The International CBX Owners Association

"Dedicated to the Preservation of the CBX Motorcycle"

AFM Veteran Denny Doherty stretches Tyrannosaurus X's legs.

Team Tyrannosaurus X Debut at Sears Point

AFM's Super Dinosaur racing is for Superbikes from 1985 and earlier. Unlike vintage racing, this extremely competitive class allows nearly limitless modifications. Mike Donndelinger and Gary Allen thought that racing in the Super Dinosaur class was an ideal way to showcase and develop their favorite motorcycle, the mighty CBX. With that thought, Team Tyrannosaurus X was born. Pete Ruff has since become the third team member. Denny Doherty has been recruited to do the riding.

Their original goal was to develop a twin shock chassis using late model CBX 39mm forks and 18" wheels. The "recipe" for this chassis was to be a continuing series of articles in the CBXpress magazine. In this way, any club member that wanted to significantly improve the handling of their X could do it without spending the thousands of hours of design, building and testing that the team had already been through.

On raceday morning, there is always one more thing to do.

Mike raced dirt bikes for 14 years with only two mechanical DNFs. The same attention to detail is evident in the Team Tyrannosaurus X effort.

Pete Ruff and Gary Allen on pit row.

Mike wants to give special credit to Race Tech, and thank team members Gary Allen, Pete Ruff, and Mary for their help and support.

Mike and Denny formulate strategy as City Bike's Scott Steele gets clued in to the X news.



Denny Doherty rails Turn 10 at triple digit speed.
It was a very good day for Team Tyrannosaurus X!



Denny leads the pack out of Turn 9, bound for the Finish.

When first tested in competition, the chassis exceeded the lap time goal that had been set for the entire season. Mike is confident that a CBX can run at the front of this highly competitive class, but it will require a new chassis designed to exploit the potential of modern 17" tires. He will begin the preliminary work for this on a CAD station in October.

A second chassis will remain contingent on securing serious financial backing.

The cost of racing at the level required to consistently put a CBX on the box in Super Dinosaur is staggering. Team Tyrannosaurus X needs people with expertise as mechanic/machinist/fabricator/engineer, or skills in promotion/marketing, and a "get it done" attitude who can contribute to make this dream a reality.

If you want to help in any mission critical area, e-mail the Team at TyrannosaurusX@CBXclub.com

For the inside scoop on the Team's race weekend, go to

Gary Allen's Dinosaur Diary

You can follow the whole story of Team Tyrannosaurus X in theCBXPress!
(If you are not a member of the ICOA, click here.)

And check out Mike's sponsors at

Team Tyrannosaurus X Logo (c) Mike Donndelinger 1997
Photos (c) Pete Ruff 1998
Web Page (c) International CBX Owners Association 1998