"i used to photocopy articles and send them to friends they were so good to read"
Well there you go. Copyright infringement means they weren't getting the revenues from the mag sales, hence the lack of staff, hence the problem.
so actually its all your fault....
(compulsory smiley attached)
I feel like a cad to moan again now that I know you've all been crying into your beards about the state of the magazine, but after looking more closely at the show reports I think you've missed a trick by not doing "first impressions" ride reports on the exciting new bikes out there.
Obviously there's only two of you and you have to schmooze, but for me that's the thing I'd most want to read.
all bike mags are crap. Dirt still the best for the photography
you'd all really be better riding your bikes than getting worried about interbike (that cannondale fork gave me the best laugh I had in ages however) and all that bling that doesn't make you a better rider or your bike perform better
love, dasnut
the nsmb.com coverage of interbike looks to be about the best, and the new Knollys looks great.
crying into our beards lol.
i just want them to be able to count. whats happened to report 4?
I don't read the mag but I'm keenly following the Interbike posts, beats doing what I'm paid for :p It's not like it's a council fact-finding mission to Hawaii, it's pretty relevant to their business and they're not a charity (even if they accept donations).
all bike mags are crap
Thanks for that rather insulting comment there Dasnut
I feel a blog rant coming on about how wonderful it is to work so hard to put out a mag and a website only for people to come on to said website and go beyond constructive critisism (which we've had a lot of on this thread btw) and into the realms of calling us worthless and crap. Bit like walking into the pub and shouting at everyone that the landlord is rubbish and his beer is shit. Oh and for the record after nine years I'm almost used to this kind of insulting crap and yes... it does go with the territory, but that doesn't mean I think I should sit back and take it without comment. So, Dasnut.. I believe you are relatively local to us at the mag. What do you do for a living? Care to pop in for a brew and tell us all what we are doing wrong? Genuine offer.
Oh wait.. was that your opinion? I believe all you have to do is post something really insulting and then put IMO at the end and no one takes offence. I can edit your post and put that in if you like?
Standing by for the old 'you can't talk to 'customers' like that' follow up.
Never mind the blog.. think I just did it right here. I'm off to talk to GoPro about their new HD cameras now. I feel much better
Mark
Take a chill pill. You clearly have some quality control as Sim and Chipps have been rejecting my lovely photos for years now
I'm going nowhere and not giving up though, this month having resorted to writing a piece on dirt heh
Simon, I'm quite chilled actually.. This is just an endless rerunning of the things that happen on a forum when people feel they can insult other people freely because they are sitting behind a keyboard. It's just the way it is.. I've come to accept it in the sense it doesn't really wind me up that much anymore. Just a bit of an insight into how things work in a social context. If dasnut was sat next to me right now I'm sure he' wouldn't tell me that all mags are crap. because he was actually in my presence I'm sure he'd couch that statement in more constructive terms... because we were face to face and in those situations you tend be a little more considerate to the other person. The internet turns people into rude, obnoxious and thoughtless gobshites I'm afraid
I love the interbike coverage.
Cumbria is great for riding, but exposure to new shiny stuff is hard, and having all the neat new toys that are going to filter into the market in a nice easy to sift through collection is great, I like new shiny things, I like seeing new solutions to long standing problems (my missus was frighteningly excited by the pics of the lady bib-shorts from the Eurobike coverage)
Im a DH racer and subscribe to Singletrack and Dirt subscriber, and read the Singletrack mostly for the articles on race prep, fitness training and the route guides.
The website is the only place I have found that covers everything from DH racing through grassroots XC
Keep up the good work
Dan
oh god, wished id never started this thread now, mark has got really upset, hes in las vegas and should be having a fantastic time
the magazine is fantastic, its getting better every issue, the web site coverage of interbike has been fantastic, just te right amount of coverage.
im going to take another subscription out then ive got an issue for the toilet and one for work. 
:D :D
I'd love to be able to justify buying the mag to myself.
Not because there is owt wrong with the mag, but being unemployed £4.25 is something i can't afford on an item that isn't essential at the moment.
Thank the pixies for the website i say - i can read that for free!
I like looking at shiney, new, built fron unobtainum, bike-shaped objects so appreciate the Interbike coverage but (once again) I agree that the standard of what was a great mag has slipped. Whether this is because the ST staff are off on 'junkets' is arguable but the quality has defintely slipped in the last year. I used to subscribe but cancelled due to the dip in quality but continued to buy out of some weird habit. Perhaps it is a habit I need to kick as unusually I gave up on the last edition of ST and it remains unfinished. BTW, does 'drac' work for ST?
I like the interbike coverage, I like the shonkey videos, I like the mag.
I've just let my dirt subscription slide and renewed my singletrack one; I must say I missed singletrack when it was gone, and there really wasn't anything to read in dirt.
I know how it feels when something you work on really hard gets a public slagging (I've worked on several GPL projects, and one in particular got properly slated), so feel I some love needs to be expressed.
Big hugs Damion
I like looking at shiney, new, built fron unobtainum, bike-shaped objects
Pfft - fail! Thats what Oakley used to make sunglasses out of until they mined it all out. Fool!
I really like the show coverage, it appeals to my love of shiney new things, although I do wonder whether this year there isn't actually that much new and exciting to see, which is hardly the journalists fault.
I too feel the magazine (to which I subscribe) has lost some of it's appeal, although I'm struggling to work out exactly why. At the moment I think I just prefer DIRT's enthusiasm and raw energy to Singletrack's more grown up and considered approach.
This website on the other hand seems to be going from strength to strength. The new forum design and functionality seem to work exceptionally well and I find myself coming back here again and again.
I was going to write a well considered piece on the mag and the site, along the lines of not having read through the mag since it arrived, but I regularly spend time on here, when I could be reading the mag, but I've got the last issue of Bike still in its bag, unopened, five new books to read, there's only so many hours in the day, dasnut's a tosser, and the mag crew I think strike a good balance. It's a bike mag. There are bike shows. Bike mag people go to bike shows, it's part of the job description. Deal with it. It's now 12.45 am, and I was awake at 5am this morning, so good night from him.
Dasnut is correct, all bike mags are shit. They just are, except some bmx mags...ffs, what is there to write about? at least with bmx mags it's the sort of thing where you would get the horn over certain photos, but mountainbiking? come on...unless you're into the jumpy stuff, but then if you were really into the jumpy stuff you'd be into bmx.
The videos in their current format are my farvourite part of the site. I like the shonkiness and humour that goes into them. I can be part of the STW posse by proxy.
I honestly wish the mag was in vid format with the contributors talking us through the experience rather than writing it down.
having said that watching people ride bikes more betterer, more fasterer etc is beginning to bore me, hence me cutting my videos as a trip now rather than just riding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7dJlMYi6yQ
vive le singletrack
Plum
plumberhaving said that watching people ride bikes more betterer, more fasterer etc is beginning to bore me, hence me cutting my videos as a trip now rather than just riding
Yeah I know what you mean. I'd much rather watch you, your complete inability to ride a bike, your utterly insipid choice of music and 9 minutes of car action than some silly video with talented riders displaying skills. Yawn indeed.
I honestly wish the mag was in vid format with the contributors talking us through the experience rather than writing it down.
Then it would be even more painful to look at than it's print form .
I'd much rather watch you, your complete inability to ride a bike, your utterly insipid choice of music and 9 minutes of car action than some silly video with talented riders displaying skills. Yawn indeed.
you're very welcome
Plum
Mistergnar,
Whilst I might agree about the car action sequences i have to take exception on Plum's behalf to your insipid choice of music comment. In my experience Plums music choices are inspired - apart from possibly the first track on the canada road trip vid which was a bit mis.
Oh and Mark, utterly impressed with your patience - I don't subscribe to the mag although I have read it but I think I'll start to on principle.
A
Great job!Love the mag... and the show reports! I know this forum will never be a "love in"... but shit! don't the point scorers just get a bit tiresome after a while? They do me to me!
Yawn! Yawn! Yawn! 
I'm sure some of them must be typing one handed while other strokes their ego!
Keep up the good work guys, I like seeing the shiny new shit. There are some kill joys on net, but screw them. I'd rather be in Vegas checking out some new shit. Nice work if you can get it.
TBH I'm with Dasnut if his meaning was what I perceive, to paraphrase "better to ride a bike than read about riding one".
Mark - I can't tell, there's loads of smilies in there but you look, to me, as if you've gone off on one there almost as much as Mrs "Fizzy" did with you?
Hey ho 
Just me two peneth worth but if you don't like the content of the mag do something about it and contribute! I did. Think about what you'd like to read and then write it.
Has anyone considered that unlike other publications singletrack magazine does not feature pages and pages of interbike/eurobike coverage.
Therefore rather than publishing pages of pictures and captions two or three times a year(lazy bike journalism in my not very well informed opinion), the singletrackers actually compose most of their articles, a process that takes time obviously. Publishing their trade show coverage on the website allows them to do this.
I am a big fan of singletrack magazine and like the ideology it embraces and the diversity of contributors. The lack of a rigid formulaic approach keeps the magazine fresher than the competition but this inevitably means that the magazine may not always hit the same standards every issue.
I for one love the bike show coverage (drooling over stuff I can't hope to own)and find the videos amusing.
COI: Subscriber
mark as you say it's the internet and forums. It makes some brave, some rude and some just speak shit. Singletrack forum especially.
I can't really say the mags gone downhill cos i didn't renew my sub over a separate matter, and maybe there are quality problems but i do wonder if theres a bit of a bandwaggon effect.
close the forum! that'll teach em
mind you they'll just find somewhere else to whinge. like twatter or whatever it is.
me, i'm just here for the chicks.
mistergnar in "I act like a **** and people don't like me shocker"
Yes and plumb is right. You want skilled rider watch pro videos. Last timed I checked mistergnar wasn't featured in the credit of any of the world disorder series or the cranked.
Oh hand on I know why it is probably not to make the other people ridiculous...
I have no idea what you just said!
like the site the way it is just 1 to many bellends for my liking you know their names and you just walk on bye
do not buy the mag that said do not buy any mags as i find the type face to small to read and also i like black print on white background as i cannot focus on it for to long ( signs of old age creeping in)
I have to put up with pratts alday long who know it all but not when i have left their house they dont
Mark you need to get stuck in to these hide behind a keyboard hoodies and let them know if they are in the wrong, could say thats the problem with this shit hole of a country we live in..AAAAAArrrr its sunday i must chill KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
all bike mags are crap
Much in the way that the internet has - for all its greatness - completely failed to kill off the book (no **** way am I gonna read Anna Karenina on a laptop, give me a battered old paperback, anytime), there is still a market for well-produced magazines. IMO, the sheer (and often overwhelming) omniscience of information on the web has made the simple act of reading a book/mag an all-the-more tangible pleasure. By way of example, I only started reading Bike in 1995 or so - but I've kept every copy since. And there's a holy trinity of 'em (March/April/May '98) that is up there with my favourite reads, ever.
This topic has been closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
