Road riders vs dirt riders?

[carver]

Here is a question, it seems to be common knowledge that dirt bike rides make good road riders, but, could a really good road rider.. say 2 smoker , beat a average dirt rider off road, if say he had…30 mins practice? but no prior exp i\on the dirt, say down a natural terrain trail.

[Oscar]

No.

Or to put it another way, I can give you the names of a dozen dirtriders who became world champs on the track. Can you gimme one roadracer that won a Moto-X title.

[oldguy]

Here is a question, it seems to be common knowledge that dirt bike rides make good road riders, but, could a really good road rider.. say 2 smoker , beat a average dirt rider off road, if say he had…30 mins practice? but no prior exp i\on the dirt, say down a natural terrain trail.I do both, started out on farm bikes then move to trail bikes and on to road, still riding both , you will find most started out riding on trail or farm bikes, but then I'm average at both, it all come's to the rider if they are competative they will adapt quickly.

[carver]

No.

Or to put it another way, I can give you the names of a dozen dirtriders who became world champs on the track. Can you gimme one roadracer that won a Moto-X title.
i got a huge surprise when my farmer mate wasted me on the road, despite my 6 years of exp...it was his first time on the road too...

[Motu]

Worse than that.....There was a big New Year Party at Matiatia,on the lawn - bands all night,great stuff.Sometime in the early hours of the morning some...some creature got up on stage and started mimming and dancing,doing a sort of strip.Fuck it was awfull,I was embarrassed watching this,this thing up on stage.My wife was laughing at me,she seemed to think it strange that I would find women doing such things very interesting,but get so incensed when a guy did it.Fucking poofter!

Anyway,a few days later we had a race meeting at the dirt track,and we had a good turnout of bikes,with some visitors thrown in.And this guy turns up and seems interested in having a go.So my mate who was injured let him have a shot on his TT500....he had on some steel cap slip ons and an undone oilskin parka.In our first race this bastard is right out front,with me!.He can't ride for shit,but somehow he's doing it right,totaly out of shape - he's a real danger to the other riders and himself,not to mention me.I've got to sort him out,and I've got his number now.He cuts into the sweeper in front of me....so I barge up the inside and push him off the groove into the loose stuff....then I hit the gas hard far too early - so does he,and he's gone in a cloud of dust.He didn't turn up for the next race - told you he was a poofter.

I was really surprised that someone who didn't have a clue could be so fast first time out on a bike he didn't know,on a track he's never ridden on,and a style of riding he'd never tried.There are some dark horses out there....

[carver]

Worse than that.....There was a big New Year Party at Matiatia,on the lawn - bands all night,great stuff.Sometime in the early hours of the morning some...some creature got up on stage and started mimming and dancing,doing a sort of strip.Fuck it was awfull,I was embarrassed watching this,this thing up on stage.My wife was laughing at me,she seemed to think it strange that I would find women doing such things very interesting,but get so incensed when a guy did it.Fucking poofter!

Anyway,a few days later we had a race meeting at the dirt track,and we had a good turnout of bikes,with some visitors thrown in.And this guy turns up and seems interested in having a go.So my mate who was injured let him have a shot on his TT500....he had on some steel cap slip ons and an undone oilskin parka.In our first race this bastard is right out front,with me!.He can't ride for shit,but somehow he's doing it right,totaly out of shape - he's a real danger to the other riders and himself,not to mention me.I've got to sort him out,and I've got his number now.He cuts into the sweeper in front of me....so I barge up the inside and push him off the groove into the loose stuff....then I hit the gas hard far too early - so does he,and he's gone in a cloud of dust.He didn't turn up for the next race - told you he was a poofter.

I was really surprised that someone who didn't have a clue could be so fast first time out on a bike he didn't know,on a track he's never ridden on,and a style of riding he'd never tried.There are some dark horses out there....

this sounds a bit like something i would do- if i had enough alchofuel in my system, anyhow, my first ride on a "proper" dirt bike was on a race modded CRF 250 R
me thinks 250 single...hmmm..easy, but me jumps on, honda is bitch to start, and easy to stall, once i got going i was astonished, so much power, so light...man, i had some idea of how to corner from riding a bored out DR 2500, but it was hard work at first, but by the end of the day i was smittin, i also rode a KTM 520, which was easier (less rev's, more torque)
i really got into it after 30 mins of trying to take it hard...then going a bit faster.
i would love to do it again with the skill i have now.
oh yea, fortunatly the CRF handled very well!:first:

[merv]

I reckon a good rider is a good rider. Give a good rider any bike and they'll figure out how to make it go fast sooner or later.

Colin Edwards won 2 WSB titles, but he started on dirt bikes when he was 4. Is he a dirt biker or a roadracer.

Many of the Yank world champs like Kenny Snr and Schwantz have also raced dirt whether it be flat track or MX.

[Hellraiser]

The Short answer is NO

I enjoy riding on the road / track BUT i also enjoy MOTOX.

Moto X is a completly differant way of riding a bike compared to riding on the road. The best example is in Moto X you spend most of your time standing up on the bike with your head hanging out over the handel bars. Most road/track riders take along time to get to grips with this.

[merv]

Do none of you remember Hugh Anderson?

Once he retired from the European GP scene he took up MX and became NZ champion and since then has returned to road racing on classics.

That man was able to go from head down arse up riding position and 16 speed gearboxes to standing up and winning in the dirt. He has ridden just about anything and done well.

[Hellraiser]

I reckon a good rider is a good rider. Give a good rider any bike and they'll figure out how to make it go fast sooner or later.


Not true give a MX rider a road bike and it will not take him very long to have it going fast.

Give a road rider a MX bike on a MX track and it will take him months to get the hang of it.

[merv]

Yeah but its all about how much you are generalising and what is the definition of a road rider vs a dirt rider? There will be many examples of people that mastered both from whatever angle. Carl Fogarty even was handy in the dirt - was he a dirt rider first or road rider?

My vintage we all started out riding road a lot, but then did it all on dirt bikes using them for everything. My first competition experience was trials. Am I a road rider or a dirt rider? Buggered if I know I like both.

A lot of it is probably to do with fitness as MX requires you to be in very good shape to do it well.

[Motu]

It's a matter of what you can take from each and apply to the other - it's just that a dirt rider can take so much more and apply it to road riding.....for the road rider he can't apply so much of what he's learned to the dirt.

When I was trying to get the young guys to ride on the dirt track oval,it was a bit hard to get across what we were doing....as far as they were concerned they were riding dirt bikes on a dirt track,no problem.I was riding off road with these guys every weekend - but on the dirt track I was using my road riding skills,setting my bike up with smaller road front wheels and using more road type tyres than knobs.It was obvious to them I was faster around the track,but not obvious how I was doing it with such an odd looking bike.No one ever bothered to change their tyres,presures or riding style.

It's whether you can take what you learn,and apply it somewhere else.

[texmo]

No.

Or to put it another way, I can give you the names of a dozen dirtriders who became world champs on the track. Can you gimme one roadracer that won a Moto-X title.
Yeah because people tend to go up in the world not down...

[onearmedbandit]

Not true give a MX rider a road bike and it will not take him very long to have it going fast.

Give a road rider a MX bike on a MX track and it will take him months to get the hang of it.

LMAO!!

Pretty sweeping generalisation there buddy. I'm 100% certain there are road bike racers out there whip a lot of dirt bikers arses yet have never swung a leg over a mx bike, and vica versa.

[Oscar]

Do none of you remember Hugh Anderson?

Once he retired from the European GP scene he took up MX and became NZ champion and since then has returned to road racing on classics.

That man was able to go from head down arse up riding position and 16 speed gearboxes to standing up and winning in the dirt. He has ridden just about anything and done well.

Not quite.
He rode MX in Europe while he was road racing.
He won the French MX Championship, I think...

[Oscar]

Yeah because people tend to go up in the world not down...

Dream on...

[**R1**]

Well Im not bad on the road but it took me a few weekends to consider my self any good at all on a dirtbike (and I started riding them when I was 6), the hypothetical you gave where a road rider would have 30mins to practice is a joke....

So in short NO!!

[dnos]

i think you guys are forgetting just how long it takes to become semi competent in either - its easy to hop on a bike dirt or road and think your going fast, but when u see someone who is good they make ya look like a nana.

[cowpoos]

I started my biking passion on offroad bikes of various genre's and cumitivly havn't really been riding on the road for all that long...I have on quite a few occasions had road only riders out on dirt bikes...and they genral get the jist of things pretty quick with a small amount of incouragment and tuition...but when the speeds increase you find them reacting to small slips and skids or what ever you wanna call them with their road riding instinct's which ain't really the best cause of action...they do that I suppose because its a well drilled in the skills they have learned on the road...where as I find coming from a offroad riding backround...if I hav a slide or what ever I'm quite relaxed about it and go with it...same with wheel spin on the track or road...it almost feels natural...

I think road riders can become good off road riders...but they have to probally really force there natural road instincts to change...

[kiwifruit]

A background in dirt riding is a major advantage to riding on the road
the reverse is less true

[Motu]

In fact with so many top road racers having a dirt background and riding off road for training - I'd say if you want to get somewhere in your road racing you will be a nobody until you get off road.

[kiwifruit]

In fact with so many top road racers having a dirt background and riding off road for training - I'd say if you want to get somewhere in your road racing you will be a nobody until you get off road.

I fully agree :yes:

[scott411]

the answer to this is no, dirt biking helps road riding (and racing) to an extent because you get used to the bike moving around and sliding, but the reverse is not as true, being a good dirt rider helps in being a good road rider but its not the only skill needed

[Motu]

Fitness is the key - MX is one of the most physicaly demanding sports in the world,that's why MotoGP riders train with dirt bikes...even Kimi Raikkonen the F1 driver rides a dirt bike as part of his training.

This is also one of the reasons I don't ride off road much anymore...it's pretty obvious what's wrong after the first 100 metres....

[Wolf]

For a dirt rider, the road is "tame". Even things that are deemed hazards by road riders (not racers, people mixing it with the fickle nature of the public roads) such as gravel and other slippery is "par for the course" for a dirt rider. A racing track is even tamer than the roads. The speeds may be higher on the racing track but you're not likely to come flying around the corner of a race track and encounter 1.5km of twisty gravel road.

Going the other way, from road/race track to dirt, is so much harder. The terrain is rugged and unpredictable, your're in a different riding position and your bike is going airborne frequently. The track can be slippery and you have to know how to corner in those conditions.

As several here have pointed out, a lot of the track racers practise and build up their fitness on MX prior to races (like Olympic shooters tend to ride bicycles or canoe to hone their bodies) - they would do well on an MX track because they are trained to do well on it, it's not like they're going onto the MX circuit with no prior experience.

Even a very good road rider would be at a serious disadvantage going off-road for the very first time. Yeah, they might have good skid control from learning to deal with icy roads but try skidding around a corner at a greater speed and with a bloody great hump in the middle of it. The experienced dirt riders will make him/her look like a nana.

[Edit] And for the record, I do not deem myself to be a good dirt rider - I quite literally get out of my depth in a shallow puddle. In fact, if the ground isn't as arid as the Arizona desert, I'm pretty much fucked.