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This is not limited (or intended) to the 2-stroke vs. 4-stroke debate,
Just can't help yourself, can you?
No; but it makes for higher price tags on the showroom.
I'm more concerned with how it affects my riding/budget than the 15 minute SHOW on Saturday night. Its a Fine line for sure. OEM's have to progress but it comes at a price.
Everybody wants all the latest greatest gizmo's on thier bikes then bitch when the msrp is out of their budgets.
There is a market for nuts and bolts bike @5k. I don't go $2500 faster with a set of valves, coated forks and a fuel pump. I doubt the masses do either. That $ would get me more gate drops and parts.
Some of best "motorized racing" i've ever seen: Stock 50's with bar kits in a field.
The Shop
Some of you mentioned F1. I worked at the biggest "non-factory" german motorsport team until midweek. I took a Formula 3 car apart. The data acquisition stuff is insane, as are the price tags of the individual parts. The "sport" is sick anyway, as the guy who brings the most money with him gets the spot in the car. Heck there's an international race series with at the moment 10 (!!!) drivers!
I think good racing is bringing as much racers on an equal level as possible. It's not just the technology, but also the track, the riders ability, ...
I would Also like to see a stock 450 race.
And before you say it yes I revived 7 year old thread
It has a lot of interesting things in it
And I Noticed that I dont see any of the guys commenting
In this thread posting anymore, I wonder why ?
Most will answer the 1987 Anaheim SX.
Factory riders bitch about tracks that are too easy and don't give them the chance to use their superior talent and equipment to gap the pack but if either Bailey or Johnson had been able to something on the track the other couldn't due to equipment, for example, the best SX race in history would have just been another run away.
I don't know if advancing tech helps even the field or spread it out... but my vote would be for anything and everything that tightens the pack up.
Even the "lites" class has better racing the the Premier's
Better racing we can assume is defined as close racing.
If limiting tech to achieve close racing was the premise, you could certainly put everyone on matching bikes and a non technical track and you will still have dominant riders.
I'm all for local races being qualified or grouped by times for better racing and less classes.
When it comes to Pro's, I want to see the best riders, on the best bikes race on the best tracks, even if it means that sometimes it is a runaway.
What is potentially hurting the sport is the increased cost of amateur competition as technology improves. We can't price median earners and below out of the sport and expect business to carry on as usual. Younger people as a whole are not doing as well financially as the Boomers and Gen. X. This won't change in the near future.
This isn't entirely the sport's fault. There are macroeconomic and demographic forces at play that are one-two punches. Further raising the price of machinery will result in a one-two-three punch. Then the only place you will see a dirt bike is in Angel Stadium.
And to add, the 3 teams in f1 are MILES ahead literally and figuratively. It’s almost like having two different categories of cars on the track at the same time. It’s crazy.
The groups by times would be cool if everyone went out and rode like they normally would, but guys would sand bag so bad to stay in a lower class!
Any technology that just adds cost but is available to anyone is unnecessary. Holeshot devices are a perfect example. If everybody can have the edge, then why have it? It's just extra cost.
I could argue the importance of EFI in terms of predictability and safety. Every time I ride one of my older bikes I seem to get reminded of bogging at bad times.
Rider wins at the end of the day.
In F1 that's a different story.
Pit Row
I think the true seperator is $$$.. The top guys train/ride to beat everyone else. The privateers who cant afford to train with good trainers or who have to pay for all their parts on their bikes just simply cannot practice and train as much as those who are on factory teams. The gap will only get larger and larger, unless privateers start getting paid more to race..
Simply put, Privateers do not have the same luxury as the factory guys... Every other sport, if you are professional, that is your full time gig and you are expected to perform. In Mx, we have professionals making the night show on stock bikes, that ride maybe once a week because they have to drive their bike and tools to every track, let alone keeping up on the maintenance...
Every Athlete on a professional sports team has everything provided to them, facility's, trainers, diets etc. Privateers are provided a spot to pit with their entry and thats it... The gap will always be large..
Just my .02
Any solutions?
Mine is Horsepower cap ,
Or maybe only a certain amount of cash can be spent on bike , or Totally stock motor with suspension done ?
And at least close the gap somewhat
450s are faster, but much less entertaining to watch because watching a guy torque it around a corner at 3k RPM or burp his bike over a big double is not as exciting, compared to shrieking two-strokes.
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