Your 1st time going to the track.....

[SteveinSpringHill]

How do you approach it, what do you do?
I've seen this question here many times and haven't chimed in. But have mentioned lessons in other posts.

NOW PLEASE READ THIS.......GET SOME INSTRUCTION!!!

And here's why, last Thursday night here at Dade City my son and myself had the extreme misfortune of seeing a near fatal accident. One rider by himself whiskey throttled off the face of a small table after he landed a little crossed up off a small single.

The rider 29 years old never ridden on a track and just that week purchased a Honda 450 (his 1st dirt bike). He'll now be in a wheelchair the rest of his life. Paralyzed from the waist down with other severe injuries (femor, ribs etc.).

The track owner was very upset having found this out, as he is has lessons every Sat. morning. And is trying to open a full time training facility but is fighting the county on zoning issues.

So please be better prepared for your 1st trip out there and learning proper riding techniques definately keeps you off the ground.


Later.......

 

[150rguy]

Thats sad about that guy that got paralyzed, he probably just got the bike to mess around on and have some fun. But look where it got him. Right into a wheel chair.

 

[Big Worm]

that is pretty sad about the guy. I too hit the track shortly after buying my 250 in 03'. Went with a buddy who had been racing his whole life, the track was almost like a supercross track with doubled up rhythm sections and tight turns. At one point after just putting around the track I decided to step up my speed and see if I could clear some of the the smaller doubles. I was doing okay up until I came up on the biggest double on the track, ended up casing it, went over the bars, then as I was trying to get my bike off the track some kid comes flying over lands right on my bike and rips the gas cap right off, gas flying everywhere. Luckily he was okay and I had gotten out of the way in time. But I should have had more experience before getting out there.

 

[wicked250r]

Thats a crappy deal, but you shouldnt be racing with that little of experience in my opinion but this year is going to be my first time racing...i've been on dirtbikes for about 6 years now but never got competitive with it...i'm goin to start in the novice class and see how i do there. my buddy that has been racing for around 8 years or so tells me that if i can consistantly place top 5 that i should move up a class. what do you guys think? if i do good at the beginning of the season should i not worry about points or anything and try the next class or should i just stick to novice for the season?

 

[wicked250r]

by the way sorry to jump off topic

 

[150rguy]

Do a couple races then move up if your doing good. If you want more advice make a new thread.

 

[just_a_rider]

#1; (((DO NOT RIDE OVER YOUR HEAD))) or you'll wind up on your head.
#2; Never say watch this, it ususaly ends up bad :laugh:

 

[150rguy]

A motocrossers last words are " Hey everyone watch this!!"

 

[Octane250F]

My first time on a track I rode cautiously. I had problems at first with the front end wanting to nose down on me over the jumps. My friends all race MX, so they taught me to blip the throttle right before the face of the jump to keep the front end up. In time, as I got more confident and hit the jumps with more speed I no longer needed to blip the throttle on every jump (but if there is a little kicker on the lip of the jump I do still blip the throttle).
I just started out slow and gradually went faster and jumped farther. Im lucky in that I have friends who are experienced and will offer me any kind of advice they can think of. They will talk smack to me and push me to become a better rider each and every time, but they wont try to make me do something that they know is above my abilities and will get me hurt. I wish everyone could be so lucky.
Thats a shame what happened to that guy with the 450. He goes out, buys a bike to have fun on and it more or less ruins his life. I cant believe some dealership sold a 450 to a novice rider. You would think they would ask him some questions to get an idea of his experience and abilities as a rider. Thats really a shame.

 

[Chili]

I cant believe some dealership sold a 450 to a novice rider. You would think they would ask him some questions to get an idea of his experience and abilities as a rider. Thats really a shame.

You have a dealership that employs a salesperson getting paid on commision, an adult walks in and drops 6k on that table and says "I'll take that one". The dealer is not and should not be expected to ask the buyer to show he is qualified to own the bike he chose.

Had a situation here many years ago when a kid I grew up with walked into a dealer and plunked down a whack of cash and bought a brand new Honda Interceptor 1000 (for the kids a fast crotch rocket of many years ago). This was a kid who's folks would never let him have a bike growing up, he had almsot zero experience on any type of bike. Sadly the kid never even made it home from the dealership before losing control of the bike and his life. There was a huge uproar that the dealership sold him the bike and I can recall feeling sorry for the salesperson who was thrust into the center of that uproar.

There was a kid at the first race of the season last year here on a 50 that had obviously barely ever sat on the bike before. In less than one lap he had whiskey throttled hard twice across several lanes of track until he smashed full speed into snow fencing. Finally someone got to the kid the second time as Dad was sending him back out there and stopped him. The father was irate, how was his son going to learn if they didn't let him get back out there :bang:

 

[Octane250F]

I can kinda see where you are coming from. If someone comes in and wants to buy something and has the money for it, who are they to say no.
At the same time though, I think they are obligated to get an idea of the person's skills and how they intend to use the bike and then offer their honest opinion on what the person should be looking at. After that, if the buyer still wants the big bike, cool, sell it to them. I just think that is part of customer service.
Of course, lots of dealerships arent like that. They will sell you whatever you want and once you leave its no longer their problem.

 

[Chili]

The only time I would have an issue is if the guy came in wanting an CRF230 trail bike and the salesperson talked them into a CRF450.

 

[Big Worm]

Had a situation here many years ago when a kid I grew up with walked into a dealer and plunked down a whack of cash and bought a brand new Honda Interceptor 1000 (for the kids a fast crotch rocket of many years ago). This was a kid who's folks would never let him have a bike growing up, he had almsot zero experience on any type of bike. Sadly the kid never even made it home from the dealership before losing control of the bike and his life.

Similar situation happened the day I bought my 01' GSXR 750. I actually walked into the dealership and wanted the new 1000, but unlike your situation the salesperson asked me how much experience I had on the bike, which was none, and she refused to sell me the 1000. Reason was earlier that day she had sold another 1000 to a rider that barely had his permit. He pulled out of the dealership, overrevved, dumped the clutch and went straight into a parked car. She showed me the car, the bike and the blood drops on the ground. Thus I walked out the door with the 750 instead.

 

[SteveinSpringHill]

Yes there's so much that went wrong in this story, it just seemed he was destined to fail. It's why I'm throwing my $.02 out there about rider education and instruction.

At 29 I'm sure he thought he had what it takes, but some bad decisions were made before he even got as far as the track.

 

[DougRoost]

Indeed and not a surprise, when you consider the bike of the year awards and recommendations that go to the CRF450, coupled with the recommendations that if you're a bigger rider or want a bike that lasts longer than a 250F to get a 450F instead, plus the usual ego thing of thinking they can handle it, I know this is more the norm than the exception. I've seen several cases of almost new 450F MX'ers for sale by guys who bought them as their first bike, in many cases to ride trails.

And you cannot expect a dealer to stop them as noted previously. Just like the street bike story, the same is true of guys who walk into a Chevy dealer and want to buy a Corvette, or a Dodge dealer and want to buy a Viper. The salesperson walks a fine line between their sales quotas/commissions and what the customer wants and is ready to pay for.

Doug

 

[FruDaddy]

Let's not forget that many of these people walk into the dealership once their friends convince them that they should have the biggest bike on the floor. At that point, it's almost impossible to convince them that they are not ready for it; why would their friends steer them wrong? Also, people lie. I do know a salesman that sold a bike (FZ1 I think)to a kid (age 18). The salesman asked him about his experience, and offered to go over the controls with the boy (standard practice at this dealership). The buyer insisted that he knew what he was doing. As he left the truth became obvious. Well, the next day he dropped the bike right next to the dealership while entering the major road front a side road, the dealership got a little more money from that one, and they didn't even need a truck to get it there, but it wasn't the salesman's fault that he was lied to.
Of course there was a video posted on here not too long ago involving someone that pretended to know how to ride a bike, that landed in a ravine.