What's your go to Mag for dirtbike reviews?

montesagold
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montesagold 1/2/2017 6:54pm
1/2/2017 6:54pm
Mxa seems to be the only one doing honest reviews. I'm an off-road guy but can connect the dots. Them or Jimmy Lewis' dirt bike test.com.
Jrewing
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Jrewing 1/2/2017 7:20pm
1/2/2017 7:20pm Edited Date/Time 1/2/2017 7:21pm
The first one to ride hard pack, sand and rough tracks. And run same tyres as each other in shootouts.

bents
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bents 1/2/2017 7:55pm
1/2/2017 7:55pm
MXA hands down as well. Maybe they are picking the Austrian bikes b/c they are better, and from most shootouts online and in the magazines they seem to be finishing at the top of, well, everything. The Dirt Bike tests are good as well.

Michael has done a great job with the VitalMX shootouts as well-this years' were the best shootouts yet.

Right now I am struggling with how I can justify paying top dollar for an Austrian brand, but if money was no object I think the 350 is the weapon of choice.
Phantom 661
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Phantom 661 1/2/2017 8:23pm
1/2/2017 8:23pm Edited Date/Time 1/2/2017 9:19pm
Vital MX and MXA for me. There is however a particular review from Dirt Bike magazine I can't forget. They pitted my 74 Yamaha 125 mx vs. The Honda Elsinore. Called my bike a "cow trailer". Oh how I hate them.
Edit The review was accurate.

The Shop

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TogaSet
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TogaSet 1/2/2017 10:47pm
1/2/2017 10:47pm
I thought it was a pretty big jump that the yamaha 450 did in vital shootout. Yamaha is mostly an unchanged bike I believe. 1st last year, 4th this year. I'm not saying it's not deserving just eyebrow-raising when considering shootout consistency.
kiwifan
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kiwifan 1/2/2017 11:15pm
1/2/2017 11:15pm Edited Date/Time 1/2/2017 11:16pm
Richard Hard wrote:
MXA bias towards orange?,maybe because they are better bikes,the japanese are so far behind its ridiculous,look at the much anticipated 450 Honda,heavy lump of lard with...
MXA bias towards orange?,maybe because they are better bikes,the japanese are so far behind its ridiculous,look at the much anticipated 450 Honda,heavy lump of lard with e start as an option which adds more weight.
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of lard is funny...the KTM and Husky are good bikes (albeit pricey, mind you they should be good a the price), are the others that far behind them, no they arent, which is why they still win races.
Richard Hard 1/3/2017 1:26am
1/3/2017 1:26am
Richard Hard wrote:
MXA bias towards orange?,maybe because they are better bikes,the japanese are so far behind its ridiculous,look at the much anticipated 450 Honda,heavy lump of lard with...
MXA bias towards orange?,maybe because they are better bikes,the japanese are so far behind its ridiculous,look at the much anticipated 450 Honda,heavy lump of lard with e start as an option which adds more weight.
kiwifan wrote:
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of...
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of lard is funny...the KTM and Husky are good bikes (albeit pricey, mind you they should be good a the price), are the others that far behind them, no they arent, which is why they still win races.
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of the population,before deciding on a ktm i test rode them all and found the ktm to have the best handling and feel against the jap bikes and best over all finish.
kiwifan
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kiwifan 1/3/2017 2:56pm
1/3/2017 2:56pm
Richard Hard wrote:
MXA bias towards orange?,maybe because they are better bikes,the japanese are so far behind its ridiculous,look at the much anticipated 450 Honda,heavy lump of lard with...
MXA bias towards orange?,maybe because they are better bikes,the japanese are so far behind its ridiculous,look at the much anticipated 450 Honda,heavy lump of lard with e start as an option which adds more weight.
kiwifan wrote:
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of...
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of lard is funny...the KTM and Husky are good bikes (albeit pricey, mind you they should be good a the price), are the others that far behind them, no they arent, which is why they still win races.
Richard Hard wrote:
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of...
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of the population,before deciding on a ktm i test rode them all and found the ktm to have the best handling and feel against the jap bikes and best over all finish.
I give up, there is clearly no way you will ever accept a non-Ktm/Husky bike to be of equal
Richard Hard 1/3/2017 6:59pm
1/3/2017 6:59pm
kiwifan wrote:
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of...
Take out the kickstart mechanism and you save the weight of the EC....given its lighter than the YZF and RMZ then calling it a lump of lard is funny...the KTM and Husky are good bikes (albeit pricey, mind you they should be good a the price), are the others that far behind them, no they arent, which is why they still win races.
Richard Hard wrote:
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of...
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of the population,before deciding on a ktm i test rode them all and found the ktm to have the best handling and feel against the jap bikes and best over all finish.
kiwifan wrote:
I give up, there is clearly no way you will ever accept a non-Ktm/Husky bike to be of equal
Kiwifan,over the years i have owned all of them and this is the first non jap bike i have bought,and off the show room floor the jap bikes are not equal.
kiwifan
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kiwifan 1/3/2017 7:13pm
1/3/2017 7:13pm
Richard Hard wrote:
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of...
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of the population,before deciding on a ktm i test rode them all and found the ktm to have the best handling and feel against the jap bikes and best over all finish.
kiwifan wrote:
I give up, there is clearly no way you will ever accept a non-Ktm/Husky bike to be of equal
Richard Hard wrote:
Kiwifan,over the years i have owned all of them and this is the first non jap bike i have bought,and off the show room floor the...
Kiwifan,over the years i have owned all of them and this is the first non jap bike i have bought,and off the show room floor the jap bikes are not equal.
Yes equal was a poor choice of word, the words I used in a previous post are better .. i.e. very close to them...that better?
njracer46
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njracer46 1/3/2017 7:49pm
1/3/2017 7:49pm
Richard Hard wrote:
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of...
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of the population,before deciding on a ktm i test rode them all and found the ktm to have the best handling and feel against the jap bikes and best over all finish.
I love reading the posts by some of you brand loyal kooks, it's really amusing. We get it, you like brand x. No need to shove it down everyone else's throat. God forbid someone doesn't agree with you! Do you really think the average weekend warrior like most of us is suddenly going to go from mid pack to winning just because we start riding this or that bike? Pick your favorite color, whoever gives you the best deal/support and what ever bike has the best ergos that fit you. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Idk how it is in aus, but how often to you go to local races? I race quite a bit, I see all manufactures doing good in just about every class. Want some proof to my statement? Here's some links from mini o's 2016. One of the biggest amateur races in the country.

http://wintero.escoremx.com/class.asp?s=&c=&e=70

http://wintero.escoremx.com/class.asp?s=&c=&e=71

Check out the 250/450 limited classes since you think you need to dump a bunch money into a bike to be competitive.

What do you see? All different brands being represented in the top 5. That's just one example, take a look at amateur racing results all over the country. You will not see one brand winning every race. Why? Because for us it doesn't matter if we have a factory bike, 90% skill 10% bike or something like that.

End rant

Oh also, the only thing I don't like about these magazine tests is that they all look like they were done on glassy smooth tracks
ML512
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ML512 1/3/2017 7:54pm
1/3/2017 7:54pm
njracer46 wrote:
I love reading the posts by some of you brand loyal kooks, it's really amusing. We get it, you like brand x. No need to shove...
I love reading the posts by some of you brand loyal kooks, it's really amusing. We get it, you like brand x. No need to shove it down everyone else's throat. God forbid someone doesn't agree with you! Do you really think the average weekend warrior like most of us is suddenly going to go from mid pack to winning just because we start riding this or that bike? Pick your favorite color, whoever gives you the best deal/support and what ever bike has the best ergos that fit you. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Idk how it is in aus, but how often to you go to local races? I race quite a bit, I see all manufactures doing good in just about every class. Want some proof to my statement? Here's some links from mini o's 2016. One of the biggest amateur races in the country.

http://wintero.escoremx.com/class.asp?s=&c=&e=70

http://wintero.escoremx.com/class.asp?s=&c=&e=71

Check out the 250/450 limited classes since you think you need to dump a bunch money into a bike to be competitive.

What do you see? All different brands being represented in the top 5. That's just one example, take a look at amateur racing results all over the country. You will not see one brand winning every race. Why? Because for us it doesn't matter if we have a factory bike, 90% skill 10% bike or something like that.

End rant

Oh also, the only thing I don't like about these magazine tests is that they all look like they were done on glassy smooth tracks
For good visuals, we usually do our videos and/or photos on a separate day from the main testing.
mwssquad827
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mwssquad827 1/3/2017 9:20pm
1/3/2017 9:20pm
I read them all and combine, then take everything as a grain of salt
Richard Hard 1/3/2017 9:58pm
1/3/2017 9:58pm
Richard Hard wrote:
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of...
The others that are winning races are not off the show room stock bikes and are ridden by proffesionals who can ride faster than 99% of the population,before deciding on a ktm i test rode them all and found the ktm to have the best handling and feel against the jap bikes and best over all finish.
njracer46 wrote:
I love reading the posts by some of you brand loyal kooks, it's really amusing. We get it, you like brand x. No need to shove...
I love reading the posts by some of you brand loyal kooks, it's really amusing. We get it, you like brand x. No need to shove it down everyone else's throat. God forbid someone doesn't agree with you! Do you really think the average weekend warrior like most of us is suddenly going to go from mid pack to winning just because we start riding this or that bike? Pick your favorite color, whoever gives you the best deal/support and what ever bike has the best ergos that fit you. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Idk how it is in aus, but how often to you go to local races? I race quite a bit, I see all manufactures doing good in just about every class. Want some proof to my statement? Here's some links from mini o's 2016. One of the biggest amateur races in the country.

http://wintero.escoremx.com/class.asp?s=&c=&e=70

http://wintero.escoremx.com/class.asp?s=&c=&e=71

Check out the 250/450 limited classes since you think you need to dump a bunch money into a bike to be competitive.

What do you see? All different brands being represented in the top 5. That's just one example, take a look at amateur racing results all over the country. You will not see one brand winning every race. Why? Because for us it doesn't matter if we have a factory bike, 90% skill 10% bike or something like that.

End rant

Oh also, the only thing I don't like about these magazine tests is that they all look like they were done on glassy smooth tracks
And where did i say you need to dump a bunch of money into a bike to be competitive?
TheGetFresh 1/3/2017 11:10pm
1/3/2017 11:10pm
Dirt Rider for print, and whatever site posts a full write up (not the useless videos) first.

Pit Row

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