| "The Prospect" February 2004 By: Travis Pastrana |
| The rise of the cheater bike is upon us. Yes, that's right, the tree-huggers of America didn't feel that they were shutting down enough motocross tracks, so now we are being forced to ride obnoxiously loud bikes that every neighbor in a five-mile radius will surely complain about. I mean, come on! Those guys have shut down tracks for anything imaginable (saving an endangered kangaroo rat who lived close to a California track was my personal favorite), and now, because four strokes pollute a miniscule amount less than two-strokes, we have to ride bikes that piss off the neighbors! That's not to say four-strokes aren't faster than their two-stroke counter parts, but it's only because the AMA has allowed four-strokes twice the cc's. If you were to race a 250cc two-stroke against a 250cc four-stroke, it wouldn't even be close. It doesn't make sense to me why everyone is pushing so hard for a motorcycle that's heavier and slower to reapond than what we already have. I assume that the original term "thumper" was meant to refer to the deep, loud sound it produces (line up next to one on the start line or follow one up a hill and you will understnad this meaning all too well), but I'm sure if you ask Tim Ferry or Ernesto Fonseca, they would give you a different explanation: a four-stroke has a slight lag time in throttle response that inevitably"thumos" its rider into the ground. Anyone who has probably ridden a supercross track on a thumper has probably experienced this lag firsthand. You hit the gas while jumping thyough a tight rhythm section, and before you relize the bike didn't respond, you're already on your head. In a sport such as supercross, where a millisecond reaction time is the difference between near-death and perfection how can you ride a bike that is two milliseconds slow to respond on average and randomly hestites even longer? Some people say that four strokes are easier to ride than two-strokes, and I have to admit that I do love my DRZ400 and have an arsenal of DRZ110 pit bikes that seem to be indestructible. The problem lies in getting it race-ready. Taking a two-stroke on a leisurly cruise is like driving an F-1 car down the interstate- they aren' much fun to ride slow, and they beckon you to go faster. Four-strokes, on the other hand, are similar to Cadillacs. Plush, fun, and easy to drive, but would you really want to speed through track in your grandma's four-door? If four-strokes truly were easier to ride, freestylers around the world would be flocking to get their hands on one. Mike Jones tried one, once.... He broke his neck and his back. Kenny Bartram sold his within the first six months and Travor Vines did about the same. Andy Bell rode a KTM 520 with no silencer at a few competitions back in the day to freak out the audience. Unfortunately, Andy's gig ended when he relized the biggest trick he could pull was getting the beast from the takeoff to the landing without augering himself into the ground. In a sport where speed and power mean little to nothing, like in Freestyle, two-strokes will forever rule. Unfortunately, if you want a holeshot in an outdoor national, you better have nitro- unless you're on a thumper. Every year it seems there is a new AMA rule that puts two-strokes at even more of a disadvantage. Next year, I wouldn't be surprized to see James Stewart riding a four-stroke. I don't know if any of his competitors have any inkling of hope left, but if he shows up at the first round on a four-stroke, even the best will be lucky not to be laapped. I understand that they have to make an effort to help appease the enviromentalists, but after finally getting my property more erosion-free and animal-friendly than even the best-kept national parks, my friends bought four-strokes and the neighbors (half a mile away, over a hill and through the forest) found an entirely new angle to let me pay Uncle Sam: noise pollutio! Well, I'm off to race at the Race of Champions, repressenting the USA along Boris Said and Casey Mears. Last year the USA won for the first time, with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Colin Edwards. The way it works is that each country gets to select a road car driver, a dirt car driver and a motorcyclist. We all drive equally prepared rally cars against our division. Normally the U.S. gets smoked because we don't have any top rally driver, but last year was a breakthrough and hopefully we can carry the torch on this year. |