is there more info than "soap opera mayhem on motorcycles" published on this?

What I'm wondering about the combat part - is it guns bolted to bikes Death Race style or is it updated mounted combat using handheld weaponry?

My first instinct was guns bolted to bikes but the image of an Ork riding a bike with a combat axe in one hand and a machine gun in the other is possibly more appealing.

Someone did hint that in a future book there might be some updated data on the sport which would be nice.

According to at least one Shadowrun novel about that, the bikes have no built-in weaponry, and the whole concept is more "Rollerball on bikes and handguns" than "machinegun-bike gladiator fight", with codified roles in the team and restriction on the weapon load of the players.

While death and mayhem occurs and are indeed part of the appeal of the game to the jedded audience of 2070, it's not the purpose of the game.

Your not far off the mark. There is a novel called "Dead Air" which centered on the combat biker scene in LA.

Depending on what roll someone played in a team defined there load outs.

Goalies where on foot but heaveley armed and armoured.
Defenders on backs with Lance's and shot guns
Attackers lightly armoured but had two weapons (One in each hand. There are no handle bars on the attackers bikes but there is an internal gyro which keeps the bike upright. The rider is effectivley strapped to the bike so they don't fall off while pulling high G turns).

Each match is played at one of the teams stadiums. Each stadium has it's own track layout (Think cross between Roller Ball (The original) and a scate board park) which is made up of concrete half pipes. Normally there will be flyover section so you can jump off or drop nasty surprise's.

All weapons are none lethal(ish) but accidents do happen.

And for reference, the novel in question is Dead Air by Jak Koke. There is a detailed breakdown of the rules of the game and a bit of the history behind it in Shadowbeat.

Shadowbeat was one of those books I never bought, but there's enough info in the last couple of posts. I didn't do too badly actually, the concept I was working up was shotguns and melee weapons.

I'll just take off gunnery and remove the White Knight from the bike

History and Rules