Is the sport of Motocross past its prime?

To me it comes down to losing places to ride right next to neighborhoods.  How many people here got into riding because they saw there neighbors buzzing up and down the street on their bikes going into the hills next to the neighborhood to ride...then begged mom/dad for a bike, and started riding with them?  I know I did!  The kids in my neighborhood don't have that option...all the neighbors see now is me loading and unloading my bikes...

On the electric front...quick story...a colleague of mine emailed me out of blue last week, saying her son went riding with some friends and now wants a bike (she knows I ride)...but didn't know where to start...I asked what bike they were on and where they were riding...she sends me a picture of her son on a KTM e5, riding in an empty lot right in their neighborhood.   So I found a couple used e5's online and sent her the link, sent her a link to a youth helmet, jersey, pants, boots, goggles, and gloves at RockyMountain...I had an email this morning with her son on his new (to him) bike in all his new gear.  Say what you want about ebikes...but those kids aren't buzzing around that vaccant lot on a KTM 50sx without anyone complaining.

If emx bikes can open up neighborhood riding areas...they will get more kids into dirt bikes. 

Non-riding parents aren't going to (or at least are significantly less likely to) get into a sport they know nothing about if they have to trailer 30 minutes to 2 hours to ride. 

Again, I have to disagree. 
 

£350 is the repayment. 
£2600 was the deposit (could’ve bought a five year old bike with that.) 

£350 per month is ample to go riding at least twice per month. 
 

but the point is, the money is there for him to spend, and he’s chosen the car, and not chosen Moto. 

What the heck does the T mean in 4T?

Concerning race numbers, in the early 2000's during national week at Washougal (prolly 02 or 03) we all sandbagged the vet C class. One year, there were 3 full gates in this class. Mine was the last one and there was 44 riders, with 2 on each end, without a gate but were told not cheat. Haha! I crashed myself out of the sport on 04, so I can't do a comparison to the numbers in vet C now. Oh yeah, the best I ever finished was P6 < (First I've ever said it like that, do I sound as cool as an F1 dude now)?

T= Takt

Takt is a German word with a literal translation of time, rhythm, cadence, or cycle.

I don't know that I buy the cost thing...people have money for what they want to spend money on. 

I quit racing moto a long time ago (now race off-road)...the reason?  Tracks were to supercrossy for me.  If there was a natural terrain motocross track some place, I'd race it...I'd love to race it.  I miss racing moto, I don't miss all the jumps though.  And other reason?  too many classes.  If there was a track that would run purely skill based classes (A, B, C, D...250 and 450 each) to make for fuller gates/, longer motos, and a shorter day, I could get behind that (especially if it was a natural terrain track).  I don't think I'm the only one...

Another OEE practitioner?

When I started 1974 at eleven yr old there were 4 tracks in my county that rotated. The field would be packed with ever kind of bike and this is pre mini bike.  Technology came along and by 78 or 79 it was over . Then muddy creek came and the guys from 7 to ten yr ago had kids and that brought it around again .  I quit a while in 90s  restarted in 2000 and muddy creek would have 1000 to 1500 riders a weekend  insane 

to many classes and to few laps along with fees is what kills it today I think.

I get the sentiment but I don't know if basing the life of a sport that takes thousands and thousands of dollars to participate in around "hopefully there's an empty lot around and noone will call the cops and have my kids arrested for trespassing" is the most solid business model.

Full disclosure: I downvoted you, Magoofan, as I often do - but I did so with respect. You are a principled man, and over time, I've learned that.

It stands to reason that the more places there are to ride, the more people we'd have engaging in the sport, if only because they'd notice that the sport is a flat-out BLAST to participate in. Let me illustrate my point by taking it to an extreme. If there were only two places in the whole country to ride, moto would most certainly die; whereas if every town had a local track, the sport would most certainly thrive. Right? Right. So then, what is the primary reason there isn't a local track in every town? Hmmm? The answer is the exact same reason so many tracks are closing down: noise pollution complaints.

Way, way, too few of you understand is how pronounced and intractable the noise problem is for a track owner. Most track owners PAY their neighbors not to complain about it. One guy I knew paid his bitchiest neighbor a grand a month from May 'till November to keep him quiet - and that was just for ONE neighbor. He had a list, the operative word here being, "had," as he's closed down now. Most track owners aren't rich, and therefore, these "hush money" payouts are among their largest off-the-top fixed expenses. The noise pollution problem is not new: pipe-builder Darryl Bassani integrated an ecology symbol into his company's logo way back in the early 70s, because too many bikes back then had no silencers whatsoever and his pipes had them built-in. The slogan "Less sound, more ground" became a very popular sentiment back then, there were even stickers made up that we put on our bikes to declare our support for the idea. That idea seems almost absurd now, but it most certainly is not.  

So then, is the sport past its prime? If it fails to perceive electric as the lifeline it is, then yes, without question. So go ahead, don't give an inch, throw the idea of compromise out the window, let your purist flag fly and declare that you'll NEVER ride an electric bike, but do so knowing that 100 percent of nothing............. is nothing.

LESS SOUND, MORE GROUND.

Hard enduro’s are filling up. Longer race times for less money. But I would say it’s way harder on bike parts as well 😬

Local tracks need good local prospects to have quality "money" classes. You need years of consistent building of the sport in the area so kids move up and race locally. This has always been the case and why some pockets in the country have had better local pro racing scenes than others. It isn't something that rises or falls overnight. 

Agree about whether or not it's a good business model, but it could certainly be a decent factor in people getting/staying involved.  Even out in the country, things have changed quite a bit when it comes to being able to leave your garage and ride for hours off road.  Back when I was a kid we could cut across our neighbor's farms without any hassles at all on the way to our trails.  Now farms are increasingly having to restrict access due to food safety regulations (that are somewhat understandable, some not) that they must follow and enforce.  More gates and fences every year makes it more and more difficult to just go out and ride.  Even the factory pros in the 70s and 80s used to just go ride in the hills (not legal forest roads, trails, etc.).  Those days are pretty much gone for an awful lot of people.  

Depends on country and area I guess, but just look at the facilities/buildings, at most tracks they are way way way past their prime and had no love during the last 10years. It's like walking into sheds from the 80s. (Talking about Sweden now, visited Pala last summer and the Fox Shop building was brand new )

...but yeah, we don't ride in the building anyway, but with less people at the tracks and races less money. I personally have several friends who have stopped just because they couldn't afford. (now, I'm not sure how it's right now, economy, inflation, but at least still 3-4years ago, them money ppl spent on MTBs was crazy)

It's sad for someone who got into motocross in the early 90s.

I think it's too expensive, too complicated to get to tracks, storage, people live in less space nowadays. Country ppl are moving into the suburbs and where I live, many houses doesn't have a garage. Where do you keep the bike then? 

Anyway, motocross will survive, I'm sure we will see Stark racing someday, like it or not. Maybe it will help? I dunno.

Very astute post. 

 

On that thought. I just got a quote of 800.00 for a set of starcross 6's and bibs mooses mounted. Wheels off the bike.

95 the sport blew up & was bigger every yr until the 4-st take ovr in 05-07.  98 was probably the peak. 4 full gates of 125 c , full gate of 125b.  A ton of spectators showed up. In 07 not many 125,s racing the 125 classes. Spectators didn’t like the super loud 4-st & there boring to watch. So they stopped going to the races. 4-st changed the sport from blue collar rowdy fun riders to buisness owners & white collar riders . That could afford the new expensive sport.  Ltm has a great turnout & that’s out it. 

I'd say it's more due to nimbyism 

They wanted to put in a sports field area in this neighborhood. They got all these complaints about how the bright lights will ruin everything. Same with this lil sk8 park the city wanted to build. The nimby's came a runnin. 

Pick something you'd want to do and somebody's gonna complain anymore. 

I think so much has to just be the prices. 

My kid is 3.5 and would love him to ride moto if he wanted to. Would love to support him and encourage him to do it but looking at the prices now and it's just daunting. Doesn't seem like THAT long ago a decent, used KX60 cost £800 quid or so, now a used KTM 65 is closer to £1500.  And £4800 new   Dunno how good your dudes finances are, but for me and our small family; forget it. 

How many families, esp new fams without moto histories can afford to dabble and take a chance at a new sport with these kinds of costs? 

I know MX has never been cheap, but feels like its has bled into another bracket of disposable income now. Especially as the rest of life is so expensive now. 

Don't think how manufactures sped up the bikes with 4 strokes thus generally increasing speed and stakes of MX has helped overall either and there are also much more alternative facilties available to kids now; pump tracks, skateparks, mtb parks etc 

Rambling post. haha

Yea, but he's young and his car will help more to get him laid. haha

 

I don't think the industry should hang their entire future on vacant lots in neighborhoods...but they certainly can make a lot of headway into getting new riders into the sport by working to keep riding areas open...Whether that's the public land on the edge of a neighborhood, a trail system in the nearby national forest/BLM land, the local track, or the open recreation area on the outskirts of town....the "industry" as a whole keeping their head in the sand to riding areas constantly getting closed isn't helping get new riders into the sport. 

The industry (manufacturers, dealers, online retailers, pro riders and race teams, etc. etc.) really should start working together to protect riding areas, all riding areas.  That means throwing their money, and their influence, into fighting land closures (either from annoying NIMBY types, environmental groups, urban sprawl, industry, etc.).  Pay for lawyers, user their influence to sway people to use the land responsibly, donate money to rider advocacy groups (BRC, AMA), use their influence to encourage riders to donate to rider advocacy groups (Imagine Eli Tomac on the big screen at every supercross encouraging everyone in attendance to scan this barcode and join the Blue Ribbon Coalition?  Or team KTM giving out BRC membership pamplets at their pits with every autograph, Imagine dealers including a BRC or AMA membership with every machine purchased-they are like $40 a year?  Imagine dealers educating their customers on how to responsibly use their machine on public land...Imagine Yamaha offering to pay the attorney fees to help someone fight to keep a track open...I could go on and on).   

Anyway, its not the sole solution...but it will absolutely help get new riders in the sport.

I think it comes down to lack of riding spots. I would bet most people got into riding because there was riding areas nearby that weren't motocross tracks. That's how I started. When I was a kid, there was a few spots around town we could ride our dirt bikes and no one cared. They are all gone now and have become housing developments. I love the track, but I miss the days of filling up my tank and riding to a spot to check out who's there and mess around for a bit. The tracks are far away too, I'm driving on average 2 hours one way to ride for a day.

I can’t really speak to the moto side of things close to home. I do know that we’ve lost tracks that were near by though. On the side of recreational/trail riding I honestly think it’s growing. Pull into a trailhead parking lot and it’s packed. 

100%, I was thinking the same.  Most of us grew up riding "illegally" in pits, field, woods, etc. But mostly it was fine. And of course that was all free. Now you have to pay $30 here in WNY to ride a open practice. I  feel the peak of the sport was 1995-2005 and I was fortunate enough to race in 2000 in 2001 before injury and life set me to the sidelines till 2021. Here locally in WNY we have two districts that are killing each other IMO. Idk the story but they split into two after I fell out of the sport. If they could combined into one again local MX racing would look pretty good here. But there is definitely too many classes so that pushes people away that the day is literally all day. Example we have a 125 class that is open for a,b,c,d and they had 3 entries and most times doesn't have a huge count. Sand baggers need to be squashed  at all skill and age classes. Also here locally you can ride a 125, 250 2s or 250 4s in open. It's 95% the same guys in a,b,c,d 250 as it is in a,b,c,d open, riding the same 250f or whatever. There could just be a a,b,c,d open. That would cut 4 classes out and speed things up. Tracks have definitely advanced too much for the average rider or vet rider which are the masses. Then lastly the cost of bikes. Which racing costs is so subjective, so i put that last if I had to rank things. So in summary it's a multi prong problem for the sport. The farther you get away from grass roots the less and less you'll have.

Back in 1979 my yz125 cost me 11 weeks salary, I was a 1st year electrical apprentice.

2023 apprentice salary, and the yz125 will cost about 21 weeks.

     As a kid, I could ride out of my garage, down the street ( obviously illegal ) and catch a trail to 4 or 5 riding areas. We would literally ride railroad tracks, trails, in fields, and on motocross tracks. Neighbors were all around, but they did not bother you all that much.Throw in the occasional police chase, and you had an epic summer for years on end. I lived in Massachusetts then, and although the state has never been friendly towards motorized off road vehicles ( snowmobiles , motorbikes ) , if you were not stupid about tormenting the neighbors, you had more fun than you could stand ! One more quick point, the 1970’s was the pinnacle of the sport’s growth .

I used to live beside a field and my neighbor was a retired NYPD dick. Kids used to ride a XR50 in an empty field, and each time my neighbor would call the cops on a damn 5 year old. The problem isn't noise, a lot of people straight up don't like dirtbikes, and I can promise no one is going to build a MX track in city limits. If guys can't make money running a mx track on cheap land in bumfuck, more expensive land in city limits will make it worse.

I would bring a gas jug and leave it in the field and tell the kids to ride as much as they want. I used to ride in that same spot until some Yankee dick decided to fuck it up. Guy who owned the land asked me to stop riding because he was tired of the NYPD dick calling him.

I just had to pull the bikes out of the shed to ride as a kid. Small bit of acerage to ride on. Lived down a long gravel road. Property line next to green belt we all rode. Lots of pit stuff around. Neighborhood friends with similar stuff rode on the pipe line road. 

Not all of it was gone after all these years. I went back to the one and it looked like no one was using it for bikes. Not even pedal just the horse people so most of the trails gone. 

As many have already stated, and I agree the lack of land (not tracks) to ride holds people back from getting a bike, and eventually racing.  Hard to imagine someone with no experience with dirt bikes is just going to decide they or their kid is going start racing, and all that goes with it.  

Everyone I know started out with a used bike, a helmet, and a couples trails they hand built in the woods behind their houses.  Kids need space to learn the basics before trying to ride an mx track.

That was a non ama race,no card at sign up any name will do, they cut the track short too. It’s the guys that like to drink a few and hit the pipe and race. 
 

what kills the entry numbers are 36 classes , way to many mini bike classes , 4 lap 1st Moto 3 lap 2 nd Moto  and dropping 200 bucks to get 8 and 6 minutes on track