DonValley

Just wondering if anyone here also enjoys Motocross or Enduro riding? If so, how do you compare the skill set required for Mountain Biking? I have spent a few days in an off road/motocross school, and I really enjoyed it. I cannot fit a motorised machine in my lifestyle due to logistics and family obligations, but do appreciate the performance of such a highly evolved beast.

Chone

I do, I love dirt bikes, I would ride more and even competitively if I could but I can only ride every other weekend if even that, they are great but I like my mountain bike just as much.

As for the "skill set" question, well... I can't say for sure... but I'm gonna go and say that dirt bikes, although more dangerous and harder to start on require less skill than a mountain bike (on the perfomance level), yeah shocker but thats the way I feel.

BoSoxYacht

I don't compare the two sports , but the speed of MX and enduro riding helps me get comfortable with the speed of the downhills .

Maelstrom 

Depends on usage. I think taking a motox guy and bringing him over to dh would be a perfect fit. I know I have taken some aussie buds on rides and with 0 experience on mountain bikes had phenomonal skills and control on a bike. These guys automatically knew how to drift, manual and just maneuver the bike in the air.

yater

I race enduro (b level) and I also have a dr650 decked out for adventure riding (saddle bags, gps, 5 gallon tank, heated grips, corbin seat, etc). I find that mountain bikes are much more precise at speed. Minute details in fork tuning can be felt immediately on the MTB. The problem that carries over from dirtbikes for me is momentum control. I have a hard time remembering to pick lines that allow me to maintain momentum rather than the shortest line for the easy pass (like on a dirtbike). Does that make sense? I find myself charging hard into turns and braking late...only to lose my momentum and have to accelerate out of the turn. That's not a problem on a dirtbike but It'll wear you out on the MTB. I think it's a blast to learn on both dirtbikes and mountain bikes. I've been riding both since I could walk.

mattress

Been riding dirtbikes for 10 years, mountain bikes for 1 year, I find them very similar, just different speeds and pedaling is about the only things I find different, and the mountain bike is much lighter, more fun to manuever around the trail and off small jumps.

mx_599

too different. i am far better at motocross than MTBing. they are very different, yet there are many similarities if that makes sense

dminor 

The skillset is very similar. It is what attracted me to mountain biking . . . and what eventually attracted me over to the more downhilling end of things (although I love it all). I raced shorttrack, flattrack, motocross and desert cross country from age 13 into my early 20s and had pretty fair success as an amateur. To the point where I had to make a choice between going pro and going to college and took the college route (and don't regret it, but sometimes I wonder...)

The big difference I have found is jumping. It has taken me a long time to get used to jumping a bicycle. With a motorcycle, you have so much more at your disposal to help you out: wick the throttle on at the lip; chop it midair to correct; rev it midair to correct; etc. On a bicycle, it seems so much more precise; the approach, speed, etc. once you launch, you're committed. A friend who came from a bicycle background explained it finally in a way I can grasp. He said on a bike, the jump is you jumping and carrying the bike with you; instead of on an M/C where it's jumping and you are controlling. My white-knuckle airs are getting fewer now.

There are some other side benefits to a moto background: you'll dazzle your buddies with effortless two-wheel drifts (especially when it's going real well and you can pick your inside foot back up ) and no-brake high-speed broadslides. You won't think twice on that berm-less off-camber hairpin. Plus, motocross school drills into you the importance of your best and most powerful friend: your front brake. If you've come away with nothing else, you are learning to make best use of 80% of your stopping power and will make you a better bicyclist.

Enjoy the peddling side!

mx_599

great post dminor. i have a similar experience as you....except not as many genres, notably dirt track. i only did motocross. i made it to a pretty good amateur as well. my best success being at Lorretta Lynns in 1995. i too raced from about 14 to 20. i could have kept pushing and transitioned to the expert class and paid for my pro liscense...but it was a dying dream. you never want to stifle an adolescents ambitions, but let's face it...all those kids you see playing on the b-court, probably not one would make it past college ball.

i often like to give the analogy that if college had a motocross team i would have been a "great" college rider, but never destined for the pros. i chose academics as well and will have a more fulfilling life as a physician than i would have had as a professional "privateer" motocross racer. then when that was over, it would not have been possible to go into medicine.

when i mentioned about the differences, i was thinking back towards my amateur race days on the national tracks. i have raced about 6 national tracks and when you're going as fast as you can on one of them (southwick comes to mind), there just is way more differences than similarities between a motorcyle and a bicycle. just my opinion. they both have two wheels....that's about it for me. however i do agree with many of the jumping characteristics mentioned above. that is why i am unimpressed by jumping shots. (not to sound snobbish or anything) i would have shots too if i lived near a mountain and had a bicycle that could hack it. some day...

Maelstrom 

All I know is this. I wish early in life I had taken up either/or BMX and MX. I would be a signifigantly better mtbiker today if that were the case. Instead I didn't even ride a bike (in any degree of seriousness) until I was 27.

mx_599

...and now all my skills are lying fallow. oh well, i guess they're skills never lost.

DonValley

Oh well, I am trying to develop some new skills at 47!!. I had a Can Am 125 MX1 when I was 16, and getting on a Yamaha TT250R last summer was quite a thrill. After the second day, I was doing pretty good, getting some air on the MX track, and managed no injuries in fairly quick woods riding. A week later my Sciatica nerve went haywire and I spent one month in pain. I still haven't taken the plunge on a Mountain bike , but have kicked tires. I will do 4-5 days of dirt bike school this summer, and might buy a hardtail this week. (front runners are Stumpjumper M4 , Kona Kula Deluxe, DeVinci Desperado.) Glad to hear there is some crossover from gas powered two wheelers. I know I don't enjoy pedalling a Mountain Bike on the street on my test drives, compared to my Touring Bike. I 'd sure like to try one on a tight trail.