I know this will be a controversial topic for a while and boring to some,
But as some will know, the UK being relatively small and densely populated has led to an incredible amount of track closures, particularly since the introduction of 4 strokes.
Not only have a lot of tracks closed, but many more here are only allowed to open 1 day in the week and 1 day on the weekend and often for only approximately 20 dates on weekends per year in many cases. (some are only allowed to open on Wednesdays, which isn't sustainable to keep a decent track running)
I've just seen that my local track (which only opens on Wednesday and Saturday due to these rules/laws) is expecting delivery of a fleet of starks to arrive to hire, and they will be opening EVERY day of the week with the starks.
This is so huge for UK mx which has so many restrictions because of noise.
Whilst I, as much as anyone appreciate a tuned 250f bouncing of the limiter, I think the trade-off that it's going to bring to the sport is incredible, and as a downhill rider as well as an mx rider I enjoy downhill as much as MX which has no noise, so I think once people get used to the change which I know is a big one it will be just as enjoyable, but more accessible, with more tracks to ride, more often, with far less maintenance, bring it on
If that is what has to be done to ride, then so be it…. Or move to another country..
They will just complain about dust next.
Fair points, but it's asinine to put e-bikes in the same class as an ICE bike with clutching and shifting. Otherwise it's going to be bye-bye to ICE bikes in short order.
Ah yes, another ebikes saving the world post.
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That is the end game....always has been. Destruction of land and "endangered" species. The environmentalists will not stop until off-roading is all gone.
MX tracks are more localized....but when the gas bikes are gone, there is no way to ride all day in the hills/desert or do BDRs. What effect do you think that will have on availability of bikes/companies and aftermarket companies. ...but gas will always be available... sure it will.
Keep drinking the Kool-Aid kids. You're doing the work for the environmentalist whackos.
The E-bike community wants a clutch bike and the ICE bike community sez no clutch is like cheating.
So it would be kinda similar to what these guys are doing at Moto 101?
Sounds like a great way to introduce new people to the sport, put them on low power maps and once they're hooked up, more power to them!
Only 5 posts to get someone to explain how bad reopening tracks or making them more profitable by extending opening hours is bad for the sport or how quiet bikes would make trails less accessible lol.
I’ve been pro coaching in Aus for 40yrs now, in the breaks of coaching days the kids love playing on electric bikes, if I was young I would now be setting up sheds in every town and city as there are so many now big businesses has taken over, no noise and no fumes cut construction costs enormously and it would be easy to get Greenie support.
Why do tracks need to be open more than 2 days a week?
Be interesting to know who it is, i know Moto 101 have some but apart from the initial fanfare, it seems to have gone quiet.
Also how many is a 'fleet'.
School holidays
Also some people get days off during the week there champ.
There are very few tracks in the UK, that i know of that open every day.
We dont have much room, and as a result, places just cant get to open where they want.
Even road race circuits have days where they can only run road cars and bikes with quiet exhausts.
So a track finds a way to be open 7 days a week and better serve their riders and you find a way to bitch about it. Classic Vital
It’s Lyons lane in Shrewsbury,
not sure how many they have on order,
To answer your question regarding why more than twice per week,
from a selfish standpoint for me personally I work the 2 days that my local track is open which means I can’t ride my local track without booking a days holiday,
my other local track Shawbury can only run I think 10 or 15 times per year, sometimes on a Saturday (again working) and sometimes on a Sunday when I’m able to go, same with Castle Caereinion (who were faced a long legal battle involving a member of parliament over noise) https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/23802740.court-rules-motocross-near-… somehow the track owner won but again event number limited.
its also a much better business prospect for a track owner to be open as often as they have custom for rather than be restricted and put limitations on their income by only being able to open for a day or to per week and an annual event cap on the venue.
also for anyone wanting to ride professionally or semi pro if they’re racing on weekends, unless they can find a private track to ride at during the week the vast majority of tracks in the UK only open on Wednesdays during the week which limits professional progression for riders here, which is why I’m sure a lot of them move to Belgium etc when they’re able to ride much more often, and for much cheaper,
I’m sure the reason why our practice tracks have some of the highest fees anywhere which cost an average of £40 to ride ($50) and often for pretty rubbish tracks is because they need to make more money on the limited days they can open, to make the track viable.
You look at a world class track like Glen Helen in the US which is half that price $30 (£24) to ride and the track comparison is laughable.
Given how little maintenance is required on EMX bikes…if I owned a track I might be tempted to buy several and rent them out by the day/hour…if I couldn’t be open every day for noise issues, I’d look for approval to run the e-bikes only on the off days…and use the rental units to keep bikes on the track until more e-bikes make it to market.
Ahh right, dont know it.
The problem is , everyone in the UK now wants to turn up and ride a 'prime' track, freshly groomed, every day of the week and that costs a ton of money.
If you are prepared to ride round a track that doesnt see a grader from one month to the next, like we used to , it would be £25.
And how does that help you , are you going to go and ride a bike you dont own ( and what do you think that will cost) , and how many will they need to have to make it worth buying £15k bikes?
I have got to the point now where i never ride unless its a gate drop, none of the tracks near me are worth the effort, apart from a pre season bike shake down .
Everywhere is rammed on the weekends, and you cant get more than an hours riding in without being there all day .
Lets see how it goes.
Excess water usage will be the sports biggest enemy 20-30 years from now
water is the next oil
An exclusive E-Bike Moto track (with multiple bikes to rent out) with an additional course for all the kids who ride their surons in the neighborhood would be an extremely successful business endeavor.
An ideal way to capitalize and commodify the recent increase in interest in our sport.
Pit Row
You're so right. And then they'll complain about it taking up too much land, and then about it taking up too much time, and then about it taking up too many resources, and then about it being too enjoyable - sooooo - I say we outsmart them and just shut down the entire sport right now. Right this very minute. Just fold up the tents and vanish like we were never there to begin with.
They'll never see it coming.
Bingo. Add that to the list of "environmental damage/waste".
East of the Mississippi water usage and dust issues are almost negligible.
thats great until they confiscate the land to build "migrant" housing
LOL. This and medical insurance. There will be environmental air quality testing for air born toxins and potentially endangered micro organisms.
Do you even know what you are arguing, or saying, or responding to, at this point? lol
You haven't been to the UK...
When it doesn't rain, they have other ways to stop the dust...
Absolutely true...
And the more fucking right wing politics allow the corporations to fucking rape the land for profit the more we as motocross riders will suffer.
A motocross tracks ecological damage is virtually zero beyond the land its on, far less than a farm, far less than a suburban expansion, far less than another fucking 10 lane highway. But as these all happen and the environment suffers, we are just the pawns that get fucked over.
Suburban sprawl instead of walkable dense city planning means our tracks are encroached on quicker. Water companies drying up river beds to pump out spring water up stream to fucking bottle it and sell it for more than oil fucks eco systems. 10 lane highways instead of decent public transport means our traffic sucks and the environmental impact of transport escalates 10 fold. In Australia we have international cotton growers paying politicians to get licensors to not abide by water usage standard killing one of our best and biggest rivers by sucking out all the water. In Africa, Nestle has dried up towns water supply, in Flint Michigan, Nestle pays $200 a year to pump the town dry and the residents pay some of the highest water rates in the country for flammable water.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/nestle-pays-200-a-year-…
Tracks get shut down by environmentalists because of the financial interests of multinational corporations fuck the land, fuck the water, and deregulation means shit just get dumped in the rivers and lakes. We are just pawns, and if we keep electing right wing fucko's it's only going to get worse.
Multinational cuntbags will commodify anything regardless of its impact, and we will suffer the consequences.
Talk about not knowing who your enemy is….holy smokes…
Talk about not understanding how different sides of politics behave differently in different countries.
Along with charging stations, every MX track needs to implement a battery graveyard in it's design.
Let us not forget the no politics rule
anyways….if I could go rent a e bike and try it out for a day I probably would depending on price
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