frigging smile came back to last!

So i bit the bullet and enrolled in to a race, at Blijham. I enjoyed every second of it. Somehow (probably beginners luck) i made it to the podium. 3th place in the SCRAM411 - cup class. Got showered in champagne.  The smile was back, with a taste of champagne.

This all led to wanting to ride more, every time i rented the royal enfield we could use a "standard type" of strap-on steel sole. Which didn't suit my big ass MX-boots. As i enrolled in another race the need for a better fitting hot shoe was born.

Building ahot shoee

At first i did my research and found an article in Sideburn magazine on how to ride, and how to build a hot shoe.

There was a really down to earth guide on how to build one from carbon steel, how to size it and curve it. The latter i hadn't thought about before. It does make sense to make the sole in a way it won't get caught or hung up. But skimming along. I did notice a lot of wear on the ones i rented, so i wanted to make one from stainless steel, with a little heavier sole.

I opted for 2mm 304 stainless, which isn't easy to shape or bend. I wanted to try a different type of cold forming for this, Rubber pressing. in essence one makes a die and a plate to press the die trough. The Die and mould backin are lined with rubber making room for bending radius. this process is normally used for thinner and visual parts like stoves or sinks.

Both die's lined with rubber

Loaded with 2mm 304 and a plate on top to stop wrinkling

During pressing

The end result my double curved sole

did some cutting an bending to make it fit my boot.

Got it welded

And polished the end result

The Hot shoe fits like a glove, has lots of curve to it in both direction. Now i'm keen to see how she will hold up @lelystad. And what the feel is like.