Time for our sport to mature and take control

[Bruce CurtisMember]

We are no longer Rebels without causes, we cannot afford to be lone wolves with bad attitudes it is the 21st century and we need to realise this if we are too survive.

I have had a few experiences lately that have cause me to ponder the future of recreational Motorcycle trail riding as it stands, the first one is the sheer volume of deaths occurring on the trails and at motorcycle complexes nationally. Now 25 years ago if a trailrider or MXer was killed on the bike it was uncommon and the news reached far around the countryside like wildfire, as while a dangerous sport we didn’t actually seem to have too many fatalities only lots of broken bones and so forth.
This trend I believe has many contributing factors including the obvious one of it becoming an almost mainstream activity and these factors are from my own observations over the past 5 years.

• The influx of “new age” Bikers who want to run before they can crawl and the wholly unsuitable mounts they are being sold or are convinced they can handle.

• The sheer numbers of riders out there, it is a percentages game, more activity more accidents and so forth

• The “extreme sports mentality” yes this affects middle-aged blokes too, in an age of 300’ jumps and double backflips how hard can it be to ride like them, besides I’m infallible, look at those tattooed idiots surely I’m just as good if I had the chance, besides never hurt myself badly playing tennis did I?

• Keeping up with the Jones’, or plain old red mist, my manhood is dependant on keeping up and beating those blokes, I’m quicker and smarter than them so I can twist the throttle and go just as hard, they’re just sitting down doing the same… wrong mind some of those blokes have been doing this for 40 years and the unseen inputs and mental processes that they have developed that cannot be taught is why they made the 6’ canyon jump without raising bum off seat or why they cleared two logs in one hit with a quick lift of the front and subtle body shift.

• Bikes have become missiles, while the engines may not be that much more powerful the overall package of handling and tyres etc has the ability to let a novice gumby do 80-100 kph between trees, and unfortunately our bodies haven’t evolved as quickly so when it all comes unstuck, it happens all so much quicker and harder, the results are usually far worse than the few bruises and cracked bones we used see 30 years ago.

NOISE

• With the advent of the fourstroke domination of our pastime along with it has come an increase old enemy of ours NOISE.

• A Modern fourstoke like it or not has a further reaching note than that of an older bike, and while we may appreciate the note of a well tuned racebike, the general public and landowner do not.

• The NSW government has and continues to make moves to curb all noise and we need to realize that the more we offend the worse the penalties shall be.

• For those who say “a loud bike is a safe bike” come on move into the 21st century, a loud bike causes public outcry and closes riding areas off for us permanently, gets us viewed as anti-social hoons and we get no sympathy from the media. Besides a loud bike necessitates only one of the persons using the area to have the loud bike as you cannot hear over the booming of your own exhaust, and we have just as big a responsibility to be aware of other bush users as they do of us.

I was just involved in court case which I found personally distasteful and has prompted me to pen this in hope that we grow up as a brotherhood of users before we are legislated out of existence. This court case was that of a third gen farming family riding their MX based Fourstrokes on a river flat opposite a group of weekend farmers from the city. Now the younger family members all have modified race bike with very loud exhausts (they also are members of the local MX club) which every weekend they ride around a home practice track that’s been there since I was a lad. Not anymore, started with 2 complaints, a mediation was tried and a riding roster time was worked out, but that failed after 3 months so fines where issued and suggestions where made by officers of the crown as to relocating the track to a less populated part of the property. At this stage the Farmer dug his heels in and stated “my bloody property if the kids wanna ride around they bloody well can” well as it turns out they can’t, there is a plethora of laws in NSW about land use and approval of land use and pollution and so forth resulting in a huge fine for the farmer and orders to cease and desist, and a criminal record. Now it has got so out of hand that the police are visiting with land and water blokes every week and basically this bloke can’t move without being pinged, and there is threats of personal nature to all concerned.

Now while I in no way agree with these draconian measures and think personally “bloody city people moved here on their 5 acre lots just phuk off and go back to your café’ sipping metrosexual habitats and leave us dinkum bushies alone”, it is too late, it has happened and we have been legislated into a corner, outmaneuvered as it were and if we don’t pull up our socks we will be eradicated altogether.

Add your comments my Comrades for I have steadily realised that we are indeed a threatened species and we cannot afford to antagonize Joe Public anymore without it biting our rear fenders.

Bruce C.

[Anonymous]

I am going to put this post as a sticky Bruce, as I feel that everything that you have written is very relevant and everyone should read it.

I am one that needs to evolve a bit from the loud pipe mindset, as loud pipes will eventually kill our sport.

Top work mate.

[Mick DMember]

Congratulations Bruce, a well thought out and articulate post. You are correct on all counts as far as I am concerned. I also attribute some of the noise grief we are getting to the explosion of cheap Chinese mini bikes that seem to be on every public reserve or piece of suburban bush.
I back this up by saying, that not many parents of kids who own a $6000 85cc bike would allow their kids to ride about the streets or public reserves.

Unfortunately,the general public tend to bundle all dirt bikes together and we “the responsible dirtbikers” are being tarred with the same brush as the irresponsible hooligans, so to speak.

One only has to go over to Thumpertalk.com and see the land use issues they are experiencing in America.With Australia being the most Americanised nation in the world,you can be sure further down the track we will be seeing the
same issues rear their ugly heads here, if like Bruce says” we dont pull our collective socks up”

It isn’t just dirtbikes that are experiencing this sort of drama,recreational fishing also has it’s critics, so much so, the fishing fraternity have their own lobby groups to protect their interests from the do gooder greeny types.

[glennMember]

Excellent read Blue
I have too been thinking about the current stats around our sport, so to speak

1. Increase in deaths of dirt bike rides.
A possible contributing factor could be the fact the modern day off road motorcycle are now produced as lightweight high speed ,high revving weapons.
Another contributing factor may be the fact that inexperience riders as I am have now got easier access to these weapons; I had never ridden a dirt bike in anger until September2008 and when I walked into the bike shop to purchase a dirt bike, I could have left owning any high powered bike I wished and then headed off into the bush to literally open the throttle and try to think I knew what I was doing.

Back when Noah was a pup we had to get the coin together for a bike. Now days the financial institutions welcome anyone to borrow money and they don’t care if they can pay it back as they get their collateral back from selling the repo purchase. This means nearly anyone can be in the bush on the latest and greatest weapon.
An example of this would be when on one ride I rode with a bloke on a old DT200 and he fell off on every second corner, however he liked riding so much on the next trip he turns up on a WR450??

Noise

As for noise being a contributing factor to areas being closed, I do agree to a certain extent; however I feel the people wishing to have our ride areas closed off tend to use the soil erosion caused from people constantly spinning their wheels to attempt to reach the tops of hills and alike, this also includes 4×4 which in my opinion cause a hell of a lot more environment damage than a dirt bike.
Noisy machinery is part and parcel to living in the bush, the young fellow across the road rides sliders and he is quite often out on his bike in his back yard, but hey he was here before we were.

boony

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

Boony wrote:

Quote:

Noisy machinery is part and parcel to living in the bush, the young fellow across the road rides sliders and he is quite often out on his bike in his back yard, but hey he was here before we were.
boony

Unfortunately Boony, as pointed out in Mr Blue’s report the fact that they were riding there before the complainents moved in was not a deterent and unfortunatley not everyone has the same sense of fair play or easy going attitude as you. I was on a ride with Huskybloke last year around Wallaroo when a farmer waved us down and tried to tell us that we weren’t allowed on the road we were on even though it was a public road and we were all licenced riders on rego’ed bikes. He too was a recent city retiree who had just moved to the country.

[Anonymous]

Mick I agree with your post especially regarding the cheap chinese pit bikes v proper mini motorcross bikes – there has been many a time when I have been outside at home and hear the roar of one of these toys. I usally look to see what sort of bike it is thinking that it will be something a little bit bigger than a 110cc.

You are 100% in regard to parents who buy the expensive MX bikes for thier kids, why would you as a parent who has had to work for the bike let little Johnny racer ride them around the streets and risk having the bike taken away or risk the fines that go with it. It is usally the no hopers that really dont give a crap about what their kids are up to who would let this sort of crap go on.

However it is sad that there is not more areas other than ride parks etc that kids can get out and have a ride on their bikes. I know as a young bloke, it was nothing to spend all weekend up the bush riding (yes unregistered and unlicenced) but still not bothering anyone and damaging anything.

It is up to us to make sure or try and make sure that we do have areas left for both ourselves and our children to ride.

Once again I applaud your post Bruce and hope that it can be kept on topic please.

[glennMember]

Jeffro wrote:

Quote:

Boony wrote:

Quote:

Noisy machinery is part and parcel to living in the bush, the young fellow across the road rides sliders and he is quite often out on his bike in his back yard, but hey he was here before we were.
boony

Unfortunately Boony, as pointed out in Mr Blue’s report the fact that they were riding there before the complainents moved in was not a deterent and unfortunatley not everyone has the same sense of fair play or easy going attitude as you. I was on a ride with Huskybloke last year around Wallaroo when a farmer waved us down and tried to tell us that we weren’t allowed on the road we were on even though it was a public road and we were all licenced riders on rego’ed bikes. He too was a recent city retiree who had just moved to the country.

noise..

Yeah Jeffro ,,I was just saying that I dont mind the young fella riding as he was here and then we built,,,I understand not everyone has that take on it. its like people who buy in a flight path then whinge about the noise

[Mick DMember]

A perfect example of an excellent ride venue crowded out and complained about by “weekend farmers” about was a place called Hungry Creek.For those of you that aren’t old enough to remember Hungry Creek, it was near Wollombi and it was the premier ride park in the 70’s. Unfortunatly, the Pitt street Farmers moved in knowing full well that the facility was there.It wasn’t long before the noise complaints started to roll in and that was the beginning of Hungry Creek’s demise.
“I was here first” doesn’t seem to gel as a defence in the Land and environment court.

[glennMember]

there are some things we can do ,and that is help lift our profile as bike riders, all the road bikies get a big owwwahhh when they do toy runs and we recently had a poker run up which raised heaps for a charity and the local media was all over it.
if we can get a site like OBT involved as teams in these events it can only do good, some thing as simple as a donation tin on the larger rides tor monies to go to ,,say RFS and rescue choppers.

we will never beat the weekend farmers,so to speak ,but we give our selves a helping hand in the profile situation. i will organise a charity for the Old bulls do nundle 2012,and publise it locally.

Boony

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Damn fine idea Boony, Good P.R. can never be overated, and congrats to you personally for having the common sense to buy a steed that is perfect for the blokes in your shoes. While we give them (Banannas) a bit of light hearted grief, I would rather a bloke found his feet on something like yours’ than a WR/CRF/KLX/450 or the likes, I undertsand how the call to buy “the biggest and best” is but head over heart and a modicum of self restraint goes a long way.

Do off-road Motorcycliss actually have a lobby group in NSW? because I’m damn sure the Roadies do.

BC

[Mick DMember]

here is some light reading Bruce.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218432

I think the DSMRA also do a bit of political lobbying.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Just last night I myself found myself pissed off with a fellow dirt biker. Some f#*kwit on a WR450 with a load pipe decided at about 8pm it was a good time to do wheelies up and down my street.

Now im a dirtbiker and i appreciate a good wheely as much as the next bloke (and these were good 200m plus wheelies). But if he come past one more time and I would have thrown a brick at him.

Now imagine what the rest of my non-dirtbiking neighbours were thinking. The rest of us end up tared with the same brush.

[Bruce CurtisMember]

I believe there were up to 4 dirtbike deaths last week reported.

It’s out of hand, they (they- being the authorities) can and will use the shock value of loss of human life to further a campaign of anti-bike measures, just wait until after the next election, matters not who holds the reigns, the same public servants who dislike us will be leading the horses.

BC

[GregMember]

Yes Bruce thanks very sad, you are as always right about the authorities using the shock value but how do we fix it?

TB

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

Yes Bruce thanks very sad, you are as always right about the authorities using the shock value but how do we fix it?

TB

I’m not sure TB, but I do know the importers and dirtbike industry as a whole need to play an active role, they make the money, they need to put something back into helping to secure the future of this recreational activity.

We need unity and a system of communication with all.

[Author]

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