How This All Works–Dirt Bike Test Is For You!

Just the other day I was hopping between a KTM 250XC and a Beta 250 RR thinking about how good both these bikes are. Noticing how very similar they are in so many areas of performance. Realizing how if a rider weren’t pretty in tune with subtle differences in power, handling and chassis setup, if both of these bikes were Purple without any branding, it would be hard to tell them apart or to clearly explain the differences. Riding only one of the bikes it would be hard to see how there could be anything better. But years of experience developing a high-level of attention to details allows me to pick the bikes apart. Seeing precisely how they are different and why one is better than the other—for a particular rider.

Even listening to comments of riders who we had along testing the bikes opens my eyes to what others may think. What stands out as noticeable and what goes unnoticed. It often depends on what bike they are coming off of. Maybe it has a lot to do with brands they are familiar with or comfortable on. Maybe it is a two-stroke/four-stroke thing. It could be a motocross or off-road bias. Everyone has an opinion and a reason for forming that opinion and you have to remember that those opinions are as valid to that person as your personal opinion is to you.

So if you are satisfied with a web test that tells you the bike starts and goes around the track accompanied by a flashy video showing you how fast a test rider is, then a note to have you check out the full test later in the magazine, that is pretty easy to find from your current motorcycle journalists. Fast forward a month and you get an “in depth” full test where they tell you about the new colors of the bike and say, “We rode the wheels off it.” Likely they mention the fork is soft and it needs an extra tooth on the rear sprocket. Oh yea, they like the new colors! Thanks for letting my eyes know what to think, I was hoping for some insight on the performance or new technology that the so called “experts” are supposed to break down for me. Welcome to the new normal.

Or say goodbye to it. I did when I got canned from Dirt Rider because I wasn’t a “team player” or something like that. After stepping down from the Editor position so I could ride more, I put myself in a dream job of sorts, for me at least, where I would be able to test bikes and products and give fair and honest evaluations about them. As the Editor At Large I wouldn’t be bogged down with meetings about the emerging attention I needed to pay to social media, nor have to listen to a marketing guy who doesn’t ride tell me how his company’s product worked from across a conference room table. “So would the write up be better if we took you and the staff out to lunch?” I was going to be out riding and free to do some writing, or so I thought. I got put out to pasture.

So I enjoyed my semi-retirement. I rode tons, spent a lot of time doing classes at my off-road school and fixed up plenty of my own bikes I had neglected. Since I had nothing to offer in an editorial sense, I paid for almost everything needed to ride. And I wasn’t shocked at what riding cost me now that it wasn’t my job and everything didn’t come for free. I understood because I always thought about what things cost when I was testing them. And I didn’t stop riding because it was expensive, or because it wasn’t my job anymore. I just made wise choices.

Ever since day one of my journalistic career, being a photo model in a 125cc Shootout for Dirt Bike Magazine in 1996, I knew I wanted to be one of those guys in the magazine. I tore through the pages reading everything like it was the Holy Grail of information from experts that really knew what was going on. Watching and learning, later on the inside I learned that a lot of those guys didn’t really know much and were just squeaking by doing what they thought they loved. And it has only gotten worse. You have staffs of entire magazines that could not adjust the valves on a current four-stroke or explain what the clickers on a rear shock (forget about an explanation of a current air fork) really do. Most don’t even own a bike, surprised? Some are good at making an entertaining product but don’t you dare ask them anything technical, they might tell you how to do it backwards with a smile. Retraction printed a month later after a knowledgeable reader outrage corrects the so-called experts who write for magazines or web sites. Luckily just about everything these days is pretty good so the shoot-from-the-hip testing that is standard operating procedure makes everyone happy, never mind if it tastes very vanilla.

Dirt Bike Test is going to be different. We have a goal and a mission to be the authority on bike and product testing with knowledgeable and honest staff, contributors and test riders. Our business model is quite different than anything out there and in the end we’re just real dirt bike riders looking to support our bad habit. There isn’t traditional advertising in the testing side of this web site. Support comes from readers making purchases through our partners or from companies who pay us to really test their product. Yes, pay to play if you like to call it that, nothing is secret here. We hope you like what you see. We hope you come back often. We hope you tell your friends. If you do, this site will grow to be what a lot of riders have been asking for.

I’ll see you at the track or on the trail.

Jimmy Lewis