Consumer Guide Magazine's guide to MX bikes?

In considering the possible purchase of a new MX'er for later this year, I found myself making the mistake of turning to the monthly magazines for test rides in order to gain some insight on which bike will best suit my needs. I should have known that things haven't changed much since I last ceased being a devoted reader of these things some years ago. Not only do I find contradictions between the different magazines, but in the latest issue of MXA the editors offer a contradictory assessment on the same bike (05 CR125) in the same issue. I am well aware of the reasons behind these misguided, and overly biased accounts, but damn, in the same issue? What new sales trends would surface if there were a dirt bike magazine that offered that same honest and brutal opinion of a dirt bike based product as one would find in a Consumer Report article on automobiles or computer items? The closest we have ever come were the early efforts of Dirt Bike Magazine.

I met a representative of Motorcycle Consumer News at a bike show about 4-5 years ago. I relayed the above observations, citing that the sport needed someone of their above reproach attitude to product evaluation. The "rep" said that they had toyed with the idea of entering the off road market, but for some reason unknown to him, they elected not to at the last minute. However, the rep, a Goldwing type of guy naive about most matters related to dirt bikes, readily admitted that the off road industry was ripe with product evaluations and endorsements that were clearly inaccurate, and biased. He laughingly stated that the dirt bike market would "crumble" if the buying public really knew what was going on. The rep stated that many motorcycle enthusiasts, like any purchaser of items that were a luxury, were impulsive in their buying practices, easily guided by what the rest of the pack did. However, the dirt bike enthusiasts were the most guilty of this habit. He cited a bevy of reasons, all predicated on purchasing trends and habits unique to certain demographic groups. I would have loved to see the magazines inner departmental correspondence citing these findings. The "X Files" to be sure.