Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
After reading all of the pros and cons in the 'Lawsuit on your own property' thread, I just have to tell you about my next door neighbor.

They bought the house about 3-4 years ago and when they were moving in I saw them unload a couple of motorcycles. I thought to myself, GREAT!, some new riding buddies. I have been riding in this area for many, many years. In fact, I rode here long before I built my house and moved here. Some of the trails I cut myself. The riding was the reason I moved here.

I talked to the dad and he seemed like a pretty nice guy but the kids, (there were two of them when they moved in.) were the typical arrogant teen's that were too cool for anybody and they looked at me like I was some old fart that didn't know anything about dirtbikes. I told the dad about all of the awesome trailriding up in the hills and how I would take his kids on a trail ride and show them where it's safe to ride and where not to go.

Unfortunately, that never happened. A couple days after they moved in, they started riding their bikes around the neighborhood. They rode up and down everybodys hillsides and made ruts on other neighbors property. The neighbors would call me because they knew I rode bikes and told me they were going to call the police. I asked them not to and told them I would go talk to the kids.

I went and talked to the boys and asked them not to ride on the neighbors property and told them that I would take them up to the trails and show them where to ride. I told them I have been riding in this area for a long time and knew all of the trails and would be happy to take them on a ride. I asked them to please respect the neighbors or we would have the police to deal with and I didn't want that anymore than they did. Again, they looked at me like I was from the moon and blew me off.

They continued to ride where they wanted and showed no respect to any of the neighbors or myself. They started to roost around the back of our horse barn which frightened the horses and made it very unsafe for anyone in the barn. I went over and talked to the dad and he said he would take care of it. This was about the 5th time I had talked to the dad about this and while he was home the kids would not do it but, as soon as the dad left, they would terrorize the neighborhood. The mom had no control over the kids whatsoever.

One day while my wife was in the barn working with her horse, they rode around the back of the barn. Now, they were taking their mufflers off so they could annoy the neighbors even more. Well, my wife was in a 12' X 12' stall with a 17+ hand BFH, (thats a big freakin horse). The horse went nuts and almost kicked my wife. I went over to talk to the boys and soon, thanks to their arrogant attitudes it turned into a shouting match. The boys and three of their friends escorted me off of their property. That was the last straw.

Now, a few years later, one of the boys was kicked out of the house and lives in an apartment in town. The other one still lives there and has a job but still rides his unmuffled bike around the neighborhood. Now, when the neighbors call and threaten to call the police, I tell them, "go ahead and call the police. I have talked to the kids and it does no good. Do what you have to do." I have also dualsported my trailbike so, if the police come, I'm legal.

He has lived there long enough to see my riding buddies come and go and has watched as we all suit up and disappear into the hills for most of the day. He watches us load up our trucks and go to the track. He now knows that I am very involved in dirtbikes and now he wants to be my friend. He stands in his driveway and waves as we drive away. I wave back. :nener: He rides his bike around by himself and spends most of his time riding up and down his driveway. He has come to my shop and told me about problems that he has had with his bike. He knows now that I work on bikes for a living and fix most of the bikes in the neighborhood for the neighbors. But I don't work on his. I tell him to go to the local Honda shop, they'll take good care of him. :yikes:

I would love to take him up to the trails and show him all of the awesome riding up there but, it ain't gonna happen. Nope, :fft: not a chance.

So, who is suffering here? Not me. I don't mine a little noise from a motorcycle but I will not put up with some arrogant nit wit that is destroying my right to ride. If you are going to act like a jerk, you are the one that is going to pay for it. You are only hurting yourself and everyone that rides a dirtbike gets a bad name because of it. It is up to us to police these types of people before they ruin our sport. There are ways to deal with it and if we don't take the initiative to police our own, we will have no sport.

You never know who your neighbors really are. They could be a City Councilman, a County Supervisor or just some ol' dirtbike rider looking for new riding buddies. It's best not to pizz em off.

Ol'89r
 

dirt bike dave

Sponsoring Member
May 3, 2000
5,349
3
Thanks for the story and sharing your wisdom, 89r. You did your best with those a'holes.

Too bad the dad and boys did not take you up on your generous offer. They might have learned a little something about class and also about what a great sport this is. They clearly have no idea.

The old cliche is true, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
 

Diversq

Member
May 12, 2007
5
0
Hey 89r,

I feel your pain and understand the reasoning. BUT, having been an arrogant kid once myself I know now the error of my ways.

Personally I think you should let the past slide and give the other kid a chance. He could learn alot from a guy like you and without the chance to change and work and ride with "good" influences like yourself and probably your friends he won't and just do further down his already misguide path.

Go for it what do you have to lose?

just my 2 cents.
 

oldguy

Always Broken
Dec 26, 1999
9,419
0
Diversq said:
Hey 89r,

I feel your pain and understand the reasoning. BUT, having been an arrogant kid once myself I know now the error of my ways.

Personally I think you should let the past slide and give the other kid a chance. He could learn alot from a guy like you and without the chance to change and work and ride with "good" influences like yourself and probably your friends he won't and just do further down his already misguide path.

Go for it what do you have to lose?

just my 2 cents.
I would personally be afraid to loose the trails. The kid has shown so much bad behavior in the past I would be afraid he would get up into the trails and find a new area to reign havoc on.. If you could trust him not to rip the area apart riding off trails and creating a bigger range of nuisance with his loud bike and uncontrolled riding it would be one thing but not worth the risk at this point.
Don't know who beat me but I sure would like to add another good post star for tis story.

I HOPE EVERYONE THAT READS THIS CAN RELATE TO IT
 

IamRyan

Member
Aug 23, 2006
77
0
The sad thing is most kids these days(which i cant really technically say because im a kid myself i guess) take for granted what they have right in front of their face. Myself I would love to have a place to ride 5 minutes from my house and would love to go on trail rides with an older more experienced person rather then run around with kids my age because most of them are just as you said are arrogant and have no respect.

so maybe don't give all of us kids a bad name just 99%
 

fit04

Member
Apr 9, 2007
21
0
I hate kids with a passion so I think I would of sabotaged their bikes or something...no thats too mean lol. I don't know how they think being "bad ass" is cool..when I was a teen I still wanted to kill each and every single arrogant boy in my school...its not attractive.

Good story
 

Moparman1539

Member
Sep 9, 2006
804
0
When the kid came and asked you for help was his bike unmuffled. Maby the other kid was the bad egg makig the other one do all the bad things with him (happens all the time). You could talk to him and tell him to put the muffler back on the bike, and not to do this and that. You could let your past go and give him another chance.

You can teach him the ropes. And print out some of the "Do i need a louder more powerfull pipe?" threads and show them to him. Bring him to the forum and show him lond isnt good. And tearing up peoples yards isnt good and such. (It changed my views and im 16). Teach him and he might turn out to be a good kid.

Thats my $0.02
 

dirt bike dave

Sponsoring Member
May 3, 2000
5,349
3
sixds said:
forgive and forget.

Forget the fact he could have got 89r's wife killed with his idiocy? Forget all the other stupid behavior that has undermined 89r's hard work on behalf of dirt bikers?

IMO, the sooner those idiots sell their bikes the better it is for anyone who loves our sport.

I wouldn't waste another minute trying to enlighten them - you would just get spit in the eye for your efforts.
 

mox69

Member
Mar 26, 2007
236
0
I think we all realize that you have 0 obligation to help this kid in any way. He has obviously done some pretty bad things.


With that said, people do change, especially kids. You can't really place 100% of the blame on the kids, his parents weren't even around to teach the boy right from wrong. You can't put a polar bear in the middle of a grocery store and expect him to behave :)

Just like you can't hand a young kid a dirt bike and expect him to follow the rules 100%. He doesn't even know the rules probably!

Go up to him some time and talk to him, feel it out. If you sense he has matured a bit, maybe give him a few pointers on his bike. Tell him you will taking him riding, if he follows the rules you set out.


Ya never know, you could change this punks life.
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
Weather or not I take the kid riding is besides the point. The point I was making was, how much fun the kid has been missing out on because of his in-your-face attitude. Now, like oldguy said, I'm more concerned about losing the trails we have left.

I actually was thinking about taking him but, the day before I wrote this thread he fired up his unsilenced bike and rode it up and down his driveway for about a half hour. That is what prompted me to write this thread. He is 19 or older now and old enough to know better. Also, he has some friends that come over and ride with him. None of them have silencers or spark arresters and one of them rides a quad that is unbelievably loud. There is no way in hell I would show those guys the trails now.

Those of you that show your neighbors no respect are only hurting yourselves and all of us that ride. We all wear brightly colored helmets and riding gear. The general non-riding public doesn't know one of us from the other. So, when a group of us act like jerks, they lump all of us together and think we all act like that. That is why it is so important for us to police our own. Talk to these guys and attempt to explain to them what they are doing to our sport. If they don't listen, ignore them or ban them from your group. After a while they won't have anybody to ride with except those of their own kind and they can ride up and down their own driveways as much as they want for all I care. They will get bored and soon find another sport to screw up. Good riddance! :nod:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not baggin' on all teenagers. I am very impressed by some of our 14-15-16 year olds on DRN. A couple of our young Canuck members are very intelligent and respectful beyond their years. :cool: It's the one's that come on here and say it's ok to tell your neighbors to take a hike when they complain about noise and dust. It's ok to be rude. It's my property and I'll do as I damn well please. :yell:

Well, that doesn't work anymore kiddies. With development closing in around us all, we can't do as we damn well please anymore. If we aren't respectful to our neighbors and the public in general, we will be the one's that lose. Believe me, I've seen it. :|

To the others, thank you for the kind words. :cool:
 

Tony Eeds

Godspeed Tony.
N. Texas SP
Jun 9, 2002
9,535
0
Thank you for your words of both wisdom and experience.

We have somehow got to get across to people that we have got to work together to save what little riding area we still have.

There are well organized groups out there that are dedicated to locking everything motorized out of all governement lands; and as was proven recently in Washington state, trying to ban off road vehicles entirely.

It is sad in a way, but at 19 the child is no longer there, he is a young man and should have better judgement. His parents sound like they failed him, but that is not your responsibility.

Thank you also for all you do for the off road community.
 

splatt

Resident mental case
~SPONSOR~
Dec 1, 2001
908
14
If I were to ever catch my kids acting like the two in question they would no longer have the privilege of riding dirt bikes until they where out on their own.

Steve
 

Sharn

Member
May 18, 2007
1
0
I agree. Not all teenagers are that way. But I have to say, it's usually a matter of influence. If you got that kid away from his "friends" and taught him the sport more indepth, he might turn out ok. I'm 15, and I know my bike is loud. I know it annoys people when I ride it like a maniac. I think the reason most kids don't learn this and how to respect other people is they don't ride with adults.

They need a fatherly figure to teach them how not to behave with riding. I've been riding with my dad since I started riding. My family got bikes all at the same time - and we all rode together. There isn't many others here who trail ride, so I've never gotten to ride with kids my age. It really does make a huge difference. You aren't riding to show you're big and cool, you're riding to have fun.

I think it would be awesome if I moved in by an old-timer who could show me the trails and invite me on rides. For me - that would be an awesome deal. I just wish all teenagers would feel like that.

Anyway, thanks for the story. Hopefully someday he'll figure it out. :)
 

kurt15

Member
May 22, 2006
97
0
in my area its a bigger thing with em new pocket bikes a screamin down the road at 1230 at night. i got the big bike on the road so i get blamed. :whoa:
 

XRpredator

AssClown SuperPowers
Damn Yankees
Aug 2, 2000
13,510
19
Ol'89r said:
. . . I am very impressed by some of our 14-15-16 year olds on DRN. A couple of our young Canuck members are very intelligent and respectful beyond their years.
Now that's just crazy talk! ;)
 
May 10, 2007
957
0
like sharn and know my bike is loud w/ the stock pipe

that is why if i have the stock pipe on for some odd reason i try to keep the revs low

but i do run a fmf q4 and that really helps
 

brockhc73

Member
Aug 3, 2007
2
0
I also ran into a situation yesterday where my wife who rides a 4 wheeler, my son who rides a 150R and myself wich rides a 250R went to common riding place. We pulled up and noticed a sherrif's helicopter flying over with several local police and sherriffs patroling the area. I waited a while to unload because i knew something was up.
The next thing i know we have a helicopter hovering over us and six patrol cars surrounding us. There were a bunch of these uncontrollable kids that werre ripping up and down a very nice neighbor hood, and darting out in front of cars with no respect of stop signs, nearly causing a very bad wreck, with Mules, Rhinos, Quads, Dirtbikes and the main complaint came from a dune buggy. They took my information, after confirmation that i had just arrived. The Law enforcement was gracious enough to give us permission to ride, but we were watched the entire riding time.
In my view, 12, and 13 year old kids don't need to operate these vechicles without prarent supervision, but what do i know? It is like anything else these days, parents are looking for a way to relive their responsiblities of parent hood and don't care, and i ruins it for all that obide by the laws and rules set forth for people who are gracious enough to lend their land for people who use their common sense to ride on.
Legal riding areas in West Texas are few and far between, and before long these people riding loud bikes and not respecting neighbors, and the land, will ruin it for us all
 

700_Edge_X

Member
Jul 11, 2007
8
0
We have some crappy neighbors like that. They ride all over our neighbor hood. At first no one cared but they started to really tear up the roads and people got pissed. I usually never ride on the roads but one time, and it was becuase i was taking my bike to the dunes in a couple days and it was running bad so i changed the plugs and took it down the road and i got bitched at. They pretty muched ruined it for me.
 
Nov 28, 2006
117
0
A respectful nod of the head to 89er and all the other esteemed higher-ups that are in the room! I just want to reinforce the fact that not all teenagers are assholes. I'm not. I've never felt the inspiration to be one. It sucks that a lot of us are, because people like me are battling quite a prejudice with folks like you.

On that note i think you should give the kid a chance to redeem himself, 89er. Obviously he's grown up a bit and since you say he only rides in his driveway, it sounds like he doesnt have anywhere better to go.

You cant argue with me when I say that in order to save the sport we have to be able to turn guys like this around. If you don't, what do you think his kids will be like? Do you want your kids to have to put up with that?
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
pidro_el_pirata said:
A respectful nod of the head to 89er and all the other esteemed higher-ups that are in the room! I just want to reinforce the fact that not all teenagers are a-holes. I'm not. I've never felt the inspiration to be one. It sucks that a lot of us are, because people like me are battling quite a prejudice with folks like you.

On that note i think you should give the kid a chance to redeem himself, 89er. Obviously he's grown up a bit and since you say he only rides in his driveway, it sounds like he doesnt have anywhere better to go.

You cant argue with me when I say that in order to save the sport we have to be able to turn guys like this around. If you don't, what do you think his kids will be like? Do you want your kids to have to put up with that?



You are correct, it is necessary to turn these guys around to save our sport. But, guys like that won't listen to older people. They cop an attitude and do just the opposite. It is up to you and the younger riders to police your own. When they hear it from their peers they are more likely to listen. If you have friends that act like jerks, tell them you don't want to ride with them. Exclude them from your group until they see the light. If you don't have the nerve to stand up to them and tell them what their actions are doing to the sport then, we will eventually lose our sport.

Like I said earlier in this thread, when we put our riding gear on, we all look the same. The non-riding public doesn't know if we are young riders or older riders and doesn't really care. The prejudice comes from them not folks like me. If you don't want the prejudice then police your own. When I put my riding gear on, I share that prejudice just like you. And I don't like it either.

I deal with a lot of younger riders in my business. I see many respectful teenagers and I don't lump them all in the same group. The disrespectful one's are easy to spot. They stick out like sore thumbs. They want to. That's the whole idea.

The neighbor kid is no longer a kid. He is in his twenty's now and doesn't ride hardly at all. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. His loss, our gain. :cool:
 
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