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The link I provided illustrated one example of how OEMs manipulate testing/reviews and how the journalists look the other way. This wasn't explicitly a "Ferrari does X, so Stark is probably full of it too" type of thing. I'm also slightly confused in you implying that these press rides are anything but thightly controlled. If a manufacturer provides the bikes, sends engineers to "mind" the bikes, dictates where you ride and for how long, and provides you materials (talking points, photographs, etc.) to aid in the creation of your own article/video, how is that anything but tightly controlled? It's not...

The point was that I would not put much stock in what is effectively thinly-veiled advertising that occured in a tightly-controlled environment. I'm not sure why you did not understand this the first two times that I said it. When production units get in the hands of retail customers, that is when the world will know whether the stark is this generation's CR250 Elsinore or Cannondale. There are valid criticisms in this thread that you simply chose to overlook and/or attempt to shout over via your long-winded rants.

Good find. The Stark soft ride impression day was even more closely managed. There were no tests of any kind run, no hard questions asked by the journalists about any of the dozens of obvious issues that afflict ambitious techy-type start ups and a really onerous publication embargo. Presumably the bribe of a Spanish holiday buys their compliance and silence.

The opinion is still out for me on the Stark and it's production delays, but in what world does someone put stock in "rave reviews" by the press? What motivation does any reviewer have to give anything but a rave review. This is access journalism we're talking about, a publication/journalist is not going to be critical and effectively lock themselves out of what may be the biggest moto story of the decade, regardless of what happens when the dust settles. After reading many articles about the press ride, this sounds no different than how things are handled in the car...

James still has his Ebonics moments for sure. Again, he does a decent job. Nowhere near as good as some of the fanboys pretend.

Sir, it's clear you can look past the commentary that annoys some of us due to your focus on the racing, and just because it annoys us doesn't mean we don't appreciate RC as an incredible racer and competitor. Although as many have said he's not up to par in the booth, he stumbles on his words, and lately has to tell us how great the camera work is. You think someone isn't telling him to say that? It's an utter joke. I understand you watched Tampa and the Daytona 250 main and remember it well, but if you were...

Dude, go watch the 250 main from Daytona or better yet the whole Tampa broadcast and get back to me. I get it, you only care how good he was as a rider (and I am still a massive fan and attended 10+ races during his career) and somehow think that qualifies him to analyze the sport at the highest level.

Saving up more money to bribe people

yeah, though it's still talked about sporadically. at the time, of course it was the topic du jour of the board. The problem was that if you didn't agree with GuyB....bye bye. The rest of the posters that DID agree with him not so much. that was my issue with it. But alas, old news. thanks.

yeesh. cringe. ML doesn't engage in many threads and....wait for it...things are fine. In fact they are SO much better without your ever-present ban hammer if someone dares to disagree with you or insult one of your industry bro-friends. This joint is no longer your liberal echo-chamber you dreamed up...and worked very hard to create. Oh those Rona threads were great with you playing whack-a-mole with anyone that disagreed with you. Goooooooooooooood times.

Let me help you out here, bud. You see, in moto, you're not allowed to have NEW, UNPROVEN, fun, you can only have OLD, ESTABLISHED, fun. Old, established, fun involves shackling your happiness to certain noises and smells and to manufacturers who make their bikes in certain colors so we know which is which and don't get confused and become sad. There are RULES, you see, and someone is trying to break them. If this attempt at offering us new, unproven, fun isn't stopped, we could end up not understanding why it's bad, and that would be awful. It just...

I agree…they totally look like a knock off/generic version of a dirt bike to me too…

I agree with this 100%. Does it impact my enjoyment of the race? No. But just like timing being off half the time and camerawork seemingly being done by 5 year old sometimes, it's amateur hour and that position deserves the best doing it, not someone who cannot form a sentence the majority of the time.