Ask Ping!
Ping,
I thought as much as you like to rib people I'd bring this topic up.... Me and a few friends were watching the last round of the Nationals at Pala and thought it quite humorous at the words Jeff Emig was using to describe the dirt.. "Silky, Silty, Soil".. Almost like Zohan! "Silky Smooth!" We actually decided to make a drinking game out of it and let me tell you, he said it so many times we had to make a beer run! Jeff is the man, but it was pretty funny the way he said it and how many times.... The little yard sale he had was good too.
Anyway, keep up the good work. Great bike reviews! How about a KTM 350, and be honest. Is it worth it? The $$$ I mean.
- C Ivester
Washington State
Dear C Ivester,
Jeff definitely has a few buzzwords he likes to beat up on. I’m impressed that he would even try to keep saying that… it’s a tongue twister! Silky, silty soil. Silky, silty soil. Silky, silty soil. I didn’t se the broadcast but I heard about his crash. He wasn’t the only one that caught the silky, silty soil on the edge of the track and went down. I saw Mike Sleeter, Brett Metcalfe, Mike Brown and a couple privateers do the same thing. The powder on the side of the track was deep, silky, silty soil. Did that get mentioned?
We’re going to keep more bike tests coming and even add some twists to them as well. I didn’t get a chance to ride the 350 but it will be included in the 450 shootout, which will be coming up soon.
Cheers
PING
Dear David,
I want to thank you for your wit, your conservative stance and your ability to set ignorant questioners back with their tails between their legs. The quad guy from Texas was a true classic! Just maybe he likes his own boogers. I know my 3-year-old son loves them.
Anyway, I would like to address the issue of the rising cost of our sport. Maybe I’m preaching to the choir here, but I cannot rationalize how things got so out of hand cost-wise in the last few years. I mean $8K+ for a dirt bike? Then we throw in the cost for gear, any mods to the bike, and the increasing cost for race fees. I know we are paying for the latest and greatest technology out there. I am a mechanical engineer by trade and I can appreciate the advances, but there has to be a compromise of technology vs. cost here. I do remember when MXers were affordable and even a kid with a decent part-time job could afford one. Not the case anymore. Granted, racing is never cheap, but I think the manufacturers have to address the rising cost of this sport. I do not want it to turn to an elitist sport where we are asking the guy in the RV next to us for a little Grey Poupon. I would appreciate your thoughts from the inside. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Chris Bauer
Dear Chris,
This is such a huge issue with me. I appreciate the new bikes as much as anybody; they are amazing machines that have been developed over years of racing and R&D. But I think that the overall health of the sport is going to deteriorate because of the cost. As you mentioned, it isn’t realistic anymore for a kid to mow lawns and save up enough cash to buy his first bike. Less than a decade ago you could pick up a used 125 for a couple thousand bucks and run the wheels off it. If it needed a top end you saved a couple hundred bucks and that was all you needed. I don’t have the answer here, Chris. I wish there was some way to keep the 125 alive in the sport. It is a great bike to get started with and an affordable way as well. Until that time comes I guess we just keep riding our thumpers and praying long and hard that something doesn’t let go inside the engine, because there isn’t enough grass in my neighborhood to pay that repair bill.
PING
PING,
I read somewhere that Antonio Cairoli was talking crap about Ryan Dungey. He said something to the effect that he wasn’t the fastest rider and that there were guys in the MX2 class that were quicker. Is this guy for real? I guess we’ll find out next weekend.
B Rocket
Michigan
Dear Rocket,
I didn’t see that statement but if he did in fact say that he has been eating some tainted spaghetti. I can assure you right now that not only will Dungey hand that ravioli-eating dude his ass in Colorado, but Shorty might just do the same thing. He's just talking smack and making it Sicilian Pizza-style thick. Remember, Tony couldn’t beat Ben Townley at the USGP. BT waxed everyone soundly in the second moto. And, yet, Ben has only been able to run with Dungey at one race (RedBud) this summer. So for Cairoli to say that Ryan isn’t even the best rider in the MX2 class right now is just silly. I don’t mean to be all up on RD’s nuts or anything either. I mean, I bust him all the time for trying to talk like RC in his interviews, cruising around in a jacket with his name emblazoned across the entire chest, and wearing shiny red boots when he rides. But the simple fact is that he is on fire right now. He’s off to a better start than any rider in the history of our sport, folks. That isn’t a fluke. Short of a bad injury, I think we are at the beginning of a long reign of Ryan Dungey. He is more fit, more confident and more poised than anyone else in the sport, and I'm talking globally. Tony might not believe it but that's why they line up and race.
Go Team USA!!
PING
Got a question for Ping? E-mail him at ping@racerxonline.com.
