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American MOTORCYCLIST Association
Association - A group of people organized for a joint purpose.
Let's say that the joint purpose is broadly defined as the welfare of Motorcyclists.
"Dear AMA,
As a paid member of the Association I would like to bring some concerns to your attention. I see kids coming off of 85's going straight to 250f's and dying. I see young adults quit riding after dreaming of racing professionally only to be unable to pursue their dreams due to the cost of a 250f racing program. I see new riders buying ticking time bomb 250f's, only to have the bike blow up shortly thereafter, ending their interest in riding. I have noticed the speed on the tracks has increased with 450's which has lead to more serious injuries at my local track. My local track is also fighting noise complaints on a consistent basis, which were much less prevalent 20 years ago. Local trail ride and free ride areas in my area have been closed down for the same reason. I have seen a decline in participation and fear for the wellbeing of the sport in the future.
Best regards,
-Concerned member of the Association"
Response:
Dear nobody,
We could care less about your input or suggestions. We could also care less about your local riding areas, as we obviously didn't do a thing to help. As a "member" or whatever you want to call yourself, you should familiarize yourself with our policy. Rights, riding, racing. As in, we have the right to tell you where and how you are allowed to ride and race.
You're lucky we even bothered to respond,
-The American Manufacturers Association
I have raced for many years and have owned and raced every size and type of bike available today. They all have their place, but unfair rules and agendas should not eliminate the most cost effective and safest option for the average guy.
I do NOT think 250Fs are safer than the 125's that they were supposedly a match for but ended up displacing. That was a reckless cannibalistic rule to impose that even Mitch Payton had words for and I wont even start the 125 debate here as I think everyone agrees at this point. Taking a child from an 85 to a 250F is criminal. A kid on a 250F easily having the ability to do bigger jumps and go faster than his skill level compared to a 125 which forces him to learn these skills before he has the capability to hurt himself is a problem, but thats another subject. By the way, Honda tried this exact same 250F replacement of 125's thing in Carting and other sports, but it was stopped. Why was MX on board? $$ for someone.
As to whether or not the average kid with a 250F vs a 125 with a small budget and some hand tools in his garage will be riding or hanging out with his buddies drinking and broke for the rest of the summer after his bike blows up the first time, thats another story too. I agree with Jeff's comment "With a two-stroke, if you blow the engine you can drop a new piston in it and it is good to go. With a four-stroke, you pretty much have to buy a whole new motorcycle. "
The 450 has been described as dangerous by a few top pros. McGrath said it drives you into the ground and either him or Reed said it chases you down and doesn't deflect off. The 450 extra weight and power compared to the 250 2T is not only less safe, but more so the Gyro effect of the motor effectively making it feel heavier when it hits something is what causes it to be especially brutal. Irony is that the very thing that makes them track straight is what also hurts the most when getting thumped by one. I also agree with Jeff and my personal experience, "I personally like two-strokes better. I think that if racing went back to two-strokes there would be less injuries."
As far as the AMA goes, a certain someone there was criminal and stole loads of money from the members and made irresponsible decisions for the sports future and the safety of riders. For the AMA and the factories, somewhere in the 90's, making the sport better/safer and making more money took two very different paths. I was in the industry at that time and heard the "business plan" from the top down. Everyone was going to get rich and 2 strokes werent going to get us there and as a matter of fact, they would be gone for it to happen. This would be blamed on the EPA and not the "10 year plan".
I think many of the people here who are debating that the AMA can just take your money and do as they please never had an AMA card or gotten the pile of heavily pitched junk mail claiming that you must join the AMA to "Have a voice" and let us "Fight for your rights"
At what point is it just called Collusion?
The Shop
This does go along with what I knew about closed course riding from personal experience. I have never been stopped from riding a two stroke any place I have ever been in 27 years tracks or public land. This also backs up that this whole plan was blamed on the EPA as an unquestionable authority, but was not really relevant especially at the time in order to add credibility to an agenda.
We ALL should just do a better job of making sure the conflict of letting the fox run the hen house is not the path as it has somehow become.
Maybe you should sue the AMA for not doing everything you want them to do. See how well that goes.
And by the way, the AMA is a business. They do whatever they need to do to make their business the best they possibly can. Just like you would do if you ran a business, right? So if the big factories are throwing the money to them then they have every right to have more say. If you pay X amount of money for your membership and Honda pays 10,000 more toward the business (AMA) shouldn't they have 10,000 more say than you?
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/about/History.aspx
The AMA has a 12 person board of directors who make the decisions. 6 of them are elected directly by the members, 4 of them are elected by the "business members". The other 2 are nominated by a committee and voted on by members. It was designed so that the individual member is represented more so than the "business members". Doesn't seem that is how it is working in reality though.
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/about/board
It was tempting to send some emails to that nice list of people looking out for our rights. I think MB's post above is about what we would get back. It's the funniest thing I've read in a long time but sad at the same time.
Can always reach out to Davey Coombs also. I haven't seen him post much on here lately and he probably has his hands full with the outdoors starting up soon. If he wanted it to happen, it would happen...
Pit Row
Post a reply to: Mike Alessi on two strokes