MotoAmerica | 2024 | Silly Season

I mean, if you've gotta add ballast to make minimum weight, why not make the ballast fun right?

 

Have you looked at the top end baggers? Pretty close to fully purpose built as is, forcing them to retain the bagger look is a big chunk of what's helping it's popularity. They look like bikes people are riding, and the weight and goofy geometry have them sliding and weaving so you never know as a watcher when it's going to go pear shaped. What you propose would just turn into MotoGP with odd sounding engines, they'd handle, they'd be aero'd up the wazoo and the racing would get boring, and no one would care 'cause they don't look like what people rode in on.

When the cover of Drag Specialties is filled with carbon fiber instead of chrome, you know Bagger racing is impacting a pretty big market.

Edit: Buell is who pushed the XL motor platform to it's illogical conclusion with the XBRR.

 

So, based on your expertise by association, it would be better for an up and coming talent, like Rocco, to sit out a season rather than take a paid ride in baggers. It would be better for his career to be out of the MA paddock than to be racing with the likes of Wyman, Gillim, Fong, Ohara, Xaus, McWilliams, Rispoli, etc? I am sure there is nothing he can learn from any of those guys. Your attitude seems to come from your level of expertise, and I suggest you get a bike and grid up before you start making suggestions about how others can further their careers. You also might want to face the reality that the US does not currently have the talent in the MA paddock to make it at the top of the world scene. Do you really think that there is anybody that would challenge Toprack or Bautista or Rea? Our best would be running for 3-5 on a good day.
Baggers are real racing and I suspect that as the Hooligan class grows, it will become even bigger since all of the factories can compete and those are the bikes that are most appealing to the general public.

 

Once you let go of the fantasy of yearly classes of Americans feeding into MotoGP/WSBK you can view MA through a more clear lens. I think baggers is a genius move for both MA and domestic cruiser manufacturers. The benefits to MA are obvious as they are accessing a massive, often wealthy (or at least reckless spending!) segment of the m/c community which increases attendance, eyeballs, and overall revenue.

For the OEM's this is just what they need to transition from a legacy heavy cruiser market and the declining demographic for those types of bikes. H-D already has the ST line, but a Rev Max powdered factory cruiser that is hundreds of pounds lighter with good/better geometry, suspension, wheels, brakes, etc., seems like a smart move, similar to Cadillac creating the V series in an attempt to shed the "old man" branding. The factory support in the paddock suggests this is critically important to the future of these manufacturers.

 

Nah, see, what they're saying is if you shut down baggers, the money automatically migrates to SSP/SBK. Because obviously, the sponsors won't care that there are fewer fans. And Harley and Indian will be forced to build sport bikes to play. No one will simply take their ball and go back home.

 

You sound like my wife

 

Is anyone here building a racing bagger?

If not, why not?

Why is BRL (Bagger racing League) so sparsely attended in both entries and spectators?

I certainly understand MA's embrace of it - if money is flying your way, keep it coming! But I don't think 2 wheeled speed disco is sustainable - I wonder what it will take with it when it dies. Certainly not any motorcycle roadracing club I'm actively involved in.

OK - I'm completely out of touch with the same world that wants to see C7s, GT40s, Shelbys, etc. in the showroom but wants to see Impalas, Tauri, Camrys, etc. on the track....

 

Building one? No. But offer me an opportunity to race one of those ridiculous beasts and watch how quickly I show up at the track in my leather vest and engineer's boots!

 

Did AMAfan sneak back in?

 

We know. But kudos for the self-awareness.

 

imo BRL is the club racing of baggers which is why no spectators like most amateur events in comparison to “the show”

I think @lightning97 built one or maybe max rides for someone else.

 

What a shit show.

Ya'll ever heard of a rising tide lifts all boats?

What if Baggers becomes huge and it helps SBK racing in turn?

Or is that still not enough for your fantasy of "back in my day"...

 

That wasn't my point at all. Not even close.

 

Nope, not saying that either. But MA have embraced a class that will take over from it's biggest draw. Leaving the US etc even farther away from the rest of the world. But hey, things are going amazing right?

 

Who wouldn't!!

That's one of the cool things Teams I & HD did last spring: Offer a lot of moto-journalists the opportunity to take their racers out on the track - they got tons of coverage. That's marketing!

 

Indeed, but I would think all the local Bro Dudes would still show up. They don't. That's why I find "iTs sO pOpUlaR" less than credible.

 

How many know it exists? If I didn't know Gunnar Ouellette locally I'd never have found out about it.

 

Take WHAT from it's "biggest draw?" Start posting factual, specific information and you'll find the discussion much easier. You guys keep dodging questions when challenged on the actual facts.

Which sponsors have abandoned the "biggest draw" in droves and defected to baggers? I'm not asking for all of them. Just a couple that are noticeable.

Which racers have refused paid rides in the "biggest draw" (I keep saying that because I don't want to name a specific class and put words in your mouth) and chosen baggers instead?

Are a new fans coming for the baggers somehow hurting other classes?

I'm still trying to figure out in what ways baggers have hurt the series. The only one I'm coming up with is clean-up time and frankly, MA has a much bigger issues.

 

Ooh! I know! Vance & Hines!

Oh wait. That was 20 years ago. Never mind. Carry on.

 

All this hate on baggers. Honestly, I hated the idea of them to. But guys are spending a ton of money on their bikes to make those turds more fun on the street. My buddy has a shop in York, PA. Yup, home to a Harley plant. The amount of crazy guys are doing to the baggers in that area boggles my mind. I've seen GSXR 1k forks, ZX10 forks, Carbon everything on bikes, rear shocks. People may not like it, but the guys that are getting into it are spending real money to build these things for the street, and the industry needs that right now.