IMXSports 

Hey, My name is Shawn and my Son is Brayden, He's started racing bmx and seems to have a natural talent for it. It's been many years since I've ventured on the bmx bike, things have def changed, and I thought this would be a great place to find some helpful info when needed!
Thanks for the support!

TJClay

Get him clipped in, take him to as many training clinics as you can, maybe a private trainer, and have him race as much he can without turning expert to soon. Then race him against the fastest kids you can find, nationals are good. Above all, practice, practice, practice.. Oh ya, get him in a full face helmet.

fuzzbox

Basically anyone can get sponsored from bikesponsers.com just have to pay them their fees and spam stuff about getting their sponsorship. It is true you can buy anything theses days instead of working hard for it.

IMXSports 

well, paying the fees has been well worth it for us. So I have to share the videos we make with our friends and forums. How is taking hours to create a video and share it not working? If that was all I had to do for everything I have, I would gladly give up my daily "hard working" job.

Street rider

You missed the point. It used to be that riders had to be good at what they did. Some of the fastest racers, best street/vert/park/flatland riders around to be able to get any sort of sponsorship at all. Entirely through hard work, deidication, blood, sweat, and tears. But now just anyone can pay some money and get a sponsorship? Its a lot like how Barry Bonds juiced before games. Its cheating, in all its essentiality.

IMXSports 

Yeah I am totally missing the point of how this is cheating, because it's saving me a lot of money ( a lot more than I spent for it). He races for Avent/Bombshell too, where he gets certain things paid for and we get a hefty discount on parts, is that cheating too? Because he was approached by the team manager about riding for them...... I would understand if it were a major sponsor who paid for everything he does, (and we bought that) but that's not the case, This is basically a sponsorship that helps pay for his parts and gear by showing off their products and promoting for them. He's works extremely hard at the track and many have said he will go far if he sticks with it, but that's totally up to him, and I'm sure if he does, he'll earn one of the sponsorships that is not "paid for".

IMXSports 

TJ, do you know of any way to find clinics that are taking place in the area? ever see a website listing or should I just keep checking the local tracks and such to find them?

fuzzbox

If it saves you money, great. Just sounds likes you pay money and advertise to get discounts kind of like coupons haha. I wouldn't call it anything close to an actual sponsorship, but whatever. This forums has its guidelines about advertising/soliciting commercial websites just fyi.

tonkaboys

"Basically anyone can get sponsored from bikesponsers.com just have to pay them their fees and spam stuff about getting their sponsorship. It is true you can buy anything theses days instead of working hard for it."

"If it saves you money, great. Just sounds likes you pay money and advertise to get discounts kind of like coupons haha. I wouldn't call it anything close to an actual sponsorship, but whatever. This forums has its guidelines about advertising/soliciting commercial websites just fyi."

Wow, this section of the forum really draws the most negative people of any forum I have ever seen. Do you guys ever have anything good to say about anything?

Street rider

Yea, I generally do. Its just that this is essentially cheating. I mean, if I was to pay someone to write my papers for me for class, I would get thrown out of the university for academic dishonesty. Buying a 'sponsorship' like this is more or less doing the exact same thing. Its not by his own merit.

Sure, its great that he's getting his kid's name out there, and racing him from an early age. And being able to get stuff for 'free' makes sense right now, since he's growing awfully fast and whatnot, but still. If he was to earn his sponsorships by being the fastest, or by having some innate ability to see and take hole shots, etc, and have some company/scout approach him about it, that would be a completely different story.

tonkaboys

I hope you're taking some business courses there at the university.
Let me give you an overly simplistic explanation of why this type of program(there are many) are not cheating or a bad thing for the sport.

Little Timmy loves to race but it's really expensive. Sure could use some support from somebody..anybody to ease the burden on dads wallet. Problem is, Timmy and dad have no idea how to go about approaching manufacturers about support.

Many manufacurers of products ranging from clothing to bikes, motorcycles and all the parts to keep them running are interested in supporting riders at a grassroots level but don't have the time to entertain the number of HUNDREDS/THOUSANDS? of riders requesting meetings to pitch their need and worthiness of support.

So along come these agencies who work as an "agent" for even the novice racer. These people don't work for free but they can hook competitors up with the deals they can use to save money on racing. Depending on the company they sometimes do much more....run a website with results, work with racing organizations to ratify results etc.

So Timmy's dad pays a modest fee to the "agent". He gets a discount and sometimes free stuff. The manufacturer gets their product and advertising out there and the "sponsor" gets their cut for the work they do.

Nobody is GIVING anyone anything out of the goodness of their heart......it's all business. No cheating.

All of this still leaves plenty of room for the elite athelete who earns his or her full boat sponsorship which has not been diss'ed an any way.

Street rider

Now my point, and what I said is being missed. I did say that it was great that they had a way to get the kids name out there, and a way to save money on parts and such. Not disputing that fact. But when you get down to it, its spending money to save money.

tonkaboys

The point that is "being missed" is how spending a nickel to save a dollar is considered "cheating".


Let me give you another example of how some of these programs work.
My boys and I race offroad motorcycles, one of my boys is very fast and is always a contender for a podium position if not a win.
We ride KTMs....KTM pays contingency for wins, podium finishes and year end championships. BUT to be eligible for win money you need to sign up with one of these agencies.....and pay their $25 dollar fee which we did.
So I guess the 25 bucks I paid to be eligible for the HUNDREDS in KTM bucks to be spent in any way we choose at a KTM dealer after winning 12 races and two series championships was cheating. OKAY......makes perfect sense to me now, what was I thinking?



It's business..... and in the business world today it is how many manufacturers choose to make their "sponsorship" opportunities available to competitors.

Street rider

You have your view, I have mine. I'm looking at this purely from a sponsorship point of view, and how it looks to pay for a sponsorship, as compared to how it looks to be covered on what was offered to you. Theres a huge difference there.

tonkaboys

I understand your view in terms of what sponsorship means at a pro level.

The thing I have a hard time understanding is your need to take a mean spirited jab at an enthusiastic kid who is out there having fun racing and his dad who is doing his best to do right by his kid. Calling them cheaters for taking advantage of the incentives that are available to them is so uncalled for........I don't get it.

Street rider

I said its great that they're getting the kids name out there and saving money on parts and such while he's growing and shooting up like a weed. Jesus Christ. I even said it multiple times.

And that was far from mean spirited. If I felt like being an *******, it would have shown. My view on this is just from a realist standpoint. In all my life though, I was taught to work for everything. I came from a family that a) didn't just hand **** out to each other and b) didn't have the means to do so if they wanted to. So everything I have, I've worked for. When I was young, I wanted a new part for my bike? I did a **** ton of chores, mowed lawns, cleaned gutters, whatever possible to scrape the coin together.

So, yea. I think being able to pay a bit of money to be sponsored is a little like cheating.

tonkaboys

You might not have felt like it but it showed......perhaps you have a hard time turning it off.

Think about this for a minute....little Brayden is well aware that Dad put this video up and goes to check out what the response has been.
Nothing but negative......."Dad, someone is calling me a cheater....what did I do wrong?"

The fact that someone as insensitive as you to young kids feelings will reproduce makes me shudder, but it will likely happen.
Hopefully you will get it someday.

P.S. Going all martyr with having to work for what you have is wasted on me........don't feel like the Lone Ranger there!

Street rider

Call me insensitive to kids? I have several nieces and nephews, and a hell of a lot of very young cousins. I am the farthest thing from insensitive to kids. And I said what I did about having to work for/earn everything in my life to show where my views are coming from. If you can't even understand or respect that, then you're the one who's insensitive.

tonkaboys

What does having nieces, nephews and cousins have to do with being an insesitive jerk?

And yeah....my interest in having any sesitivity towards someone like you is zero.

I'm done replying to you.... you are a waste of time.


Keep it up Brayden, don't let a couple bad attitudes spoil it for ya.....have fun!

Siu Blue Wind

You guys need to stop this quibbling. Let's support the kid and his dad rather than argue the semantics.

Tom Stormcrowe

Y'all, look at it this way; bikesponsors is a development resource for aspiring young racers and it cuts the costs, and supports it by advertising a bit. The OP has been careful to not spam us, which I appreciate a lot. I don't have a problem with it as Admin of the forums that he mentioned the sponsorship, since he only mentioned it in passing.

IMX, I will ask you to move those links to tour signature, though, and let them stand on their own merit (By that, I mean don't mention them in every post.....), to stay in full compliance with our policies on advertising.

IMXSports 

Thanks to all who are supportive! My son doesn't get upset if would see someone calling him a cheater, he knows what he gets, and trust me he works for every bit of it. Streetrider, you stating that you had to work hard for everything you have sounds like you're comparing yourself to me or us. You have no idea who I am or how I have "worked" to get what we have now. And on that note, my 6yr old son gets a "FULL SPONSORSHIP" from me, so I guess he is cheating since he didn't earn that money spent himself. Tonka, you take the words right off my keyboard, Thanks! Tell your son awesome work! Keep it up! Ps. KTM'S rule!

tonkaboys

You are right.
As a father who knows the challenges of keeping two boys moving forward and being successful in their chosen sports/activities I have a hard time holding my toungue when someone makes a very uncalled for negative comment about ANY kid, whether I know them or not ( I do not know Brayden or his dad).

My appologies to any members who really didn't apprieciate seeing this exchange. I do NOT appologize however, for my opinion and voicing it.

Bottom line........Keep at it Brayden, and make sure you keep it fun, don't put too much pressure on yourself and the results will come.