Is 4X dying?

kidwoo wrote:

Actually I would say the first mountain bikes™ WEREN'T mountain bikes. They were road bikes and cruisers with wider tires. Seriously, check the geo on some...

Actually I would say the first mountain bikes™ WEREN'T mountain bikes. They were road bikes and cruisers with wider tires. Seriously, check the geo on some of those things. Those were not made for riding in the woods. I tried. They sucked :D But that's another discussion.

I'll bet you can think of a million trails where a 4" travel bike is loads faster than a hardtail and way faster than a dh bike. I know I can. That's just what I've always envisioned as creating something unique separate from bmx, and separate from dh but certainly drawing heavily from both. You don't have to agree.

There's already a category where superlight fragile hardtails have their place anyway. It's called pro xc racing.

bleaker28 wrote:

4x is not dying, the real question should be why is North America trying to kill 4x? Internationally, 4x is doing great, but in North America...

4x is not dying, the real question should be why is North America trying to kill 4x? Internationally, 4x is doing great, but in North America, 4x has almost a negative connotation when said aloud at the races. 4x is just a different skill. Why do other riders feel like they need to level the playing field with 4x riders when racing 4x? None of the 4x/ds riders look at a dh course and complain that there are not enough berms and jumps on the course or complain at how rough it is. Dh is just a different skill set than 4x. And Americans are so hell bent on switching back to slalom that they don't realize that 4x has a pretty good turn out for 4x when put on by good promoters with a good course, like the MSC series.

I am just saying, let all of the different types of racing co exist, snowboard half pipe riders don't complain about snowboard freestyle not being a sport, it's just different. Are we as Americans backing off of 4x because we don't have any real big contenders internationally? This is the time to support it, and rebuild our talent. Look at the Czech, they have really strong 4x series, and are putting out some great riders. Prokop used to be the main guy from the Czech, now there are riders like the reigning world champ, Slavik, Tatarkovic, and Mechura. The Czech have 7 4x riders in the top 20 in WC points overall. We used to have a prominent program, if half the energy spent arguing in forums about it was spent organizing and planning some races, we could be right back in the top standings internationally.

I would like to thank my sponsors KHS, Marzocchi, Kenda, IXS, Shimano, Gamut, KMC, Velo, ODI, Leatt, and Cane Creek for supporting me in my 4x efforts for the 2011 season.

-Blake Carney

PS Disregard the quote, I can't get it out of my post.

spankthewan wrote:

I vote to nix the 4x and really run with the super slalom idea... Just a short DH track with lines smooth enough for a hardtail...

I vote to nix the 4x and really run with the super slalom idea... Just a short DH track with lines smooth enough for a hardtail.
It doesn't even have to be a DUAL slalom. Bring it!

MPORA Editor wrote:

Agreed.