Ask Ping!
Friday, October 19, 2012 | 7:00 AM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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PrintPing,
I enjoy your column and your insight on motocross from a rider’s perspective and as an “insider.” I also enjoy your political views. Here is my question. Are the motocross tracks in the USA prepared too similarly? (heavily disked and Loamy) With the recent loss in the Trophy des Nations in the deep sand, and finding we have no similar tracks besides Southwick where a lot of riders commented it had a hard packed base and was nowhere near the deep sand as Lommel. Are we making our tracks too cookie-cutter? We used to have hard packed tracks that developed blue grooves and tracks with naturally based soil conditions with fresh grass before practice. I still believe our riders are the best in the world but not on every type of track with extreme conditions such as hard pack or deep sand.
What are your thoughts?
Joseph J. Hunger
Elma, New York
#415
Once is fine. If we lose again next year I'm going nuts like this dude.
I don’t think the fact that the USA didn’t win this year correlates at all to the type of tracks we have here in the States. Washougal still gets hard and slick. Southwick is still pretty deep sand. And from Millville to Unadilla to High Point to Hangtown you hit just about everything in between and all sort of conditions. Yes, we used to have hard-pack blue-groove tracks like Carlsbad and worn out rock gardens like Binghamton but we also had dust and poor race conditions that were bad for the riders and for spectating. The truth is that unless we set up a track right at the water’s edge of one of our beaches [that will never happen] we aren’t going to find sand like they had in Lommel. We just don’t have it. It was a very unique race condition and it favored riders and teams who had a good setup for it and had some experience in it. That isn’t an excuse that I’m throwing out because I’m 100 percent American and proud of it [Yeah, suck it, world!]. It is simply the facts. Our tracks are good here. There is always the question of how much we should prep them and I’m sure an issue that the MX Sports crew deals with on a weekly basis. Some people want it groomed more and others want it left alone all day. Look, the MXoN is held in a different venue each year and America has been successful an overwhelming number of times. So much so that MOTO magazine’s cover this month reads “The Yanks Get Spanked.” The Germans won and the U.S. still steals the headline! Let’s not get all worked up over one third place finish. Remember, Stewart and Villopoto weren’t there with Dungey so we didn’t even have our “A” team. If our guys can’t reclaim the trophy next year we can all start a riot and assume the loss is a sign of the apocalypse. Sound good?
PING
Dear Ping,
I’ve been watching the Racer X Tested bike shootouts that have been posting over the last week or so. The video format is great and it’s cool that you guys post these right here on the sight free of charge. I have a couple questions for you: You use a lot of fast, pro riders and I wonder if their opinions would differ from mine (a very average novice rider)? Also, do you think you are getting a good feel for the bikes in just one day of testing? Some of the other publications ride the bikes for months before they post their results.
Thanks in advance for the reply.
Kody Norman
Inappropriate touching not included.
Thanks for watching and I’m glad you like the video format. I’ve been a big proponent of current and former professional test riders since I began our Racer X Tested department years ago. The simple reason is that pro riders who have done real life testing for race teams can feel what a bike is doing, good and bad, in a few short laps. I could use all sorts of analogies here: Would DeMarini hire a little league player to test new bats or would they use a seasoned player who can give them more feedback on the feel and performance of the bat? Does Porsche hire a professional driver to help with car testing or do they employ some random guy whose resume includes a 35-minute daily commute on a winding road to his former job? Do you think Boeing hires professional pilots to test their new aircraft or they seek out a young farmer from Indian who flies a crop duster over his bean fields? I think you get the point.
And that segues nicely into why we can get excellent feedback from our test riders in a short amount of time. I can understand that it may take months to get a feel for all the machines if you are a sixty-something novice who only rides one track every weekend. And while there may be some great information after an extensive period of time on the bikes the majority of buyers have already made their purchases at that point. We try to get a good amount of feedback to those who are looking to buy new bikes and give you an idea of what multiple riders thought of each machine. And I get a lot of people who ask the same thing you did: I’m slow and Greg Albertyn is a former champion. How does his opinion relate to what I would like? A good bike is a good bike. While it’s true that each rider’s opinions are going to differ slightly you can start to pick up patterns in what each rider is saying. And if a bike turns well it is going to turn well for a beginner or an expert. That is simply a characteristic of that bike. If you had a professional chef tell you that a Ginsu knife was better than a dulled razor knife he pulled out of his toolbox would you believe him or say, “Well, I’m not a professional chef so how does he know the Ginsu is better for me than the box cutter?” You take the chef’s word for it. Unless you are a total douchbag, in which case, good luck cutting tomatoes with that razor knife.
PING
Dear Ping,
Working at a corporate warehouse, it isn't unheard of to be working with every high school jock wash-up that believes they should be playing in the NFL. Growing up racing motocross and having a passion for it, I find myself in a daily argument with multiple meatheads, who say motocross is easy and as boring as NASCAR. By any means, I shouldn't be lining up for A1, but I definitely don't belong in the nervous novice class. I raced motocross all my life and also WORCS the past couple years. Being a motocross enthusiast, I don't and won't back down from this argument. I remember you writing an article in a Racer X magazine explaining what it takes to be a motocross racer. I know I have it and have wanted to find it to shut these jocks up, but I can't find it to save my life. I feel the argument between a motocross racer and a football player will be a never-ending battle, but I'm asking you to give me some ammo to throw at these ogres to shut them up. Their argument is how strong, big and fast football players are. They believe that motocross racers sit on a dirt bike and ride around. I know the dedicated riders and racers in this sport don't do that but I can't get that point across. Please help me out so I'm not attacked by these overgrown muscle hamsters who can't realize they just weren't made up for the NFL. I'd highly appreciate it!
Chris
Here's your guy. Don't forget the liability waiver.
We could build a formidable case for our sport by pointing out facts and using logic. But, sadly, at the end of the day OJ is still going to walk. These brainless morons don’t have a clue and nothing you can say is going to change that. So, unless you want to invite them out to ride your bike and show you just how easy it is, you are going to have to ignore them. If you can get them to a track you can win this. They said that all you have to do is sit down and ride around, right? Ask them to meet you at a local track and show you how it’s done. It will cost you some bars, levers and possibly a sub-frame and graphics but I’ve got to believe it would be worth it. Short of watching them crumple themselves up into a bloody ball off the first jump they hit I don’t see any way you can win the argument. Leave it alone or invite them out to hurt themselves. Oh, and send me pics of the aftermath if they actually show up. And maybe draw up a liability waiver. And if this goes to court I never told you to do any of this.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at [email protected]
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AHAHAHAHA I think all enthusiasts have had that argument school mates. The older the people you talk to are however..the less likely they think that. In fact the older they are, they tend to rank you on how crazy you are...which i dont appreciate cause none of us ride motorbikes cause we have a death wish. Its calculated risk (more or less :-))
Oh and you are making excuses for des nations spanking..ure just not ready to admit it :-))))
"The A team".. Ping, Dugney was your Captain your only member of "the A team".. But Dugney was your weak link that weekend.
Facebook page of Pourcel has him training whoops on the ktm 350. He's coming to the US people....
Facebook page of Pourcel has him training whoops on the ktm 350. He's coming to the US people....
Over the years the FIM has changed the des Nations' rules several times to lessen the chances of the USA winning. Now they'll probably schedule all future races at Lommel. But history, especially since 1981, shows who has the best riders, and more of them.
@ Ollie. I agree
and Baggett is definitively part of the "A team". Barcia rode really well too. Except in the first moto due to the broken spokes Stewie and Villopoto would not have finished higher than 3rd in the last moto I think.
Good read once again, Ping. My comment today will be at Chris. I hear what you are saying. Think about this for a second. If you took a stopwatch, and started and stopped it during a football game, when there is ACTUAL excitment, and when the clock is ticking and there is NOTHING going on, you would maybe end up with 15 minutes of excitment in a 3 hour game! So these foootball fans spend (waste) all afternoon watching a game that produces a very small amount of action. Moto, on the other hand, is all excitment from the drop of the gate to the checkers. Furthermore, football (a sport that requires only one ball) has nowhere near the danger moto has. At every second on the track the riders are risking serious injury or death. Ever find that in a football game? I didn't think so. And anyone that comes back with a broken leg or arm story from a "one ball" sport deserves serious ridicule. The guys these days are flying almost as far at times on thier bikes as the q-back can throw the ball! And do you act like a silly football fan when your favorite rider crashes or wins? I didn't think so. Why do they get so excited about this sport in the first place? Prolly cuz that's the way they were brought up. Glad it was them and not me. And, one more thing, while I'm feeding you all this important info. Not one of the teams have players from the state or city the team hails from. As in, the "Minnesota Vikings" that so many in my area are so proud of,(insert laugh out loud here) how many of them are actually from Minnesota? That's what I thought. To me the sport is a ridiculous way to waste your Sundays. Week in and week out. These people need to get into moto, so they can understand what real excitment is about. Go get 'em Chris. I hope I loaded you up with some ammo here, and maybe some others will add to it.
endoman38 please elaborate on your opinion that the MXdN format has been changed to 'lessen the chances of the USA team', because I believe you're talking nonsense.
The thing about some of those pro test riders is they are biased. Not with anyone in particular in mind, but, for example, there are some who are just going to like the Honda even if it is a stink bug. Or they don't want to say anything bad about Suzuki because they were so good to them over the years and in retirement.
Bucky well said!
Who cares what the meatheads think. Keep it to yourself and ride.
Chris- The argument about the difficulty of MX is almost pointless. Unless someone has actually raced they just won't understand. I say raced because we all know the guy who "has ridden his whole life and could have raced, I was fast enough, but didn't feel like it." and that person is always sure that MX isn't that hard. As for the stick and ball clowns, with their timeouts, TV timeouts, delay of games, benches, water, half-times, etc. they know not of what they speak.
Having said that, we need to be honest; sports have become so specific that there is very, very little crossover now. If RV lined up against even a bench player in the NFL it would be very ugly. Conversely, if you took a great NFL player and put them on a bike at RedBud it would go very bad.
I think the bottom line is that pros, in any sport make things look relatively easy. That's just the nature of good timing, balance and coordination, which are traits I think virtually all pros possess. Does it look that hard when Tom Brady drops a 60yd pass right into his receiver's hands? It looks like anyone could do it and the same goes for MX. Smooth riders make a 30' runway to a 10' tall 60 degree ramp and a perfectly timed landing on the downslope look so easy. The general public doesn't understand just how hard that is nor do they understand just how hard a 450 pulls when you are 10 laps in to a moto on a 90 day on a sand track.
Ping's offer is a good one although you'll find very few takers, but I encourage you to try. It only takes a couple of laps by one out of shape never-was-except-in-his-own-mind to get a real good understanding of what tiring and tough really is to set the record straight.
My favorite line from people who never been on a motocross track " it can't be that hard, the bike does all the work " LOL
MX Sport did a incredible job with the tracks this summer.The tracks were much better than last years over prepped one line tracks.I think they got the tracks about the best that those could be.Great job MX Sports.
I played football through popwarner and high school. I also grew up riding and surfing. Overall, racing is harder but football is bad ass (to play). If you have never played then you wouldn't know. To watch, I can see your point.. to much waiting. But when the ball snaps, you get to be a gladiator until the whistle blows. You get to run full speed and clean somebody out..then get cheered for it. If you ever ran the ball in for a touchdown, the high from it is every bit as thrilling as winning a race. Im not a meat head so playing against them is scary as F**K and in many ways thats gnarlier than MX. I do agree though, stick and ball jocks tend to be close minded to MX.
@SixTwoOne THANKS!
Motocross Action is the best mag to use for the testing of Motocross bike.They are the best a giving you a true assessment and evalueation of mx bikes.Love or hate em,MotocrossAction is the best at this.Anyone who trys to argue this point will just make me think you are stupid.Haha.I remember one year that DirtRider mag. voted the Cannondale MX bike,Bike of the year.We all know what a POS that bike was.
Many years ago one of the glossy mags printed a study done by some university (forgive my lack of details, the memory is going) measuring the physical demands of all kinds of sports. Moto came in 2nd. Basketball demanded the most fitness, due to the constant running. I believe soccer was third, same reason.
Chris, take them to nice technical track and make a video! All of us could use a good laugh! Better yet if you had a250 two stroke!
@ bucky
Good point about football being"one ball"sport. You need both of them to do mx.
When you've been slammed by a KX500 in the desert at 80+ football doesn't seem so bad......
Seriously fat boy (yeah, I´m talking to you Pong), as you yanks would say, you suck dude. Wada wada wada re the nations. Honest, I expected better from someone who is regarded as an insider.
How phucking insulting to suggest the B team went. Jesus wanker, have some respect for Barcia and your 250 national champion. All I can say is, you are lucky #7 stayed at home otherwise you wouldn´t have even got a podium. Just ask Dungey how hard it was to stay on two wheels, then try to imagine Stewart doing it.
BTW, I know you try to be humorous in your column, but you just don´t cut it, no matter how hard you try. You come across like a spoilt little fat boy who´s pissed at life cause you never made it to the top. Well, you also suck at being a journalist, so it´s a double wammy, and no, that´s not a new burger at McDonalds.
Loser.
Wow Euormike, cutting a little deep there!
The last one brought back a classic memory for me and I have a feeling many of you have similar stories you could tell...
Three high school Buds of mine: one, a baseball 'jock', another was a football player who at the time was in a 'cast' with a broken ankle and the third, a 'weed-smoking-party-animal. Well they were all giving me all kinds of sh!t for almost two years. Great guys(seriously- good friends), but they had never been to a race and all though my 9 months of racing out of the year was just 'riding around on my seat on sundays and being handed a trophy at the end of the day just cause I showed up'.
One September afternoon I finally got them right where I wanted them. This was all of 20 plus years ago... I had a decent practice track in a 16 acre part sand, part woods part open hillside next to my Parents' house. I let the two guys who could both walk without crutches take turns on the two RM125's I owned at the time. One guy who, after a few slow laps, thought he had it 'figured out' tried to clear a 'double' and went over the bars badly. The other guy was falling down every other corner for three laps (I think picking up the bike so many times almost wore him out) and then looped it backwards over a a tricky uphill jump.
Once I knew they were both okay and had caught their breath (from their couple of low speed laps, LOL), I took off on one of my Suzukis', ripped off 12 fast, two and a half minute laps and after nearly 30min., pulled off the track to where they were standing. [Proud to say I was in pretty good shape at that time]. When I took off my Gloves, Helmet and Goggles I was sweaty and pretty spent, but my breathing was as calm as theirs. THESE GUYS WERE SPEECHLESS!
I remember my football playing Bud was actually the most surprised of all. It was probably because he was 'sidelined' and got to see them 'try to ride and then me put on what must have looked like a 'clinic' to their unfamiliar eyes. You guys know what I'm talking about..., and I was probably enjoying it a little too much but it really felt good to prove something about our sport to some non-believers.
Since then, they actually became fans of Moto... two even took up riding..., not racing mind you, but they at least 'got it' and got into a little bit: I helped my local shop (who sponsored me) sell a couple of first generation DR350 dualsport bikes... Good memories. Thanks for that topic Ping and Chris... hadn't though about that proud moment in my life for a while. Feels good, even today.
Dude, a little long but an awesome story. I could picture your friends and the shocked look of disbelief on their faces. A great Motocross moment for you.
Thumbs up!
I took an X AFL player to a race. OMC Boise. and they were running the sand hill that day. I will never forget what this guy said.
"I would rather have 5 big black guy on top of me before I go down that on a motorcycle."
That was ten years ago and my eyes are still leaking tears from laughing so hard.
HAHAHAHHA!!! Euro/IrishMike is such a jealous tool its hilarious.. The USA have spanked to world in the Des Nations its a HUGE deal if we get 3rd.. Were most countries would be proud of 3rd place.. But not when the USA gets it.. Everyone says we "got spanked", its hilarious.. It just proves how great our riders are.. For us to consider a podium to be a loss.. It just shows how much we dominate.. Even our "B" team gets a podium.. Hate to say it Euro/IrishMike, but Stewart is twice the sand rider Dungey or Barcia is.. And we all know how dominate Vilopoto is.. And you know it too... But I seriously take nothing away from the German team.. I even said the USA should not even be a favorite to win at Lommel with our top guy (Vilopoto) out.. Lommel is a special place that takes alot of work to ride correctly..
Ollie & therealmofo: I will fight my urge to call you stupid, uniformed or both. Don't disrespect the Dunge! Dungey is one of the greatest MXoN riders EVER. You don't know all that went on that weekend in Lommel. It;s a lot more complicated than guys like you will ever understand. You will eat your words soon....
@ Euromike, now that you've dispensed with the pleasantries, tell us how you really feel.
They are dredging the beaches in Germany for sand as we speak, to be delivered to the MXdN track........
@ Ping, now that you've dispensed with the pleasantries, tell us how you really feel.......about the MXA guys.
MXA's analysis is the standard. Nuff' said. Maybe if he had the assignment & the budget, Ping could pop for dyno time too. He could get his own "colors" and wear purple helmets................get it?
Give me a break, THEY'RE CALLED DIRTBIKES, NOT SANDBIKES!
@RCR
ddw-- I would hope you wouldnt call me stupid for stating a fact.. Dungey is a great rider, I will always go to bat for him.. But the FACT is Stewart IS A BETTER SAND RIDER... Period, he is.. Sorry.. And I am NOT a fan of Stewart at all.. Not even a little bit.. But it is true.. I am a Dungey fan, he is fast, has class, is very professional.. And is a great role model for kids into this sport.. But he isnt as fast in the sand as Stewart, sorry.. And I do understand, You may not, who knows.. But I dont know how I will "eat my words" that made no sense..Because I am a Dungey fan.. See my post on 10 things to watch at MEC..
MXA is the standard .really?.....I haven't bought one of those in ten years...seems like some pretty good riders doing this one.......a good bike is a good bike.....and everyone should ride what they like...thats all that really matters....alot of us can actually figure it out without someone telling us whats right or wrong or what is popular this year...if you can't , ..buy a nice used 250 two stroke and ride it till you can....there ya go ......how about a test of used craigslist 1500 to 2 grand starter 250's and include football jocks as testers....now thats an MXA test I'd buy a copy of....
@ tonewall, sometimes you just try too hard to counter-point or discount my posts and it ends up making you look foolish.
Suzuki (the best in your estimation, regardless of any other information) had those cracked cases (and recall) in 2008 and you think that it's a good idea to go into that $8K+ purchase uninformed? Or just go ahead and buy it anyway 'cause that's what you like? What about the people that are colorblind and just want the best bike? What about the AM-Pro racer that has to make an informed decision for a bike that will have to last him an entire racing season? Some people can't ride every brand before making a decision since I don't know of any dealers handing out free test rides in the back of the shop.
How about you do a podcast of your lame-o test and leave testing and appraising of the new years' equipment to the professionals.
Frankly, you're not MXA's demographic anyway, they are informing the uninformed and you clearly know it all................sheesh.
Jody, I read somewhere that the novice rider should not buy new golf clubs, but get a two stroke... I think that's what he said..
That,s funny about Jody Weisel. I have seen him race at REM and would say that he is the Worlds slowest novice. But I buy RacerX , MXA. TWMX, Moto, DBR ( the English version ) and anything else I can get my hands on and enjoy them all as you can never have too much motox.