Vic Government cracking down on trail bikes?

Well said!!!

Thinking logically like this will get you nowhere..

If Mr Sheen heard this he would instantly ban bikes across the board...

I should have said that I 4wd in the bush as well as ride dirtbikes. It has to be said that a lot of bikers don't help themselves. A lot of the problems are people parking their cars near properties and blasting up and down the road to warm up the bikes. most people live in the bush to gain solitude and don't want to hear bikes roaring around. When you are trail riding you travel quickly compared to cars so even if you ride past a property you are normally gone very quickly.

As usual it's the odd ones who cause the trouble.
Also just after the bush fires around Bright a few years ago the locals were advertising for Trail riders to come up!! They tend to stay in accomodation and spend money as normally they can't tow vans etc.

This is a big beautiful country (I am originally from UK but now consider myself an Aussie) and there is room for all!!!!!

Cheers

>>> A lot of the problems are people parking their cars near properties and blasting up and down the road to warm up the bikes
Thats how we lost Gembrook access...

or as soon as they buy a bike they fit "POWER PIPES" that are hideously loud, and serve little purpose.. in my 25+ yrs I have not found many trailbikes riders that can use the standard power their bikes put out! Let alone need more power OR noise.

worth a look at
www.amtra.com.au/amtra.html

Have been a member of Amtra for quite a few years up until recently. Really good club with sensible attitudes and decent size membership. I agree about the pipes. A lot of the new bikes have good power with quiet pipes so it will be a bit of evolution until theolder bikes are off the scene.

Old bikes have good power too... I'd love to see 9/10 trailbike riders get the most out of an IT490... Or my old TT600 that ended up as a TT720.. I miss my old TT...

I agree truckster,

I have owned an IT 175H (1981) from new, Still running original tyres. This bike is awsome. I challenge any YZ125 to whip my ass, anywhere.....

Please note that the above comments were NOT a real challenge, the owner is way too old to be racing bikes anymore.

Ange

It's true, a good rider will get the most out of an old or underpowered bike. The biggest leap forward has been in suspension. Unfortunately to get good suspension you buy the newer bike which goes faster and so on. The older you get (ME at 44) the more help you need!!!!!!

I will say Truckster though yout IT's and such are many generations behind the current crop and really can't cut it any more!!

I'll put an IT490 (which ended up with factory Yam 500 barrel and much more) against a XR400 in the bush for outright challenge..

I've owned both (still got the XR), and the IT was just pure grunt while the XR is just slow and smooth.. with the IT, once setup with some good springs and brakes, you will struggle to find many riders of either that could ride them 8/10ths in the bush... back in the day when I had mine new, I went from that to a 400WR husky (last of the twin shock), which was more XR like, very smooth through the power, and easier to ride.. No need for pipes, or anything.. but still out of 2 seasons in MX and enduro, I never got the most out of it

but the XR is much easier to ride hard, which is due to suspension and power delivery which is open it up and it just doesnt snap like a good old 2 stroke :(

you said it Truckser "BACK WHEN!"

Sad aint it :(

Truckster (Vic) - did you do any 4 Day Enduros? - I did a few - first was Maffra in 1982 on KTM 250.

Cheers
Greg

Na in the end the TT was pretty highly strung for tight bushwork :( but did a few of the old Bert Bayliss down Yerriyong we used to run..

remember once out marking the course.. day 2, I woke up to a flat tyre, the rest took off and left me .. sort of a test to see how i found the markers.. when i caught up, we were at this large 300mtr puddle covering the whole track from side to side..
I went first.. drowned the bike.. Wazza went second on the Maico, drowned it.. Mean while Glen on the XR250 and Dave (not a competitor but great bloke) on an XL185 had tried to find a way round... all we heard was abuse from in the swamp they found! anyway they came back, me and Waz pushing out bikes tank deep in water... Glen came through with all guns blazing.. drowned it.. and befor ewe could tell Dave on his Trials Universals to stop, he was in, and rode straight past all of us! Whats worse, he rode back through, went back to the cars, and into town for new engine oil for Glen and Me, and then back AGAIN through the lake!

We never lived it down..

While I partly agree with what you say, have you priced motorcycle rego recently?

$530 for something that you will only use dozen times a yr in a good yr is a bit rich, and rec rego has many limitations and more double dutch rules/dark areas than a pink floyd album. Make the rules of Rec Rego more black and white that the average human can understand (bike riders), and the problem would drop...