Sounds like some employees were more worried about the possible loss of racing money (and the jobs that went along with it) than the loss of what the majority of us are out here facing every day.

 

I called a big national atv group and asked them about the helmet issue. They claimed that going after these riding areas who ignore the isuue and even the whole issue itself; weren't really "significant" matters. The guy then tried to make up for his organizations's lack of nuts on the issue by claiming that he walks around with a $100 bill in his pocket for anybody "that catches HIM without one on".

Does everybody just BUY this blatant attempt at diverting attention from the issue at hand....or are folks just plain a lot dumber than I've ever imagined?

The answer being that the vast majority of riders out there just don't care....and they know it.

 

That was my take on all of it too. Not very encouraging to me.

 

every time i bring an injured motorcycle rider out of the woods,,,,they shake my hand and say,,,,,,"man that quad is pretty cool",,,,,and the rider I take 15 miles back to the riderless bike (in comfort) usually says the same thing

everyone is always blaming everyone else

some of those posts were pretty funny!!!

the 4x4 analogy was great

 

I don't know if anyone caught it; but after that thread got shut down; another one was started up which adressed some of the "real-life" problems we have up here in Michigan between both groups. This conversation went on for almost 20 pages and near 4,000 hits: http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/sho...ight=revisited

 

I went on last night and read thru page 6. The thing that amazed me most, was that there are more people who have lost faith in the ama on a personal level. I dont think they make that much money off of factory pro's. Maybe they will return to their root's soon, most likely not. There was a lot of good point's made also. Being a "dirt bike guy" I have shared the feelings of a few of the people there, I ride single track most of the time, and have thought,why do I need to worry about quad's. Well the bottom line is if we (Quad's/bike's) dont work together now. All we will be able to do later is point finger's at who we blame for losing all our riding areas. And if the environmental wackos can use us against each other, think how much easier we will be to take down.

 

I agree; yet the motorcyclists seem to be subscribe to the logic that "if you don't give us land (and more and moreof it) that will always be ours now and forever for strictly OUR use......***<u>YOU</u>*** are the one being "divisive" within the community!!!!"

This is why the motorcyclist in that thread had absolutely NOTHING to say about the fact that his group attempted to TAKE 100 more miles and forever make them <u>single track only.</u>

I just don't like being called every name in the book because I recognize that there AREN'T plenty of trails for everybody and that they WON'T be there in the future....because of <u>one</u> group's flat out refusal to cooperate on either multi-use or paralell trail systems.

 

It's simple really. Im 34, I have been riding for 30 years. I grew up on Bikes, I still prefer them to quads.
WHen your 15, Most of the time your thinking is along the lines of " Im going riding" Period. Your not really thinking about what your leaving behind, where your riding at, if that area is being serviced by a club that you could help out with, etc.. Simply " Im going riding" . So coincidentaly, if something doesnt happen to change that mode of thinking in that individual, then they get Older, their friends get older, then they bring up their kids thinking the same way. " I can ride when I want, I dont need to help with trail maintenance, let the state close down 3,000 acres, I still have my 100 acres to ride on, etc.."
It's about being responsible and todays Younger generation needs to learn that now or its all going to repeat itself. I think the current generation is a lost cause, Even though there is more AWARENESS now than ever to trail and land issues, there is less and less action. Becoming a Member of an organization like the Blue ribbon coalition, while nice, does not stop the problem. You need to do More than send a 20 dollar check, You need to send your self addressed stamped hiny to some meetings.

 

I am a 100% dirt bike guy my self. I just want to make sure I understand your point. You are saying that it is just this generation of quad rider's? This generation of dirt bike riders? Or lastly just ALL rider's from this generation?

 

Well blackballed, I made it to page 11 this time and I think I am done with it. There is a lot of arrogant rider's on that forum repeating their hatred towards quads. And I will admit that I used to think that way myself. The average dirt biker (the ones I know anyway)considers a quad to be a toy, you ride it because you are not good enough to ride a bike(although they all want a quad if there is sand around). This comes from years and years of arrogance and also being the only one on the trail for all those year's. I have been riding for over 30 years and have seen the change, there are more and more quads on the trail. So now these people think that quads are taking over their "personal" trails. So do you have any ideas on how to fix this situation? I am at a loss personally, and over whelmed at processing 11 pages of "quadbashing". How do you convince a group of people they are wrong and by the time they figure it out it may be too late??