Down & Dirty OUTTAKES

August 2014 cover

Our Down & Dirty torture test of four big ADV bikes in the August 2014 Motorcyclist (click HERE for Down & Dirty) gave you 10 pages of gritty ride reviews, hard test data, specs, off-the-record commentary and a careful selection of the best photos from the shoot. In order to guarantee that we "get the shot", hundreds of photos are taken of each bike at designated spots, oftentimes switching the order of bikes and riders since we never know which one we want to highlight at the front of a group shot. As a result, our server is loaded with gigabytes of awesome, unused footage that, unfortunately, goes unseen.

Ari Henning taking flight on the Yamaha for an equally cover-worthy shot that resulted in some undercarriage damage to the bike.

Our team of Down & Dirty test riders consisting of MC Road Test Editor Ari Henning and Associate Editor Zack Courts, and guest testers Bradley Adams from Sport Rider magazine and MC regular Thad Wolff, spent two days in the SoCal dirt with photographer Kevin Wing, and they came back with some of the most awesome action shots that must be shared. Our "Trial By Flyer" cover with Bradley Adams taking flight on the BMW R1200GS-A took no less than two dozen jumps to get that one perfect image. And another session of high-speed aerobatics with Ari Henning aboard the Yamaha Super Tenere ES were equally spectacular but ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. In the print-only era, celluloid treasures like these would be banished forever to the archives. But thanks to the unlimited virtual pages of cyberspace, we're able to share some of these outtakes with you.