Have I made a mistake?
 

I've just taken my first small step into getting an MX Bike and bought a nice Fox V3 helmet, I then pick up Dirtbikerider and notice this and it kinda makes me think its a stoopid idea;

Q: who's had more injurys - you or the Bionic Man?

Gordon Crockard: I have broken 31 bones - two toes, two legs, six ribs two fingers, one wrist, one arm, one elbow, four vertebrae, 11 colarbones and one nose. I dislocated my AC joint in my shoulder. I tore my ACL in my knee and had reconstruction. The clutch lever pierced through my cheek in a crash and i had 21 stitches inside and out to repair the hole. A roost rock knocked my front tooth out. Concussions? Jeez! I burst my spleen and had it removed. Haematoma on my back twice. So not much has happened to me and I'd say the Bionic man gets it...

now I get six months full pay when i'm sick but is the Motocross going to be worth it?

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

MX - it's still a bike.

What makes you think you're not at risk of injury on a road bike...? You can damage yourself doing just about anything motorcycling or otherwise. In the end it's a decision about "do I enjoy it enough to warrant the risk?"

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

half of the reason I'm doing it is I feel I'm riding too hard and fast on the road, and I feel that if I crash on the road it won't end nicely. (I'm all for blood transfusions BTW) But at the same point I don't really wanna slow down.

I'm thinking that I can push it on an MX bike maybe crash but not actually kill myself. besides it looks amazing fun!!! LOOK MUM I CAN FLY!!!

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

from friends that have done it, if you wan tto be good it will hurt, if you want a laugh you can have fun without the pain

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

1) you think ??[-X - don't start now
2) stoopid - its just you growing up from Daftie
3) road riding - agree but you know what I will say - drag your sorry backside back to us!
4) - if its what you want go for it - life's too short for regrets - if you don't like it or its starts getting to painful quit
5) as for pain - you live in Kilsyth nuff said

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Nah, you'll be fine.

At least offroad, theres no cars trying to kill you.

So what did you buy then...?

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Hmm, why did I do mountain biking? Because it was fun, because it was adventurous and because it put a huge sh*t kicking grin on my mangled battered face even after the hardest and most painful crashes. Then one day, I wanted something else and bought what looked to me like a rocket powered super bike (My lovely tame SV) which scared the poo out of me and made me think that I would hurt myself something silly. Recently, I started to think that maybe I needed something else, after all, the road bikes are so nice and jolly, what I need is a soul souring mud monster...

Sound familiar? You only got one life fella, it is your choice as to how you fill it. Personally, I don't want to get to the end and look back with the thoughts of I wish that I had tried that!

So far I have jumped off a viaduct on the end of a rope tied to a butterfly bush, ridden motorbikes really fast, been mountain biking in places most people could not walk, climbed ice and rock, broken into abandoned mental hospitals and hitchhiked from one country to another. I am not forty yet and I still see so many things I am still to do before I am too old or broken to do them! But that is just me... ;-)

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Stop blathering and just do it...

Life's too short for debates on what if's... better to do it then think I shouldn't have done that.

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

sickness covered so morgage paid , so whats the problem
feck sake lad just go enjoy yourself

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Lets be fair here, thats a bit of a selfish attitude due to the fact your not the only person thats on the road. I couldnt give a monkeys left bowlack about myself, but i know i couldnt live with myself if i had hurt/killed another innocent person due to being just plain daft on the road. Accidents do happen, but are less likely if you are not riding like another rossi wannabe.

Going off-road actually made me more confident on the road, made me feel more indestructable. Coz i fall off a lot in the dirt. :rolleyes:

Get a track bike. It will prolly calm your road riding a bit (or make it worse).

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

presumably he will be riding off road, so the random surfaces and the fact that MX bikes spend 50% of the in the air.

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

only bought a Lid so far, but my Cousin has got a 2007 YZ 125 lined up for me... Only things I need to sort are towbar on car trailer and convince my olds that there's space in their garage for another bike (remembering that i no longer actually live with them)

all going well I should be mobile by the start of march :)

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

yay a bit of positive talk for once!

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

How little you know my riding, I said I was fast I didn't say I was reckless or daft, I see plenty of riders that are way slower than me but are far more dangerous. Then again who am I to judge? You'll just have to ask some of the Ecosse clan if I'm dangerous (to be honest I'd love to know). But the fact I actually think about the situations that I'm in means I'm more considerate than your making out.

Oh I'm not saying I haven't crashed either - But that was on an IAM Track Night.

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

hi son, my cousins kids over in Fife are right into mx. One of them is junior scottish champion or something. He had a bad fall in the summer, damaged his vertebrae, was airlifted to hospital, back on bike within the month. If you go to any meets look out for the Gourlay clan from Freuchie. The boys are on facebook, I could ask them some questions about kit, bikes and places to go. I think you will enjoy mx but remember you are not as young as you used to be. falling off at iam track night, you bounced rather well, nealy taking out colin mcrae though lol - what does little lady think about it all or have you still to break the news to her

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Mrs Chucca seems to be ok with the idea she got me a day at Fun in the Mud for my Christmas.

The only thing that was said by her was can you afford it, and if you get a 2nd bike I want a ring... Still dunno how you can put those two things in the same sentence :rolleyes:

To be honest Kirsteen comes along when we go to Doune MX track to watch Louie and really enjoys being there (my uncle and Louie are more relaxed there compared to the road racing and its a great laugh)

I'm actually tryin to get her to join in (share the bike - maybe not the costs) as she really is as bike daft as me. Maybe she does deserve that ring!!!

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

no mistake!
Recon you'll love it, then again I think everyone would love it.
Always remember the 2 things key to off road riding:
If you're not falling off, you're not trying hard enough!

And The single most important piece of advice I was ever given on the subject:
If, sorry WHEN you're about to crash you've got 3 choices; "Pain", "A Lot of Pain" and "Wait and See" always always choose pain! you'll get up and laugh it off, if you choose either of the other 2 you'll come off a damn site worse.

Happy to help. :D

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Only mistake so far is the engine size...

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

Oh no I don't want a 250 to start off with, I want something light and fun to be enjoyed...

I was advised by all the guys at Doune that 125 2 stroke would be perfect to start me off, and I shouldn't buy a 2nd hand 250 4 stroke unless I knew the person really well. as there's a chance that it'll go POP and be VERY expensive, not to say a stroker won't do the same, probably more likely, but it'll cost way less to fix!!!

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

250 is light and to be enjoyed!!

you may just get bored of the 125 a little too quickly.

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

+1000000000

the 125 will be a laugh for about a month, and yeah its easy to fix cos there is plenty of room for your fingers to get in and amoungst its parts but a 250 would be a longer lasting begginer bike. The 125 might leave un-enthused by the experiance.
They still jump though ;)

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

200 or 250 2 stroke at the least.

Just think along the lines of getting off your gixer and onto a cg 125 or even worse, a restricted yellow curvy....;)

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

I turned to mountain biking for my "safer" fix. 6 broken ribs and a fractured coccyx later that isn't looking like my smartest move :D Still I'm sure attaching an engine will make it much safer.

Think you couldn't be much further off there tbh, CC riding fast on the road is safer than most people riding slow.

Re: Have I made a mistake?
 

I will agree with you Northy! having had him teach me at IAM. he's fast but safe. but he's just keeps getting faster!!