I believe they should keep it to giving the facts. I believe that I can look through the words and actual quads to decide which one I want to buy. Sure it is OK to drag race and put them on a MX track with different riders of varying degrees of experience. Give us their times and comments, we can decide from there. If you want to pick a winner fine but don't make it the main objective of the article. Not everyone will have the same view good or bad about the same quad.

 

I get what your saying and I think it kind of goes alon with what I was saying about a review or a shootout. The thread has shootout in the title and I don't think you can have a shootout without having a winner. I think having a section of sport quad reviews using all the same criteria and rating system would be perfect then you could choose for yourself. I don't think having them all piled into the same article with the same criteria and riders and not choosing a winner would work. I think they need to be independant reviews to stay away from the winner thing.

 

Ok my 2 cents,


I think there is a lot of good ideas floating around out there. First off facts should be correct, a large part of my beef with the Dirtwheels article is the facts were all screwed up. Cannondale is an awsome bike and is really a underdog that has helped put some spirit back into the atv scene and they were very poorly represented which doesn't help the difficult times they face. I will buy some differences of opinion and don't expect it to be a perfect world. However, there can be a reasonable way for all to bennifit. I think all of the bikes have something to offer to the atv comunity. If I were a real big guy or just an older cruiser, I'd probably buy the DS. If I were younger with limited funds or buying the bike for my wife, Probably the Z400. The Banshee if speed and or Drag racing were my main criteria. The Raptor is a well Rounded Fun machine that fits if a little more power is needed than the Z or the DS seems to Big. I'm not for political correctness by any means. My choices are clear by what I ride. Note that I don't have unlimited funds and I'm 43 years old. But I've rode them all and the C-dale is the closest thing to fit the overall bill for me. The C-dale is not only for moto-x as some seem to portray. We ride mostly in the sand. That is my 14 year old son and I. We have some of the best times known to man on our quads. By the way he rides a Dale Also!! I still love to ride my Banshee especially at the drags. The 250R is always fun as well.

So in conclusion: You can have test of all different sorts. But don't call it a high performance shoot out if performance isn't what you base your outcome on. Get the facts correct. Most of all be Honest!! Still dealing with the effects of the last president. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Have a ball.

 

JMHO I think the shoot outs should be of similar quads. However I think that there are so many different quads that are used for different purposes, take mine for example I wanted a sporty feel with the 4x4 capabilities. So is mine a sport quard or a utility. I think that the mags should print informative articles on all the new and exciting machines that really let people know about these quads. I certainly don't want the advertising dollar to dictate what they write. I don't care if the quad I ride is a piece. I want to know what quads are better, worse and for what reasons. I also want to know the good points and bad of every quad that I have available for me to choose from. The problem i see is that the mags are too biased towards certain products. I think that its pretty obvious since nearly every Joe Blow has noticed. I just want the TRUTH not the highest paid regurgitated mumbo jumbo.

 

Why should a magazine write that there is an absolute winner? How about just giving a winner for each category (criteria) and let the readers extrapolate their "winner".

 

What would be the point in calling it a shootout it if no one wins? If a machine outperforms all the others in all the tests doesn't it deserve to be called the winner? From what I gather the biggest point of the thread is to come up with the best possible criteria and let the quad that performs the best in that criteria win. The main complaint with DW and ATVA is that the quad that performs the best by their criteria doesn't always win which is insane. I think you can put all the if ands and buts after the absolute winner. I also think most people are intelligent enough to say alright this quad won the high performance shootout but I like the qualities of this other quad involved and I don't really need the fastest quad or whatever.

 

How about something as simple as putting a radar gun on the bikes in the 300 yard dash?? Or weighing each wheel with scales, that will give you a good indication of handling. Compare the weight numbers with the a 400ex or whatever. And to decide what competes with what should be decided by price, that's what most people do when buying. What can you get for 6k??

 

the major thing that urks me and im sure most everyone is the way the mags put on a "HIGH PERFORMANCE" shoot out and the "BEGINNER FRIENDLY" quad winds.... what kind of friggin "HIGH PERFORMANCE" shoot out is that?!?!

 

A lame shoot out that's what kind. First you announce the winner and then you say if your a beginner this quad might be best for you or if you want performance but not all out performance and you don't race you might like this one.

 

Here is a few other question that I would like to pose to you all.

Concidering that aprox. 1 to 2% (With 600,000 Quads being sold last year, I would think it might even be lower than that) of the Quad buying public can actually be concidered a Professional Rider, ie, earns money for racing or testing.

1. Is it beneficial for the magazines to only concider what each Quad can do with a professional rider on board?
2. How does said professional rider's oppinions help the general quad buying public choose the quad that is best for them when 99 to 98% of them don't have the same abilities as the Pro?

I agree that there is No excuse for Faulty Facts or mis-prints. The Magazine Co. have to look at who is buying their Mags and decide which angle to present the facts from. I am just wondering how many 40 year old guys from Hoboken would be interested in how fast the Quad they are looking at to buy, will run around an MX Track.

Having started this Thread, one of the things that seems to have a lot of the respondants criticisms is the wording used, "High Performance Shootout". Is it as simple as a title change? "Best All Around Quad Shootout"?

Let me know your feelings.