Posts
42
Joined
5/28/2016
Location
Redondo Beach, CA
US
I've heard about people riding inside a converted warehouse in places it snows?
Why doesn't Los Angeles have something like this?
It seems in the year 2016 Vital would have enough professional rich guys that could overcome the bullshit about motorcycles in California.
Bullshit=Insurance,location,permits,ventilation,lawsuits.
I would pay 2500/5000 a year for a membership to ride at night indoors, LOCALLY. I understand it won't be cheap, but 250 members paying $2500.00 each generates 600k for start up.....
What would you really pay?
Let's hear why it can and why it can't happen in Los Angeles.
Why doesn't Los Angeles have something like this?
It seems in the year 2016 Vital would have enough professional rich guys that could overcome the bullshit about motorcycles in California.
Bullshit=Insurance,location,permits,ventilation,lawsuits.
I would pay 2500/5000 a year for a membership to ride at night indoors, LOCALLY. I understand it won't be cheap, but 250 members paying $2500.00 each generates 600k for start up.....
What would you really pay?
Let's hear why it can and why it can't happen in Los Angeles.
As for me though, I would love to have a place that I could go ride after work during the week. Somewhere that gives my family a place to watch that isn't in the sun and 105 degree weather.
I would love being a member to a "gym" that had an MX skills track (various whoop sections, rhythm sections, etc, along with a bmx pump track, and maybe even a traditional gym. I would be there every day during the week.
The Shop
Once we get it closer to being done, I am sure the riders will appreciate the ability to ride inside durring the winter and look at it as a positive fun thing to do. www.megatraxs.com
Our first test night Chase Sexton was on hand and the fastest lap he mustered was a 52.5 and we have a third of a track yet to build! so anytime you can get a minute lap time inside, i say is a good thing?
Cedar Lake Arena
http://www.cedarlakespeedway.com/page/show/1500304-photo-tour
Pit Row
From what I understand the building does not have an actual floor where the track is, so they are able to build obstacles down into the ground.
It's too expensive in LA.
You wouldn't get 250 people paying $2500 and if you did, you couldn't afford to do anything with it.
Building it inside doesn't get you away from any of the "bullshit". All of those things still apply.
We used to have Sandbox on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border and Waterbox(?) in Illinois. We now have Racine Indoor Motocross but I have been out of the scene for a few years and not sure if it is still there. The problem with indoor tracks on the winter is that the ground freezes. Most of these facilities don't keep the place heated enough to keep the dirt in good enough condition.
I had a 2007 KTM450sxf with the 4 speed. I wouldn't get out of first gear on the indoor tracks. If I put a large rear sprocket I could get into second on a track like Sandbox. It was fun for awhile but got old.
I know there were other problems with the indoor tracks. Peoples throttles would stick or other problems and in a building if you over shot something there was a wall. Huge liability. Hats off for the people who make these tracks!
This is Clark County AX, just north of Portland OR.
Noise study, traffic study, parking study, signatures of approval from every residence within a certain radius (5K plus homes, ALL of wich had to sign yes I want this, or am ok with it, ALL of them, not most, all), air quality study, he needed ventilation reports, exhaust studies to determine what air filters(scrubbers I think they called them ?) and how many he would need. A way to wash the bikes and especially tires, you push your bike to your truck, it drops some dirt in the parking lot, that dirt gets tracked into the street, can't have that happening. He couldn't build a "track" so he was going to call it a "gym", (a gym where you ride your motorcycle to workout) Runoff problems from watering the track, The idea of making it where you rent electric bikes was kicked around to avoid the mud in the street and noise concerns. Safety was also a big concern , here were a few safety related ideas. All jumps would be table tops, more than likely arched up to make sure there were no unsafe spots to land (except for over jumping obviously) The jumps would have a distance sign so you knew how for each jump was. One idea was a SX triple training jump. Same distance as a sx triple (I think it was 66' ?) and a launch ramp that mimicked the takeoff of a stadium triple, only instead of a gap the dirt would be piled high and shaped in an arch 4 or 5 feet lower than the trajectory needed to clear it. That way a rider could feel what it's like to clear a sx triple but never be more than 4 or 5 feet high and have zero chance of coming up short. Red lights all around the track in addition to flaggers if a rider went down, 2 towers over looking the track with spotters to turn the lights on, one guy goes down, everyone stops. Emt's, liability insurance, release of liability forms. All those things plus a bajillion others were included in his business plan. $ amount needed to break even, number of employee's needed to run it, advertising plans, ways to deal with spilt gas in the event of a crash, he spent close to 3 years working out every single last detail. Got the green light from the city (somehow) But the cost of the studies required along with all the other start up costs made it unfeasible, not to mention getting 5'000 (maybe it 3500 I forget) old people to sign the ok. One old lady or man say's no and too bad, you're out. One douchebag decides to start his bike or ride it in the parking lot and draws acomplaint could shut you down. He had examples of other indoor track from other parts of the country as (working operating models? or some legal terminology) included in the plan. In the end it's too much money time and effort involved to be in a position where one knucklehead or grouchy neighbor could shut the whole thing down. Told yo I could go on and on about it hahaha. if anyone has an almost unlimited supply of money and time and wants to try, pm me. I'm sure he'd be willing to let you pick his brain on the subject. He gave it a valiant effort but opened up a sport bike shop instead...
Just because it's inside doesn't mean that you can do what you want. CO2 scrubbers for ventilation systems, a building that is over 120,000 sqft (3 acres). You can't fit enough riders on it to break even because in SoCal there are 10 other tracks within an hour and a half drive.
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