My off-road club (Florida Trail Riders, the largest non-profit off-road racing organization in the country) has a recent rule proposal to ban tear-offs. The idea behind banning them is almost all of our races are held on private land that spends the majority of the year being some sort of cattle ranch. Cows eat just about anything, and tear offs can't be good for any of their stomachs plus the fact it's just plain littering and isn't the best look for the landowners to see a bunch of plastic blowing around their fields. We obviously try to clean them after the races as part of trail rehab, but you'll never get all of them. The argument for keeping them is a safety issue because some folks hate roll-offs and consider them unsafe. The other negative for not banning them is it may be difficult to enforce.
I'm an Area Director in FTR so I vote on these subjects. I obviously go to the people in my area on how to vote but I'm curious of the general consensus.
I think it's obvious, tear-offs should be absolutely banned especially in off-road type events and the industry should work towards banning them in MX as well.
I hate riding areas closing/going away more than i hate roll offs. Easy decision.
I have heard they can kill cows. We had an XC race in Indiana where the property owner banned tear offs for that reason. I think the Euro guys have a system that retains the tear offs. I don't know if I would like having used tear offs flapping against my helmet for an hour+ but it might be an option for those that don't want roll offs.
It would be nice to see someone come out with biodegradable tear-offs that offer the same performance as the current offerings. Until then, I don't blame landowners and promoters from prohibiting them.
Paintballs have long been biodegradable. Airsoft BBs have been moving away from plastic to biodegradable as well. Doing so was pretty much mandatory to allow those activities to still be allowed outdoors.
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Tear-offs are allready banned in Denmark
Isn't that where Greta Thunberg is from?
If so, you guys don't count. 🤣😂🤣
I used to haul my horse to a Ranch half way between Corpus and San Antonio and work cows. Lady that owned the ranch had a cow named garden hose. It would eat every hose, piece of plastic on the ground. Old mama cow lived forever. She would swallow a hose whole. I doubt tearoffs are good for cows but doubt many actually die from eating tearoffs. It’s not good for the environment but hate to have to go to roll offs.
Probably much easier to design a slightly better rolloff system. Make the goggles a bit more square and I think you'd be just as good. Yes there would be a slight amount of room around the edge of the film that would still get and stay dirty, but I'd trade that for endless clear vision in the main area with no milky effects like stacking a bunch of tearoffs.
Anyone used gogglezone film or something similar? That looks like a very interesting alternative.
Been banned in the uk for a while now , I don’t have a problem with roll offs or armor vision is another good alternative 👍
The issue with biodegradable plastic is that it still takes quite a while to go away, so cows/other animals can still eat them before they go away. Them eventually going away is still a plus, but it's not a proper catch all fix.
I’m an American residing in Europe and all the tracks pretty much banned tear off littering. It’s a pretty simple solution as I hate roll-offs. Annoying at first hearing em flap around but you get used to it.
Either mandatory roll offs or mandatory biodegradable tear offs. Its not even a question. Yes roll offs arent as good but they still work. Hundreds of guys constantly throwing trash on the ground throughout the woods would be one of the strongest arguments ppl have against us riding. We want there to be as few reasons for ppl to be against us riding as possible. Ive always hated the tear off situation. Local tracks look like a 3rd world country with plastic waste as far as the eye can see. We have to do better. Some ppl say the biodegradable tear offs suck, well then companies need to innovate until they make good ones. There should be biodegradable tear offs that are good and plastic should be a thing of the past.
Ive thought about this before as well and would love to see someone try this and see what it would look like. Def has potential.
I don't participate in FTR because of the (my opinion) heavy-handed application of rules - spark arrestors, pit bikes, etc - the list is a mile long. Now tear-offs. This is one more reminder of why I stay away from this group.
That said, I know there are lots of folks that like that environment, it's just not for me. Clearly I'm in the minority here, and that's fine. You do you, I'll do me.
Wait, you think it's stupid that they require spark arrestors? Chances of starting a fire via a dirt bike is small but that's a really weird hill to die on
I think that is a great idea for motocross. The only issue I see for off-road is that tether getting caught on branches/brush and getting ripped off.
Spark arrestor requirement was done away with years ago, anyone over the age of 16 can operate a pit vehicle at will at any FTR event.
What other rules are so heavy handed at FTR events compared to other series/organizations?
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How would they check to ensure the tear-offs are, in fact, biodegradable?
So you felt the need to make your distain for FTR known by replying to a forum topic about the possible tear-off ban that is an issue in pretty much every other organization for off-road racing?
Offroad racing is such a giant draw it's a no brainer. I can enter a non points or trail rider class and literally ride somewhere new within an hour and a half from me every weekend until November that's not open to the public at large. What ever it takes to keep that type of thing going.
NEPG banned them also, I watched them take them from a few racers ahead of me at the start of test 1 at Sumter. Guy was begging like a kid lol "I promise I won't use them". Guy was like nope I can't let you start with them on your goggles sir. He ripped them off and gave them up.
Speaking of tear offs it annoys the shit outta me to watch SX and all these guys pull up before the start or after the race and rip off a hand full of tears and throw them on the ground. Like...why? Guy will probably ride past 10 garbage cans on his way to the pits but he's a badass for throwing them on the ground? Rant over.
i hate losing them but i completely understand. Our local series has banned them as well. I think the solution is the strap that the euros are wearing to keep them until the race is over.
I've talked to guys at a few goggle companies and I don't believe any of them are developing new lenses or products that are hydrophobic like the stick on ones that are starting to come out. I would think that would be high on their priority with so many countries and series banning tear offs. Like most I don't love running roll offs if I dont' have to mainly because they are so heavy and even the best ones make you give up some peripheral view. My local offroad series has several locations that also won't let us use tear offs now when we always could before. I don't think the biodegradable idea would work all that well in this application. I might try one of the stick on versions of these hydrophobic lenses but they don't cover the whole lens from what I've seen but I'll be doing some more research on them for myself.
I'd bet on if a series bans them they won't ever come back strap or not.
Yeah I'm pretty sure most series that have banned them won't allow those. Not to mention they would get annoying AF dangling on your helmet for a 2 hour race.
Yes. Not looking to die on any hill, but it's unnecessary regulation IMO.
We love being heavy handed and treating people's property like it's our own, so we still have a place to race.
MotoDad is probably right though, we should set junior loose in the pits on a 1000cc RZR.
That's great to hear - admittedly it's been many years (at least 5) since I'd been to one. The spark arrestor thing (no spark arrestor, no race), colored number plate enforcement (not the right color you don't race - even when transponders are in use), and the workers riding around the pits on their dirtbikes looking to exert their authority - checking licenses for kids riding pit bikes, making sure they were in first gear, etc. It really seemed ridiculous when it was all added up.
Apparently, yes. You're following things very well.
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