Dirt Bike Rags...

CrashTestDummy wrote:
  >
  > Yeah, all this stuff is in the latest issue of Dirt Bike Magazine
  > (July 2004). I just discovered it yesterday and was gonna let you know
  > about it. It's under "Set Up Tips."
  >
  > Fred B. - DFW Area
  > '85 RM 250
  > '81 DT 80

Funny you mention Dirt Bike Magazine. I haven't seen it. While bike
shopping the last few weeks, I've managed to accumulate a small pile of
magazines. Dirt Bike was not one of them.

"Transworld Motocross" is one... It's thick. But I couldn't find any
useful info, other than a long list of suppliers of shiny beads and
trinkets. I found it very difficult to tell the "articles" from the
ads, in both content and layout.

"Racer X" was just slightly better, but not much. Unfortunately, it is
focused on racing, something I don't do, or watch. For some reason, I
have a couple issues of that already.

And, finally, I have the June 2004 issue of "Dirt Rider." On the cover
it said "11 Best Off-Road Bikes," and "We ride the fastest 4-stroke in
125SX." Wow, that looked like exactly what I wanted to read, seeing as
I was shopping for "Off-Road Bikes" not an MX'er, and, what the heck, I
was planning on one of them being a 125 4-stroke. And those were the
two main cover stories!!

But "Dirt Rider" turned out to be the worst by far! My wife and I
searched it cover to cover, and could not find either story AT ALL. Not
that the stories were bad, they were NOT EVEN THERE! My wife was soo
pissed off she looked for a way to email them to complain, but couldn't
find one.

The closest thing I could find to the "11 Best Off-Road Bikes" cover
story was a story on "24-Hour Modified-Bike Torture Test" on 7 bikes.
Why so many hyphens in the title? And, bikes with thousands of dollars
of modifications is absolutely no help to me at all.

The closest thing I found to the "We ride the fastest 4-stroke in 125SX"
cover article was something called "The Green Teaser" about Kawasaki's
new Chevy Racing Team 250's and a 125. Again with the list of thousands
of dollars of modifications.

I could not possibly have been more disappointed. "Dirt Rider" can't
possibly be for dirt bike riders, maybe for MX's and SX's who want
shopping list of modifications to spend a few extra thousand (that I
don't have or want to do). But nothing about dirt riding...

I was sort of shocked by the incredibly low quality of all of the
magazines I saw. I would think there would be more guys out there who
are Saturday/Sunday trail riders, or maybe Enduro riders. Something
focused on people who ride, but don't race. I would think (I guess I'm
wrong) that there are a lot more people out there just riding and having
fun than there are people racing. And, a there should be a good
magazine for them.

But, apparently, the magazines are all funded by advertisers, not
readers. And, because of that, they are all about convincing people to
buy racing accessories.

They seem to have no interest in reporting on good trail rides, places
to go, riding techniques, reviews on STOCK bikes without any
modification, etc...<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->

On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 19:25:11 -0700, RWC <user.TakeThisOut@example.net> wrote:

 >CrashTestDummy wrote:
  > >
  > > Yeah, all this stuff is in the latest issue of Dirt Bike Magazine
  > > (July 2004). I just discovered it yesterday and was gonna let you know
  > > about it. It's under "Set Up Tips."
  > >
  > > Fred B. - DFW Area
  > > '85 RM 250
  > > '81 DT 80
 >
 >Funny you mention Dirt Bike Magazine. I haven't seen it. While bike
 >shopping the last few weeks, I've managed to accumulate a small pile of
 >magazines. Dirt Bike was not one of them.

RWC, shoot me an email with a fax number if you have one and I'll
fax you the WR450F set-up page out of the aforementioned Dirt Bike
rag. Just remove the "Remove" from my email address before replying.


 >And, finally, I have the June 2004 issue of "Dirt Rider." On the cover
 >it said "11 Best Off-Road Bikes," and "We ride the fastest 4-stroke in
 >125SX."

I have that very issue sitting right here and I must agree... it's
totally mis-constructed. To arrive at the "eleven" bikes mentioned on
the cover, they test three stock bikes beginning on page 36 (CRF250X,
250 E/XC and the WR250F), and then conclude the test with eight
modified (mostly pro rider) bikes beginning on page 60.

I suppose the idea was to contrast the box stock bikes with their
modified brethren in order to stress the value of modifications
(ie--to sell you more bling, bling and schiznit!).

The "Green Teaser" is definitely the 125 SX bike mentioned on the
cover, though that's not a huge claim. First, they base their claim of
"fastest" on the 125cc Western Region... tactfully ignoring the 125cc
Eastern Division. No Bubba Stewart competition, but he rode a 2-stroke
last year anyway. And then, in Stephane Roncada, they have probably
the fastest 125-class rider to begin with. That's not to say the
PC-prepped KX250F isn't a fast bike, but the cover line is somewhat
misleading.

I too have been disenchanted with the current crop of dirt bike
magazines. Even Dirt Bike Magazine surprised me with the cover line,
"New Life For Your Old Bike" on the July (2004) issue. I eagerly
turned to associated write-up only to discover that the bike they were
giving "new life" to was a 2002 YZ250F! WTF?!?! That's not OLD!!!

But DB goes on to show us how $3,332.87 can restore the
two-year-old YZF to better than new! Goo gawd, I should hope so!!!

I don't begrudge the riders who have the budget for stuff like
this, but it'd be nice to see some stuff for the financially
challanged... some articles about truly older bikes every now and
then. Some "budget solutions." That kind of stuff.

At Red River last time I met a nice fellow across the parking area
from us who was riding a 1985 YZ-250. I myself was riding a 1985
RM-250. And I think we saw that same guy from Lake Murray on his early
'80s Yamaha IT-250! And that wasn't all... I was paying attention and
noticed several older bikes on hand. An old KE-100, what I believe was
an old Suzuki TS-185, and several bikes from the early '90s. So
there's definitely a market out there for enthusiasts who aren't
necessarily racers or Howard Hughes. And what people who make a lot of
money don't realize is that it's often easier for someone with a
lesser income to buy that $500 mid '80s bike and fix it up a bit at a
time as money allows than it is for that same guy to purchase a
$1,500-2,000 used bike all at once. The important thing is that, like
the YZ-250 guy at Red River, he's RIDING! And to me, he's no less
valuable than the guy pitting next to him with the 2004 Husaberg (yes,
there really was a guy next to him with a new Husaberg -- 430 or 450
or something -- 4-stroke).

I've rambling far too long though... let me know on that fax
number, RWC!


Fred B. - DFW Area
'85 RM 250
'81 DT 80<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->