So…..Why are you NOT racing???

[albrid-3]

why is it that we cant just except it, and enjoy what we have and improve it, VMX in other country like England, europe, America, enjoy there old racing bikes and just have some fun, ex- champion
get out and play. we just need to swallow it up, and keep the spirit alive, F---K it, I am getting off my arse and support my club and help improve it and go racing.

[Ted]

Two young guys loved the track at the recent Pre 78 Port Augusta Nats.

As far as young guys destroying old bikes goes, I think that reflects more on the initial set up of the bike than the rider riding them too fast.

[albrid-3]

No, its not about the young rider, its about the design of the track that may have been set up by a young riders that don`t have a clue about old bikes and setting up a track to suit old bikes.

[Nathan S]

Ted and Nathan , Im not saying only  guys who rode the bikes when they were new should ride them and Im not worried about them being faster than me for fluc sake anyone is faster than me . What Im saying is apart from a very few most under 20's have no affinity for the bikes the vast majority ride their fathers or grandfathers bikes for the day and rap the shit out of it because its only a old shitter is it not . I sat on the start line a few years ago with a 20 something on a lovely RM250 the 10 sec board had not even gone up and this guy had it at full song I yelled at him give it a rest it has no governor , His answer its a 2 stroke it will take it if not fxxx it its an old junker my granddad left it to me .
I have no problem with the newer classes pre 90 or even pre 2000 but they can not play on the same tracks for the sake of both the older bikes would find any track that a more modern bike and rider enjoy would be to rugged for anything pre 75 . Anything that a pre 75 bike and rider would like would be like riding on a bowling green to them .
Iain

Fair enough, but what do you do about that?
Either you say 'no young blokes' and the older eras die as the older riders retire, or you deal with the quirks of young blokes as they arise...

I really, really think that FAR too much time is spent talking about the 16-30 year olds. They're not ever going to be widely attracted to nostalgia racing. The demographic we need to be spending FAR more time on, is the 35~45 year olds.

[OverTheHill]

Not racing coz too fkn old--actually too disorganised, googled that for spelling & came up with an image that looked like my shed damn it. Started on a hand change girder forked 125 Excelsior & the paddock hardly cut up at all--i vote pre "40. Plus kids these days should be restricted to driving sidevalve morris minors till they're----mmmm 40. Sorry, carry on.

[FourstrokeForever]

why is it that we cant just except it, and enjoy what we have and improve it, VMX in other country like England, europe, America, enjoy there old racing bikes and just have some fun, ex- champion
get out and play. we just need to swallow it up, and keep the spirit alive, F---K it, I am getting off my arse and support my club and help improve it and go racing.

I for one would like to see you follow through with you getting off your arse Dave. You have contributed a hell of a lot in the past with Victorian VMX and you have some great ideas. Shite, you and the other mob from CSC pretty much started the VMX movement in Victoria but somehow, the club has dropped the ball. Pull your finger out and have a go Dave.....the sport needs you.

[albrid-3]

TBM, IT will happen, very soon.

[supersenior 50]

Foxy and Nathan have got it right. No problem with young seniors who support the sport, but they are always very few in number. Like Nathan says, it's the 40+ that are the backbone of vintage. Young guys get older and hopefully gravitate to vintage as time goes on. Our group of newer members come from the 40 and 50 demographic and are returning to dirt bikes as pressure of kids, career etc lessens.
John Kittle made the observation that "young guys are the future of modern motocross then as they get older become the future of vintage" I know there are exceptions, but this is generally true.
As Foxy observes, bringing in juniors on modern bikes (and their parents) is fraught with peril.
The growth of Vinduro is great and I see it continuing. I don't understand the doom and gloom though, 2010 Nats,about 160 entries, 2011 137, 2012 Classic (first after the split) 166, a (record), 2013 130 (at 7 weeks notice), 2014 Post Classic about 140. These numbers exceed  the good old days mainly, so while we need to keep working at it things are not as bad as this forum suggests.
As has been said before, a rider, or sponsor who looked at this forum to get a view on how our sport is going would run a mile.
I will say though that this thread has been mainly constructive.

[Iain Cameron]

I know from my time at Heaven back in 2000 that we ran mini's and later had juniors on vmx minis and it went quite well . Im only talking about here in Tassie our club merged with a modern club we had a few young one's who were into older bikes but after the merg to me it felt like the kids parents took over and the modern riders all on modern 4 strokes wanted bigger jumps , stutters , short straights and hairpin corners . the older group mainly vmx riders started not coming or dropping the older bikes to go to pre 80 and later bikes . Hence when I say younger Im meaning modern riders that race modern 4 strokers who dabble in to VMX as a lark . As to the mainland clubs where the whole club is VMX hopefully this problem does not happen . Iain

[bigk]

Some of the problem is most certainly the tracks we "race" on. Most (pretty much all) are set up for the current mentality of low average speed with high technicality, which just doesn't suit the bulk of VMX racers. There always seems to be a double, triple or step up jump & some sort of stutters, which make a lot of guys think a tad too much.
K

[Rookie#1]

Some of the problem is most certainly the tracks we "race" on. Most (pretty much all) are set up for the current mentality of low average speed with high technicality, which just doesn't suit the bulk of VMX racers. There always seems to be a double, triple or step up jump & some sort of stutters, which make a lot of guys think a tad too much.
K

The middle ground seems so hard to find though, it would be great to have a handful of tracks that were in the middle somewhere and could be deemed challenging for the short travel bikes and at least "interesting" for the long travel bikes. I can understand both not wanting to race on the other.

[Mike52]

At the rate all our Governments are degrading our standard of living we will be able to talk about this down at the dump while we collect plastic bags for a living.
At least we'll have the memories.

[FourstrokeForever]

Some of the problem is most certainly the tracks we "race" on. Most (pretty much all) are set up for the current mentality of low average speed with high technicality, which just doesn't suit the bulk of VMX racers. There always seems to be a double, triple or step up jump & some sort of stutters, which make a lot of guys think a tad too much.
K

The middle ground seems so hard to find though, it would be great to have a handful of tracks that were in the middle somewhere and could be deemed challenging for the short travel bikes and at least "interesting" for the long travel bikes. I can understand both not wanting to race on the other.

I agree totally with both of you gents. An old school (eerks me to say that) style ski jump or 2 would be great for the old bikes. Throw in a berm or 2 so the later bikes can throw some roost. Maybe a smallish tabletop for a bit of show. Geez, this is all sounding a lot like Underra!

[Nathan S]

Old bikes on modern tracks are an issue.
Old bodies on modern tracks are also an issue... Most of us 'old blokes' won't clear all the obstacles on a modern track, even on a modern bike.

[supersenior 50]

It can be done. Brisbane MCC ran the Qld Classic and Post Classic C'ship at Harrisville a few months ago with bikes from 1957 Jawa to 1989 500cc Honda, and riders from Don Newell at 83 yoa to Glen Bell. All reported they'd had a great event. Granted we are lucky that the Harrisville track stands up to the long travel suspensions better than most, and the long 2km circuit means less laps so less wear and tear.