RacerX's 250F Shootout- what do you think?

[zio]

So RacerX let Ping do a shootout of the new 250 thumpers, and he recruited Emig, Chad Pederson, Denny Stephenson, and Factory Phil. Is that right? I only read it a few hours ago.

Anyway, Ping starts off by assaulting the other mags for being biased, using inexperienced testers, and having an editor throw all the riders' opinions into a word jumbler & coming up with a different conclusion. I think a lot of it was aimed at MXA & Jody.

I could give my own review of the test, but I'd like to give everyone else the opportunity to shout out first.

Do you like the idea of RacerX getting into the bike/gear stuff? Or would you rather they keep filling each page with good stories?

 

[XRpredator]

I thought it seemed unbiased, maybe (everyone liked Honda) except for Emig, who toed the "green line" :joke:

 

[nikki]

This is a more in general thought I had while I read the shootout:

Do any of us ride like Emig, Ping, Pederson, Lawrence, or Stephenson... I doubt it! I rather have the opinion of an intermediate rider than a bunch of pros... personally. Or a mix of riders.... few novices, few intermediates, few pros...

Some of the guys (like Emig) shed a lil bias based on who they currently ride for. But whatever... :)

Sounds like they all had a good time with the shootout, though. Like a lil reunion... :joke:

 

[CaptainObvious]

Do you like the idea of RacerX getting into the bike/gear stuff? Or would you rather they keep filling each page with good stories?

Racer-X rocks. I'd hate to see them change the formula...but if they are able to give honest opinions...I could stand to see some reviews.

 

[Timr]

I thought that the idea of the format was good, but when I got down to the meat of what they said, I thought two things. 1. They didn't say very much about any of the bikes. And 2. all of their comments were middle of the road. No one really raved about any one bike of hated another one.

Maybe all of these bikes are just that good, or maybe they didn't want to piss off any one manufacturer for fear of loosing Ad revenue. Who knows?

 

[CaptainObvious]

...or maybe they didn't want to piss off any one manufacturer for fear of loosing Ad revenue. Who knows?

That's why most shoot-outs suck.

I've always said, put the same rider on a group of bikes at the same track on the same day and let him turn laps. The bike that runs the lowest - consistent - lap times is the fastest. End of shoot-out.

 

[WWR]

They should come up with some kind of masking skins for the bikes so the riders cant tell what they are riding. Then ask them their opinions of the bikes.

 

[DPW]

It's a shoot-out, who cares. If misc. rider says this bike rocks, am I going to buy it? Do I ride like Jeff Emig, I wish...but I don't so his favorite bike might not be mine. Your best bet is forums like this or talking to riders at your local track.

 

[MX-727]

Well, I had most of the same thoughts that others have had, but the one thing I came away with is that these guys probably did a better job than any other review I've ever read.

Why? They all clearly made the point that the bikes are all good. They only seemed to make a choice because they had to pick a winner. Two years ago, I had the opportuinity to ride the big four 250 two strokes back to back. I could feel small differences related to seat and bar position, but I never noticed the extremes that some of the magazines (MXA) tend to magnify and blow out of proportion.

None of us intermediate and below riders are riding on the edge of the envelope where any of this stuff matters anyway. We just need the basics: which bike is tallest, which is shortest, which bike is good for the folks that like to hit the rev limiter before shifting and which bike is good for those that love to lug a bike.

One of the testers in the RacerX article hit the nail on the head: buy the bike that you can get from the best dealer at the best price. Most of us do that anyway. We only get upset with the reviews when they don't make the same pick. MXA exaerbates the problem when they make the fifth place bike sound like it has the qualitys of a Rupp minibike with a 3hp Briggs and Stratton. There is no need for them to do that. I maintain that most of us couldn't tell a difference other than the ones I mentioned.

 

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