No surrender: France’s CBR900 enduro racer

Vast numbers of early CBR900 Fireblades, bought and crashed by riders who weren’t prepared for the bikes’ then-revolutionary power-to-weight figures, have become fodder for backyard custom stunters and streetfighters - so you’ll probably recognise this frame and tank.

There’s nothing common about this effort though - Frenchman Eric Duminy, of MotoLand Amiens, has thrown out everything but the motor and frame and built not only a dirtbike, but an enduro racer. Good lord. 

The Touquet Holeshot CBR900 special features a CRF450 front end and a custom swingarm, neither of which are bolt-on swaps, obviously, and a dirtbike tailpiece with what appears to be a 4-into-2 dirtbike-style exhaust. With the Fireblade’s prodigious grunt it’s able to hit over 200kmh on the dirt; I don’t even want to think about that.

The biggest dirtbike I’ve ridden was a 500cc 2-stroke Kawasaki KX that made somewhere in the vicinity of 60 horsepower. To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, it scared the whimpering shit out of me. A stock CBR900 more than doubles that figure. Even if it’s nice friendly 4-stroke power, it’s going to be hard work keeping it in line when pilot and ex-stuntman Mickaël Kavalioska goes for the holeshot at the 2008 Letouquet Pas-De-Calais Enduro race.

Here’s the Google translation of a brief interview with the bike’s creator.