Ride Magazine

[SteveLee]

Just to confirm that the reviews in bike magazines should be taken with a pinch of salt there a big trail bike review in this months Ride mag about the BMW R1100GS and the V-Strom. In the 'also worth considering' bit the Africa Twin is listed as 'Don't Touch This One' as it is, apparently, so outclassed by the BMW. They also list the Hornet 900 as an alternative big trail bike!

[YEN_POWELL]

What, splutter, how dare they!!!!!! Youu get the address and petrol, I'll get the rope and the matches.....

[jabba]

My god its tactical nuke time :cyclopsani:

[xrv_jim]

Interesting, as in this year's 'Ride' Rider Power survey the AT was 9th in the traily section (above a BMW or two I think) and with a little write up about how it had great road presence.

'Ride' is simply a monthly MCN with the same priorities i.e. new (sports) bike every year, hideous coloured aluminium accessories and daft furry sh*te stuck on helmets.

I have long given up on the UK bike press, there doesn't seem to be any decent read for 'normal' motorcyclists. Motorcycle Voyager showed some promise but now is just like the rest - a pile of cr*p.

There! I feel a bit better now.

[jabba]

True the biking media seem to have forgotten what an aggressive and hostile place the uk roads can be and I have to wonder how many of the so called expert journalists use there bikes all year round to be able to comment on what they consider a capable machine?
Whenever they do a write up about a bike it always seem to me that there quoting someone else not there own personal experience?
And the so called hyper bikes are great on a track but who actually wants to ride a cbr'rrrrrr through winter not me thats for sure!
And why is the newer model always far superior to the old when they have only changed the caliper piston diameter what the frag is that all about?
Or do they just write for a certain type of motorcyclist? I have never personally felt that the motorcycle media has catered for motorcyclists like myself maybe its just me who knows? Or are AT riders a breed unto themselves?
It was a sad day indeed when the used motorcycle guide became part of the used bike guide if any of you read that now good luck I think it turned to tosh :argue:

[Tikka]

Cant say i read Ride magazine but the dutch mags a similair if i read your comments right. They focus mainly on sport or touring and all others are not highlighted a lot. Must say that when i rode sportbikes i had a subscribtion on "Performance Bikes". Great mag, but when i bought my AT totally useless.

And the so called hyper bikes are great on a track but who actually wants to ride a cbr'rrrrrr through winter not me thats for sure!


Lol, Me and my brother always rode the whole year round on our sportbikes. Winter is a bit tricky then. Only snow and ice would keep use off our bikes. This year my brother bought a XT 600 for the winter as he dropped his ZX12R last year due to ice on a curb. Had some fairing damage but that was very expensive. And all that power of a ZX12R makes for interresting riding when you have minimal grip.

[jabba]

I know I had a track zxr750 which I rode through the winter once the year after I used my gsxr point being why do people most people slate the AT because they never have cause to ride one! All my mates have locked up there bikes during the winter question is whos daft me or them?
Ok have to be honest here if I hadn't lost my leg chances are I would be on a blade or something similar but I have always had a winter bike the beauty of the AT is I can use it all year round keep up with everyone else on the bendies and look down ladies tops in cars :cheers:
I get loads of stick because most of the guys I know either ride chops or shiny bikes the AT is an anomaly to them but only one of em has used his bike during the winter and always does and thats a V max
And what is ride a glossy mag full of shiny new products which end up on the summer chappies the day after it go's on sale seriously we have a saying up here you can always tell rides reccommended best buy by looking at the summer riders they all look the same!
And thats what ride caters for the latest FASHION accessary the motorcycle

[iswoolley]

We have to admit that we are a biking anomoly. The niche for big trail bikes is pretty damn small, with most manufacturers having only 1 or 2 bikes in that niche. Targetting a mag at us makes no financial sense whatsoever, even Motorcycle Voyager now include reviews of sports bikes in order to try and broaden their appeal. There just aren't enough of us to make it worthwhile.

So what we get are the occaisional article in the sports bike press, who usually completely miss the point. Or there's a periodic feature in the off-road media, TBM for example, which I find to be generally quite good. But in both cases you usually have to wait a couple of months in between articles.

I subscribe to both Motorcycle Voyager and TBM. MV in the vain hope that they start actually writing about 'voyaging', but otherwise for comedy value in the cruiser/Sanders/LT categories. TBM for the trail riding and rallye features, with the odd Morocco article. And in both cases I just count myself lucky if there's a decent big trailie section.

[africatijn]

I rather like being in the "bike anomaly" section. The big traillie bikes are far more fun than those too-many-in-a-dozen racy wannabees... :geek:


I rather liked one of the articles in a dutch mag, they tested the GS1200 against the KTM 950 Adventure. They stated a drawback of the KTM as being too tall.... Lovely!!!! :cheers: They just don't know how to appreciate the traillies.

Cheers,
T.

[Tikka]

The same article in which they crashed the GS into a car in Wales??

[paultheold]

I rember when Ride rated the AT very highly.

Saw a Summer rider at the Weekend, :cyclops: IN A PINK BABY GROW :blackeye:

[jabba]

I saw two bikes today a custom and a little sports bike aaww it must be warming up :sunny:

[africatijn]

The same article in which they crashed the GS into a car in Wales??

Nope. Just a test.

What botheres me about the bike mags is that when mag X does a test on GS vs. KTM, mag Y and mag Z also do the same test... The only thing you learn from this is seeing how the author reflects their opinion, i.e. don't like traillie, therefore not a good bike. And yes I do like sporty bikes, so the Jap-XCRNNXTWR1600-Sport Racing-SPecial-Widowmaker-and-acting-as-"Donor"-bike-(parts from driver and bike...) is a good bike.

Sorry, just got carried away a whee bit.... :geek:

Cheers, (back to the lovely glass of wine)
T.

[DaveS]

I must say I've been reasonably impressed with Bike.
They have a GS on the test fleet and do seem to do regular features on the other bikes.
They are still mainly race bike orientated but I do enjoy the mag.
It probably also helps that Dan Walsh is writing regularly from his travels across America on a 650GS.

[rob7]

well, my (only) claim to fame is that the 97xrv i owned was featured in ride back in that year when wozza rode it and they raved about how good it was. that said you'll find most the mags are owned by emap so if one says its bad they all will

i used to buy them all, ride, bike, superbike, TWO. got 30yrs worth in boxes in the shed if anyone wants to make me an offer for them. they go way back to the late 60's. would make intresting reading for when the xrv first came out.

ps. if you get mcn and look at the pic on the front of biketrader, if its a silver xrv with a red headlight cover, pound to a penny it will be an archive pic of mine.

rob