How much do people rate the MCN bike reviews

[smiles1]

Every time I do a bike search I always like to have a read of reviews and the MCN reviews always seem to pop up top of the google search whatever the bike.

How much do you guys and girls rate them? Does the information generally run true for those who have subsequently bought the respective bike?

Example below:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/kawasak...

[rapide]

It seems to be fashionable on the internet to knock MCN, along with Halfords, Oxford and Hondas.

In reality everyone uses all of the above from time to time and they're perfectly fine.

Except Hondas. I'm joking, I used to have a Honda. I just forgot because it was so boring

[Pothole]

smiles1 said:

Every time I do a bike search I always like to have a read of reviews and the MCN reviews always seem to pop up top of the google search whatever the bike.

How much do you guys and girls rate them? Does the information generally run true for those who have subsequently bought the respective bike?

Example below:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/kawasak...

I bought an RF900R in about 2005 based on the MCN review and a bit of confirmation bias it fed. It was pretty much as they said

[NITO]

I think they’re pretty spot on most of the time, like everything on the net you need to filter it and take certain things with a pinch of salt.

As for their reviewer Michael Neeves, personally I think he’s excellent, he’s really thorough and cuts through all the BS straight to what counts and I trust his judgement more than any of the others so I pay his reviews the most attention.

Cheers
Nito

[crofty1984]

I find they're generally pretty accurate, though of course a lot of reviews are subjective.

[Renn Sport]

I read the reviews and it does colour my view. However I was dubious on their Honda new Fireblade review. I was also dubious on the fact it wont their sport bike of the year. However I do recognise that they are judging the road bike and not the WSB or the bike that chucked off McGuiness and Martin.

My mate bought a SP a few months ago and its a very high quality bike. I haven't ridden it but damn it looks awesome.

[Biker's Nemesis]

NITO said:

I think they’re pretty spot on most of the time, like everything on the net you need to filter it and take certain things with a pinch of salt.

As for their reviewer Michael Neeves, personally I think he’s excellent, he’s really thorough and cuts through all the BS straight to what counts and I trust his judgement more than any of the others so I pay his reviews the most attention.

Cheers
Nito

Yeah, that's spot on.

[Birky_41]

NITO said:

I think they’re pretty spot on most of the time, like everything on the net you need to filter it and take certain things with a pinch of salt.

As for their reviewer Michael Neeves, personally I think he’s excellent, he’s really thorough and cuts through all the BS straight to what counts and I trust his judgement more than any of the others so I pay his reviews the most attention.

Cheers
Nito

Id say the same as this. A mate of mine used to race with him and said he always said it as it is.

Ive used MCN years back when reviewing old bikes but I dont tend to use them so much now. Bit like forums, 10 years ago its all I used but the like of FB, Instagram etc dilutes it all a bit

[RemaL]

before looking at a bike I always find if people on here have one. Ask how they found them. Look at reviews online, be that US reviews, UK etc..

And make a decision from that. I don't think I would ever part with money just looking at 1 review on MCN

[Fleegle]

I no longer read bike mags on a regular basis. What I tend to do is wait for a bike to be introduced and then wait for everyone on forums to start spouting the same shyte the journalists do, without even test riding the bike

[Biker's Nemesis]

Fleegle. Have you ever thought about doing bike reviews for the rest of us old farts.

[Fleegle]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Fleegle. Have you ever thought about doing bike reviews for the rest of us old farts.

It would be simple and without any extraordinarily long words

[Biker's Nemesis]

Fleegle said:

It would be simple and without any extraordinarily long words

Word of One silly- bill.

I bet it would send pothole into meltdown

[phil4]

I definitely consider their reviews before buying. That said I'd not so much "rate them", as take into account their view.

Usually they seem to actually ride the bikes too, which helps no end. It' amazing how many reviews (and not just bikes), just trot out the corporate press release, nearly word for word, and call it a "review". It's nothing of the sort.

As such, it's good to get the view of someone that's ridden a fair few bikes, as to how it rides.

As has been said, take it with a pinch of salt. Personal preferences of course come into it too, as well as intended use, expectations, experience etc.

[RemaL]

haha saying about MCN I have only just looked at the review of the 2016 on H2. Seem's they like it

Well I feel better now I read that. About 18 months later but anywho

[smiles1]

Thanks all. Concensus seems to be to take it into account and its a decent source, but as always treat it as one of a few other sources (forums etc)

[podman]

Its also a good place to look for a bike, many people dislike/distrust places such as eBay and the the net in general but do trust MCN and other bike publications, I found my KR1 in an MCN ad..

[cmaguire]

I think a lot of their reviews are less impartial than the magazines because they (MCN) are favoured and get first dibs. As such it is in their favour to be more positive about the products/bikes they receive to keep the relationships with the influential manufacturers more positive than those their competitors have.

How many times do they actually slag stuff off?

In some ways they are almost like a sales team for the manufacturers.

[chunder27]

Reviewers rarely slag off stuff useless it is food or shows.

But a bike mag cant really or they risk upsetting companies, but they do it subtly.

Like any review though it is one persons account, hence I take little notice of multi anything reviews.

[rapide]

cmaguire said:

How many times do they actually slag stuff off?

In some ways they are almost like a sales team for the manufacturers.

When was the last true nail of a bike produced by a manufacturer? Not being narky - geniune question. I think it must be hard to come across as impartial these days, as generally bikes are better than the riders buying them. Splitting hairs