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The usual way new and even many
experienced bikers decide on what bike they are going to
buy is to look at what their buddies are riding, or what
the magazines have been testing recently.
While both these options have some merit they are not
without their problems. Consider:
a) your mate may be a different size from you, they may
be more or less flexible, they may be more or less
experienced, their riding style and needs may be
completely different from yours and so ultimately will
be their choice of bike.
b) Magazine tests, the mags are supposed to be fair and
impartial when it comes to bike and kit tests. However
think about these 2 real examples
A magazine which had previously written positive reports
about a particular manufacturers bikes were in the eyes
of one journalist not given the respect they deserved
and so wrote a negative test report on an almost
identical machine which they had previously stated
numerous times was a great bike.
A manufacturer withdrew all national advertising from a
magazine and encouraged their dealers not to advertise
with that particular publication due to a lengthy test
piece critising certain things the magazine regarded as
unacceptable faults in a new machine.
So the magazines can affect bike sales by unfair writing
and manufacturers can punish magazines by withdrawing
valuable advertising revenue.
You decide; can all bike tests then be truly impartial?
Another way is for you the rider to take a long hard
honest look at your current riding style, ability,
overall size weight and strength and the type of riding
you do or are going to do i.e. that sexy 600 supersport
may not have the best riding position if you are doing a
lot of urban heavy traffic commuting, a heavy touring
machine may be comfortable but is it the best machine
for back road blasts with your mates and while you may
love the idea of a dual sport/supermoto a fuel range of
around 60 miles may not be practical when taking that
cross country trip you do once a month with your mother
riding pillion.
Once you have narrowed your choice down a bit, if you
already have a bike licence take as many test rides as
you can on as many different styles of bike as you need
in order to make an informed decision. I have come
across too many bikers who bought based on little or no
thought or information and ended up with a bike they
hated and in some cases gave up biking and blamed the
bike shop for selling them that pile of s**t and ended
up losing money when selling it because in their eyes
they had bought the worst bike ever made. |