When people mention mini bikes they always seem to automatically assume you are talking abut the 90s craze of minimotos.

Visions of fully grown men bent in double trying to get their feet on the pegs while trying to hide behind the tea-plate sized fairing, but that’s certainly not the case.

The British mini bike scene has grown massively over recent years and is built around the 140cc four-stroke machines that dominate the paddock and ridden by man and boy in their respective classes.

I like to think of the ‘pitbike 140s’ as the Honda CB500 of the mini bike world, as for every latest Superbike nestled under a trick Motorhome awning you see you will see five CBs crammed in the back of some mates work van, this is one of the British mini bikes ‘Superbikes’.

The supermini class is the prestige class in the British Mini Bike series, where top riders including lots of professionals including Richard Cooper, Kyle Ryde and Michael Laverty to name a few ride Honda CRF150 four-stroke machines alongside the screaming two srtokes of the KTM and Husqvarna respectively.

The bike we have here is one of top rider’s machines, last year’s runner up Dayne ‘Bowers’ Blackburn - his nickname coming from his boyband looks and southern swagger. Based on a 2019 Husqvarna 85 its seen dramatic changes as Dayne and his team have prepped it in readiness for the 2020 season.

These include the obvious to get it on the tarmac like the mag wheels to accept slicks and the other little bits to make it BMB legal such as the wraparound hand guards.

Because championship rules within the supermini class allow riders to propel their bikes with 150cc four-stroke engines or 105cc two-stroke engines, Blackburn his running the big bore kit which consists of a bigger barrel and piston setup to give him the extra horse power he needs.

A little background on the engine without giving all of the BMB front runner’s secrets away is that it’s built and worked on by Jeroen van der Borne, who has a huge racing pedigree working with the likes of Michael van der Mark. Definitely not a messer.

After lots of internal changes and tuning to the bike it has seen massive horsepower dyno readout improvements, with stock Husqvarna 85 kicking out roughly 28bhp and this now kicking out 36bhp squeezing all they can from the bike with the ability to clock well over a ton.

You may also notice a mapping switch, yes you heard it right a mapping switch allowing Dayne to switch to predetermined maps throughout the race.

Other areas of improvements come in form of suspension upgrades on both front and rear setup and stopping power provided with aftermarket master cylinders one of which includes a super trick thumb brake, You will also see from the setup that Dayne runs a GPS lap timer worthy of any British Superbike grid, this allowing him to keep an eye on his lap and sector times as well as temp, revs and of course an all important mirror to check on his now seems to be trendy quiff.

There has also got to be a mention of some super trick CNC-machined parts on the bike from British based Brap bikes who have worked closely with Dayne to produce lots of cool parts including the peg risers as you can see in the pictures.

We count wait to see Dayne get on the circuits this year with the RMX Husqvarna 105 and will be defiantly one of the guys to watch when the season kicks off.

Tech feck:

Engine : Husqvarna 105cc two-stroke built by Jeroen vd Borne, custom exhaust to suit engine tune, custom end can from HGS to match exhaust spec, upgraded ecu 2 maps installed with map switch on handle bars.​
​Wheels: VMC
Tyres PMT
Brakes: Galfer discs supplied by Mini Bike Tyres​; Front,rear and clutch master cylinder Discaciatti, Hel brake and clutch lines, Pototype underslung rear brake (from Brap bikes) with brembo caliper​
​Mychron 5 dash​
Suspension: Gm suspension in Italy