I was working on my dirt bike the other day and wondered how I could ride it with some of my buddies in the city. I’ve given this much thought, and here’s what I found out.
How do you ride a dirt bike in the city? First you need to obey all traffic laws and noise ordinances. If you pay attention and work with your local communities, then there’s a good chance you might find a few places to ride with your buddies. Consider Supermoto and small places to work on enduro skills.
As you can see from answering the question, it doesn’t sound very exciting. There’s a lot that goes into being able to ride dirt bikes in the city.
Why is riding dirt bikes in the city a big deal?
In my research for answering this question, I found many articles and videos talking about the rise of urban dirt bike riders. Specifically, Philadelphia seems to have headlines on this topic.
Most of the items I came across are a few years old, but it still seems relevant today. Case in point, I am asking how to ride a dirt bike in the city.
This is a big deal because it gives urban kids and young adults something productive to do while building skills that apply to other careers.
Think about all the skills that they need to ride, maintain, and keep up their bikes. These are things that we don’t want to go to waste. The question is how do we bridge the gap between the law and the enjoyment of riding your motorcycle.
The news items I pointed out recently show the negative effects and stereotypes associated with urban dirt bike riding. I have to agree some of them are warranted.
Breaking The Law
Riding dirt bikes on urban streets is breaking the law. Most dirt bikes don’t have turn signals. Many times the bikers are swinging in and out of traffic they overtake traffic or intersections.
It scares pedestrians and drivers on the streets.
EPA and Smog Requirements
The other obvious thing about these motorcycles that needs addressed is the EPA and smog requirements.
I don’t know the exact figure, but many of these urban dirt bike riders are in fact on two strokes. Most of the time and on older two strokes are not as environmentally friendly.
Make sure your motorcycle complies with all local laws. In the event you are not happy with them, then work with your legislative body.
Noise ordinances
Urban dirt bike riders do in fact need to pay attention to the effect they have on their neighborhoods.
Parents of small children do not want to hear dirt bikes buzzing up and down the street at 50 miles an hour at midnight.
Perhaps having your bike meet sound ordinances will improve the relationship or at least start improving the relationship with local police.
Look at Motosport.com or wherever you buy your parts. See what kind of economical exhaust pipe you can put on your dirt bike.
Here is the one I’m looking at for my two-stroke CR 250. It is approved for the forest with a spark arrester but it also meets the 96 or 98 decimal limit.
If done properly, you can get the bike so you lose little power. In fact, you really probably have more power than you need for urban writing.
Getting Smart With Urban Dirt Bike Riding
Some cities, like Cleveland, are getting a little smarter about urban dirt bike riding. This news article highlights desire to create an environment where these guys can ride their bikes and not be all over the street.
The idea is like creating a skate park for the skateboarders. These guys like the urban dirt bikers needed a place to hang out and practice their craft. This is what we should do for urban dirt bike riders.
There will need to be some caveats such as making sure the bikes don’t create too much noise pollution for the neighborhood. They should wear basic safety equipment at all times such as pants, close toed shoes, preferably boots, and helmets.
At the time of this writing, I don’t know what if they have created the park but I hope to reach out to some individuals. We’ll try to do an interview.
Supermoto
Another good idea for officials and local communities to consider Supermoto. In fact, this is an even better idea than creating an urban dirt bike park.
What is supermoto?
In the strictest sense Supermoto is basically riding a dirt bike over hard-packed dirt and over obstacles similar to motocross and pavement or concrete.
For our purpose we could make it more of an urban style and not have the dirt, although it is feasible to keep what’s available as part of the track.
There are a few benefits for considering Supermoto for urban dirt bike riders.
1. Basically you need a large open area such as an old parking lot or maybe an old playground and a parking lot. There’s not a lot of infrastructure that needs changed to create the start of an excellent facility.
2. Most urban dirt bike riders are already riding dirt bikes. So little modification to the motorcycle will need to be made. From what I can see, tires are the big items.
3. They already use large open areas. They can create new tracks all the time with minor effort.
4. This will give many of the benefits such as a plce to practice their skills and they even have stunt shows on the weekends.
Challenges of Supermoto In Urban Areas
Riding increases lots of noise. We’ve already talked about many of the inconveniences dirt bikes have on urban areas. Strict enforcement of noise pollution will have to be a top priority.
An additional challenge might be many bikes in such a small area. However, with organization and proper management you should overcome this challenge.
Urban Enduro
Enduro writing has captured my attention over the past 18 months.
In the course of me going down the rabbit hole watching YouTube videos, I came across a competition for enduros in Romania. I typically refer to these individuals as Romaniacs.
Many towns will shut down streets, parks and sidewalks and create an urban style Enduro track where the motorcycles jump logs, concrete barriers, ride up and down stairs and a host of other things. These competitions are grueling.
They are most fascinating to watch too, in fact I prefer watching these to a Supercross and motocross race.
What would happen if we could introduce this kind of racing or riding rather to some of our urban dirt bike riders.?
Many of these urban riders already have an impressive skill set. Perhaps they would enjoy expanding the skill set with the new style of riding.