Wilsons Sandbox

> I'm a real believer in MCN (Motorcycle Consumer News). It's a > bike magazine that serves the motorcycle community and doesn't take any > advertising. It's like the Consumer Reports for motorcycles. They

To paraphrase Sen. Bentsen: I know Consumer Reports and Motorcycle Consumer News is no Consumer Reports!!! Its true they don't take advertising, but if you read closely what they have to say, they are pretty much a "kiss-up-to-the-manufacturers" publication. If they were out there buying the products (motorcycles) that they test as Consumer Reports does, maybe they could be a little more hard hitting, but as it is, the rags that take advertising are every bit as critical as MCN. Which isn't saying much. A classic piece of mush that they wrote was "MCN's Analysis" of "Reader's Forum Response: Dunlop D206 Tires, Good new for Valkyrie owners", in the November, 99 issue. Part of their analysis went on to say there is "no reason to place any blame on Honda for the tire failures". That really sounds like it was written by Honda's public relations department instead of a "hard hitting consumers" publication. That's equivalent to saying that Honda, or Ford in the current Firestone mess, isn't responsible for insuring that the components that they pick are fit for the application. They also managed to "kiss-up" to Dunlop in the same analysis when they went on to say "this action speaks volumes for its commitment to customer service, and goes a long way in explaining why it enjoys such a large share of the motorcycle tire market today." This was in response to Dunlop's offer to replace any D206 that exhibits signs of delamination. (Wasn't this Ford & Firestone's response until recently?) For a two wheeled vehicle, when the signs of delamination are visible, I suspect its already too late. Soapbox mode off. Richard in Tucson 94 KLR650 86 VFR750

I have to agree with Richard on this one. MCN lost my support a long time ago along with most of the other motorcycle rags out there. Gino --- In DSN_klr650@egroups.com, "Richard Ohnstad" wrote:

> To paraphrase Sen. Bentsen: I know Consumer Reports and Motorcycle

Consumer

> News is no Consumer Reports!!! > > Its true they don't take advertising, but if you read closely what

they have

> to say, they are pretty much a "kiss-up-to-the-manufacturers"

publication.

> If they were out there buying the products (motorcycles) that they

test as

> Consumer Reports does, maybe they could be a little more hard

hitting, but

> as it is, the rags that take advertising are every bit as critical

as MCN.

> Which isn't saying much. > > A classic piece of mush that they wrote was "MCN's Analysis" of

"Reader's

> Forum Response: Dunlop D206 Tires, Good new for Valkyrie owners",

in the

> November, 99 issue. Part of their analysis went on to say there is

"no

> reason to place any blame on Honda for the tire failures". > That really sounds like it was written by Honda's public relations > department instead of a "hard hitting consumers" publication.

That's

> equivalent to saying that Honda, or Ford in the current Firestone

mess,

> isn't responsible for insuring that the components that they pick

are fit

> for the application. > > They also managed to "kiss-up" to Dunlop in the same analysis when

they went

> on to say "this action speaks volumes for its commitment to customer > service, and goes a long way in explaining why it enjoys such a

large share

> of the motorcycle tire market today." This was in response to

Dunlop's

> offer to replace any D206 that exhibits signs of delamination.

(Wasn't this

> Ford & Firestone's response until recently?) For a two wheeled

vehicle,

> when the signs of delamination are visible, I suspect its already

too late.

> > Soapbox mode off. > > Richard in Tucson > 94 KLR650 > 86 VFR750

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., wschase@a... wrote:

> What kind of trip planning software is everyone using and pro's & con's of > it? I just bought the MS Streets & Trips and so far it looks real good

with

> as much detail or lack of it that I may need. > > Steve > Dallas Texas > Semper Fi! > 99 Connie > 00 KLR650 > 00 Buell Blast > 01 ZX-6R

DeLorme Street Atlas, has been the "standard" route planning PC s/w amongst the GPS crowd. It also can take the data from the GPS and give voice prompts on when to turn, etc. for the RV guys. I have done quite a bit of route planning with Street Atlas, and the later versions have worked generally very well for me. Word on the streets is that the "Road Warrior Edition" of Street Atlas (a version tweaked for GPS navigation) is something to stay away from. There are several applications available on the net that communicate to Street Atlas and lot's of GPS's, but usually have Garmin feature support also. I haven't seen the latest (2001) Streets & Trips. Maybe they've improved upon their GPS comm features; in the past they were pretty bad. Steve A. in AZ