After being subscribed to dirt wheels mag for 3 and 1/2 years, I have started to notice a few things.

1.)This company must not know what a calendar is. I got the August 2001 issue on June 13th. Even the stores get rid of them after the second day in august.

2.)They have to make a crapload of cash in ads. In one spot I counted 8 pages with nothing but ads on it (actually, there were two short letters).

3.)They are very indescisive. I cannot remember a shootout where they listed a clear winner. It's always "too close to call", or "better for different riders". Almost all dirtbike shootouts I read end with something along the lines "Out of 125cc MX bikes, the Yamaha yz125 is the CLEAR winner"

4.)A earlier year model of the same bike is better than a brand new one. Example: When the 400ex first came out, it was the best thing ever, with aboundant amounts of power. Now it is at a severe deficet and is now a wimpy play bike (I have the issues at hand to prove it)

5.)They don't release all information that they have to there readers. It takes more than 1 day after yamaha releases the information about a new model to write an article, publish it, print it, bind it, and get it to my door. Yet, one month earlier, they knew nothing about it except for they had some "Spy Photos" that they claimed to have taken (unsuprisingly, all the other mags had similar shots in there issues the same month).

6.)When a new quad is released, it is always the best bike, no contest. Remember when the canondale came out? It was better than everything else around. Now, it is ranked below the 400ex (which is severly underpowered, remeber) in a high performance shootout. Also, isn't ironic that the bike that wins a shootout (by a VERY narrow margin of course), is almost always the newest one?

7.)No product is ever a bad one. Do you ever remeber reading a bad review of something in a Dirt Wheels magazine? 'nuff said.

8.)Same old stuff. After I read a review of a bike, aside from the technology and specs, I feel like I've read it a hundred times before, every bike is great, with only a few minor problems that they aren't exstatic about.

9.)I have more pet-peeves, but I don't feel like writing them down right now, maybe
I'll update this post later.

I know that it is easy for me to sit here and critisize, but after being a loyal reader for so long, i'm getting pretty sick of hearing the same old crap regurgatated at me every issue. I'm actually getting to the point where I only look at them for the pictures and ads.

 

RIGHT ON BROTHA

 

I have to disagree and agree on most points. But hey, it is my opinion cause I write for a national paintball magazine and know how a magazine works. I read Dirtwheels all the time and write occasionally for APG. So I know the differences of a good mag and a bad mag.

1) <This company must not know what a calendar is. I got the August 2001 issue on June 13th. Even the stores get rid of them after the second day in august.>
Take a look around, all magazine come out a month early.

2)<They have to make a crapload of cash in ads. In one spot I counted 8 pages with nothing but ads on it>
How do you think they get most of their moneys for their articles and shoot outs.

3)<They are very indescisive. I cannot remember a shootout where they listed a clear winner. It's always "too close to call", or "better for different riders". Almost all dirtbike shootouts I read end with something along the lines "Out of 125cc MX bikes, the Yamaha yz125 is the CLEAR winner">
Some magazines may not want to be known for "bashing" brands. They just state what makes it a good quad.

4)<A earlier year model of the same bike is better than a brand new one. Example: When the 400ex first came out, it was the best thing ever, with aboundant amounts of power. Now it is at a severe deficet and is now a wimpy play bike>
The 400 EX a few years ago had power that few people were used to and wehn it came out it had "tons" of power. Now we have all these new bikes with more power and the 400 just feels weaker with more power.

5)<They don't release all information that they have to there readers. It takes more than 1 day after yamaha releases the information about a new model to write an article, publish it, print it, bind it, and get it to my door. Yet, one month earlier, they knew nothing about it except for they had some "Spy Photos" that they claimed to have taken (unsuprisingly, all the other mags had similar shots in there issues the same month).>

They just want to be creative on how they realease information. All magazines do it.

6)<When a new quad is released, it is always the best bike, no contest. Remember when the canondale came out? It was better than everything else around. Now, it is ranked below the 400ex (which is severly underpowered, remeber) in a high performance shootout. Also, isn't ironic that the bike that wins a shootout (by a VERY narrow margin of course), is almost always the newest one?>

The quad is new and it has not been thoroughly tested. And where did it say "it is the best quad around"?? I just remeber it explaining the ups and downs until it was compared to the rest.

7)< No product is ever a bad one. Do you ever remeber reading a bad review of something in a Dirt Wheels magazine? 'nuff said>
This is my specialty. I write reviews of paintball products. I use the same method as other testers. We recieve a product, and we put it through a torture test, if the product does well and survives we write about it. However, if it sputters to a stop and falls apart during testing you won't ever see the review.

8)<Same old stuff. After I read a review of a bike, aside from the technology and specs, I feel like I've read it a hundred times before, every bike is great, with only a few minor problems that they aren't exstatic about.>

There is only so much stuff we can write about. We have to be a complete mag. If we had new stuff in every issue there would be nothing left to write about

 

I totally agree. I can't blame them for having the ads but everything else is true.
It seems as though the reviews/test on the new quads are all of the same. It's almost as though they just change the name of the quad in the article and put it in the mag..LOL
I dont remember them ever saying anything bad about anything. Every quad and part seems to be terrific for "this type of rider".

The one thing that is my biggest pet peeve with them and all of the other magazine is that i'm SICK AND TIRED of reading the 400ex vs raptor vs cannondale vs ds650 article over and over again! STOP IT ALREADY!
Every article says the same thing, the 400ex handles best, the raptor faster, and the ds650 is all top end power without any lowend. Now this month they added the cannondale into the mix. I guess we get to read five more test between the fast four in the months coming.

I also noticed that when they test stuff like pipes they always say the same thing. "looks great, sounds ok, installed ok, and added power". The never tell us anything that can really help in deciding whether i want to buy that part or not OR what pipe to buy.

 

amen..DW sucks.

 

Basically, the only reason I get any of the mags is for the ads. I do like ATVSPORT a little more than the rest. They seem a little more race oriented, and that is what I like to read about.

It does seem like the only good way to find about atv products is amongst ourselves. The mags reviews are lame. It is like they used the product for 5 minutes and then spent about 2 minutes writing a review.

The magazines seem to be in it only for the money. I am not sure they have the love for the sport like we do.

Adam Smith

99 400EX