Bike reviews in motovlogs

[LandyVlad]

I'm wondering what people think makes a good vs a bad bike review in a motovlog?

A motovlog review, as I would define it, is a review primarily form the riders POV with commentary.

I watched one yesterday for a Suzuki DR650.
Now the fellas voice and discussion was quite affable, but I was left very disappointed by the review as:

- has said he was comparing it to a BMW800GS which by his own admission was an unfair comparison.
- his entire review was based on a road ride fo about 2km with no twisties - suburban ride, basically on 2 straight roads only.
It struck me as pointless.

The DR650 is obviously a dual sport so not including any off-road work at all is a critical omission
Not riding on twisties / any even vaguely taxing road conditions is a critical omission.

I happen the know the dealership he borrowed the bike from he would have done so as a prospective customer - it wouldn't have been provided as a 'press bike' so to speak. I also happen to know they usually send a staff member along with you when test riding, SO he was certainly working within limitations.

But as motovlogger would YOU bother to publish a video of that, or not? And if you would, why?


If the motovlogger in question reads this (possible I suppose) you may prefer to answer via PM

 

[HippoDrone]

I think when it comes to content, folk can post what and how they like on YT, weather folk enjoy or get any info from it is a different thing altogether!

 

[LandyVlad]

Oh absolutely. And I;m not criticising him for doing so.

I am wondering whether, given the limitations he'd have been under, there would have been anything he could do to make it a little more about the bikes capabilities.

Probably a lot easier to do when this covid19 thing blows over ...

 

[Meifesto]

For me personally, i like to see different angles.
I like to see close-ups of the bike or stuff they mention.
I like to hear the exhaust.

And it only really counts as a review if they can at least do 100km on it or 4+ hours riding time.
Less then that is a first ride or first impression, and should be named as such

 

[Moto Mengy]

I did my first bike review on my channel recently with the Indian Challenger. It was a spur of the moment thing without too much planning, but I wanted to keep it focused on a riders point of view and not go over specs and such much at all. I rode the bike, I played with the controls and GPS, I walked around it to show it off.

There are tons of thorough professional bike review on Youtube, but honestly I prefer the more personal rider point of views so that's how I'm going to do any future bike reviews on my channel.

 

[lupin]

It struck me as pointless.

Obviously wasn't because you watched it.

Review videos are only 2nd to crash videos in terms of the views you are going to get.

Even if its a older bike there are still plenty of people out there looking to buy and will watch a review video.

 

[LandyVlad]

The reason I watched it is it was filmed just down the road from me
Otherwise TBH I wouldn't have persisted.

Having said that, I'm not really having a go at that video in particular but using it as a jumping off point for general discussion.

There are tons of thorough professional bike review on Youtube, but honestly I prefer the more personal rider point of views so that's how I'm going to do any future bike reviews on my channel.

Me too.

The problem with so many "professional" reviews is that they are very samey-samey and largely complimentary and excuses are made if there are any downsides mentioned. Why? because these are normally the result of press junkets. The 'bike journos' involved will only continue to get wined and dined, flown to exotic locations and provided with bikes to ride if they "tow the company line" and consequently are little more than rehash of the .info pack provided to the journos by the company.

What viewers (especially potential buyers) want is an honest warts and all review; not an advertisement

I'll check out your channel when I get a chance.
Cheers

 

[Pooley]

The problem with so many "professional" reviews is that they are very samey-samey and largely complimentary and excuses are made if there are any downsides mentioned.

Quite the opposite with some bikes. Many journalists are only interested in the most modern or fastest bikes available and like you say make excuses on the negatives, but bash anything less... like the 'Dullsville'

 

[WEB]

It's a catch 22: Big channels with the budget to research, produce and create reviews are paid to "review" which is actually advertise = bias

Smaller channels you need to deal with that persons opinions, what they hold dear to their heart you might not care about, etc.

Tech reviews are even worse.

 

[LandyVlad]

Nothing wrong with advertising as long as they reveal the circumstances / conditions but they rarely do.

It isn't any different in magazines either. See a revirew of a new bike in different magazines (owned by different companies) and bits of the text and photos will be identical - coming from the bike launch playbook...

Not restricted to bikes either - gun magazines (the paper kind ) are much the same... disguised advertising.

 

[Meifesto]

Yeah, some companies will send the press release information sheds.
Which are great to have, because it is an easy spot to find the specs in.

But some journalists are lazy and do some copy-paste work from those.

 

[whingnut]

so i've done an Ass whack of reviews. as a tiny unpaid channel i can say there are two types of reviews i can do.

Demo Days: you sign up read up on the bikes and ride/talk about it. you have a set route with mostly right turns for about 4-6 miles with a line of bikes road captian and tail gunner. and you are rushing to ride everything you can. its a huge PAin in the ass to film and manage until you build a system that workd for you. most demo days are not anywhere near me except Indian and HD. so i travel anywhere from 1-8hrs (DC traffic sucks) to do other brands. Zeros where fun!

Dealership test rides: Rare except for Harley / Indian brands. you are on the hook if something happens to the bike, you read up and in my case the dealerships help prep me on the bikes specs ( i still forget or misquote), you are given a pre approved route and they tell you the milage (if you dont follow it you will not return for another one) 4-6 miles. trust me they know if the bike shows 4.8 miles or 5miles (i once had to explain i pulled over and did a handling test/ walk around in a parking lot) but the dealership was really cool about it as long as i dont break the milage rule.

Now i love motorcycles i have yet to find one i Hate. and i'm opinionated and its my view. so i am always excited to ride them and sometimes i have to record an after video just to be a little grounded in my opinion of the bike.

oh and some folks get mad in the comments when you say a bike is small or medium sized or handles differently than they think it does. so i make sure to say compared to my bike.... someone thats my size...... and so on.

just have fun with it

 

[Meifesto]

Dealership test rides: Rare except for Harley / Indian brands. you are on the hook if something happens to the bike, you read up and in my case the dealerships help prep me on the bikes specs ( i still forget or misquote), you are given a pre approved route and they tell you the milage (if you dont follow it you will not return for another one) 4-6 miles. trust me they know if the bike shows 4.8 miles or 5miles (i once had to explain i pulled over and did a handling test/ walk around in a parking lot) but the dealership was really cool about it as long as i dont break the milage rule.

I'm happy they let you ride a dealership testride here for just 30mins. How many km's don't matter.
That is the standard of how most dealerships do it.

And with the local dealer, i have an even more relaxed situation, if it is a quiet day i can take the bike a couple of hours. Just fuel her up when i am back

 

[whingnut]

I'm happy they let you ride a dealership testride here for just 30mins. How many km's don't matter.
That is the standard of how most dealerships do it.

And with the local dealer, i have an even more relaxed situation, if it is a quiet day i can take the bike a couple of hours. Just fuel her up when i am back

You know i never asked about doing that. i will be speaking with my dealer-ship hook up when i get back. now to find a good test road........

 

[Meifesto]

You know i never asked about doing that. i will be speaking with my dealer-ship hook up when i get back. now to find a good test road........

Yeah, it surprised me how easy he said "yeah, sure".
While asking for it actually took me some energy and time xD Possible downside of being more introvert i'm guessing

But i would say, go for it man. Good chance he will let you

 

[LandyVlad]

When it comes to bike test rides (eg anyone who might be looking to buy a particular bike) here it very much varies from dealer to dealer.

My local has a very strict short test ride route where you have to follow one of their staff who's wearing a yellow jacket - so you are trestricted in speed, what corners, and its all in suburbia. Certainly if i was actually looking to buy a bike I'd be demanding a more thorough ride before putting down $$$ !

On the other hand another dealership, across town, just gets you to sign the insurance paperwork (they all do of course,) hands you the keys and says enjoy see you in half an hour or so.

I went in there once wanting to test ride a 'busa, looking at a second hand one - they handed me the keys to a new one instead

 

[KapGranite]

I just did a review video on my bike after owning it for 3 years. You could read off specs until you're blue in the face but that doesn't tell the viewer anything about the feel or the experience you have with it. Now review and un-boxing videos are huge pulls on youtube thats why you see so many. The best honest review I have seen regarding a motorcycle was from Shadetree Surgeon a couple weeks ago. He gave it a full review only after spending over thousands of mile on the motorcycle to really give it a proper review. Personally I think anyone that does a test ride review or demo review can only give you a what I call a "introduction review" meaning that it is just the first gut feeling on the bike and isn't a review more so a reaction. Nothing wrong with them at all. As this builds intrest and attention to the bike for the viewer to be raising questions on maybe they should go and try or be able to compare it to there own. Regardless whether its reviews, test rides, demo rides, etc they all serve a purpose.

 

[SighBored]

I believe everyone will review it in their own way, some may review it and yet you didn't feel that you got the info you wanted from that review, or they were comparing it unfairly, etc. I don't think it's bad or wrong review, it's just their way of doing it, you just have to find some guy that has the same thought as you, and present the way and touch on the points that matters to you.

Anyway that's how I look at it when I do a review.. I will tend to see what are the important points to me if I were to looking for a review, and then I make sure I cover those points so that if I was the one looking for a review, I would be satisfied.

Of course not everyone who views my review would feel the same, hence my first point at the top most paragraph.