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bturman
2/10/2011 8:53pm
2/10/2011 8:53pm
Edited Date/Time
11/13/2015 3:25am
Within the United States, 4X racing appears to be at an all time low. On the regional level there are fewer events than ever. Nationally, our premier series offers very few 4X races. It also seems as though most event promoters are putting less time and money into 4X courses.
Internationally, we've recently heard from two staples in the World Cup 4X scene that they are switching their focus back to DH (Graves in 2012 and Dan Atherton this season), although I'm not sure of their motivation to do so. Regardless, they are making the move back to DH. For various reasons, there is also less and less media coverage from World Cup 4X events.
Do you think 4X is on it's way out? If so, what can be done to restore it to its former glory?
Internationally, we've recently heard from two staples in the World Cup 4X scene that they are switching their focus back to DH (Graves in 2012 and Dan Atherton this season), although I'm not sure of their motivation to do so. Regardless, they are making the move back to DH. For various reasons, there is also less and less media coverage from World Cup 4X events.
Do you think 4X is on it's way out? If so, what can be done to restore it to its former glory?
It doesn't even have to be a DUAL slalom. Bring it!
its different than racing bmx and thats why i find it fun
it puts a twist on both bmx and mountain biking together and makes for some great racing
i agree that the tracks are the problem with the decline because all you hear about at the races is this track is fun to ride but sucks to race.
not bashing on the track builders but the tracks need to have more passing room instead of 7 different lines into one corner
Not to sound condescendant, but saying that 4x is dead in GENERAL is an ethnocentric view of things . It's just not true. In Europe, things are going really well. A couple of solid national series as well as the Euro wide series attended by the best riders.
The thing is 4x is actually kind of dead in the USA (except the Fontana series and the MSC series in Colorado, where people actually care about it; if you go at the Arvada bmx track, lots of people practice their 4x skills).
In Canada, it's now almost officially dead. The Nationals have not been announced (and not looking good either) and the only series is the indoor series in the Vancouver area.
BUT that does not mean it's dead everywhere.
These two threads sum up pretty good how the situation is.
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236962&highlight=grav…
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224860
In Europe, we've got a European 4Cross Series for the first time in 2010, organized by Michal Prokop's manager Zdenek Pol from Czechia. And in the Swiss city of Winterthur, with only a bit over 100'000 inhabitants, we've got two 4Cross professionals with Roger Rinderknecht and David Graf.
Unfortunately, the dates of 4Cross Worldcup races and European BMX cup races seem to clash a lot in 2011, which is bad, as quite some 4Crossers in Europe want to qualify for the Olympic BMX races at London 2012.
The main problem that 4Cross faces from my point of view is the lack of really good and permanent race tracks - even for the Worldcups, most tracks get built from scratch every year, which is insane. In Switzerland, the first track specifically built for 4Cross, including a proper start gate, is being built at the moment and going to be opened in late spring / early summer.
From a media perspective (yes, I am a bike journo), 4Cross is ace: The courses are short, as are the races - both of which is favorable for media to produce cracker features. It's exciting ellbow-to-ellbow racing with jumps, berms and different lines. And the format "first two advance to the next round, the other two go home" is pretty easy to understand.
On boring courses: Check freecaster.tv for a replay of last year's Worldcup race in Leogang - that was a banger! Prokop and Fischbach both had frightening crashes when trying a very daring triple combination close to the finish, both walked away unhurt. Racing was thrilling from the gate to the line - what else do you want?
By the way, I do not trust the likes of Sam Hill and their claim that they would compete if 4Cross was to be replaced by (yawn) dual slalom. If the race for the DH worldcup overall is going to be tight, these guys will focus on DH. So there is really no need to adapt 4Cross to the wishes of some DH stars. 4Cross has its own stars, and they deserve that status. Too bad there's no Northern Americans in that select group of riders, but Mitch Ropelato could be up there, and he's not the only one.
i race dh and love it!! But i love watching 4X and id like to race it but never will simply because i cannot be arsed getting a broken leg or elbow cuz of somebody else, hell threre is plenty of opportuntiy for idiots to hurt me at the megavalanche so i dont wish to increase my risk on a monthly race scene-shame but there it is.
if you ask me - you across the pond have ropelaato (hope thats right) and he is bloody good, fast, and exciting, even if a little wreckless @ times but has now gone to the SPS for DH I believe, other than him you have had nobody worthy of mention since lopes, who was a bloody good racer and also exciting to watch - shame he isnt at it any more..... the question for you is this - is your mass sponsorship looking for glory now that lopes has quit it and its all moving to DH as you now have good young uns such as gwinny who MIGHT start winning!!!!
FYI - the British and european scene in 4X is getting bigger, stronger and faster - check any WC start line or check the web throughout march to October and you will see a massive presence and amount of events, some extreme, some national, some club, private etc. new courses are arriving in the UK again also which is very positive...
this said, if anything - i suggest that its not the sport thats dying, but the Americans interest in it....and i dont believe for 1 minute your interest is lacking because of funding for circuits, most of ours in Britain are built on farmer land and are not that expensive to maintain. ... you have so much land to use, and to run a 4X bike as well as DH and XC must be easier as stuff is cheaper there--you know it is so PLEASE dont get stuck into me on that point...
I'd rather get eliminated in the 2nd round of a DS race than make the finals in a 4x race.
Why? Because dual slalom fucking rules. DS is competitive in every single round by every rider. DS focuses more on cornering than anything else. Slaying corners is cooler than speed jumping stuff and drinking protein shakes.
Dual and 4x are made-for-tv sideshows. As a US racer, bike maker and sponsor I don't give a hoot about 4x. If I had budget I'd give some bikes to badass euro 4x racers though. It is a viable, cool sport that can look great on TV. It's not a good fit for North America though.
BSX as conceived by KIS and other UK promoters in the late '90s is a great event. Build some half ass berms and jumps, turn up some turf and send a bunch of peple down a widely taped track in full mayhem mode with poly-unsaturated-full-tilt-boogie.
We don't have the resources to build 4x tracks in America. We do have a few shovels and ski and snowboard gates.
We need to focus on promoting events that promoters can actually afford to run.
What about more permanent tracks, like Angel Fire? It's good to hear that Europe has a strong/growing scene. Obviously it's possible to revive. I'm for it. Let's go America.
As for dual, for most people who do not ride this stuff themselves, it's dwarfed by 4cross being an ellbow-out format. Still, reckless bullies do not win in 4cross - because they also eliminate themselves with brainless attacks. Compare it to snowboarding: There's also Boardercross and alpine Dual slalom, where's more excitement?
The notion that 4cross is in some kind of crisis is not shared in Europe at all - it's doing well, the numbers of starters are growing like the number of races. And it would be hard to argue that the centre of gravity of mountain biking is not in Northern America anymore. It shifted to Europe quite some years ago, in fact.
One last thing: Stop comparing shoddy-built wannabe-4cross tracks to marvelous dual slalom tracks such as the one at Sea Otter. If you want to start comparing, than do it with tracks that are right on par.
thats the only thing that can save us now, and i have hope
Revived? It's not dead at all!
Revived by what? Hmmm, okay...
Seriously, you guys better discuss why 4Cross has such a hard time in Northern America whereas it does not in Europe.
We also don't engage in cycleball and artistic cycling.
It's your sport now. Have fun!
so i know lets hit 4x because it always gets a great response and we can then do the what is better dual slalom or 4x all over again.
Come on you guys its just old americans just trying to re live their youth.
when i was a boy i remember when i could beat Brian Lopes, yeah like anyone of you ever did that?
should provoke a response eh?
http://s1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb340/jarrodjakubiak/
He states that 4X is clearly struggling on both the World Cup and American race scenes. What can be done to boost rider participation and spectator interest?
And good on ya for beating Lopes.
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