Chad Reed has a reputation not just among his Australian dirt bike riding community, but the entire world. He’s the lad that kept working (and sucking dirt) until he started winning…and the rest is history.
Now an international icon, Chad has been at the game for 20+ years now and has inspired younger riders to follow their dreams. Frontaer has put together this page detailing Chad and his epic accomplishments.
Chad Reed Early Life
When Chad was a little kid, his parents bought him a horse called Fern. While he loved the horse, he became instantly hooked on to dirt bikes when his cousin Craig Anderson started riding around the property. Soon enough, the horse was swapped for the PeeWee 50 and the rest is history.
His family bought a 25 acre property out near Kurri Kurri which is west of Newcastle, about 2 hours North of Sydney. It’s here, with nothing much to offer, that his first MX tracks where built by hand. The family didn’t have much except for a determination to support Chad on his dreams. This earned him the reputation of being the ‘underdog’ as the family was by no means rich.
By 1997, Chad Reed took first price in the Australian Championships on an 80cc machine. He then passed on his school education to focus on the professional career with the backing of his parents.
Racing Career
Chad has had a short racing career in Australia. He was quitely picked up by international corporate interests given his skill on the throttle, and before he was even an adult, was already off to Europe to compete and rode for Kawasaki in the early years.
By 2002, he had moved to the United States and rode for Yamaha’s Factory Racing Team. In that season alone, he scored winnings on 2 supercross races. We’re talking 125cc MX bikes too. Naturally, injuries happened to coincide with the volume of competitive racing, though he wasn’t as involved in the more dangerous sport of freestyle motocross.
For 20 years, Chad had dotted many start lines and built a reputation with Monster Energy. In 2020, he decided to make it his final year in competitive racing. After all, he’s significantly older than most rising stars in the industry. COVID 19 did cause havoc on the season, and he jumped shipped to KTM from Honda midway through the season. This isn’t abnormal, given that he’s had a variety of sponsors over his entire career.
What Happened to Chad Reed?
Chad has never stopped racing and, while he’s now starting to retire from racing competitively, he isn’t going to be giving up the thumping sound of a 2-stroke anytime soon. His love for dirt bikes and outperforming the competition is well beyond that of his net worth which has risen considerably.
While we never want to see a legend like this retire, we’re sure that Chad will continue to inspire generations to get out there and away from their cell phones. With toy dirt bikes created in his honor, his reputation will live on as one of the toughest yet more genuine riders out there from down under.
