all good points except the self interest one,
all things considered, all clubs have to consider how to maintain viability and what suites them.
Since when, would anyone consider a pre 90 bike as vinatge, the debate isnt about renaming these bikes as vintage and SHOULD NEVER BE, it has been put forward as a Demo class, not rewriting the Holy Grail of VMX.
How many events have a support class?, all it is helping to do is cover costs and thus keeping costs down to min for their memmbers. no differant from a modern club offering a vintage class to help fill the gates
so you have all gone off track with what really HAS been put forward,
IT WAS NOT PUT FORWARD TO RENAME PRE 90 BIKES AS VINTAGE. or ever class them this way.
My God , i ve just been told the sun hasnt come up today and we are all going to fall in this big hole , support class, who would ever think this one up, what were they thinking
cheers Trev
Hi Trev,
First, good luck with the clubs proposal for pre90 if thats what it will take to keep the club running financally. But surely there are other avenues to persue or discuss to bring revenue into the club before introducing a more modern class? But havn't you even said in this thread that you would doubt that many would show up? With this being the case, wouldnt it cost the club more money to run a Pre90 class per head than say the MOTO-100 Class? Instead of a "demo Pre 90 class" I would much prefer to see a one off "Recreational Class" during a VMX meeting with no racing but more in the movement of 'Classic Dirt' free riding. A 30min stint half way through the day at a reasonable cost to the punter to be charged and maybe it would entice more members to either re-join/join as I do feel it is to early for a pre90 class to be involved in a vmx meeting.
I can list the reasons for my opinion even though they are irrational, hollow, baseless rantings and with emotion form a scared, head in the sand, vintage rider.
Pre90 bikes, as have been discuss earlier, are leaps and bounds better than the older bikes, as my friend Nathan has pointed out(which is fair enough) therefore the racing will be harder and faster, the jumps bigger and more spectacular, but with this comes bigger and more serious accidents. I know accidents happen (and freak ones at that, sorry organisers of the Conondale) but we all know how long it takes to resolve a serious accident.
The Linkage bikes rip up a track in allot more and in a different way to an older bike, therefore isnt the cost of track maintance going to increase? The one class of pre85 racing has showed that and now if pre90 racing is included wont it only make it harder for the older bikes/riders to preform on a rougher/tougher track?
In keeping with the theme of vintage motocross "same old bikes, same old dirt, same old fun" aren't the more older bikes going to struggle to keep pace(in perpetual terms) thus actually causing the demise of aircooled/twinshock racing? By holding back with the introduction of future/newer classes members will be more willing to ride the older bikes, (Nathan is a prime example of this, and I take my hat off to you Nathan) even though our opinions' may differ on the subject.
As both Nathan and Magoo have agreed that a pre90 class would be benefical to our sport by increasing numbers and have both agreed that the older bikes will become extinct in the future, but have stated that there was less bikes sold through the years after 1981 onwards. At what point does this become benefical to our sport?
I have always thought vmx was about the bikes, but I read that there is a "target market" for riders, which must mean as we get older our dollars aren't as good as the younger set. In years to come, will a 16yr old on his '08 bike be racing at a vmx meeting in 2025 and discussing how he changed his carb/pipe/ports etc. Do they do that now?
STW, I dont own a pre75 bike, so it pissing off would be a bit pointless. My remarks werent surpose to be negative and I'm sorry you took them that way. I don't dislike any bikes as I have said earlier and I am only just trying to have a say on this subject as well. I thought you that you liked the Moto-100 and I was argreeing with you as I have even said in this posting. For what it is worth, Yes, I also sponsor VMX but not through a business. Although I don't live in Australia, this subject is very important across the board and if it come to fruitition I wont be leaving, but working hard so that the class can be the best it can be.
Trev, I have a tall ladder, can I help hold the sky up
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Oldschool,
I enjoyed the read;
By introducing this as a demo class is the foot in the door to the class becoming ratified. "Little seeds grow into big trees" and what starts in QVMX and VIPER will eventually become the accepted senior class. What the anti pre 90 group are afraid of is that the upper limit is moving forward too fast and that pre 90 is coming in before pre '85 has a chance to blossom, let alone grow. It's been a good debate, with no name calling or temper tantrums. I am personally against the pre 90 class on a number of levels but also understand the clubs reasons for introducing it. What I think is more important is the preservation of the traditional classes such as pre '75 and pre '65. These classes are the foundation of our sport and they need to be maintained at all cost. There are a lot of good young brains out there in the VMX community that should be working towards keeping our sports original concept in good health rather than looking for new classes. The West Aussies have shown that the traditional vintage classes can not only survive but can grow.
To me that is far more important than debating pre 90.