Dirt Bike magazine sucks

They did the same thing last year. I sent them an e-mail asking what was up. no reply, no mention in the mag, no bike tests.......I'm guessing they don't like Husabergs and simply refuse to aknowledge them. It's enough to make me start reading Dirt Rider again.

Dirt Rider is quite a bit better now that Jimmy Lewis is the editor.
Things have changed quite a bit over the last 6 months or so.

"No Husaberg, What gives?"

Brett may possibly have the answer to such a question.

Formal introduction:
Brett, Britt, Britt, Brett.

Sorry, I simply could not help myself.

Dale

Britt,
Someone correct me if I am wrong,but I understand that any time a manufacturer or distributors machines are displayed in a magazine,whether it be a road test or a even a listing in a buyers quide,it is assumed to be advertising and must be paid for.
Maybe BMG did not want to pay the ransom,this time?Or,the photos of the 06 models were not available at the time of print.
....nsman

nsman said:

Britt,
Someone correct me if I am wrong,but I understand that any time a manufacturer or distributors machines are displayed in a magazine,whether it be a road test or a even a listing in a buyers quide,it is assumed to be advertising and must be paid for.
Maybe BMG did not want to pay the ransom,this time?Or,the photos of the 06 models were not available at the time of print.
....nsman

Click to expand...

Hi Nsman,
Consider yourself corrected.
I have even had my Dirttrackers listed in the Cycle News Buyers Guide. All it usually takes is a formal press release. Such being said, DB has indeed been known for their politics. Husaberg may have simply opted out.

http://www.cyclenews.com/bg02/bg2002.asp

Best Regards,
Dale

Thanks...in this case I am glad I am wrong,esp. Cycle news,they are in a class by themselves.The art.on motoGP politics a few weeks ago was a classic....cheers

Any adult oriented magazine that does articles on
"minis" is a little wacko anyway.What adult in his
right mind would spend that much on a 80cc bike?
Sponsoring a child maybe,but to ride around on yourself?
And they advertize the stuff all through the magazine.
Maybe if Husaberg stuffed a motor in a XR80 frame
'Dirtbike ' would drool all over it.

t-jet-tim said:

...
Maybe if Husaberg stuffed a motor in a XR80 frame
'Dirtbike ' would drool all over it.

Click to expand...

Not until they pasted slogans like "No Fear" and "broken bonez ownz joo!" all over it, and then sponsor a rider that wears spiked apparel and is a member of a motorcycle gang.

If you don't fear anything, it's due to your inability to comprehend that gravity and speed can kill you, not a strong sense of self worth. You should qualify for a discount at the local shrink. If it's true that you don't fear anything, I would suggest you come up with a new trick where you stick your tongue through the spokes of your spinning front rim mid-jump, and waggle it at the crowd.

thanks,
json

Jolly good point, Schwim, but don't think that one of those lobotomy cases hasn't tried it! Regarding Dirt Bike , they once called Husabergs' muffler mounting (the frame mounted end) "hokey". Have you ever seen s muffler fall off of a Husaberg? These guys have a little too much compression damping cranked into their backsides. :evil:

Perhaps ol Roland Heinz is just kinda loosin it. Maybe it's like the King of Rohan in the lord of the Rings, and someone like Ron Lawson, or Jody Weisel is playing the part of Willard Worm Tongue. But who would be playing the part of Saron the White? hmmmmmm.

You know, years ago when super hunky was there and Tom Webb was a bit more svelte, it seemed that all comers were welcomed. But, suppose that with age closed mindedness strikes at even the best of editors. I stil enjoy reading Wolf's articles, and I have seen him and the supercross races with his kids in tow enjoying the spectacle.

I also like how they just glaze over the fact the CRFX450 is heavy, and just keep on tacking stuff on it. I'm sure that i't s agreat bike. But, in other articles they've got their micro vision goggles on for the weight.

Don't forget, Motocross action hasn't had too many glowing reviews on the FC's in recent years. At least since Rich Eirstadt was waxing most of the local pro's at the Saturday REM races a few years back on a FC 400. And today I was reading an article in MXA that was talking about the introduction of the YZF 400 in 98, and the article mentioned something to the effect of the "the big 5" manufacturers. I'm willin to bet if you read anything of that time frame it said nothing about the big 5, more like the big 4 since they weren't considering KTM part of the club yet.

I will say one thing for MXA, even as arrogant as they seem, they certainly take the AMA to task for their BS, and are definitely fighting for the average privateer getting some recognition for making the show. Who can help but love an underdog??

They both seem to be the main advertising venue for Pro Circuit too. I'm proud of Mitch, he's made a name for himself and his company. But not too many other tuners get mentioned. The High Torque publications aslo seem to be lacking in the do it yourself area's as well. Sure there are a couple of do it yourself top ends for 4t's and 2t's now and again. But what about an extensive suspension set up and tuning guide. Some kind of article to get the most out of your stock motorcycle's suspension, and CHASSIS TUNING. Or maybe a suspension tuners shoot out, wouldn't that be cool. Have several suspension tuners set up suspensions for a particular bike and have it totally blind, and maybe even a switch aroo where the rider is led to believe that the suspension was changed and was actually not just to keep an even baseline as to whether or not they could tell anything. And have all the sets of suspension dolled out by a completely non partisian out fit so there wouild be no favortisim possible. All blind of course, with the sets of suspension only having a piece of duct tape covering a code # so that even if the tape fell off, no one could tell who's set of suspenders they were. I think the results would be mind opening at the very least.

Now that would be cool.

Have you noticed lately when they do bike shoot outs that all the different bikes have what appears to be different tires on them? Doesn't seem like their "control" base is very good. But, hey, they wouldn't want to be tipping the scales would they??

I've also noticed that in a recent MXA air filter oil test, no toil was shown in the photo but, was never really talked about in the article. More of the same Maxima aft oil and it's kerosene and then soap bath cleaning method, with no mention how you can clean your filters with the no toil system in thekitchen sink with out the Mrs. even knowing, thus increasing your chances of a kitchen pass.

I have found trail rider magazine, and especially cycle news to lay it on the line, with Dirt Rider in 3rd. And as mentioned earlier Jimmy Lewis has brought a fresh, real, enthusiast view of Dirt Biking, as would be expected from a man who has raced and finished in the mother of all off road races the "Paris to Dakar".

Alas, I ramble

I used to like REV magazine the best,untill
they went quad.

Alright, then I say it's time for a group mailing!

We all write them a letter, how about that?

We can't write the same letter, but 20 letters received about this subject could have an influence.

What's the address?

Who's in it? Let's all do it!

I have offered test bikes to Dirt Bike half a dozen times, and have not even received a "we'll get back to you."
They do not acknowledge our brand, basically.
I'm not sure if it's me, or if it's BMG, or if DB's lack of attention is due to something that happened prior to BMG's involvement. But I keep on trying.

Cheers,

Brett Saunders

LeFrog said:

Alright, then I say it's time for a group mailing!

We all write them a letter, how about that?

We can't write the same letter, but 20 letters received about this subject could have an influence.

What's the address?

Who's in it? Let's all do it!

Click to expand...

Its sounds like a good idea Froggy but I don't think it will have any effect.
Testing and writing about exotics takes away too much attention from the now big 5, who pay their bills and tell them what to do. The new Bergs are so good it would do considerable damage and take focus away from the major brands.

Case in point:

In 1997 Dirtbike Magazine tested the 1997 Fx600e and stated that " this was the fastest dirt bike ever made" mainly due to the four stroke power and the ability to hook up like no other bike before it. I read that and had to have it. The power of the press. I don't think that they will make a statement like that again. Its too dangerous

Hmmk but why Sherco then? Not that I mind to see a French bike tested, but they're even smaller than Husaberg. Promising brand, it seems, but still small and financially fragile.

Not exactly sure but I think that Husaberg is the biggest threat amongst the exotic brands. If Husaberg wants more press they will have to pay. At least at Dirt Bike Magazine.

Dirt Rider Magazine does seem to be the most fair and honest of the bunch with Dirt Bike at the bottom of the heap. They need to bring back Rick Sieman

I thought Cycle News was also fair until the last 250F MX shootout, where KTM has the most power, best handling (with the usual: too much power for some people), best quality parts, etc... and the winner is... Honda.

Precisely why grass roots sites like this have such appeal

I once heard somewhere that 90% or more of a magazines revenue comes from advertisements, and that subscriptions and retail sales only constitute 5% to 10% of a magazines revenue. I certainly believe this as I have to flip through 12-15 pages of advertisements to read a 5 page article.... which the majority of the pages of the article have half page advertisements on them. So in all reality there is about 9 and 3/4 pages of biased and largely fabricated falsehoods about the authors opinions. All of this squeezed in between 135 pages of grossly distorted truths about weight savings, and power increases!!! I swear that if you could bolt up all the power increasing mods that are sold in these magazines, you would have yourself a 113.6hp CRF450 that weighed in at 145lbs!!! When you read these magazine articles you have to spend 98% of your read filtering the BS they write up. I totaly agree with DaleEO about the suspension test, that would be too funny.

Regards,