Posts
1035
Joined
12/19/2009
Location
Westfield, MA
US
Edited Date/Time
3/9/2018 3:09pm
As with many of us, I've been shocked again this year at the number and the severity of the injuries piling up at the top level of this sport. I've read many articles and threads/opinions on the matter, and have added mine to the list on occasion. I do believe the speed increase to be the problem, as any increase in speed equals an increase in the force of an impact during a fall.
I have been of the opinion that 450's are too much. And maybe they are, as they have all the power of the old 500's, but demand little of the respect the 500's did. Thus, guys can do ungodly things on them, until something goes wrong. Which eventually always happens.
But, I think I've been coming to a new realization on the subject, and it's mostly from watching video of old races on Instagram or Youtube. If you pay attention to these, you can easily see that the suspension was vastly different even in the early nineties, never mind the eighties or god forbid the seventies. The bikes appear to have springs taken from ball point pens, and valving that would be soft on a modern enduro bike. Also, you can see the bikes swap and twist a lot more, likely from the chassis' being very flexy. (example; I raced a KX500 as a NESC expert and also at a few nationals, and at 200 lb's I used .40kg, or .42kg fork springs!! I now use .48's in my YZ250 for trail riding!)
So, what I've started to see, is that the speed increase is coming from the modern chassis as much or more than it is coming from the 'over powered' motors.
This is a problem. Because while it's easy to say, 'put a restrictor plate in the 450's', there's no way anybody is giving up their modern suspension and handling. This doesn't really leave many options to make the sport safer in the future. Maybe equipment will evolve some. But I can't really see track design making a huge difference, as there are crashes on every kind of obstacle on the track, and when you remove an obstacle the riders will just go faster.
Sorry, I didn't come here with any answers. But maybe if we all look at the problem differently somebody will come up with some.
****And please don't tell me it's because guys are training and riding harder, and then cite the 90's party era of MC as your example. I understand if that's as far back as your history in moto goes, but if you could look a little deeper at guys like Hannah, Wardy, O'Mara, Stanton, Larocco, Barnett etc. you'd see that the MC era was the aberration (mainly because he was just so ridiculously talented that nobody could beat him so they just figured wtf? might as well join the party).
I have been of the opinion that 450's are too much. And maybe they are, as they have all the power of the old 500's, but demand little of the respect the 500's did. Thus, guys can do ungodly things on them, until something goes wrong. Which eventually always happens.
But, I think I've been coming to a new realization on the subject, and it's mostly from watching video of old races on Instagram or Youtube. If you pay attention to these, you can easily see that the suspension was vastly different even in the early nineties, never mind the eighties or god forbid the seventies. The bikes appear to have springs taken from ball point pens, and valving that would be soft on a modern enduro bike. Also, you can see the bikes swap and twist a lot more, likely from the chassis' being very flexy. (example; I raced a KX500 as a NESC expert and also at a few nationals, and at 200 lb's I used .40kg, or .42kg fork springs!! I now use .48's in my YZ250 for trail riding!)
So, what I've started to see, is that the speed increase is coming from the modern chassis as much or more than it is coming from the 'over powered' motors.
This is a problem. Because while it's easy to say, 'put a restrictor plate in the 450's', there's no way anybody is giving up their modern suspension and handling. This doesn't really leave many options to make the sport safer in the future. Maybe equipment will evolve some. But I can't really see track design making a huge difference, as there are crashes on every kind of obstacle on the track, and when you remove an obstacle the riders will just go faster.
Sorry, I didn't come here with any answers. But maybe if we all look at the problem differently somebody will come up with some.
****And please don't tell me it's because guys are training and riding harder, and then cite the 90's party era of MC as your example. I understand if that's as far back as your history in moto goes, but if you could look a little deeper at guys like Hannah, Wardy, O'Mara, Stanton, Larocco, Barnett etc. you'd see that the MC era was the aberration (mainly because he was just so ridiculously talented that nobody could beat him so they just figured wtf? might as well join the party).
My brother broke his wrist trying to stop the bike from tipping over in a corner when he hit neutral.
Shit happens.
The Shop
Transfer between jumps have more room than they did 10-15 years ago. They are also rolled more so they can jump for distance not height. If the faces were steeper then they wouldnt be doing quads. Remember last Hangtown the face of the Fly 150 was too steep for guys to huck it.
Plus dont forget, this is motocross, guys will always get hurt regardless. In 2003 all but 3 factory guys were injured. In 1998 there were 16 factory riders at the start and 6 by then end. Its the nature of the sport.
hell jimmy button tipped over on a parade lap in the whoops and broke his back while Weston Peick does his best meteor impression and walks away fine.
450 knocked down to a 144s
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