Modern vs classic MX, enduros and trials

[TooFastTim]

I've been thinking about this recently, trials and MX bear little resemblence now to what they were, say, 30 yrs ago. But look at an enduro course and not much has changed. Do you guys agree? Discuss for 10 marks..

[Nathan S]

All comments made with the disclaimer that I wasn't actually riding in 1980!

Modern enduros seem to be a lot more about speed, and less about survival:

1. The bikes are more reliable - its very rare to hear of anyone DNFing due to mechanical failure nowdays (unless its dusty and you've got a 250F...)
2. The courses are less technical and often shorter and often repeated, so they're closer to being a motocross through the trees.
3. Because of this its more about going hell for leather, rather than pacing yourself. If anything goes wrong, then any hope of a good result is out the window.

DG26 and I went down to Nowra a couple of months ago, for my first ever modern* cross-country event.
I am amazed at how many guys got stuck on the only vaguely tricky bit of the course - a short, smooth uphill out of a small creek. Honestly, we rode harder stuff when we were ten years old and had SL70s with road-trail tyres! On the TM, I don't think I even needed to put a foot down on that hill - and yet, I finished in the bottom twenty riders, so its not like the other guys were complete clowns or anything.

*Donny's XR400 is a dozen years old, my TM is nearly old enough to vote...

[TooFastTim]

Good point there Nat. I'd forgotten about that bit. Enduros are easier today than they were 20 yrs ago.

In Cape Town we had a problem with dwindling entries and a mate and I reckoned events were too hard so we organised an event so that a wanked out XT500 could get round the lap (about 20k's long). Entries went from 60 to double that. Same guys won though!

[Graeme M]

I haven't even been to a modern enduro, let alone ridden one. But from what I've seen on video, the trail sections are relatively straightforward and its the special tests and so on that actually sort out the placings. Enduros in the 70s were more about 'endurance'... that is, the ability to ride difficult courses while keeping your bike going. And often, the harder the courses the better - some of the bigger events would see a huge rate of DNFs. The riders too were different. In my home town, the enduro riders were always older, usually very practical common sense guys who had a wealth of knowledge about how to make a bike go and keep going. They weren't usually go fast types, even if they were fast. So, while I reckon the basic idea of enduro being about riding cross country hasn't changed, I think the actual thing is rat5her different now in the same way MX is.

[LWC82PE]

unless its dusty and you've got a 250F

Good point. I was out a relilabilty trial today doing a control and it was pretty dusty, but nowdays the rules have gotten easier and they are often allowing unlimited amount of airfilters, where in the past you had to carry all spare filters with you, then they allowed you to take on a limited number at fuel stops. Also in the old days you could get a season or 2 out of your engine but now days 'the good guys' are rebuilding their 450/250F motors after each 6hr event and a lot of the time 'just to play it safe'

[Graeme M]

This brings to mind another thing I wonder about. Bck in the 70s I did a lot of trail riding often with some of our local enduro guns. Our riding got progressively harder - not necessarily faster, just harder. The gnarlier the terrain the better. I remember how we used to have competitions where we'd see how close to a nasty steep hill we could get before starting from a dead stop and still make it up. We used to ride up the local quarry walls on crappy old DT250s and stuff. When I look at those same walls today, I have no idea how we did that.

Now, I see videos on Youtube of guys out trailriding, and honestly some of the stuff they seem to be struggling with seems pretty bloody easy.

Do guys today tend to ride on easier terrain, or is it just the videos that make it look less difficult than it is? I haven't been trailriding in years, but it does seem to me that today it's more about riding 'single trail' or fireroads than trying to find the really snotty stuff...

[LWC82PE]

And also think about all the pre event/during event healthy eating habits that are common now, like carbo loading and energy drinks and bars etc and camel backs as well as gym work, running, cycling etc to get your fitness up for an enduro event. These days riders are a lot more educated on these aspects.

[mx250]

From what I've seen enduro's have changed as much as the other disciplines. The Golden age of enduro's was the mid '70's. Enduro's were endurance events; big K's, long days, no rest and to stay on Trail Time was an achievement. No big line up at check points, maybe 2-3 bikes with maybe 2-3 minutes to draw breath, and that was the guns - club level riders rarely arrived before Time and worked their tails off not to 'hour out' - gumbee newcomers were hour out on the first hill or swamp. None of this 30 minutes 'stand around, scratch ya nuts and chat' girlie stuff.

And you didn't get a sighting lap of the special test or the MX . The course included very technical sections as part of the Trail Timed sections - 1km of swamp, 1km of nasty single wheel track squid line uphill climbs.  Arm pump and thigh burn by pm day one and three days to go .  The bikes were heavy, evil and worked hard to kill you. Most bikes were owner modified trail bikes. The gun riders had modified shop or distributor's bikes. Riders had to be good Bush Mechanics as much as riders - or be exceptionally talented and sponsored. Unmodified bikes didn't start and didn't finish (the Japs spoiled that party with reliable enduro bikes like PE's and IT's ). A 'good' course was considered to be a course that gave a balance between very tight technical sections, giving advantage to the 'tiddlers', and high speed sections that gave advantage to the 'big mothers'.

70's enduro's was about endurance and pacing yourself and not bending yourself or the bike in 2-4 days. These days it speed, speed and more speed.
 
By the early 80's the loss of access to public lands brought down the mileage and concentrated the technical part of the course to private land. These became very technical 'bike breakers' to sort out winners from losers. This period suited the 175-200  class, i.e. KDX200 et al. This changed again with very controlled limited access to public land (very 'loose' trail time to reduce "using the bush as a race track") and winners and losers were sorted at the special tests and MX.

IMHO  

[Rossvickicampbell]

i don't ride modern stuff but basically our enduros just used to be the long MX through the trees.  Including 4 hour pony express racers with the 2 guys one bike idea.  But we use to ride under different names (so ACU couldn't get us for riding black events) on our motocross bikes and used to do alright.  When I contemplated riding again I thought about the local Trail and Enduro club but they do all this timed section stuff - I have only ever had enough mental capacity ( ) to want (emphasise on the want)  to go fast - having to think about it was a bugger so I went VMX instead!

[LWC82PE]

swamp

You dont go though much of that these days, at least not in SA. Also now if a section gets terribly boggy with mud or really cut up ground that turns to deep bull dust, thats not necessarily impossible to get through but just takes a 'little more effort', then the organisers will make detours or cut that section out to take a easier/shorter route for the main reason of 'preserving the landowners land' so this has the effect of cutting out what was perhaps a challenging bog hole and the course becomes 'easier' but in the old days they would have just left it in and thats when you would see half a dozen bikes stuck in a bog hole or what ever.

[mx250]

swamp

You dont go though much of that these days, at least not in SA. Also now if a section gets terribly boggy with mud or really cut up ground that turns to deep bull dust, thats not necessarily impossible to get through but just takes a 'little more effort', then the organisers will make detours or cut that section out to take a easier/shorter route for the main reason of 'preserving the landowners land' so this has the effect of cutting out what was perhaps a challenging bog hole and the course becomes 'easier' but in the old days they would have just left it in and thats when you would see half a dozen bikes stuck in a bog hole or what ever.

I forget what event or year it was (probably Orberon Apex '76), on a DT360 (therefore at the tail end of the field), start out the morning cruising along a perfectly good dirt road and the arrow pointed left. Looked left and here's a sea of bobbing heads and steam raising from screaming engines as about 100 bikes were pushed across at least, and without exaggeration, 500 metres of barrel deep swamp (with tank deep holes ). With brand new-for-the-enduro chain and sprockets, and with grim determination and a curse for the organisers I entered the fray. About 30 minutes later, knackered, frozen to the bone (it was August IIRC) I exited the hell with a chain with about 4 inches of slack (new no more, $$$$ ). Did I mention the swamp was bordered by a tank deep 4m wide flowing stream with a one metre, wet, rutted bank as the exit .

I can vaguely remember the local yokels standing around the exist - I was so tried I can't remember if they help me out or if they just laughed at us .

Ah, what we do in the name of fun .   

[firko]

You don't see too many road sections in todays enduros, if ever. I can remember riding the occasional club level enduro in the early seventies that featured road speed sections, stop and go tests, maybe a trials section complete with observers marking your 'dabs' and other stuff that today seems weird but back then was integral with an enduro.

I also love how in South Australia they still refer to them as Reliability Trials. That description's as South Austraslian as a pie floater.

[LWC82PE]

Dont confuse Reliabilty trials with Enduros, they are not the same. In SA we have both, but yes RT's are similar but are more like a car rally with 'timed competitve sections' and road/transport sections linking each competitive. They can have day and night riding, but most (all)? 'Enduros' will be all daylight. They are not exacty run like a traditional 'enduro' what most other states are familiar with. So when we mention RT's we are not meaning enduros 
Theres a bit of a description here and a youtube vid about it that explains it a lot better
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-7276-0-0-0&sID=168100

[Tex]

I rode a modern enduro on my PE175N last year. It was one loop on private property, and you just kept doing the same loop as fast as you could and as many times as you could.

It was quite tricky in places, and the organisers had to re-route the course as bog holes became too churned up. I saw some nicely stuck bikes though.

There was a sighting lap, during which I got badly bogged and by the time I'd extricated myself it was time to start!  I was a bit more careful after that...

Tex

[mx250]

I rode a modern enduro on my PE175N last year. It was one loop on private property, and you just kept doing the same loop as fast as you could and as many times as you could.

I call that a Hare and Hound or Pony Express or Closed Loop Enduro - not a real Enduro . A real enduro was a long distance competition of endurance over ground the competitors had never seen before; well at least to me.

A Closed Loop Enduro was a variation, good practice and an entry level event for the real thing .