Some rules in this sport, that I am very passionate about , spoil things for me and just make me want to go away and do something else. The class that I was most interested in is pre '78, because that is the place in time that I started racing. The bikes of that period are the ones that I have the most attachment to, even though I own and enjoy bikes across the spectrum from pre '75 through to pre '90 (and modern trailbikes as well). I own five '77 model motocross bikes, that I had a desire to own from back in the day, that I refuse to reverse engineer to meet the stupid 9 inch travel rule. So I won't be entering another national title meeting in pre '78 class while ever this rule is in place.
Probably more than half of the '77 model MXers had more than 9 inches of suspension, so I think that the limit should be 10 inches. It defies logic to me that someone would buy an older, less competitive bike in a class (probably because they are cheaper) and expect later and more advanced machines to be modified backwards to meet inferior standards, supposedly to make things more fair. Wouldn't it be more sensible the other way round, by having the older bikes modified with later model suspension components to make them more competitive ? The rules for this class are pretty much a word for word copy from the AHRMA Historic class. If you are going to plagiarise someone elses rules, you should at least make sure that they are good rules to begin with.
As far as the rules for Evo class forks are concerned, couldn't the rules just be worded that you can use any conventional forks that were originally from a bike manufactured with a drum brake front wheel ? Wouldn't this stop anyone using forks from a disc braked bike and descending into the depths of the dreaded Dutch twin shocks ?
The rule regarding exhaust pipes in pre '75 and earlier classes, having to follow the original line of the manufacturer, needs to be looked at as well.
