Cycle World voted my bike "best" in something!

[NorthernPete]

It Ain't Paranoia if They're Really After You

"Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean there not after you"

Now I have to find my nirvana CDs...thanks....

[MotoF150]

there are a ton of motorcycle magazines out there, does ANYBODY notice every same issue of the same month all the different magazines rate and test the same exact bikes?????? Do you know why? If you guys can't figure that out then ur really out of touch, """""" whoosh over ur head"""""""""'''' whoosh""""""""""" the wind blows over ur head'"""""""""" whoosh"""""""""""whoosh"""""""

[dieziege]

I know why.

Check this out:

V-Strom Review #1
V-Strom Review #2
V-Strom review #3
V-Strom Review #4

Yep... all appeared at roughly the same time (January/February 2004)... and the same location... many even had the same rocks as a backdrop for the pictures... because Suzuki flew a bunch of media people to Joshua Tree and gave'em bikes for a day to review.

Magazine reviews are based on what manufacturers will supply to review. Manufacturers have media blitzes at select times (e.g. when releasing a new product)... when they have their blitz, they send press releases to anyone and everyone (and their uncle) in the hopes that a few will find it interesting and take it to print. They also invite a bunch of people to do reviews all at once. The manufacturer's idea (and the usual result) is to create a "buzz" about the product because the potential customers see the product everywhere they turn. The problem is, the mags don't really have any way to fight the manufacturers on it... they need the material to fill the pages.

[MotoF150]

Mr. dieziege,,, Thank You

[Kal]

Theres elements of that in vehicle media, however they are usually in the right ballpark.

If only because magazines rely on all manufacturers to have a good relationship with them and when you say that bike Y is the best at something then you are also saying that bike X by different manufacturer is not as good.

So when a magazine says that bike Y is the best they have to have some fairly good grounds for it or risk damaging their relationship with other manufacturers.

Of course the easiest way to settle such things exists in independant media, like here on TMW where Mike is putting together a fuel consumption guide based on real riders (us) findings.

[dieziege]

Don't thank me moto... I think your head is infested with black helicopters.

I'm just pointing out why you see bursts of media attention on a single product. I don't see anything sinister in it.

I've written magazine reviews, I know full well how magazine reviewers think... and they are not trying to help the manufacturers sell a bad product. When a reviewer writes, the first thought that goes through their mind is, "If I recommend this and it blows my name will be mud!" The second thing that goes through their mind is, "Oh no, not another <whatever>... what's up with fifty million people all producing <whatever>s... this blows!" The third thought (at least after they've written a few reviews) is "My name is gonna be mud, might as well have some fun!"

If you pan a product, millions of boosters will all write you nasty emails saying "you slammed my favorite thingie because you are SATAN!!!"

If you praise a product, an equal number of haters will write saying, "you are mean who praise horsesh|t as long as the advertisers pay and your dog is ugly too!"

I got both responses to the reviews I wrote... and the funny thing was that I have (and had) no idea whether the products I reviewed were advertised in the magazine or not... I'd submit a review and hear *nothing* about it for 6 months when I'd get an envelope with a check and a few copies of the magazine... my editor would email me occassionally saying "so and so has something they want reviewed, here's their email address", or "you should contact so and so and see if they have anything to review..." or even, "found anything to review recently?"

[MotoF150]

The only magazine I do trust is Consumer Reports, but they don't test motorcycles, the products they do test they go out and buy them the same way you and me buys a product and they test it. Motorcycle magazines get a call from a big motorcycle manufactuer that supplies a bike they checked over and maybe modified, and if they test it with good reviews the motorcycle co. will reward them with big money advertizing contracts. I remember the last issues of Cycle World and Motorcyclist tested the KTM 950 Adventure and in between the pages were big center 2 page advertizements for the same bike. Its a business, im not saying they can't make money. Another thing to notice about any motorcycle magazine, they test the bikes that don't sell well, the bikes nobody wants. Thats a simple law in advertizing, you only need to advertize a product if you have trouble selling it. Think about it? Who is going to go out and spend $12K for a KTM 950? A blind man can see they don't sell.

[Kal]

Quite a lot of people. KTM are doing so well that they've gone from a marginal manufactuer of dirtbikes to having a full range.

Still a small company mind but growing.

You are right about the Adverts appear for bikes in the same issues that the Bikes get reviewed in but it's because the manufacturers know the bike is being reviewed - so they pay for two pages of exposure on the bike and get four.

Personally I would love to own a KTM - definately up there in the top ten bikes I'd own if I won the lottery.

[DirtyD86]

i dunno anyone who has ever ridden the ninja 250 and didnt love it.

HOO-RA for all of us 250 owners. with the money we save on gas we can go shoot the shi.t over a round of beers