History of Dirt Biking

Consider this: you’re sitting in a ‘comfy’ bench, you have 12 000 friends with you, there’s the smell of gasoline in the air, lights flashing everywhere then next thing you know the crowd goes wild as a biker on his dirt bikes makes a 720 and lands on his wheels and makes the jump! Now that is what we could call extreme. Can you imagine how the rider (men or woman) feels when they land this death defying stunt? To be remembered forever, you need to try new dangerous stuff and dirt biking is just the place to do it.

So, who do we have to thank for this incredible sport? I know you’re tempted to say he’s American but sorry he’s Japanese (and good businessman). You were close though because it really started in the U.S.A. Of course back then it wasn’t big as it is today. In fact no big industry giant started the way they are now. It took some time. The guy opened a shop in L.A. almost 60 years ago he tried to convince those surf boys to trade their surf board for a dirt bike. Let’s just say people weren’t impressed and he didn’t sell too many items. You also have to know that having a motorcycle back then meant you were in an outlaw band. It doesn’t end there; you should know that since it wasn’t popular, there was no need for tracks either. Even if you had a bike, you were looked weird so imagine one with a motor. But the guy had a brilliant idea. He figured that he would use the material he had and make the best of it. This is how the slogan of Honda got to be and how he used those L.A. girls to attract new clients and it worked incredibly.

These guys all dressed up and pretty girls also broke the ‘biker/thug’ image that motorcycles had. It had to because young drivers and older ones were now proud of owning a Honda bike and driving it around town.

Then began phase two of the plan. Honda had to design yet another type of bike because of increasing demands for something else. His clients wanted to be able to go out in nature while enjoying there bikes which was almost impossible with what they had. So being the businessman that he was, he went back to the old drawing board. On of his greatest upgrade was with the suspension. It needed to be because a rocky downhill road with rocks and stuff would have broken the old one in a flash. With a few adjustments to the frames and the tires, Honda released his new bike to the clients delight. This was 1963 and this was the new generation of Honda’s. Let’s just say that this businessman was there at the right place at the right time. Not only did he listen to his customers need, he actually did something about it. This is why his sales went through the roof. Not bad for a Japanese guy that just wanted to make a few bucks to survive in this world. Today’s bikes are merely not comparable to back then, but it had to start somewhere.

Legendary Greek Filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos Dies

Stuart Kemp 76-year-old director dies after motorbike hits him while shooting "The Other Sea" near Greek capital Athens. read more

Wendouree rider a menace, court hears

A MAN caught riding his motorbike at up to 170km/h on the Western Highway has narrowly escaped jail.

Bike show was brilliant - roll on next year!

Having experienced the Springfields Motorbike Show in Spalding for the first time last weekend, I can safely say I shall be returning - it was a great family day out.

Edmund de Waal on the potter Emmanuel Cooper, 'a true democrat'

Emmanuel Cooper ( obituary , 31 January) was a true democrat. He simply refused to see hierarchies that others thought were significant, bringing a motorbike into conjunction with a bowl by Lucie Rie as his examples of good craftsmanship for a 1982 exhibition called The Maker's Eye. This was at the heart of his friendships, which spanned radically different worlds, but it was also true of the ...

'I miss an Ireland that does not exist'

LIKE SO MANY young people leaving Ireland today, my emigration story started with a year backpacking around Australia in 2001. I went on my own and had a great time, travelling around the country by motorbike and working on sheep stations along the way.