Brand Wars

Isn’t it amazing how fanatically fixated dirt bikers get with the brand of bike they ride. I mean I love my KTM. You need to understand, I really love my KTM – it lives indoors. Not my garage, good heavens no, my entertainment room in my house. She’s my second KTM, a 2003 300 EXC, my previous bike was a ’97 250 EXC. I have a KTM sticker on the back windshield of my car. I have two KTM motocross shirts and when our first set of club shirts were manufactured, I had to weather a small internal storm because I had them made in black with KTM-orange print.Funny thing though, before my first KTM, I went through a stage of various Yamahas YZs and ITs. Before that it was a Honda XR. The point is, with each brand, I swore there was none better. My brother proved that I was not insane, he still swears nearly fourteen years later that if it doesn’t have wings……..I’ve grown up a whole bunch and the crazy thing is my partisan attitude hasn’t changed. Neither has that of my buddies about their brand of bike. In our heart of hearts we all know that at our level of skill and ability the difference in a race is not going to be balanced on the name stuck on the side or the factory colour. No matter, you try keeping your mouth shut when someone slanders KTM – doesn’t work! Better yet, strap yourself in and watch the fun when you slander the green team, the red devils, the smurfs or the yeller-bellies in front of them. The dirt biker’s mind is a crazy thing when we get into our chosen brand. How many of you have bought colour coded kit. No, not coded to your favourite colour but coded to the default factory colours of your bike manufacturer. We go out and spend fortunes on No Fear, Thor, Fox, etc because they put great colour coded sets together based on standard manufacturer colours. And we’re happy to! Wouldn’t it be great if, when you bought you bike, you could choose your own colour or colour scheme – like you do when you buy a car?Well boys and girls, here’s the kicker: it doesn’t matter!!! No really, think about it. You’re not sponsored so no one’s paying you to swear such staunch allegiance to your brand. KTM, for example, is dammed expensive - for bikes and parts. Others are not that much cheaper. So why are we buying them. There is no secret speed or air-time switch that really makes one brand do things a whole lot better than any other. Your bike really is as good as you are to it and it makes absolutely no difference what the label is.Lesson 1. Look after your bike. After all is said and done it makes no difference which make you ride or what people who ride different makes say about it. If you do not maintain it, it will break. Any brand!!!! If you really look after it, you can make it last longer, go faster, look better, handle better, etc, etc. When you break down on an outride and screw up everyone else’s ride, not one person is going to tell you what a crappy make of bike you ride. They will tell you though that you’re a lazy so-and-so and you have no right to bring such a badly maintained bike out with a bunch of other riders. The onion award will go to you not your bike. The slowest and unskilled novices are looked after on a ride on a well looked after bike far more than top rider on a dodgy machine. Everybody knows that the dodgy bike is going to mess the day up for everyone.Lesson 2. Your bike cannot make you ride better. When guys win races, get major airtime over jumps, handle themselves well on an outride, etc, etc. I guarantee you that I have yet to hear someone say “hell, that Yami goes well” or “check that Suz” or “did you see how high the Kwakker jumped”. Instead the riders are mentioned by name. “Joe is flying today” or “did you check how high Pete jumped”. Your steed, regardless of brand is only as good as you.The banter between different brand owners is fun and makes for healthy dealership competition. Just don’t let it get to your head. Make sure you keep it fun. When someone tells you that your Husaberg is heap of c**p, keep it together buddy it’s no more or less a heap of c**p than his, whatever it is. Unless of course you’re not looking after it.Ok. So now that I’ve destroyed all the loyalty you had for a particular brand, how do you assess which is the best one, or better yet and more important, the best one for you. Well, the first part of this question is easily answered. Buy your favourite dirt bike magazine that has bike reviews and shootouts. They will rate all the brands in different categories like suspension, weight, etc, etc. They also give an overall rating. But you need to understand that difference between first and last is marginal and only a pro expert will really notice the major differences. As for the second part of the question: Choose a bike you can afford. One that has good parts availability and has dealerships accessible to you. If it’s a used bike and its not the brand you had in your mind but its been well looked after and the price is right then go for it. You’ll get into the dirt sooner and odds are you’ll stay in it longer on that machine.Finally, the moral of the story: The brand is not the thing about dirt riding performance. You are. You attitude to maintenance, your growing experience and the fun you’re going to have………………………………………..except of course if it’s a KTM!!!Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole it.Steve “Tombstone” Lauter