Posts
3388
Joined
2/4/2013
Location
Schaumburg, IL
US
Edited Date/Time
11/28/2017 10:19am
A bike doing poorly in the shootouts can make or break how well they are going to sell for a given year.
One big void that needed to be filled in our industry was the adding of different resources to help determine which bike to pick. This year has been pretty awesome with: Keefer Testing, Vital MX, Transworld Motocross, and a few other magazine/ websites designed to help select which bike is best. I think that Motocross Action, a magazine that I love, has lost its grip on being the standard for telling me which bike is best. I was on their website today and I saw this quote in regards to the 2004 250 two stroke shootout and it illustrated this to a high degree:
"The 2004 Yamaha YZ250 could have stood on the top step of the 250 shootout podium just as easily as the RM250. It has better forks, more stable handling, superior reliability, preferable tires, a clockwork-like clutch and the broadest powerband in the class. And, it’s no secret that the RM250 engine is a direct copy of the YZ. So why isn’t the Yamaha first? That’s simple: Yamaha played it safe. With the exception of the powerband, Yamaha didn’t take any chances in 2004. Everything is good, but we wanted to be dazzled."
They were looking to be "Dazzled" and this is why a bike didn't win a shootout. I love Motocross Action magazine and will continue to get excited when it arrives but have you all noticed a huge shift in how this stuff is done? How many bikes over the years got pushed aside for reasons that you all wouldn't consider valid?
Discuss....
One big void that needed to be filled in our industry was the adding of different resources to help determine which bike to pick. This year has been pretty awesome with: Keefer Testing, Vital MX, Transworld Motocross, and a few other magazine/ websites designed to help select which bike is best. I think that Motocross Action, a magazine that I love, has lost its grip on being the standard for telling me which bike is best. I was on their website today and I saw this quote in regards to the 2004 250 two stroke shootout and it illustrated this to a high degree:
"The 2004 Yamaha YZ250 could have stood on the top step of the 250 shootout podium just as easily as the RM250. It has better forks, more stable handling, superior reliability, preferable tires, a clockwork-like clutch and the broadest powerband in the class. And, it’s no secret that the RM250 engine is a direct copy of the YZ. So why isn’t the Yamaha first? That’s simple: Yamaha played it safe. With the exception of the powerband, Yamaha didn’t take any chances in 2004. Everything is good, but we wanted to be dazzled."
They were looking to be "Dazzled" and this is why a bike didn't win a shootout. I love Motocross Action magazine and will continue to get excited when it arrives but have you all noticed a huge shift in how this stuff is done? How many bikes over the years got pushed aside for reasons that you all wouldn't consider valid?
Discuss....
just buy the bike you like jfc
The Shop
None of them are horrible, remember three years ago or less the current production bikes were factory works bikes.
Given all that, the shootouts definitely were one of few data points in the bit of research I could do when picking out my first bike, though in the 3 years I've been reading them, they've (necessarily) gotten less informative as the sentiment that the gaps between the bikes have narrowed. Still it's good to here what some with way more experience think about the suspension (since I don't want to buy a bike then drop thousands on suspension), how they generally fit a rider my size, and thoughts on the overall package.
My area seems to be dominated by
1. ktm
2. Yamaha
3 pre 2017 Hondas
very minimal amounts of Suzukis. Kawis are around too but not nearly as much as the other 3.
I do take into account what the shootouts say. Ive watched shootouts on the last 3 bikes i have owned. the positive and negative points they make on each bike have been apparent to me while riding even as only a c class rider.
sometimes is it crazy to me how a bike can finish first one year and then 4th or 5th the year after, consider no changes were really made.
Pit Row
you messed up if you bought a rmz250 over the kawi.
I enjoy reading shootouts. Just think you still have to check for yourself what you like best. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Has anyone tried to sell a 2012-2017 Suzuki RMZ450 used? No resale value at all. There are so many factors into buying the bike and that is one of many. If a bike gets shat on in a shootout....you can get stuck with the bike or have to give it away too cheap.
I think depends on who does the shootouts as to whether much weight gets put on them, MXA says all shootouts are crap because unlike MXA they dont test them for weeks and weeks. Gee if a decent rider cannot tell the difference between each bike and give an opinion on whether they have good or bad points after riding them for 1-2 days on a couple of different types of tracks (e.g. hardpack vs softpack dirt) then heck!
If you only read vital depending on the thread, you would think some bikes are Chinese junk.
Which is clearly not the case.
Here, at Vital, we are given PLENTY of opportunities to ride ALL the bikes...PLENTY of opportunities.
You want the simple truth? Many test riders have their "favorites"...& sometimes that works in favor of a bike/brand and sometimes that works AGAINST it...
Then there's the way the different brands support a shoot-out with technicians and personell that REALLY know the bike. That can have an impact on how well we get to set up the bike for a certain rider or a certain track...which also can have a HUGE impact on the results. This was the case for me, this year, with Kawasaki: they set the bike up SO MUCH BETTER THIS YEAR!
One point I do have to give to Jody's Gang...they do seem to spend a lot of time learning a bike's "quirks". I don't know if that's still the case or not; but, I ALWAYS love how they lay into a brand for crappy hardware or a cheap-ass chain...etc.
When you guys read a shoot-out, you need to find that rider that seems to represent your skill/ability level and take a look at how they felt about the characteristics that're important to you.
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