The Goat?

[george formby]

Mr Rossi is tentatively hanging onto this title at the mo but after recently watching On Any Sunday, 3 disc set, for 5 hours I got to wondering who, in KB's opinion is the best all round motorcycle racer. I'm thinking about the AMA riders back in the day, Moto Gp riders who have won road races etc. Motocrossers who have won on tar, you get the picture, not isolated excellence but all round balls & bravery.

Thoughts ( & videos ) please. I will start with King Kenny, wish I could find that flat track video on the Yamaha....

[george formby]

This what got me started..

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LmVfrS8OEVw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Metastable]

Dunno - that's a tough one. A lot of guys have done well in dirt track and GP like Stoner, Hayden, Roberts etc.... then there are guys like Edwards who have won on MX and road racing.... but I don't think anyone would call Edwards "the Goat". Currently in Canada the same guy is the current Trials champion and Superbike champion... but hardly the greatest of all time.

Rossi is hard to beat ... dude is pretty good at GP, supermoto, minimoto, dirtbikes, and even a pretty decent stunt monkey too.
Stunting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf5Ir6rMtv0&feature=related
MX - no Bubba Stewart, but not bad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqI4EFCF0o8

[avgas]

Dad got me into riding.

But this guy got me into tinkering.....
244165244166

[Motu]

Yes,it would have to go to those US riders from the late '60's into the '80's. To be AMA National Champion you had to compete in 1/4 mile,1/2 mile,TT (a 1/2 mile with left and right corners and a jump) mile and road racing. When those US riders went to race in Europe their skills base put them ahead of the European riders.

Gary Nixon just passed away on the 5th - he was one of the first of the American riders to make a success of road racing in England and Europe.

[george formby]

I can remember, shortly after being weaned, watching the Trans Atlantic challenge series. British & US riders duking it out on RD350's. Leading pack of 20 riders, awesome stuff. My first introduction to Schwantz etc.

[Big Dave]

I can remember, shortly after being weaned, watching the Trans Atlantic challenge series. British & US riders duking it out on RD350's. Leading pack of 20 riders, awesome stuff. My first introduction to Schwantz etc.

My pal Rusty won the Yamaha gold cup in '88.

For me it's Agostini. Numer of titles on various capacity.

[baptist]

For me it's Agostini. Numer of titles on various capacity.
+1 a great rider indeed

but my overall vote goes to this guy...Joey Dunlop the man used to blow my mind on the Isle of Man

http://youtu.be/hU9K60sKuwU

[Metastable]

Ya hard to argue with Ago too.

The guy won at:
Daytona, Isle of Man (10 times), Nurburgring, and the more "typical" GP tracks. 15 or so world Championships.

[slowpoke]

Gawd, hard to compare incredible success at a single discipline vs best all round skill set over a variety of disciplines.

It's almost....nah, it is impossible to compare riders and achievements of different era's. The talent pool nowadays seems so much deeper in all disciplines, but then the sheer drive and dogged determination of guys back in the day on crazy dangerous tracks and all for bugger all $$$. Do courage and determination count as skills? Ago came from a wealthy family, had huge success but mostly on the dominant factory MV's, how do you rank that against a privateer on inferior machinery living hand to mouth on the far side of the world? Who really defied the odds?

But for sheer overall skill set of being able to race anything at an amazing level I think of guys like Jean-Michel Bayle (multiple World MX champion went on to race 500GP's) and Stephane Chambon ( Supermoto pioneer/champion and World Supersport champion). Pull any world championship race track in the world out of a hat, any race discipline you like, and they could race at a world class level.