is mtb journalism, proper journalism?

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is mtb journalism, proper journalism?

88 posts & 47 voices | Started 1 year ago by johnny_met | Latest reply from Stuey01

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BadlyWiredDog - Member

Is mountain biking really the sort of seething sewer of iniquity, illegality and drug abuse that would justify it being the subject of incessant investigative journalism? What do you want? 'Top Bike Designer in 29er Sex Romp Shocker!' 'British Bike Brand Equipped Sadam's Army With Singlespeeds!' 'Isis Bottom Brackets In Sex And Drugs Orgy Scandal!'

How about the mags launch an in-depth investigation into who the evil genius behind the Isis bottom bracket was and expose the evil conspiracy behind its introduction? We follow the trail of corruption from Utah to the poppy fields of Afghanistan and expose the truth behind chains that don't work and how the Taliban is fleecing British mountain bikers through shadowy puppet corporations. Blah.

I dunno, call me simple and old fashioned, but I'd simply like to read brilliantly written, inspirational stories about riding bikes in amazing places with interesting people accompanied by stunning imagery. If 'proper journalism' is an in-depth investigation of Isis bottom brackets, you can keep it.

Posted 1 year ago #
dasilva - Member

Take this report of Mountain Mayhem for example.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2010/06/glorious-mayhem-stories-and-results-here/

That's a decent enough example of taking a race weekend and turning it into a kit report. I've not got much against it but having been at the event I would have been more interested in things like why did James Leavesley pass out on the course in the early hours and be taken away in an ambulance? As always there is a lot more that goes on at these races than ever gets reported on.

I thought the build up to races like 24hrs of Exposure on some sites was great as there were profiles of the racers before the event and it was a lot more interesting to know who won when you knew who was who beforehand.

These days there isn't a lot reported about XC racing and I couldn't give you more than one or two names of world cup racers. If there was as bit more build up and profiles ahead of the racing though Id be a lot more interested in following it.

Seems as though its a bit uncool to follow XC racing these days though and its the magazines that are as guilty as anyone else for projecting that view.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mostly Balanced - Member

If 'proper journalism' is an in-depth investigation of Isis bottom brackets, you can keep it.

I used ISIS as an example of how stuff that has been proven not to work gets brushed under the carpet in favour of the 'hey wow isn't this great' gushing over 'the latest big thing'. It seems that all too often it's Joe Public that gets to do the long term product development and has to pay for the privilige. I've worked as an engineer and have seen first hand that many so called advances are really patent avoidance ploys. What I'd like to see the magazines doing more efectively is sorting the good from the bad.

Posted 1 year ago #
wwaswas - Member

This is a good example of 'real world' testing;

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/doc-says-carbon-no-quicker-than-steel

In this case £1000 carbon bike against £50 steel one.

Posted 1 year ago #
MidlandTrailquestsGraham - Member

From that article...

Dr Groves feels "evidence based cycling is not high on the bicycle salesman’s agenda."

Posted 1 year ago #
james-o - Member

"I've worked as an engineer and have seen first hand that many so called advances are really patent avoidance ploys"

yeah good point. blame a bullsh++t US patent system for that. if they worked on European patent criteria half the so-called patents would not exist and we would have a proper open-source system of genuine R+D where a good bike is based on whether you know what to do and why, not whether you can afford to license some dubious patent.

Posted 1 year ago #
MidlandTrailquestsGraham - Member

See this thread here ?
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stu-mcgroos-lets-put-this-alfine-weight-issue-to-bed-once-and-for-all-thread
This is what journalists should be writing.

Posted 1 year ago #
epicyclo - Member

Mostly Balanced - Member
...I've worked as an engineer and have seen first hand that many so called advances are really patent avoidance ploys.

Like just about any rear suspension system

The interesting thing is if you look at patents from the 1880 - 90s before the pneumatic tyre became universal, then you'll see an example of almost any of the patented suspension systems.

Posted 1 year ago #
ctk - Member

I'd like to know what factories in the Far East are making what bikes for who.

Posted 1 year ago #
epicyclo - Member

Start with Giant. They make a lot of the expensively marketed "superior" bikes from USA.

Which is why it makes sense to buy a Giant - get it from the horse's mouth as it were.

Posted 1 year ago #
CrispyCSW - Member

johnny_met » is MTB journalism proper journalism......If there was an issue with the big manufacturers of retailers would we find out?

I'd say the lack of coverage of the CRC security issue has categorically answered that question.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mark - Resident Grumpy

And yet, not only have we responded to this thread and the others but CRC have also responded and put statements on the forum of every major cycling website on the net complete with telephone numbers and email contacts as well as a statement that they are investigating the problems. In terms of engaging with readers on a website how much more open do you want it to be? CRC are aware of these threads and they are happy for the issues to be discussed openly. Beyond 'reprinting' the accounts of individuals from these threads (which seems sort of pointless since they are here for us to read and more people read the forum than read the stories on the front page) I don't see much point in doing anything more. It wouldn't add anything other than a headline to the issue. There is nothing to report beyond what we all know. In short a story would not add anything to what you already know. When we have something beyond what we have on these threads we will report it. At the moment there is nothing new to add. As people experience issues that they feel are relevant to the issue they are reporting them here and on other forums.

CRC - An investigation into any link between reported fraudulant account activity and customers' bank details is ongoing, according to CRC. Here's what our readers have to say on the issue <link to the forum thread>.

I can put that on the front page if you like but it seems pointless. I'd prefer to wait until there's something to actually report that you don't already know about. And yes, we've spoken to CRC about this. And No they have not applied any pressure on us or any other media as far as we know.

Posted 1 year ago #
BadlyWiredDog - Member

What about the Isis bottom bracket scandal that has blighted our lives for more years than I can remember - I've gone senile waiting. When are you going to run a special Panorama-style Isis investigation? I for one and two or three other people would almost certainly think about buying such a one-off special.

Posted 1 year ago #
xiphon - Member

The only proper journos in business today are the ones doing investigative work for newspapers/websites ( like ArsTechnica - they do some fantastic investigations and reporting ).

MTB mags (or any other sports/computer/car mag) is just a PR platform for their respective industry.... which is why I don't buy them. Yes, they might have the odd interesting 'article', or report on an event - but 90% of the pages are filled with marketing (however subtle it might be).

I don't think for one second that CRC is applying pressure to STW either. STW have to be neutral, and only 'officially' report facts, due to the sensitive nature of the crisis. Falsely accusing them could lead to legal trouble, which nobody wants.

Posted 1 year ago #
CrispyCSW - Member

Do 100% of Singletrack readers actively read every thread on the STW forum?
Do 100% of MBUK / WMB readers actively read every thread on the Bikeradar forum?

My guess is that they don't, and that many, many times more people are subscribed to the RSS feed for the "news" items on the frontpage.

Is it unreasonable to expect a news item along the lines of "there are unsubstantiated claims of.... CRC have issued the following statement..... you can follow the discussion here....."

While it is positive that CRC are commenting on the threads, I think it's naive to view it as anything other than damage limitation on their part, as if they were really intent on communicating with their customer base, they have the mechanism both through the email details they hold, and through the MTB press.

Posted 1 year ago #
whytetrash - Member

Think Mark was involved in the NOTW phone tapping scandal....been behaving ever since

Agree CRC could have mailed us all to check our accounts...not shy about bombarding us with mails about offers!...BUT if there proves to be no link then that would have just been a pointless PR disaster for their customers who maybe wouldn't have got to hear about it via sites like STW

Posted 1 year ago #
Mark - Resident Grumpy

My guess is that they don't, and that many, many times more people are subscribed to the RSS feed for the "news" items on the frontpage."

Then you'd be quite wrong in your guess. 85% of ALL our site traffic goes through this forum. The rest is spread across all other pages, including the front page - and that includes all RSS feeds too.
Typically only around 4% of forum users (users = posters & readers) ever post anything. Yes.. 96% of forum activity is from Readers (lurkers) NOT the posters. The CRC thread has been sat consistently on the front page of the forum for well over a week now. It has had a lot more attention than our front page has had. A front page story typically has a shelf life of a few days before it drops off into the archive.

Posted 1 year ago #
Stuey01 - Member

Want pro-bike pictures and specs - see bikeradar
Want race reports - see bikeradar/MBUK

Posted 1 year ago #

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