A plan to move dirt bikes out of Baltimore neighborhoods

That would be pretty cool. I hope they do it.

Find out when there riding the streets and run them all over with semi trucks is what I would do.

Never going to happen. You think all the guys on stolen bikes will show up to a track?

I can only hope they are that stupid and would show up with a bat to recover stolen bikes. My fee is one tall boy of Budweiser per bike...

Even if you create a park they will still ride in the streets, its a culture thing, good effort OP but it won't change anything. Same goes for here, they made off road riding illegal, opened mx tracks, but people still ride off road illegally without helmets. What really needs to happen is a) those stolen bikes need seized b) the people responsible for stealing said bikes, disregarding blatant laws about riding on streets need to be held accountable.

Or be like others, buy a bike, load it ,travel to a track. That park will be a shit show. If ever built.

Never gonna happen. 3 millions reasons why. here are a few.

Baltimore people cant afford bikes, most are stolen.

Baltimore people cant afford the proper safety gear.

Baltimore people probably cant afford health insurance.

None of the neighbors will like the noise.

"Wheelie boys" love breaking the rules, they are street kids. They are not gonna ride the track quietly from 9-5.

Or they could just, ya know, not do it

Some very ignorant comments on here already...you don't know how this will affect the community...Jesus..

The one thing some of you might be missing is , ...they want to ride in the streets. It's a way at flipping off the law and the people who make them. The guys on the street know how to do one thing and one thing only.....ride a wheelie. Take that back , they can do 2 things. Ride wheelies while outrunning the cops and scare the shit out of Mary who is on her way to work.

BTW....OLC , I commend you and whoever else if this is a success! Hope it works.

In all seriousness, the motivation from pure motocross enthusiasts should be to take back our sport and its good name. There can't be any illegal activity on site. The possibility of using federal RTP funds rules that out. So if that is enforced, is our sport worth reclaiming from those that blemished its good name with illegal street riding?

It's a neat idea to a certain degree and cool if they get a place to ride at legally...
However,a lot of cities have tried this with skateboarding...by creating skate parks.
But really,people still skate where they want.
I wonder if this will be any different?
Should be interesting to see how it works out if it happens.

I hope they at least give it a try. But again , some of the guys doing this shit have the opportunity to ride out in the dirt and out of the city. Riding wheelie's to these guys is only part of the reason why they do it. The other part is because they get to break the law in front of all their friends. Why show up at a dirt bike park and get put to shame? Why would they want to do that? It's about going against the grain. Which fucking sucks for everyone in the city and smears our good sport!

A lot of people ,even people on this forum I assume love eyes on them when they ride...people watching them/turning heads. I'd assume these guys are no different.
If people show up to check them out,maybe they'll stick with riding at the park.
It gives the city leverage in a sense and they can put the word out,if it continues to be a problem(riding on the streets & sidewalks) and then they'd close the park.


My opinion when comes to these dudes is...
If I grew up in the same circles and had a bike and didn't know any better...
There's a good chance I'd of probably been right out there with them,and so would a lot of people...
One legged 5th gear wheelies down main street.
They see me rolling and they hatin!

They are entertaining to watch.
I respect their skills.
But the stolen bike shit needs to stop.

I've said it from the beginning, if moto ever becomes cool to the inner city youth the complexion of this sport will rapidly change.

While I'm not confident that this particular plan will work, I really do dig the angle.


While bitching about the wheelie boyz is one of Vital's favorite pastimes, I haven't seen many (any?) solutions floated on here that don't somehow involve "running them all over with semi trucks" or some similar variation. Besides making sweeping generalizations about an entire culture on an internet forum, are there any other ways to fix this problem?


Just an idea, what if instead of trying to build a world class inner city dirt bike park they instead invested a fraction of the money on a MX sponsorship/mentorship program for "urban youth"? They could hand-select a small number of recipients based on character, and set them up with a local pro for something similar to a MX camp. This could spark an interest.

The problem in Maryland is that riding on public land has been outlawed. An MX Camp would be great, if there was a place to hold one. Budds Creek is great and all, but it is about 2 hours away from Baltimore. In all reality, how practical is holding an MX Camp for inner city kids at a track 2 hours away? How many of them own pickups, vans, or trailers w/ hitches on their car?

The "world-class" verbiage sounds like it is going to compete with Budds Creek, and it just won't. What it WILL do is provide a local place to ride, when every other legal place is 2 hours away. I'm glad there's no "running them over with semi-trucks" in this thread. Thanks for that. For me, the benefit of this is not in relieving the illegal riding, it is opening up a legal riding area.

...and if that doesn't take care of the problem...

nobody legit is going to within 100 miles of that place, you may as well just turn up and give your bike away.

The only way to stop it , is to start chasing and shooting a few , but even that wont help , because it will just increase the thrill.

I half want to suggest a 'clunkers army ' where maybe a few well intentioned citizens enjoy driving round Baltimore and taking in the scenery , while occasionally not paying attention to other road users.

Let me ask this:

1)Is it true that most of these bikes are stolen?

2)Is it also true that most of the guys riding these bikes are living in poverty?

If you answer yes to either of those questions I'm sorry but, a world class
dirt bike park is not doing anything for the "community". Well, it would do one
thing, drain valuable time and resources.

This is not a stick and ball sport. Motocross is considerably more expensive.
And the harsh reality is, if you can't afford it and where you live is NOT conducive
to the sport well guess what... you need to DO something else.

Who exactly will pay for: legally owned bikes, safety gear, health insurance,
ENTRY fees(rider and spectator), legal transportation, to and from the track,
gas, FOAM filter oil etc etc etc...

Does anyone really see the current situation transforming into the typical middle
class motocross way of life? All that it entails to be involved? Not likely.

Of course Jesus doesn't know how it will affect the community... He died a while ago

Saw an email about this yesterday. I doubt anything will ever come of it but I still think it's a good idea. I agree most of the "wheelie boys", etc. will still ride on the street even if there is a park to ride at. But for the simple fact that there are ZERO public riding areas in central MD/DC/NoVA, it wouldn't hurt to discuss.

In the meantime I'll just try to avoid locals on poached CRFs wheelie-ing past me on Lombard st.

no VINs needed?
Wait until everyone's inside

Then lock the gate hahaha

Make street riding legal. That will stop it I bet

Ain't gonna work. Wish it would, but get real.

Like it's been mentioned, it's the breaking the law, the gangsta thrill that feeds that situation.
Ain't no homie gonna wait for the track to open, have the right gear, be told what he can an can not do.
The guys that use them to run drugs will still use them to run drugs.
How they gonna stop that? Finally shoot a few in the back because they're not "at the track".

Was a guy on here a few years ago, from Maryland, good guy, smart guy. Got pissed when they shut down public land riding.
Which, by the way was done by Omally, the governor at the time, yes, the guy that ran for president a few months ago.
His reasoning was the timber forests, mainly in the western part of Maryland, where he never went, could not get a
top rating from whatever group rates that kind of stuff. Motorized riding, even tho on state approved trails, kept
those forests from being deemed "prestine".

And a "pristine" forest is worth more to a logging company than a regular forest, which increases the value,
which increases the States credit rating.

So they took the public riding areas away.

But I digress.

The guy that was on here went to Annapolis, where they make Marylands laws, and bitched about it.
They played dumb, said they did not realize it was an issue, and sure, they would help fund a series of motocross tracks and riding areas, just let them know the places available and they would get to work on it.

Long story short, they made it so involved, so expensive, so complex the guy just gave up. Track designs
had to meet, government specs. Insurances had to be in place, you know somebody is gonna sue when they break their neck. EPA had to sign off. Attendants and track workers had to be trained and paid with benefits.
Permits for each location needed to be acquired.
And someone had to keep track of all this.

yeah, they wanted to help. They got their credit rating, and sure felt bad we got the right to ride yanked
from under us. That's the reality of government, especially in Maryland

And that's just what you're gonna see when this pipe dream comes down.

As far as stopping this scourge, I'll tell you what worked on a large scale in the county I lived in, Anne Arundel.
The county police bought 10 Yamaha 400 dual sports, and formed a squad to chase anyone riding illegally.
They would run a guy down, confiscate the bike and arrest you. Word at the time was they were pretty good,
not unbeatable, a good rider could still get away some times, but it stopped a lot of guys from just riding in some farmers field when they felt like it.

But alas, until the majority of people in Baltimore are willing to arrest, indict and lock up what amounts to their own,
Nothing is gonna change.

Building a dirt bike park for basically avid street riders would be like building a monster truck course for the local tuner car club.

It will be a ghost town, as the facilities lack the surroundings, elements, and vibe that these guys like to ride in.

How they gonna bust a mile long wheelie on a track with all dose' bumps and shiz, 'yo? No cops to chase them ?

They take one lap or so at the track, and will be back on the street by dinner time.

Meanwhile, elsewhere throughout the entire country, law abiding citizens and track owners anywhere near a city are having their tracks closed and shut down due to environmental and noise issues. Now we are going to make the taxpayers build one smack dab in the middle of the city for people who refuse to follow the rules?

Someone please tell me what I am missing here.

Run em over, bomb them, dirt bike park. Easy solutions rarely are.

Boom, make sense, lets reward the lawless,irresponsible citizens. Do you really think anyone would bring their bikes and ride in the city, lol. Its a great sport, if you cant afford it, plenty of other sports to choose from. I do like most people, load up, drive, pay, ride, drive home. Driving 2/3 hours sucks sometimes, i do what i gotta do .