When ‘in the zone’ on asphalt, rider and bike are a tango, whereas in Hard Enduro they’re attempting a pas-de-deux parkours, often similar to escape-themed movies in which protagonists are handcuffed to difficult partners.
Known for more excuses than a Gen-Z justifying not getting a real job, riders get creative defending their inabilities to ride well or fast. The standard blame going to tires, suspension, power, levers, pegs, handlebar, weight of the bike, imperfect equipment, after which, imagination knows no bounds – from insect infestation to tiny turd troublemakers. Short and small riders already have insecurities and don’t want to be known as ‘always making excuses’, so instinctively compensate and shy away from asking the obvious question or, better yet, starting a revolt against the elephant/giraffe in the room… How is it that weight classes or height classes don’t exist in Hard Enduro or in Extreme Enduro?
Technique and adjusting one’s bike can’t compensate. Looking at Tarrés, Jarvis, Bolt, Lettenbichler, Kabakchiev, Walker, Walkner, and so many other really successful Hard Enduro riders, we can clearly see height/size being a necessity. It’s an absolute, with no grey area. Enter the exemplary joke about the African American who claims to have the biggest penis among all his classmates, only to be reminded he’s 16 years old and still in grade 3.
Many techniques used in Hard Enduro come from Trials, where bikes weigh 70kg and their lack of a seat allow even the smallest of riders to squat quite low in order to throw weight around. Like leading a dance, it’s infinitely easier to force the right choreography when outweighing your partner two to one.
As MotoGP riders train on pit bikes, there’s a professional riding school where the flat-track/dirt-track training happens on small framed 120cc dirt bikes. I can assure that a few hours on a petit bike has me ‘bending it like Beckham’, allowing me to ride like I’m at the Houston Astrodome, winning the AMA American Flat Track Championship. On a normal sized bike, I may as well mount an orange flag on the back, add training wheels, and put some pink tassels in my handlebar ends, cause physics just don’t work in my favour the same way.
I don’t expect manufacturers to change the size of Enduro motorcycles any more than I’d expect other sports (imagine basketball) to absurdly adjust the dimensions of the field of play or equipment to the size of the player, as this would change the entire sport. We should look at the rider – the one leading the dance.
Even the world of on-road motorcycle racing has shown issues that needed addressing: Dani Pedrosa being too small and light to properly get heat in the tires; Danilo Petrucci who was disadvantaged by his greater weight and size; Scott Redding who repeatedly voiced his feeling handicapped compared to Alvaro Bautista, calling for bike and rider minimum weight restrictions. However, where on-road the size of rider may translate to tenths of a second advantage, in Hard Enduro, the size of the rider makes it a different sport altogether. For somebody of my (quite average European, read short) size, it couldn’t be named Hard Enduro, it would be Impossible Enduro, period.
Height isn’t the only factor. Even if Sidi, Gaerne, Fox, or AStars produced high-heeled elevator-pump Enduro boots in order for shorter riders to actually reach the ground when pivoting their bike onto a small-car-sized boulder, the rest of physics still remain an obstacle (pun well placed). Hard Enduro techniques require a certain amount of force to be accurately directed (at the right time). As the weight of the bike remains unchanged – same for every rider – the necessary force needed to be exerted on the bike also remains unchanged. Since force is mass multiplied by acceleration, a bigger and taller rider having greater mass requires less acceleration. An extra advantage is height, which allows greater leverage, further reducing the acceleration needed to be exerted. Put plainly, a 15cm taller and 10kg heavier rider has to burn orders of magnitude less energy in order to perform the exact same technique (even if the shorter rider could somehow reach the ground the same as the taller rider). Over the course of hours, the cumulative difference is monumental.
Let’s leave everything as is, but establish separate height/weight divisions for riders. Unfortunately, I can’t just identify as Pol Tarrés’ twin and go win Erzberg Rodeo.
If it were a niche sport, this wouldn’t be necessary, but it’s clear Hard and Extreme Enduro are here to stay and are gaining more traction (see how I placed that pun too) daily.
Writer:
Peter ‘Safety Bear’ Bokor