Tyler Adler - Letter Rip! Letter of the Week - Dirt Rider Magazine

I see by some of the latest issues of your magazine that us DRZ400 riders have been giving Jimmy Lewis quite a hassle. And as the DRZ hater you are, you "tell it like it is." Yes, I must agree, the DRZ400's are outdated. But if there are enough DRZ riders out there to give you a noticeable hassle, doesn't that mean that there may be quite a few people in the general public who want to hear about their bikes? Yes, Suzuki dropped their lineup on the E model for 2008, but the S and SM are still shining. As you said, what would the good be if you told everybody that these bikes were overweight, under-powered, and had springy suspension? It would just make them look worse than they are. But I can almost guarantee that you have some testers on your crew that can ride the DRZ, have a blast, and tell the public about it in the magazine. If the XR's were still in production, I would say this is an opportunity to let your most prided bikes shine. Heck, the XR650L is still in production, and I think it's a kick a$$ dual-sport, just like the DRZ400S is. It's your magazine, and you can do what you want, but input from your readers is how you know what people want to hear about. Whatever you choose to do, keep up the good work, your mag is great.
Tyler AdlerYou wait for the day some reader tells me my XR400 is a pile. I'll rake that reader over the coals. I'll go on every message board out there, flame the guy and then get all my buddies to write letters to him and tell him what we really think about him. I hope he isn't the editor of some magazine because that magazine will suck too. Truthfully though, the DR-Z isn't a bad bike and I see them out on the trails all the time. Sales dictated the future of that bike just like they did for the XR. Times change and so do the bikes we ride and buy. And you don't want to really know what I think about XR400s. The only way I can describe it is that some addicts will never admit that they have a problem, they know the root of all their problems is the thing that they keep going back to.
P.S. I just picked up a sweet 1998 XR400 the other day.... - Jimmy Lewis