The future of offroad?

[shirk]

Ever think about something that you want to make, only to find that someone else has made it? I ride lots of singletrack on mountain bike and on my XR400. I was thinking last week about how cool a cross of a mountain bike and dirt bike would be. Pick up this months Dirt Rider and find an article about FX Bikes from New Zealand. It's basically a DH bike with an upgraded XR50 engine. As a dirt bike this would be a damn fun bike on tight singletrack compared to a regular size dirt bike. Or it's a very lazy persons mountain bike. With the current popularity of mini bikes and play bikes amoung the motorcycle crowd I could see these really taking off. I can see them invading mtb trails were you would have never previously seen a dirt bike.



Some Video

[Superstar Punani]

I want one!!!! No more climbing!

[m1e448]

If I saw one of those on mountain bike made singletrack, I'd put a big stick in its spokes.

[weibo]

I don't know what the average hitch mount bike rack can carry but it seems a bit much to have two of these at the minimum 100lbs on there. Hit a bump and good bye rack.

[Particle]

If I saw one of those on mountain bike made singletrack, I'd put a big stick in its spokes.

Seconded. Looks like fun tho.

[Ferniefreeheels]

If I saw one of those on mountain bike made singletrack, I'd put a big stick in its spokes.

Me too!!!! To me climbing is almost as much of a rush as the DH. But that's just me I like to earn my turns weather on skis or mt.bike. If ya don't want to climb on yer mt bike then ride a chairlift but don't stink up the rightious singletracks with 2 cycle smoke.

[Benny Profane]

Jezuz, will Americans never cease to invent new ways to burn fuel. Get some godamn exercise.

[Gebster]

Jezuz, will Americans never cease to invent new ways to burn fuel. Get some godamn exercise.

and burn some fat.

But then what else would you expect from a country with a bad case of obesity and lazyness.

Does it come with a cup holder for Big Gulps so that the rider can stay nurished while climbing and eating their chicken mcnuggets?

[Spats]

Jezuz, will Americans never cease to invent new ways to burn fuel. Get some godamn exercise.

Slow down there, tiger. The Kiwis invented this one, as you can see from the article -- or the fourth sentence of the original post.

[house]

yea. looks like fun, but not something to be taking out into the real woods. fuck 2 stroke exhaust, i dont want to breathe that shit while riding, or hiking, or sitting, or...

good idea, but not for the mtb trails

[crashnburn'd]

fuck 2 stroke exhaust, i dont want to breathe that shit while riding, or hiking, or sitting, or...

I think XR's are 4 strokes, not that it really matters. Looks like fun, but I can't imagine how badly that would tear up trails considering how skinny the tires are...

[Free Range Lobster]

If you rode one of those in the woods around my area, the second time you came around you'd probably get a ULock or NYC chain in the face.

Rightly so too.

[mildbill.]

If you rode one of those in the woods around my area, the second time you came around you'd probably get a ULock or NYC chain in the face.

south shore gangstas represent yo! don't nobody fuck with us wompatuck muthafuckas! we so badass we trailride with bike locks just so we can beat down sucka mc's tryin ta prove a point yo!

i want one of those.

[trainnvain]

Oh boy! A machine that assure that your MTB friends will laugh at you for being fat and lazy while at the time assuring that your MX friends will laugh at you for being gay.



(Aw shit...It looks fun. yeah. Yep. Definitely fun. Damn.)

[mntlion]

and a machine that no bike tech or motorbike mechanic will touch

[shirk]

As Spats pointed out it's the Kiwi guys that have come to market first with this. But I would expect there are will be a number of good ole american guys hot on their heels. The XR50 engine is 4 stroke so no burning 2-stroke oil. As for sound, the stock pipe on the XR50 is very very quiet. If you were huffy up a climb it would get seriously close before you heard it.

Sounds like nobody here rides on multi use trails that get used by dirt bikes. With the low hp and low weight these would do far far less trail damage than a regular mx. The move from 2stroke to 4stroke is already helping the trail situation. Less high rev clutch dumps ripping up tight corners, instead using the low end torque. These lightweights would have to be ridden like a mountain bike, keeping momentum flowing. On my local trails I would much rather see 5 guys on these than 5 guys on older 2 stroke mx bikes.

[bagtagley]

and a machine that no bike tech or motorbike mechanic will touch

The motor and trans are typical 50cc MX parts. The rest of the bike (fork, brakes, wheels) are typical mountain bike parts. Granted, if you're totally clueless with a wrench, you'd have to have 2 mechanics.

[phUnk]

I wonder how much all that extra weight right in the middle of the frame affects the huckability & durability.

[Clack]

If I saw someone riding that thing on MY trail I'd u-lock his neck to a cow leg and take it from him. Yeah! Now get yourself one nerd.

[trainnvain]

$6000+ before any upgrades. ouch.

[crashnburn'd]

$6000+ before any upgrades. ouch.

damn... I'd buy a normal dirtbike. Nothing like the smell of 2-stroke exhaust in the morning.

[wintermittent]

As for sound, the stock pipe on the XR50 is very very quiet. If you were huffy up a climb it would get seriously close before you heard it.

So when rider #1 (on a pedalpusher MTB) is descending a trail at 18mph, he or she can round a blind corner and smash into rider #2 (on a 50cc MTB) CLIMBING the same trail at 18mph? Yeeeah, that'll be just greeeat.

Sounds like nobody here rides on multi use trails that get used by dirt bikes. With the low hp and low weight these would do far far less trail damage than a regular mx.

I'm sure many of us who ride MTBs on multi-use trails shared with ATVs and MXs would agree with your assertion that lighter 4stroke dirt bikes would be far better than heavier 2strokes tearing around on trails of that type. However, I think likwid, house, Ferniefreeheels, powwrangler, Particle, et all share a valid concern.

The general premise here seems to be that these lightweight, 4stroke 50cc dirt bikes will be capable of "invading" -- I'm using your word here -- "invading" technical trails traditionally suited only for mountain bikes and other non-motorized users. What if these trails are shared with hikers or equestrians?

The ligher, quieter, less-polluting dirtbike is coming. That's inevitable. What's at stake is the cunting up of mountain bike trails and mountain bike access everywhere mountain bikers have worked their asses off to be a legit part of the muscle-powered trail user community.

Blur the line between motorized and non-motorized trail riding with this piece of shit and be prepared to kiss public mountain bike trail access goodbye.

[Spats]

I think people are forgetting how many of the most popular mountain bike trails were opened as MX or jeep trails, and are still MX or jeep trails.

All of Moab aside from the last couple miles of Porc Rim, for instance (and maybe Sovereign?). Slickrock was built by MX riders in 1971.

And how about most of Downieville? Yes, you will occasionally see a motorcycle coming up Pauley Creek, or even down one of the Divides.

Mountain biking has become much more popular than MX in certain places, so you don't see very many motorcycles out on the trail -- but they're there.

The real problem here is that our current laws prohibit bicycles in wilderness areas, since the law outlaws "mechanical" recreation, not "motorized". So, there's no consistent legal way to specify that an area is OK for bicycles but not motorcycles.

I think what will happen is: if these sorts of motorcycles get popular and start screwing up the trail, MTBers will get mad and make regulations happen -- just like when MTB was new and hikers got pissed off and banned MTBs from a lot of trails.

[Ferniefreeheels]

Around here (Fernie) ALL single track is closed to motorized vehicles as well as many roads. As far as I know there is nothing closed to bicycles. These land use laws are not strictly enforced, but in general it's never really a problem, any good mx or atv rider can find better riding than on the mt. bike single tracks anyway. I think if these motorized mt. bikes started showing up on the trails here there would be a big push by the mt. biking community to enforce the land use laws.

I've ridden in Moab a few times. Slickrock trail you can tell it was built for mx and IMHO they can have it, if that trail would have been layed out by mt. bikers it would be way more interesting. The Sovern single track rocks, probably my favourite trail in Moab. I also love Porc Rim, even though it is a multi use trail, the only time I saw any motorized traffic on it was during that jeep week (which I avoid like the plague now) Moab has some really cool rides even on the jeep trails but it would be nice to see more stuff like Sovern in the future.

[Mr. Altagirl]

Around here (Fernie) ALL single track is closed to motorized vehicles as well as many roads. As far as I know there is nothing closed to bicycles. These land use laws are not strictly enforced, but in general it's never really a problem, any good mx or atv rider can find better riding than on the mt. bike single tracks anyway. I think if these motorized mt. bikes started showing up on the trails here there would be a big push by the mt. biking community to enforce the land use laws.

I've ridden in Moab a few times. Slickrock trail you can tell it was built for mx and IMHO they can have it, if that trail would have been layed out by mt. bikers it would be way more interesting. The Sovern single track rocks, probably my favourite trail in Moab. I also love Porc Rim, even though it is a multi use trail, the only time I saw any motorized traffic on it was during that jeep week (which I avoid like the plague now) Moab has some really cool rides even on the jeep trails but it would be nice to see more stuff like Sovern in the future.

Funny thing about Sovereign is that it is MTB and Motorcycle. We have ridden just about every trail in Moab on both MTB and motorcycle and have never had an issue. Spats brings up a good point. I'm not sure it applys everywhere in the world but it is funny how paradigms change.

Honestly, I don't see a contraption like this one catching on, especially at the price point they are at now. The guys at Go-ride got a preview of this a few months ago and we were checking it out pretty close. Kinda cool but compromise bikes never work. Ever ride a street legal "dirt bike", the kind they sell at a dealer, not a modified "real" bike? They suck at everything expect going to 7-11. If you want to ride dirt (aggressively), you get a real dirt bike, same goes for the street. I think this bike falls into the same gray area, one nobody really wants to be in (unless you are really into scooters and mopeds).

Maybe some of you could put your sticks away for now, just to be safe. Or maybe go hit a horse in the ass with it as you ride by them on the same freakin' trail.