Dirt Rider's 24-Hour off-road test is a unique affair with an ever-changing theme. It's a social event. It's a bike test. And it's a party. To try and summarize and classify such a gathering is quite difficult, but one thing is certain: It's the one place where the greats of the off-road industry, whether in business or on a bike, congregate for good riding, good testing and good times.
It began humbly enough with our sister publication, Motorcyclist (yes, the streetbike magazine). Until the late-'70s, Motorcyclist tested off-road bikes and motocrossers as well as the gamut of street machines. When the magazine completed its 24-hour test of the then-new 1979 Honda XR500R, it invented the concept we now claim as our own. This continued each time Honda brought out a new big-bore XR. When Motorcyclist determined on a street-only format and spun off Dirt Rider, we continued and expanded the 24-hour concept. When DR was testing a single bike for 24 hours, it was a task filled with many hours of solitary riding, naps grabbed where we collapsed and many favors from good friends. Then 10 years ago we opted to test four stock bikes for 24 hours and four modified bikes for 12 hours. We may be writers, but we can do rudimentary math. Figuring an hour on each bike as the average, we were looking at 144 one-hour slots that needed butts in the saddle. We took that opportunity to ask industry friends to help us ride the bikes. Having enough riders for 144 time slots naturally made the endurance test a social gathering. Then-publisher Dick Lague recognized the power of the test as a business function and invited industry guests to come ride the course along with the test bikes. It made business sense but also made course conditions more realistic when compared to a genuine off-road racecourse. The types of machinery changed each year, and the Baja Designs lights grew more sophisticated. But throughout the years the test has stayed much the same as it was a decade ago, until, with the influence of Jimmy Lewis at the editorial helm, we decided to knock some dust off the old format.
The original premise still remains the same: Pack a performance test and reliability run into a small space of time. Because, in reality, off-road readers like you want (and need) to know about performance and longevity.
The nighttime portion of the test was so cold, even the giant Red Bull can was chilly. | 
Team Kawi | 
Clean, rested and ready to go, the Dick's Racing Team awaits the start. |
Sometimes it's just a blurry mess... | 
Dirt Digger | 
Hey! |
LR back on green | 
"Take up thy bikes and ride." Jimmy Lewis speaks to the masses. |  |