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Restrict the air intake orifice and displacement.
Slow the tracks down and you slow the bikes down. You’ll get better racing with more passing, too (it’s a lot easier to change direction at 30mph rather than 50…)
People will still crash, but slower speeds are more likely to result in less severe injuries.
And for me, I’ll take less jumps. You don’t need jumps on every straight. They just stifle racing and if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
I fully agree with less jumps on every straight. Our local track had to take a jump out because it was awkward and tended to cause pile ups, it became a short straight where you could open up the bike you where on but not to a blistering point. It had plenty of braking room and clean open run off past the corner if you came in to hot. Just like a road race courses. It made the track so much more fun and flow better.
Just for the sake of argument, lets go to extremes to try and prove a point. Just down the road from me in Dunn NC Weaver MX opened a minibike race track. I have not been there but I have checked them out online. Looks like they have a scaled down mx track and hold decent size races with a lot of different classes. Looks like the biggest fastest bike I could race with in +50 is a modded KLX140. It looks like a lot of fun and I am tempted to build a bike and go try and win some wood. If I decide to go for it I might get hurt but with my size and strength the chances of death or paralysis is slim. Now lets compare that to years ago when I was in my prime riding a KTM 520sx with an overblown goal of qualifing for a national at Budds Creek. I loved holding that thing tapped in 4th hucking huge jumps etc. Every time I got on that bike could have been my last and I loved it. It would be nice if there was something in between. I think anybody with any common sense can see there is a huge difference in risk between these styles of racing dirtbikes. My 14yo nephew with dirtbike fever needs something in between.
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You know as much as you MAGA-loving freedom fighting patriots adore your individual liberties and freedoms, this particular debate sure does rattle my brain. Each and every one of you is in complete and total control of your destiny on a dirt bike. You can choose to jump that big double, or not. You can choose to hit fifth gear tapped across the desert floor if you so choose. You can choose to buy a 450 even though you don’t have a whole lot of experience riding dirt bikes.
This is the dumbest most mind-numbingly stupid fucking argument that has ever surfaced on this forum.
You will never slow motorcycles down. If you’re so worried about your dangerous, overpowered superfast dirtbike, then sell it or go buy yourself a 1984 CT110.
At least in formula one. The sanction body study’s safety protocol. Pass new ideas to create better safety, to teams riders. every year new devices made on cars, tracks to increase safety, reduce accidents, deaths on the courses. Motocross, supercross next to nothing is reviewed or updated. I guess a death of rider like senna, creates faster measures for safety. Far too many serious accident, deaths in MX. LikeLy MX racing be shutdown, if this was actual industry.
I am no freedom fighter and I dont support either side of our corrupt government. I am a grown man and love high powered bikes. Ill be riding my 200hp RSV4 at VIR this weekend with the throttle pinned. Ill be wearing an airbag and my professional cornerworkers will be in towers. All I am asking is for something in between for the up and comers. Once they are full grown let em rip.
This is the dumbest most mind-numbingly stupid fucking argument that has ever surfaced on this forum.
And yet, here you are 👍🏻
There's already displacement limits, sound levels, fuel regulations, and on and on...... take your argument to it's logical conclusion and we'd have to get rid of all of that. Is that what you want? If not, we're not talking about some new concept, we're talking about where you draw the lines. Those with a vested interest deciding together to move those lines for the sake of safety and the health of the sport has nothing to do with government or MAGA or anything else.
No one is ever going to make dirt bikes “slower.”
Going slower is a fucking choice, just the same as choosing to go fast, just the same as choosing to ride a dirt bike in the first place.
Btw, in case you hadn't guessed, the 150 is the scarier of the two biies to ride 😉
Personally, the spectacle is seeing the best riders in the world wrestle the gnarliest machinery on the gnatliest of terrain.
For us mere mortals, 125cc bikes still exist.
But let us see what the professionals can do, no limitations.
Sheesh...Thanks for outing yourself as someone who feels compelled to bring politics into a conversation on mx safety. No wonder you talk of your brain rattling.
Sometimes racing has a tendency to fuck it self over with the classes.
It’s often rare that the class with moste power produces the best racing.
In moto gp both moto 3 and moto 2 often produces better racing than the GP class. In motocross it’s not rare that the 125/250f class has better racing than the 250/450 class and when the 500cc class existed it was never the best racing there for the spectators.
I personally feel that if a lower class produces better racing than the main class the bikes has become to powerful in the main class.
Now, it’s not always the case, we have had some good 450 races, but over all the years, the little class is often more exciting to watch.
You're illustrating the problem I've described nicely.
Go tell a bunch of NHRA guys 25 years ago that in the future they'll race 1000 feet instead of quarter mile. All the other motorsports figure it out.
The problem is professionals don't just grow on a tree. You have to ride years to get there, which means now, at 13 or 14 you better be on a 250 (40+ HP easy) and ripping. And on a 450 (60 HP) at 16 or 17 to see how it fits and if you can handle all that mass and power. But there's only 1% (probably less in reality) that can truly rip on a 250, much less a 450. The other 99% are getting broken on a regular basis, even the very good ones. I know a very fast PNW kid that's had so many major injuries before 16 (2 broken femurs among others) that he had to stop, and another heading to LL this year that's broken 12 bones and he's only 15. We know who the fast kids here are, and for many the question is always "can he stay off the ground, and for how long". There is NO other sport with this injury rate or severity among the young. Not football, not skiing, not MTB, not hockey. It's why I stopped riding MX 2 years ago, and why my son at 18 decided it wasn't worth it anymore.
Honestly, I'd just like to see more classes that race the already performance-limited trailbikes (CRF-F, KLX, TTR) that make up the overwhelming majority of dirt bike sales. I've seen a few series that do, and the events seem successful/enjoyable.
It also gives a place for people to enter the sport at a low cost, and is fun for the vets who want to just mix it up in a lower stakes way than sending it on a 450.
You need restrictor plates installed on both of your typing hands, slow it down there Little Sparky!💯
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I think a grown ass adult 18+ can ride whatever they want.
450, 500, 1000cc. You can go sign up and die for you country then you’re old enough to ride whatever dirtbike you want. You can make big boy decisions at 18+.
HOWEVER.
I think under 18 years old should have to ride 125CC. Of course you can’t enforce that, but at the amateur level, under 18 should be on 125CC 2 strokes.
SX is slow (relatively) and has the higher injury rate then MX.
I say this to make the point that there isn’t one way to fix it. And it’s likely not going to change. Or sport is driven by whatever Japan and Austria want to build and race.
Your kid would probably love the NORCS races once he got used to it.
Rocketship bikes, huge jumps and death will turn people from the sport all together. That's not a good thing or something anyone should want.
It's why offroad riding is so popular.
Maybe. There’s very little that gives you the rush of adrenaline that MX done well does. That’s the damn problem. It’s fvcking awesome until it isn’t.
He heads to Basic Training and Tech School this Fall. Given his medical history, they were very clear that they don’t want him getting hurt before that. So we golf.
Does anyone know for certain what circumstances led to Aidan’s death?
From everything I’ve been able to filter through, it sounds like he was leading and crashed, and was run over by those behind him. I don’t get the sense that it was speed or jump related. Mammoth doesn’t even have any big jumps and they’re all tables.
If it was traumatic chest injuries, we should be talking about mandating plastic chest protectors for under 18 year olds, or maybe those airbags.
If it was another traumatic injury, I’m really not sure what could be done. And even if a trained EMT with the appropriate equipment got to him within seconds, it’s very likely nothing could have been done to save him.
If he was leading and subsequently run over, what does lowering the displacement do to prevent this? It sounds like a horribly unfortunate and extremely rare circumstance that led to his death.
I guess thats the best thing to do if you have race or ride at your limit everytime on a track.
Pretty thankfull i have always been slow, with just a couple ACL tear and a collar bone. So the flip side is at our local track, pretty small jumps by today standards, every Thursday its set up for super vet, id gues up to 20 50 year to 79 years old ride, get to roost some dirt, just have fun being able to ride, a few of these guys are pretty fast, but everybody is respectful to eachother on the track. Im 62 and riding still brings the same fun as when I was 12. Nope dont race, dont see the point at this age, rather be able to ride again next weekend
this thread is all overcthe place, with people talking about weeke d warriors and pro's. There are a lot of different perspectives and solutions, def not one size fits all. So its up to us to figure out whats best for ourselves, as you did. The real struggle is for those chasing the dream.
Well written. For me that’s the issue - I can’t try and go slow, And the tracks don’t let you. If you go slow you case everything and that just beats the sh!t out of my 62 yo body. But the speed needed to flow a modern track is beyond me - I can’t do it out of fear. For my son, he’s 18, verging on a solid B rider. Everyone he races is fast and the risk and consequence is so high. I bet none of them go pro, so really, what’s the point? Even riding for fun at a B class skill level can maim or kill you. Sigh. I’m both glad and sad we are done. I sure loved to see him ride when he was at his best.
Oh man! SMH
As a 56 year old vet who fucked himself up last June ive got my opinion. Blew out both achilles and destroyed my left shoulder. Came up short on a 100 foot uphill stepup/triple. Racing plus 50 masters class. 300sx. I should not have attempted this jump.Ive ridden and raced thi track for 20 fuckin years and never tried it till last June. That jump has gotten many guys over the years including partial paralysis and brain injury. Owner of track has been told many times to make it easier or eliminate it. If it was my track I would take it out. But not for 1 second do I hold him responsible. My choice. This leads to a lot of disagreements. If this were the same jump on 1986 i would not consider jumping it. I didn't have the suspension then. In fact maybe a couple of Canadian national level pros might do it. There are fast juniors who do this same jump today. Bikes are able to handle these obstacles. Technique allows fast amateurs to do it. And they are in every popular track on the continent. Im not sure of my point but that's my take.
How you doing? Both achilles is brutal.
That would be a good rule under 18 it’s a125 only. I hv a few injection apts yet hurts like hell to stand bored so I started riding. I rode a little track with a lot of corners I was wayy faster than the 4 young guys on new 250f,s . Probably not the best riders around tho. A 04 cr125 is not exactly the fastest 125 either it’s quick tho if you ride it hard.
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