Behind the Ratings

Together, the current Dirt Rider team has tested nearly every major motocross, off-road, trials, mini, and adventure bike produced in the last decade, and the brand’s collective testing knowledge spans over the last 35 years. Our experience with these bikes includes first impressions and race tests as well as comparison testing, long-term durability evaluation, modifications, and countless hours of maintenance in the shop. As a result, we’ve compiled a wealth of data and real-world knowledge on a wide range of motorcycles.

While the most reliable way of learning how a bike performs (without actually riding it) is to read a test of that machine in Dirt Rider magazine or online at dirtrider.com, we have also chosen to include individual ratings for a number of bikes in our online Buyer’s Guide. These ratings are based upon the following four categories:

The ratings that you’ll see attached to select machines abide by a 0-5 scale, with 0 being the low end of performance (the worst) and 5 being the high end of performance (the best). A trusted Dirt Rider test rider determined each of these ratings based upon his or her personal knowledge of that bike. Be aware that because just one individual assigned these rankings, they may not fully reflect the collective testing opinion of the magazine, and as such they should only be used as a ‘baseline’ for gauging the performance of a machine. For a more in-depth evaluation, be sure to read our published tests and comparisons, both in the magazine and on dirtrider.com.