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Granted there are more people riding 450s today than 500s ten years ago but we're seeing people get hurt on 250Fs as well as 450s.
If the 450s are really too much then shouldn't the 250Fs be so much safer? It wouldn't matter if everyone only rode 125 two stokes given the way the tracks are designed today IMO.
The biggest thing this sport is lacking is common sense. It took over eight years and Lord knows how many track and riding area closures before something was done about sound. I hope it isn't another eight years of spinal injury reports and subsequent prayer posts before we wake up and smell the coffee.
Big jumps are great so but I will take being able to walk the rest of my life over a double or triple any day.
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The 450s are too much. Not everyone in pro racing agrees, but they are.
SX tracks have had to be re-designed and have had trouble keeping whoops together since 450s took over. The nats spent the last 2 summers trying to keep top guys interested by re-thinking tracks to make them better 450 tracks.
The end result of OEMs sticking with 450s (and you can't blame them now, with the economy a mess, sales are down, so new development is off the list) might just be 250F only SX and a weaker turnout for nats. Nice going 450 hard-liners!
When I was asking around about them since 450s took over, the biggest supporters of 450s were the guys making podiums. The SX promoters hate them and the AMA agreed, but deferred to the FIM.
It's moot anyway because even if the OEMs all answered yes, you don't develop much new when yer not making money off what you are doing now.
Let the promoters decide what should be raced. The MFG's will follow. It aint gonna be the other way around. For everyone that has gotten hurt on lesser displacement bikes whom do you pony up the excuses for?
This shit is dangerous. Accept it. If it was easy everyone would do it.
it just depends on the track..if its big and wide open 500's are very fast..but the tighter it gets,than a 450 will work just as well.or for that matter a 250f
Further development costs money, not only in R&D but retooling, engineering and set up. Bikes are fast enough as well as suspended to the max. Its time the factories make strides in 4 stroke motor longevity.
I know for a fact that taming a track will turn riders away. I know many track owners (one of which finally threw in the towel and shut down) who tried to make their tracks into oldskool MX tracks, and in each instance the younger riders (who made up the bulk of their business) whined relentlessly that the track wasnt "challenging enough", "not fun anymore", "nothing to seperate the good from bad riders" on & on. The jump fanatics quit showing up and they lost money and were forced to put the do-or-die jumps back in.
Stoopidcross has somehow convinced a generation of kids that jumps are what makes a track easy or hard, and that jumping is what makes riding fun. Thats why I went to racing harescrambles,,, where the emphasis is on natural terrain.
Jumps mean nothing. All the fast guys do them and it is a non-issue. You wanna challenge yourself, get a stopwatch and have your woman stand by the track and knock seconds off your laptimes. Learn how to enter corners faster, brake deeper, find better - more productive lines, run that pace for 45 minutes and turn the last lap faster than the first two,, theres your challenge.
The stopwatch is the ultimate challenge. Jumps are for posers wanting show off thinking it means something. Pfffffft.
Pit Row
I started riding on a 2005 CRF450 and I really sucked but I would just roll thru every turn in 3rd gear and pin it and I would clear all the big jumps.
I didn't actually learn how to ride until I bought my 2 stroke.
Excellent bikes made the tracks more boring I assume, so the tracks had to become a lot more challenging I'm guessing.
I have to admit, when I go and ride these old style tracks where there is a huge straightaway w/ a big pile of dirt in the middle of it, I'm bored as hell. It's a lot funner to be clicking 3-4th gear on a little tight track than have so much space that technically you could be in 5th gear if you were riding fast enough.
I like the tight tracks.
Same thing with Aaron Hill in Colorado last week. He lost the front end in a turn and fell. Not a scratch except that he broke his back. That was a freak accident. You could hurt yourself the same way falling off your bicycle.
This track vs. bike debate is interesting.
At the amateur level I don't think it makes that much difference.
I don't know how it is at other tracks, but most of the hard crashes I have seen locally have nothing to do with bike power or track design. The people who get an ambulance ride usually crashed at the start and got run over, or collided with others on higher speed sections.
At the pro level I think that the skill level needed to make it in this sport just keeps getting higher. As a result you have to take more risks to succeed and the margin for error is much lower. That could explain the higher rate of injury. You have a JS or CR doing a longer, higher jump, and everybody needs to start doing it to stay competitive.
Bottom line is there is no definitive answer here I think there are more positives to be gained by toning down the tracks than there are to be lost.
It's drives my jump-happy buddy nuts when I smoke on a course because he can't corner. He's more worried about setting up for the jump than getting through the turn quickly.
Are 450s too much for MX?
What is the general consensus on 450s in SX? Last couple of pages the topic shifted towards track design but since this thread I've seen people questioning having 450s in SX.
Personally I'd like to see 300cc two strokes racing against an equivalent in power four stroke but I'm not sure what that displacement would be.
Post a reply to: Are the 450's too powerfull?