Monday, 08 June 2009 16:01
Nothing much to report on the magazine this week. I've had a major slack-attack, brought on by some unexpected interruptions to my normal placid and well-ordered work routine (ha!).What all this magazine non-work has allowed, but, is a little time to look around. It's an admission that will paint me in a poor light, I know, but I very seldom read Australia's other dirt bike magazines. I flick through Dirt Action each month of course, and when I have a moment I sometimes see what old friends are up to with a scan of the editorials in Trailrider and TrailZone, but I can't remember when I last looked at Stroke or ADB.
In any case, now I have the KTM I'm keen to find some parts. I like the OEM gear, but it's good to know what alternatives may be around, especially pipes. So I grabbed the latest ADB and the most recent Dirt Action and began working through the ads, looking for all the wild two-stroke tuning services and accessories.
In 400 or more pages of magazine I didn't find one. Not one absurd claim for more power through reeds made of Unobtainium or a broader powerband thanks to an expansion chamber lined with nickel-coated carbo-rortphate. There were a seemingly infinite range of goods and services to make any four-stroke louder and heavier, but not even a bag of muffler packing for a two-stroke.
"No problem," I thought, and jumped on the web, only to be very sadly disappointed again. It looks like I'll have to do the bulk of my shopping for this bike overseas.
I'm not sooking, I'm just amazed.
What happened to all those obnoxious parents who used to buy their kids a club championship by purchasing every two-stroke mod and accessory known to man? Aren't the kids still riding two-strokes? Aren't they still soft targets for magazine advertising?
I guess not.
Anyway, thank Dog for Grant Langston in the US. I should also point out the guys at KTM Australia have always been incredibly helpful to me, and I expect they will be now too, but I don't like to impose on personal friendships unless there's no alternative.
So the next thing that struck me as I sat around drinking coffee and whiling away the carefree hours seemingly devoid of any responsibility, was that Dirt Action, Trailrider and ADB all had DVDs. "Cool!" I thought, settling back into my plastic chair with my laptop balanced on a milk crate,"time to veg out!" And I did, too.
But what I noticed was that none of the three mags actually "made" their DVD. I enjoyed the Dirt Action one the most. It had a great section on a trials rider, a whole heap of freestyle stuff (which gets boring for me very quickly but had heaps of action) and a really boring section of Carey Hart's business interests. It seemed to be one big, long ad for Red Bull.
The ADB disc was the Super X highlights package shown on Channel 10. I love all kinds of racing, so this one had something for me, but I guess I'm too old. The commentary was truly awful. I intend no offense to the commentary team, because it was entirely appropriate for the age group likely to watch a series like that one. But if I wanted to be shouted at and treated like a moron for an hour, I'd join one of those boot camps on the beach each morning. At least I'd stand a chance of getting fit.
Trailrider's was the least interesting for me. It was coverage of a desert race (I forget which one), and some of the video footage was really excellent. It only had two menu items. One was "heroes" (or something), and I forget what the other was. But when I went to watch it, both menu items were exactly the same footage. One had music and one had commentary. And there was a fair swag of car footage which was spectacular, but I wanted to see more of the bikes.
All the DVDs had some great stuff, and the ADB Super X had really high-quality vision, but they'd all bought their DVDs. The TBAM DVD didn't have the quality of vision, and it didn't have the razzamatazz of the Red Bull stuff, (and my presentation skills are crap) but we MADE it. Now I'm wondering if you readers would rather have the razzamatazz. Travelling to all those wild locations and making those rides happen is really frigging time-consuming and expensive. Am I better off to just sit here and buy stuff?
Probably.
I certainly don't enjoy seeing myself all over the DVD (or the mag), and possibly the other editors feel the same about themselves and their products. I'll have a close look at it for the next DVD.
Fortunately for youse-all, the other result of my slackness this past week is that I won't have any more time to look at anyone else's mags or DVDs. I'll be back into it full-throttle tomorrow morning. The first thing coming my way is the Murray Bridge rounds of the AORCs. That looks like being either a six-day road trip with Pete and Ralphie, or a popstar flight over and back, cruising into the Team Dynamite pit to find the immaculate YZ250 prepped and ready. Either way it'll take some planning. I'll have to learn some new songs to play in the back of Ralphie's ute.
Straight after that I'm hoping to team up with my son and race the KTM at an Amcross in Grafton. Then, right on deadline, Yamaha is releasing of the 2010 YZs. There may be a trip to Lake Eyre in there somewhere, depending on the water levels.
The long-winded gibber this week balances up those weeks where I didn't say much of anything, I guess.I don't expect there'll be too many weeks where I have this much free time, so it's not likely to happen again soon.
TF
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