Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125891
Some promoters and many of th e better riders don 't agree , fo r two basic reaso ns . First is a m a t ter of prac ti cali ty, For cham pionsh ip even ts you m ight well wa nt to go tw o or mo re laps . and there is no way to go two lap s unless the fin ish of the c o urse is so mewhere ncar the start, as the course must he either basi cally flat or else it must have some uphill portions. Se condly, the ability to go fast uph ill is an important skill. the same as the ability to pick the best line through a turn. 'The better riders want as many different ways to de mo nst rate thei r ab ility and eliminate luek factor as p o ssible . The j umps o n a' b icy cl e mo to c ros s course w o ul d scare th e ave rage m oto rc y cl ist to death . Often th ey do n ' t loo k li ke j u mps a t a ll. A b ig ju m p might lo o k more li ke a wa ll with the fro nt surface slightly slanted and the rear surface two stories high . Small j umps look like c ur b s, wh ich I su ppose is natural because that's what the kids tra in o n. Ho w ever. Ric h Lee. promoter at the Palms Park , cautio ns , " I believe in making jumps so that the little guys can roll down th e other side. Not all kids are bo rn Ro ger De Co s ter. " Alth ough the slab -sided j u m ps arc mo re spec tuc u la r tha n any thing e lse in b icy cl e-cro ss, for sheer e xc it em en t no thing heals a good off-camber tu m wi th a slick surface at th e en d of a quick section. That 's where you sec some of the to ughest corn pctirion , where you sec the gre~ltcst exhibition of skill. It' s also where you see the unskilled get their just reward . .. in a tangle of arms, legs, a nd hand lebars, 20 '111e va rious p romoters of BX h a ve some m ild disagreements a b ou t wh at courses shou ld he li ke . hut the subject of classes a lm o s t gets them scre am ing. Do you separate kids h y age, hy size, hy skill, or according 10 some comb ination of all thr ee ? In motocross racing. age and size mean little. bu t in BX age and size arc the equivalent of, engine displacement in the motorcycle races . Assuming good physical co ndit io n . the bigger · the guy, the faster he c a n go , Put another way, even a rea lly skillful cigh t-year-old won 't st ay with a relatively clumsy l Ii-year-o ld. On the o ther ha nd, the re tends to be less difference in size once the kids get over 12 or so. so experience bec o m es an equally c ritical factor. Right now a number o f track s arc ru n ni ng classes based only o n age . Scot Brei th aup t is ru nning combination cl asses . w i th qu ite a h it of j ud gm en t (h is own) p lay ing a major ro le in rid e r class ification. Starting at the to p . th e "Experts" are riders w ho have do ne well in, or won . three novice events. ":\'uvi ccs" arc defined. morc or less. 'as riders with some experience, over 10 years o ld. who arc not good enough for the Expert class. " Begi n n ers " arc just tha t, un less they hap pen 10 he less tha n I 0 years old. in wh ich case they are " Pe e Wees " un less they are' les s than five years o ld . in w hi ch case th ey are "Supe r Pee \Vecs . ·· "The Pee We e cl ass:' says Sc o t. " st art ed ou t as the sma ll. con fidence-bu ilding class:' Now. however. it is one of the h iggest classes. so the "Super Pee Wee class is the confidence builder;" Scot is developing a points system for his organ ization. a.U .~LS.• which stands for Bicyclists United ~Iotocross Society. Other associations are doing the same . There seem to he as many associa tions in the ncw 'VOrl as th ere are promoters. Bes ides the Breithaupt B.U . ~ I. S. , the m o st p romin ent is th e NBA, th e Nati o n al Bicycle Association. run by Ernie Alex ander. Actually neither gro up extends m uch beyond Sou thern Califo rn ia, and neither is asso ci a ted w ith ABI.., the Amateur Bicycle League of America. w h ich is th e A ;\IA /FI~I of the b ic yc le world. Although Bicycle ~ Iotocross is on ly in the begin nin g stages, the need for better organ ization is already evident. Ilcre arc two problems that have surfaced. apart from the classification dilemma. First is the question of track liahility. Injuries to date have heen remarkably few and non-serious in nature, but serious o nes will inevitab ly occur. and there are a nu m ber of promoters with no insu rance. Ano ther problem is that some tracks arc no w payi ng pri ze moncy , wh ic h the kids like. an d w hic h is no p ro hle m fo r those kids wh o go on in motorcycle racing. But some kids will want to go on in bicycle racing, perhaps ge lling as far as th e O ly mpics, o nly to fin d out that th ey disqualified themselves fro m the Olymp ics at age nine or thereabouts ! T he bicycles used in bicycle m oto cro ss were o riginally , and 10 some extend still are, the bikes designed to ap peal to a kid's im agina tio n . with dirt-bike tra ppings li ke kno bby tires a nd "Easy R id er " clemen ts like han ana sca ts a nd s issy bars . Th e kids s trip the he avy j unk o ff the h ikes and race them unt il somethi ng b reaks. Bu t the scene is c ha ngi ng rap idl y . Already the re are at least, :!O manufacturers sell ing all UlC bi cycle motocross gear they can make. and the technology, hoth evident and promised , is almost frigh re n in g. In the Expert c lass, an unsprung Frame is now non-compe titive. Magnesiu m wheels arc becom ing commo nplace. \ Vith sealed hearin gs . of course. Titanium frames have a lrea dy heen tried and rej e c ted in favo r of