History of VitalMX?

jock
Posts
1664
Joined
9/25/2006
Location
Postmans Ridge, QLD AU
Fantasy
2/13/2026 4:37am
MotoNewsand the MotoTalk forum was "owned" by Hutch, and Steve was the primary moderator on the forum until he left sometime in 2008 I believe, for...

MotoNewsand the MotoTalk forum was "owned" by Hutch, and Steve was the primary moderator on the forum until he left sometime in 2008 I believe, for a while to Supercross.com and then to another site I can't recall the name of now (Racetime?). I don't know whether Steve owned that site.

Robgvx wrote:

Motonews went to a pay-to-post basis. That lost a ton of users. 

RaceTime was TFS’s own project that never really grew legs.

Neverclear wrote:
There started to be a lot of trash posting on Motonews/Mototalk because everything could easily be anonymous.They figured the payment would weed some of that out...

There started to be a lot of trash posting on Motonews/Mototalk because everything could easily be anonymous.They figured the payment would weed some of that out I guess, but they ended up shooting themselves in the foot with that move. Motodrive became the place to go pretty quickly.

 

Who was the user that posted the nude pics in a meltdown?

 

1
racin mason
Posts
877
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Long Beach, WA US
2/13/2026 5:35am
alphado wrote:
It is weird how many friends I have made from the moto boards. Just last week I stayed with Dr. Mark in Tucson. I’ve met a...

It is weird how many friends I have made from the moto boards. Just last week I stayed with Dr. Mark in Tucson. I’ve met a lot of you guys and it is crazy how it is like we have been friends for years. Pretty crazy ok when you think about it.

Yup.  I dropped into MotoTalk in 2000 when I was out after my transplant, played around of FreshDirt a bit, many of the same characters, and...

Yup.  I dropped into MotoTalk in 2000 when I was out after my transplant, played around of FreshDirt a bit, many of the same characters, and then MotoDrive when Gibby set it up.  Pretty much all of those old boards are in the past and I am happy to still see many of the folks I connected with back at the beginning.  A lot of good people no matter how hard the BS flew back and forth.  Created some wonderful opportunities for me that I am grateful to have had the chance to enjoy.  The old RacerX Gas Card deal was a lot of fun.

There was a real sweet spot of interaction for an awhile, and things certainly changed when the iPhone and social media apps gave people other outlets.   It was pretty tasty back then to have a collection of photographers showing their stuff on MotoTalk and MotoDrive/Vital.

✌️

Your new piston and rings going on 26 years AMAZING!!!  I want you to know you have put many a smile on my face over the years with your photography and your insight on variety of topics.Heres to many more years on that fresh top end!

6
DonM
Posts
8366
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
US
Fantasy
2/13/2026 5:36am Edited Date/Time 2/13/2026 5:37am
yak651 wrote:
Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So...

Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So I slid over to motodrive when it started up which turned into VitalMX. Visited Ronron maybe a couple times and then Thumpertalk for tech tips but this has been my main moto outlet.

Same here...correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Freshdirt was TFS's or maybe that's where I first saw him...

FWYT
Posts
3537
Joined
5/25/2014
Location
San Diego, CA US
2/13/2026 7:08am
El_Rayo wrote:
I’ve been on here for 5 ish years but only created an account last year. So I’m curious, who created it first? What’s the story? Who...

I’ve been on here for 5 ish years but only created an account last year. So I’m curious, who created it first? What’s the story? Who owns it now? ML?

The only appropriate and historically accurate response-

STFU NOOB

(Joking, of course.)

6

The Shop

2/13/2026 7:11am Edited Date/Time 2/13/2026 7:12am

image 2611.png?VersionId=gcl0jXTTNHv

2
brocster
Posts
4474
Joined
6/9/2009
Location
Aliso Viejo, CA US
2/13/2026 7:22am
yak651 wrote:
Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So...

Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So I slid over to motodrive when it started up which turned into VitalMX. Visited Ronron maybe a couple times and then Thumpertalk for tech tips but this has been my main moto outlet.

Same and same user name for me throughout them all. 

1
mxnick
Posts
1004
Joined
12/4/2007
Location
Nor Cal, CA US
2/13/2026 7:30am

So what user has the oldest vital account that is not associated with “corporate”…? IE Guy B?

2
brocster
Posts
4474
Joined
6/9/2009
Location
Aliso Viejo, CA US
2/13/2026 7:31am
yak651 wrote:
Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So...

Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So I slid over to motodrive when it started up which turned into VitalMX. Visited Ronron maybe a couple times and then Thumpertalk for tech tips but this has been my main moto outlet.

DonM wrote:

Same here...correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Freshdirt was TFS's or maybe that's where I first saw him...

Fresh Dirt was for Mikee P and TFS “Steve Bruhn” was Motonews/Mototalk. Different dudes

3
DonM
Posts
8366
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
US
Fantasy
2/13/2026 8:17am
yak651 wrote:
Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So...

Freshdirt was the first moto site I found. Then motonews came into play until they started the pay to post if you weren’t an insider. So I slid over to motodrive when it started up which turned into VitalMX. Visited Ronron maybe a couple times and then Thumpertalk for tech tips but this has been my main moto outlet.

DonM wrote:

Same here...correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Freshdirt was TFS's or maybe that's where I first saw him...

brocster wrote:

Fresh Dirt was for Mikee P and TFS “Steve Bruhn” was Motonews/Mototalk. Different dudes

Yes you are correct....It was a long time ago so my old man memory kicked in....I also have had the same username from the very beginning.  

2
kxking
Posts
1882
Joined
8/15/2006
Location
Oakville, Ontario CA
Fantasy
2/13/2026 9:51am
mxnick wrote:

So what user has the oldest vital account that is not associated with “corporate”…? IE Guy B?

I have been here from the beginning, moved over from MotoDrive forums when Vital took it over. At one point I had the 3rd highest post count, but then there was an outage and data was lost and I lost like 1600 posts and had to make a new user name, when Gibby couldn't fix it. 

1
kxking
Posts
1882
Joined
8/15/2006
Location
Oakville, Ontario CA
Fantasy
2/13/2026 9:54am
jmo443 wrote:

Not vital, but in the timeline. The pink palace, miss that place. All my Canadian buddies. 

Lol wow, I remember the "Pink Palace" that was sometime ago.

1
lumpy790
Posts
11279
Joined
9/18/2007
Location
York, SC US
2/13/2026 10:38am

motocross.com was another popular moto site till I think it was sold

1
SEEMEFIRST
Posts
13538
Joined
8/21/2006
Location
Arlington, TX US
2/13/2026 10:59am
mxnick wrote:

So what user has the oldest vital account that is not associated with “corporate”…? IE Guy B?

They had some kind of "Reset" at Vital in 06, I think, so all the O.G.s are from 06 but I thought the transition was before that.

 

FreshTopEnd
Posts
13024
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Sacramento, CA US
2/13/2026 11:15am
alphado wrote:
It is weird how many friends I have made from the moto boards. Just last week I stayed with Dr. Mark in Tucson. I’ve met a...

It is weird how many friends I have made from the moto boards. Just last week I stayed with Dr. Mark in Tucson. I’ve met a lot of you guys and it is crazy how it is like we have been friends for years. Pretty crazy ok when you think about it.

Yup.  I dropped into MotoTalk in 2000 when I was out after my transplant, played around of FreshDirt a bit, many of the same characters, and...

Yup.  I dropped into MotoTalk in 2000 when I was out after my transplant, played around of FreshDirt a bit, many of the same characters, and then MotoDrive when Gibby set it up.  Pretty much all of those old boards are in the past and I am happy to still see many of the folks I connected with back at the beginning.  A lot of good people no matter how hard the BS flew back and forth.  Created some wonderful opportunities for me that I am grateful to have had the chance to enjoy.  The old RacerX Gas Card deal was a lot of fun.

There was a real sweet spot of interaction for an awhile, and things certainly changed when the iPhone and social media apps gave people other outlets.   It was pretty tasty back then to have a collection of photographers showing their stuff on MotoTalk and MotoDrive/Vital.

✌️

Your new piston and rings going on 26 years AMAZING!!!  I want you to know you have put many a smile on my face over the...

Your new piston and rings going on 26 years AMAZING!!!  I want you to know you have put many a smile on my face over the years with your photography and your insight on variety of topics.Heres to many more years on that fresh top end!

That's kind of you to say, and much appreciated.  Definitely changed my perspective; not getting older, getting to live longer. 🙂✌️

4
2/13/2026 11:26am
Robgvx wrote:

Motonews went to a pay-to-post basis. That lost a ton of users. 

RaceTime was TFS’s own project that never really grew legs.

Neverclear wrote:
There started to be a lot of trash posting on Motonews/Mototalk because everything could easily be anonymous.They figured the payment would weed some of that out...

There started to be a lot of trash posting on Motonews/Mototalk because everything could easily be anonymous.They figured the payment would weed some of that out I guess, but they ended up shooting themselves in the foot with that move. Motodrive became the place to go pretty quickly.

 

jock wrote:

Who was the user that posted the nude pics in a meltdown?

 

MotoChris? That was an epic meltdown. He did select a good pic for it. Still remember it. ha!

3
Not hillbilly
Posts
1030
Joined
6/8/2024
Location
Gaithersburg, MD US
2/13/2026 11:28am
Josh422 wrote:

I was on MC’s forum, maybe nacnac.com? which led me to ronronmx.com in 2000?. I was on vital from the get go, 2005? 

I was on all if them, but nacnac.com was definitely my favorite. That forum had quite a few women and they were treated respectfully. Made a few friends there.

1
SCYRacing
Posts
515
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Mingo Jct., OH US
2/13/2026 11:47am

Lurked on Motonews for awhile. Then noticed when someone went on a spicy rant, somebody would say "Is Motodrive down?" So I searched and found Motodrive and signed up. Been around since, same username even though "SCYRacing " has not been a thing since '09 or so lol

1
2/13/2026 11:47am

I use to go back to some of the first few pages of the forum and read what discussions were happening then. It was super intetesting. Unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible to randomly browse with the infinite scroll. 

I always thought it'd be cool if vital had a "bump of the week" where some interesting conversation from years ago is bumped to the top so people can read it or continue the discussion. 

6
Moto Nomad
Posts
1104
Joined
1/19/2021
Location
Grass Valley, CA US
2/13/2026 12:12pm

Remember the boobie vault? That was awesome.

9
2/13/2026 12:21pm
Meister wrote:

I thought TFS owned it. 

MotoNewsand the MotoTalk forum was "owned" by Hutch, and Steve was the primary moderator on the forum until he left sometime in 2008 I believe, for...

MotoNewsand the MotoTalk forum was "owned" by Hutch, and Steve was the primary moderator on the forum until he left sometime in 2008 I believe, for a while to Supercross.com and then to another site I can't recall the name of now (Racetime?). I don't know whether Steve owned that site.

And wasn't it a dealership that started motonews? Hutch worked there and maintained the site but eventually the dealership either gave it to Hutch or he bought it off them. Hope he's doing well.

Doogan551
Posts
142
Joined
8/15/2007
Location
Yadkinville, NC US
2/13/2026 12:32pm

now, now you youngsters......    the OG newsgroups is where we really chatted up '80s and '90s dirtbikes...   USENET's ol rec.motorcycles.dirt is really where it all started...   if you really wanna see some crazy old posts.

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.motorcycles.dirt

Git off my lawn!!  ya skibidi toilet rizzlers!!!

 

4
FreshTopEnd
Posts
13024
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Sacramento, CA US
2/13/2026 12:54pm
Meister wrote:

I thought TFS owned it. 

MotoNewsand the MotoTalk forum was "owned" by Hutch, and Steve was the primary moderator on the forum until he left sometime in 2008 I believe, for...

MotoNewsand the MotoTalk forum was "owned" by Hutch, and Steve was the primary moderator on the forum until he left sometime in 2008 I believe, for a while to Supercross.com and then to another site I can't recall the name of now (Racetime?). I don't know whether Steve owned that site.

Robgvx wrote:

Motonews went to a pay-to-post basis. That lost a ton of users. 

RaceTime was TFS’s own project that never really grew legs.

I came on MT a year after pay to play, and I'm not sure that losing the posters it lost dinged the board that much.  There was a pretty big cohort of FreshDirt and MotoDrive posters who wore that badge proudly and had their say about it, Rich Cain leading the pack.  

Steve also was a pretty rigorous moderator at dinging people, even if they paid, for things Steve didn't like, including if they made life difficult for him in the industry while he was the moderator.  He eventually got pretty sick of that industry side pressure to control what went up on MT ("cameltoe?" 😂), which I think in part accounts for why eventually he left MT when he did (a lot involved in that, not just the public battle with Davey).  MT for sure went downhill when Steve left (at one time or another both Steve Cox and Michael Rigdon were mods after that) but also I think because industry people seemed to be bailing from any board at that time.  They just didn't play the same town square role once the social media apps started proliferating. 

Heck, if not for MT I would not have gotten the opportunity through the Gas Card to meet you, Rob, and Paul and Gary at the 05 Anaheim 1.  Still grateful to Gary for him letting me use his 300 from the press box, really generous of him to do that for someone he didn't know.  It also was the path that got me back to being able to shoot the Nationals for many years, which was a terrific experience I treasure.  

9
Titan1
Posts
9407
Joined
2/3/2010
Location
Lehi, UT US
2/13/2026 2:13pm

I started on motoworld.com in 2002...moved to motodrive when motoworld folded...and then finally to vital when it started in 2006...it blows my mind its been 20 years since motodrive disappeared...how has that much time gone by? 

lumpy790
Posts
11279
Joined
9/18/2007
Location
York, SC US
2/13/2026 2:47pm

Motonews definitely had lots of MC insiders posting in it

1
TeamGreen
Posts
36644
Joined
11/25/2008
Location
Thru-out, CA US
2/13/2026 2:53pm
ML512 wrote:
Brad McDonald is the owner of Vital MX and Vital MTB. He was the original guy behind Transworld Motocross, was the group publisher of the Transworld...

Brad McDonald is the owner of Vital MX and Vital MTB. He was the original guy behind Transworld Motocross, was the group publisher of the Transworld media group, and founded Ride BMX magazine in 1992.

GuyB was the original Content Director for Vital MX during its inception in 2006 to the later stages of 2021. I worked at Vital MX from 2014 to the very beginning of 2019. I came back in late 2021 to take over the Director role.

The following is a joke…

image 221
McG194
Posts
4111
Joined
9/7/2017
Location
Palm Coast, FL US
2/13/2026 3:28pm
ML512 wrote:
Brad McDonald is the owner of Vital MX and Vital MTB. He was the original guy behind Transworld Motocross, was the group publisher of the Transworld...

Brad McDonald is the owner of Vital MX and Vital MTB. He was the original guy behind Transworld Motocross, was the group publisher of the Transworld media group, and founded Ride BMX magazine in 1992.

GuyB was the original Content Director for Vital MX during its inception in 2006 to the later stages of 2021. I worked at Vital MX from 2014 to the very beginning of 2019. I came back in late 2021 to take over the Director role.

What's with the gap in your resume between 2019 and 2021. You must have been out chasing the big bucks making money hand over fist.   🤣

 

You can make a small fortune racing, you just gotta start with a big one. 

2
Sully
Posts
9187
Joined
8/24/2006
Location
JP
2/13/2026 4:13pm
mxnick wrote:

So what user has the oldest vital account that is not associated with “corporate”…? IE Guy B?

SEEMEFIRST wrote:
They had some kind of "Reset" at Vital in 06, I think, so all the O.G.s are from 06 but I thought the transition was before...

They had some kind of "Reset" at Vital in 06, I think, so all the O.G.s are from 06 but I thought the transition was before that.

 

I thought Steve ported a lot of our accounts over from MotoDrive when this place first started, and that's the reason so many of us have join dates in August of '06? I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday, though, so I could be wrong about that.

yak651
Posts
8578
Joined
8/26/2006
Location
Appleton, WI US
Fantasy
2/13/2026 5:30pm
mxnick wrote:

So what user has the oldest vital account that is not associated with “corporate”…? IE Guy B?

SEEMEFIRST wrote:
They had some kind of "Reset" at Vital in 06, I think, so all the O.G.s are from 06 but I thought the transition was before...

They had some kind of "Reset" at Vital in 06, I think, so all the O.G.s are from 06 but I thought the transition was before that.

 

Sully wrote:
I thought Steve ported a lot of our accounts over from MotoDrive when this place first started, and that's the reason so many of us have...

I thought Steve ported a lot of our accounts over from MotoDrive when this place first started, and that's the reason so many of us have join dates in August of '06? I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday, though, so I could be wrong about that.

There was a switch in servers or something where everyone had to rejoin, I believe that’s why a lot of people have similar join dates

2
2/13/2026 6:02pm Edited Date/Time 2/14/2026 12:02am

When Vital started like Aug 15th 2006 and lots of us got emails from GuyB and a link to Vital so that's why there are so many members with 08/2006 join dates because it was brand new. 

1
1
MelonFan123
Posts
1548
Joined
8/20/2006
Location
Ventura/LA County, CA US
2/13/2026 8:22pm
Sully wrote:
I thought Steve ported a lot of our accounts over from MotoDrive when this place first started, and that's the reason so many of us have...

I thought Steve ported a lot of our accounts over from MotoDrive when this place first started, and that's the reason so many of us have join dates in August of '06? I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday, though, so I could be wrong about that.

I recall something similar. My join date is 8/20/06 I remember getting an AIM message (remember those?) from GuyB with a link to join/sign up for the new site. I think I was still working with Gibby at TransWorld MX at the time 

2

Post a reply to: History of VitalMX?

The Latest