Congratulations on twenty- five years. The Letter Rip! section instigated letter this since it was the only thing worth reading in your turkey of a November issue.
First things first, your magazine was created for the off road crowd that rides Enduro, Hare Scrambles, Desert and Trails. Let me know if the majority of your readers are 18-22 year old motocross racers so I can drop my subscription. MOTOCROSS should not be the foundation of a Dirt Rider issue. Testing all the 250 four strokes on a MX track is for the other magazines. Plugging a Husaberg 650 does not mean you covered your bases for the off road crowd. The more I read motorcycle magazines the more it seems you only think a dozen subscribers ride dirt bikes east of the Mississippi. Should I mention that probably eighty percent of the seventy plus thousand that go to watch the Atlanta super cross ride OFF ROAD not motocross. Additionally the two fastest riders everyone comes to watch are from the South East not Southern California.
Oh and before I forget since Ty Davis last ran the national enduro series it has been dominated by East coast riders. Ty is a great person and obviously is one of the most versatile riders ever. Dirt Rider always sounded so biased when talking about him it made me wonder if you fell to your knees and kissed the ground when he was present. Give the due recognition to all the champions not just the west coast champions. What works in the desert and on a motocross track will not work in technical tight woods.
Even the big four treat the east coast like a bunch of utility ATV beer chugging fools. While watching SEC football this past season I was appalled at how the marketing targets irresponsible rednecks...then we wonder why riding areas close. Dirt Rider would have everyone think the answer is trials tires and over muffled bikes. Guns do not kill...people using guns kill, same analogy works for bikes. Knowing when and where to roost is more important than this false campaign trying to make the industry green. That will never happen anyway. The reason two strokes are dying is the industry does not want to build two engine platforms and less people can do work on four strokes so the shop stays busier. The thousand two-stroke blowers and weed eaters in LA or Atlanta pollute more than an entire season of motocross with all two-strokes on the track!
The one thing motocross that belonged in your magazine was the MX of Nations. The essence and spirit of the most prestigious motocross race ever was missing in your article. It is not about customs holding motorcycles to the last minute. It is about 70,000 people over four days filling the infield at 7:30 in the morning. We had a group of twenty people at the MX of Nations they all agreed the media coverage on all accounts was pathetic. Good thing I went!
The magazine has become stale! One of your better issues that I remember you covered pipes on the Honda 250 X when it came out. You praised Honda for testing the bike in all conditions. Why not do testing in the east at least once a year. I would bet you have a subscriber in every state that could provide an "Epic Ride." Another idea would be how to modify a bike with the least amount of money instead of taking a seven thousand dollar bike and making it a ten or fifteen thousand dollar bike.
Make me laugh again! Put your testing prowess to use! PLEASE NO MORE 24hr TEST. I still have not came across anyone that rides at night.
Rick Spivey
Thanks for the slam, it was a turkey. You slam us for MX content but you go to MX and SX races? Slam us for liking Ty Davis but all we do is run pictures of his stacking it up. Slam us for not testing "back East" when the stuff that we test on is nearly the same, just better. Slam us for bad MX of Nations coverage yet you could have sent us a better story, you know? In fact you belittle all of your neighbors, which isn't very nice, though I tend to agree with you about guns. You missed our East Coast Lights story last year? Thanks for the credit for killing the two-stroke, we are a pretty strong influence on your wallet. I'll make you laugh, how about we take your idea and kill the 24-hour.... Oh I mentioned we were doing that already. See you next month! - Jimmy Lewis