Why the bad rep?

[Wraith]

I swear, we (motorcyclists) can't ever catch a break. I was at this mini sprint car race tonight (the cars with the 250cc 2 stroke motors in them). Well, I'm not kidding, everytime the announcer could be heard over the cars, or between features, he would talk about how safe these cars were to race, and would always compare them to motocross or some form of motorcycling. These cars are new in our area, and this is the first year for a payout series in this part of the state. But this guy talked about one of the racers saying, "Number 33 use to race Motorcross until he broke his foot. He was off work for 6 months, and he has a wife and 3 kids. Now he wised up and races these cars, you know folks no one has ever broken a bone or gotton kileed in this series, this the safest sport around. So sell those dirt bikes and four wheelers and buy some midgets". That is not really quoted, but it is pretty dang close. Now I'm all for getting a fun new sport going, but come on. Don't bag, another sport in the process. And I'm sure the racers of that sport are really thanking the announcer for letting every Gremlin and Crash Demon in the county know no ones ever gotten really hurt :aj: Even though I wanted to pound this guys guts out, all I could do was just sit there and laugh.
But, why do we have such a bad rep? Think it still dates back to the Hells Angels ;) And have you ever noticed how when someone (non rider) finds out you ride, they ask you if it's a Harely. I say no , I have a Honda sport bike and a Honda dirt bike. There response is pretty much always the same. "Oh, one of those crotch rocket, Ninja motorcycles". And " Oh, one of those backflip trick bikes".
Yep, one of those :thumb:

 

[jmics19067]

just tell the people aboput your schwinn sting ray :laugh:

 

[mx547]

actually, alot of what he said is true. i intend to try that form of racing when my daughter is done racing motocross (or after she breaks her foot :scream: ). but it is a shame that he thinks he has to paint a bad picture of another sport in order to promote his.

 

[dthoms]

Quote: actually, alot of what he said is true.

Please, I have a hard time with that. There are a lot of us that have rode for years and not had to miss tons of work and suffered untold hard ships because we ride Off Road bikes on a track or trail.
Learn your limits and practice and train if you don't want to get hurt doing something you enjoy.
And as for the guy who had to take off 6 months for a broken foot, thats ridiculous. I've broke my foot and been to work the next day. I didn't enjoy it but I did it. I've severed a ligament in my knee and made it to work the next day. I had to take some time off for the surgery but it was just a couple of weeks not months.
I'll admit if you are looking for a powder puff sport MX and Off-road ain't for you.
But some of us enjoy it enough to work through the pain and continue riding is spite of it.
My Dad is 63 and he road 53 miles of single track today! I'm sure he will be a little sore tomorrow but that won't stop him from riding next weekend.

 

[TheJunkMan]

Originally posted by Wraith
Think it still dates back to the Hells Angels ;) And have you ever noticed how when someone (non rider) finds out you ride, they ask you if it's a Harely. I say no , I have a Honda sport bike and a Honda dirt bike. There response is pretty much always the same. "Oh, one of those crotch rocket, Ninja motorcycles". And " Oh, one of those backflip trick bikes".
Yep, one of those :thumb:

I am even worse I do not ride Honda's so I have to shake my head and say "you wouldn't understand" when I explain that I ride Kawasaki Tripples and Brit Bikes (puzzled looks) along with Trials, Enduros and MX. I just do not even reply when they say that I walk away laughing.

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by dthoms
There are a lot of us that have rode for years and not had to miss tons of work and suffered untold hard ships because we ride Off Road bikes on a track or trail.

and there are alot of us that have. we are the ones that he is referring to.

 

[skipro3]

A friend of mine, Bob Reeve, flew bush in South America before moving to Alaska and flying there for decades. (Read: Flying Beats WorkHe died walking towards the Anchorage International Airport terminal when he was struck by a car in the loading zone. So, did flying kill him? He wouldn't have been at the airport that day if he wasn't a pilot. Yesterday I heard on the news a 47 year old man died at Disneyland on the Big Thunder Mountian Railroad ride. If we avoid that which MIGHT cause us to get hurt, then we might as well give up on living.
I too am tired of explaining why I have motorcycles, why I hunt, why I fly, and I'm tired of trying to educate the uneducatable. Exciting sports, hobbies, and jobs are a complete mystery to the couch potatoes out there and I feel no compulsion to try and explain my lifestyle to them. It's like wrestling with a pig, you end up getting muddy and the pig enjoys it.

 

[skipro3]

A friend of mine, Bob Reeve, flew bush in South America before moving to Alaska and flying there for decades. (Read: Flying Beats Work; The Story of Reeve Aleutian Airways) He died walking towards the Anchorage International Airport terminal when he was struck by a car in the loading zone. Yesterday I heard on the news a 47 year old man died at Disneyland on the Big Thunder Mountian Railroad ride. If we avoid that which MIGHT cause us to get hurt, then we might as well give up on living. I too am tired of explaining why I have motorcycles, why I hunt, why I fly, and I'm tired of trying to educate the uneducatable. Exciting sports, hobbies, and jobs are a complete mystery to the couch potatoes out there and I feel no compulsion to try and explain my lifes choices to them. It's like wrestling with a pig, you end up getting muddy and the pig enjoys it. There are people who would like to pad every sharp corner in the world in their misguided attempt to save you from yourself. As a wise man once said: " You can't idiot proof the world, and besides, what's wrong with loosing a few idiots anyway?"

 

[Wraith]

One thing I get sick of, is when my sons has friends over, and their parents come to get them or drop them off. His friends usually start asking the parents if they will get them a bike yadda yadda yadda. And more than once me and the other dad have gotten into a discussion on why would I let my boy do such a dangerous sport. And your right, no matter what you say, it's useless. It's just getting old, and I'm getting feed up. Mabey it's just me.
Oh and by the way, they did have a flattrack bike division (made up of all size bikes) that raced as well. And you couldn't even compare the two. There was only 1 race with the carts where there were no spinouts, all the other races had 1 spinout in every lap (no joke). Now there is nothing wrong with spinouts. But, each time a car did, the motor died, they had to have a fourwheeler pushstart them, then the driver had to catch back up while under yellow and regain his position prior to the spinout before the green drops. Now this did get old, and drug on.
Anyway I should just get used to people saying garbage like this I guess. :flame:

 

[marcusgunby]

MX riders on bike go around track, Speedway bikes -NO BRAKES need i say more?

 

[ericlachance]

Originally posted by skipro3
" You can't idiot proof the world, and besides, what's wrong with loosing a few idiots anyway?"

I don't know who the genious who wrote this was, but he's absoloutly right. Good one skipro3.

Some people just don't get it. I had to have a very intense BATTLE with my father before he let me have my first bike when I turned 15. Some people just don't get it. My life is my life! I'll live it the way I want and I'll try to take advantage of the, oh so few pleasures there actually are. If it means getting hurt, so what. I'm the one who'll suffer. What's it to the others? anyways, like I said to my father, and as some of you have said before, you can get hurt crossing the street so when your times up, wether your on a bike or on foot, your due. I thin the harley motto sums it up best, 'Live to ride, ride to live'.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Nothing can be foolproof because fools are so ingenious. ;)

 

[jmics19067]

whats the old saying?

"once someone builds something fool proof they only build better fools"

 

[Jeff Gilbert]

I'm not here to bash anyones sport and I think it might be fun to drive one of those midget cars with the motorcycle engines. Like Wraith mentioned with the spining out stuff, I went to watch go-cart races once last year and not a lap went by that someone didn't spin out. It would have been fun to watch if they managed to make it more than a lap or 2 before a yellow flag came out. I say make the tracks longer and if you spin out, you're outta the race. That had to be the biggest waste of a night watching the little go-carts spin out. I never did figure out how many laps they were suppossed to go.

DTHOMS, regarding your statement. I'm sure you didn't mean any offense and I didn't read it into it either, however you are not accurate in your statement. I was riding with mx547 the night he was injured and I can attest the fact that mx547 wasn't riding over his head. July 13th, 2002. He never fell, didn't get ran over and nobody ran into him. He simply cased a jump pulled to the side of the track, hopped off the bike and hobbled over to the medic. The results were several surgeries, pins, fixators and what ever else they ended up doing.

I too have broken ribs, bruised spleen, and banged myself up pretty good and still made it to work the next day, I was lucky. I;ve found that untill you can walk in someone elses shoes it's best to not make comparisons.

 

[dirty~d~]

MOTORsports all have their own risks. Some are worse than others. People who enjoy motorsports know this. Don't sweat too much about some schmuck spewing his hypocritical prejudices. Maybe his dad wouldn't let him ride dirtbikes as a kid and now he's scarred for life. :whiner: :uh:

 

[BSWIFT]

Interesting thread with several view points.  I had never raced MX until mx547 invited Sawblade and myself to join him for a race.  Hey, I finished 13 of 13 for an overall 13th finish.  Had a blast.  mx547 told be to ride my own race and stay within my abilities.  I had a great time and raced with him several more times. 
The original theme of this thread was about bashing of different motor sports.  I don't like NASCAR but if that's what floats your boat, have fun.

Oh yeah and another thing, Speedway is WAY cool.  

 

[BunduBasher]

Originally posted by Wraith
gotten into a discussion on why would I let my boy do such a dangerous sport. :flame:

 

you can always say ... "It beats football", talk about dangerous !! :p

 

[bbbom]

You should hear what mom's & dad's say about a MOM that lets her kids ride, especially when one of the kids is a girl!!! :scream:

 

[dobent56]

Good point about MX547. I like all kinds of racing,and what others want to do,I sure don't want to object.However,to state simplistically that all that needs to be done is for riders "not to ride over their head" is ignorant.MX547 according to what I read simply cased a jump,and was not "riding over his head".

The fact is that it's hard to find any track without supercross obstacles.and that they are inherently dangerous,and if really looked at are,uh,stupid.
There's no more "air" than well designed step ups and step downs.
I don't care if the pros have a low injury rate in SX.They're pros.we're not.Injuries and severity of injuries is up,way up at amateur tracks nationwide.To deny that is to have your head in the sand.Like an Ostrich who just cased a double,landed on someone,was landed on,etc.

To state the sport is inherently dangerous is over simplification.No kidding it is.Why not just put flaming oil pits ot steel stakes between the jumps then,if flying over a gap is so important,why not add to the thrill? Doug

 

[TheJunkMan]

True dat.

 

[motometal]

I think supercross obstacles exist cometimes due to convenience or lack of dirt moving equipment.  Modern dirt bikes can jump a 60-70 foot table top like it's a joke, with a willing and skilled pilot.  BUT, it takes a heck of a lot of dirt to make a big tabletop with a proper landing (a tall one).  I've been to plenty of tracks with single jumps, and jumps with way short (but I suppose "safe") landing ramps, and i'll pass.  Give me a nice tall landing ramp to land on! 

Tracks with all of the jumps filled in are great, and I think as we grow older we appreciate that even more.  It's just that many track owners don't have the means to make the track that way.

 

[Wraith]

Originally posted by BSWIFT
I finished 13 of 13 for an overall 13th finish.  Had a blast

My first race I got last place in the 1st moto, and last place again in the 2nd moto. But in the 2nd moto I broke my back. It did suck, and I didn't have a blast. But it made my 2nd place finish in my second race ever, that much sweeter. But no one gets it. Mabey I don't explain it in a way they can comprehend, because when they ask if I still ride, they get this confused look in their face when I say "yes".
I mean really, I really do not believe there is another motorsport as frowned upon as dirtbiking or sportbiking.

 

[ktmboy]

The same people that don't understand why we go back after serious injury would go right back to having $ex as soon as possible if they were injured during the act. That's the closest comparison I can come up with when I try to explain 'why' to non-riders! :)

 

[RJ-KDX]

Why the bad rap? Because they are dangerous. Nuff said.

I was 31 when I got my first bike, and that was 2 years ago. My dad wouldn't let me have one when I was growing up, and when I got older my interests went other ways.

When you get older you have much more to worry about, family, health, job, etc, etc. There's not a riding day that goes by that the possibility of getting hurt doesn't cross my mind.

It's a fact of when, not how. If you do anything other than sit on the couch, you will get hurt, and even this has it's own dangers. When you add wheels you up the ante(sp). Remember all those wrecks on your bike? Then you add a motor to those wheels, now you have increased the danger 10 fold.

Don't miss read the above, I love riding, it's become a passion now, not just a hobby. Just ask my wife.

The thing to do is to be safe, go out and have fun and live each day as if it were your last. Try and educate those who are mis-informed, if they don't want to learn, then move on to the next one. There will always be others.

 

[TheJunkMan]

I don't even waste my time.