Brian Harp accepted the assignment of putting the Derbi through it's paces. He is without a doubt the best "big wheel" rider, (i.e., 17"wheels, 50cc displacement) in California. He was asked to take the Derbi to Sacramento, try to break it, ride the wheels off it, and generally abuse it as much on possible. Also Jerry Douglas, who was involved in a very tight points race for the overall championship of Nor Cal, was kind enough to spend some time checking out the suspension. On Saturday practice, more than 3 hours were put on the bike of wide open hard riding. The track used was the esses set up which includes high speed sweepers, tight flickable, but wide open area where handling is at a premium, hairpin, corkscrew etc. A truly fun track set up and challenging to any bike.

A quote after Saturday's practice session:"Bad Ass"

 The start of the 60GP race (known as advanced combined in Nor Cal)

This includes all 17" wheel bikes, such as Aprillia, NS-1 Honda, NS50F Honda, and 12" wheels YSR strokers, in other words, the mods are open. Brian on the Derbi is 3rd into turn one.

 Team Calamari's objectives for this test were to:

Test reliability;can't win a race if you don't finish! or if you are street riding who want's to push a bike home?Test the suspension: what better place to test than a track that combines high speed sweepers, tight chicanes, a corkscrew, and a series of flickable esses. The bike passed with flying colors. a caveat regarding the rear shock; it sucks! If you are going to ride this bike to it's limits (BTW:we haven't found the limits yet!) the bike will need a rear shock. We are developing one now. Release date has not been set.

There were no mechanical problems encountered in two days of hard riding, suspension set up was easy with the upside down forks on the front, the rear, as we previously stated, was found to be seriously lacking.

We removed the stock body work in anticipation of Brian stepping off which he did twice while pushing the bike past it's limits. There was no, repeat none, crash damage from either get off.

Brian rode this 50cc bike hard enough to go through a set of brand new slicks! Two reasons for this. One, as stated previously, the rear shock sucks, two, Brian is an animal.

Chunked this Dunlop!

It is our opinion that the Derbi is the best watercooled 50cc race bike on the market today.

If you want to go fast on the street or on the track, this bike is a winner.

If you prefer 12" wheels, Team Calamari will have engines and mounting kits available to slip this bad boy right into your YSR. Get your orders in now, as availability is limited.

All of this can be done on a realtively low budget. We have Derbi parts, and high performance mods in stock, including a killer exhaust system.

Team Calamari is NOT a seller of new derbi motorcycles. We have no affiliation with Derbi. We are an independant mini road racing company. The number one mini road race company for the last 17 years.

Go to your local Derbi dealer and buy one! Team Calamari will be happy to make all the modifications to make your Derbi into a street rocket or a race winner....the riding is up to you.

Link to Derbi Products