Vintage/Classic Motocross or NOT

[VMX247]

Hey E74 its coming too the end of the season ,so that makes it silly season and Santa is gearing up for fast dispatch 
Its OK to go off     political wise ,we haven't got to the Christmas carols yet 

[Doc]

yeah, I've sorta stuck the hoof in the mouth on the odd occassion of late and I apologize to anyone offended. I'm really keen to get out there and get some 'hours' on my bikes and this is my main reason for steering away from the vmx scene. I just want to ride, ride and then ride some more and not complaining but for less buck I can get a heck of a lot more 'differing' ride time on bikes that are otherwise sitting dormant in the garage. Nothing like riding with a hundred or more enthusiasts at organized meetings but for me riding has always been an individual thing I did cause I love it and rarely was it a competitive thing, whether I'm with 1 riding buddy or a dozen I still get the same enjoyment from simply going riding and coming across all types of different scenario's out in the sticks. 5 years ago I'd have laughed at anyone calling my bikes vintage, they're not vintage they're just old bikes I've become very attached to

[cyclegod]

I'm with Chris (Doc), when it comes to just enjoying a ride on my "old bikes" even if they are only 8 years old or 35 years old.

Competing in my first moto-x in many years in VMXWA's series of race meetings I have come to the realisation that, while I enjoy riding with similar people on similar machines, I can't do it every time or on every track.
The problem my club faces is that WA is a HUGE state and not everyone wants, what should be a day trip, turning into a camping weekend so numbers decline somewhat. My clubs home track is a 460km round trip for me (and I live in Perth!) so I can only afford to go once per year, other tracks such as Collie, Bunbury & Manjimup are just TOO far away and the rest are on average about 140km from home.

Next year I plan to only do the natural terrain tracks ( Wandering, Dyback park, York, Clackline) and one trip to Narrogin, this fits my budget and my physical limitations (Beverly track is now a no go thanks to it's ten 2M high table-top jumps per lap) nicely but I still want to ride more often. Suburban encroachment and logging have seen Perths nearest public riding areas dissappear or shrink to useless status so I hope to encourage the club commitee to letterbox drop some flyers with local farmers to see if alternative natural tracks can be aquired even if it's once per year.

[VMX247]

CG travel is a very interesting subject.
Our local mx club has mostly Perth based members and the VMXWA has people from all over,so if there is an VMX event down south its less for us, more for you.visa versa.

Some of our round trips for VMX(camping a must) can be 500km.
Extra costs are beverages on board for camp night
I think alot of WA folk have been born and bred to travel.
Next year our son wants to ride modern in the south west.
OH for the LOTTO life.
cu
alison

[Wombat]

Tim Derrick aka Tim754 Here.
I am going to state my views on this the most contentious issue of all. For both solo and sidecars.
If it is made prior to the first of January 1975 it is Vintage/Classic head in the sand. golden age, VMX This will not change in my eyes with the passage of time.
After that like pre78 sorry ,pre80 pre85 pre90 etc  IT IS NOT. Call it something else as some do already. 
If I could work out how have a poll again I would have had Agree or Do Not Agree as the two responses. Now please respond agree or don't agree if you like but try leaving your real name and how about NO long wordy reasons why.
 

Yeah - but nuh! I'm (a little bit) like Nathan, I like to justify my reasoning.
Just ignore it if it looks too long and scroll to the bottom line.

So, seeing as you're asking... I think of 'Vintage' as referring to Model T Fords and Sopwith Camels; that sort of era.
You know, back when the World was black & white?
However, the name 'Vintage MX' has been adopted and I'm not about to challenge it.

For me the MX Golden Years are the mid to late 70's and that's for no other reason than that being 'my time' in the sport.
MR Motocross was at it's peak, it was televised and the sport was buzzing!
I first hopped on a bike back on ANZAC Day 1976.
Following on my first and second race bikes, the RM125B and the KX250A4 were the moderns of their time.
These bikes and that era are my little piece of nostalgia, and that's not to say the other (and earlier) eras and bikes are any less deserving.

Back then I had little knowledge of the pre '75 bikes; anything earlier was just 'old bikes'.
Back then I had pretty much the same attitude as todays youth hammering MX tracks on their moderns. 
I don't think they care (I certainly didn't) for anything earlier than their own bikes.
And reading through the 'QVMX pre 90 thread' I suggest many of us can be accused of that.

Agree or disagree...nah, I think earlier than '79.

[Rosco400]

Always believed 30+ years made for vintage, nothing less so would disagree and say pre 78 would now be in the fold
Ross Merrick (1962)

[Colin Jay]

How about Historic Motorcross, just like in historic road racing and adopt a "period system" such as below;

Period 1 = Pre '65

Period 2 = Pre '75

Period 3 = Pre '78

Period 4 = Pre '85

Period 5 = Pre '90

You can the just keep adding periods for  any other significant technological change that occour.

These same periods (classes) could also be used for Historic Enduro events.

This will get rid of all the arguing about the definitions of "vintage" and "Classic".

Edit: I have just seen a post in another part of the forum titled "Obsolete". Maybe the sport should be called OBSOLETE MOTORCROSS!

Colin Jay

[YSS]

How about Historic Motorcross, just like in historic road racing and adopt a "period system" such as below;

Period 1 = Pre '65

Period 2 = Pre '75

Period 3 = Pre '78

Period 4 = Pre '85

Period 5 = Pre '90

You can the just keep adding periods for  any other significant technological change that occour.

These same periods (classes) could also be used for Historic Enduro events.

This will get rid of all the arguing about the definitions of "vintage" and "Classic".

Edit: I have just seen a post in another part of the forum titled "Obsolete". Maybe the sport should be called OBSOLETE MOTORCROSS!

Colin Jay

Thats a great idea if the tracks would not chop up and no man made jumps

[Wombat]

I'd like to think all VMX tracks would be pre '75 friendly.
However, as the sport accepts newer bikes and younger riders it's inevitable requests for bigger jumps will be put forward.

It may be a solution to add/delete sections of track as they do for the Juniors.
The older bikes would race the 'friendly' section and the gnarly jumps and scary stuff would be an additional area opened up as the 'vintage moderns' lined up for the start.

I suppose that's 'progress' if newer machines are to race at the same tracks as the twin shockers.

[LWC82PE]

i remember at ACUSA park one year they had deviations/shortcuts for the older pre 75 bikes. That day there was everything from vintage right up to modern solos and sidecars all on the same track.

i also think there is too much of a gap to have a class pre 78 then jump to pre 85. that is too much of a big gap. bikes from about 81-84 are miles ahead of 78,79, 80 bikes in the suspension department

i would maybe have pre 78 then a pre 85 twinshock only class and then a pre 85 single shock or something like that.

you could maybe have pre 81 which allows the RM- T to compete with other twinshocks but then you have a problem of the 1980 uni track kawasakis??. if its pre 80 that means the RM-T's have to compete against the full floaters up to 84 and i dont think that is right. I dont know, there just seems to a problem in this area of around 1980 when linkage bikes came out.

[Tim754]

Me ?? I now call it Historic Motocross. Again this thread slipped down the wordy path, A simple yes or no,  was all I asked. No justification needed and certainly no abusive phone calls to my house!!!!!!  Graeme feel free to remove this . too

[GMC]

That is sad, you really know how to attract them Tim.
Even if you did put up a poll you would have us explaining our reasoning any way.
To clarify, I'm not against using the word "vintage" even if you changed the name I would still call it vintage MX as that is what rolls of the tongue, I am just against anyone claiming ownership of the word. It just reminds me of the recent fight over the word "ugg"

I see no reason to have enemies over this sort of disagreement.

[YSS]

We know that thug , Tim dont let him get to you , you have done nothing wrong. We can all agree to disagree on this forum. If he does it to me again , I will tape him  and report him .

[Tony T]

It's really sad to think that any one of us would go that far.
We've all has disagreements and probably typed things we've thought better of afterwards, but that's taking it waaaaay too far.
I know it can't really happen, but I'd love to see the person that would do that sort of thing publically exposed. 

btw I reckon that to be vintage, it should be 30+ years old.

[Tim754]

Does that mean us 50+ years olds are now dinosaurs or at best useless ancient relics???