Bought current edition to read on a journey. Last couple I saw haven’t been too bad.

Buit of a return to usual (poor) form now though, with three or four “First ride” (that bit is important) reports on interesting bikes – which they appear to have ridden at a trade show.

Each of these is a full page at least, with pics of them riding the bikes in question. But while the copy is full of information about frame angles and tube shapes, there is literally only half a sentence (or nothing) about how they actually ride.

Why do they do this? Did you actually ride the bikes or just sit on them for photos Paul Burwell? Why don’t you rename the feature “first techobabble”? Don’t you have an editor to tell you to say what the bikes are actually like to ride?

OK, I should have known what I was letting myself in for, but my goat is well and truly got anyway.

Last copy of “that mag” i bought had pictures of “dem Rad Dudes” stood in front of their long term test bikes, in fact all you could see was them not the bikes….!!

Ok It’s alright to show pics of them with their bikes but i get the distinct impression with MBR that they’re all about the (stoked/rad and all that crap) image not the actual bikes and their features/benefits/flaws/comparisons

Why do they do this? Did you actually ride the bikes or just sit on them for photos Paul Burwell? Why don’t you rename the feature “first techobabble”? Don’t you have an editor to tell you to say what the bikes are actually like to ride?

To introduce the new long termers? I like the magazine, and I can accept that I will not love every aspect of my chosen read. Relax! (IMO)

Because a half hour spin around a dusty field is no way to get a real impression of how a bike behaves?

To introduce the new long termers?

No, they were just riding them at Interbike I think, not long-term bikes.

Dunno why I got so het up about it though, just makes me angry to see bad journalism.

Spokes – Then why bother doing the piece at all? Other writers manage to give constructive first impressions based on a short ride at a trade event. It looks quite hilly and rocky in Bootleg Canyon where they do these, but I may be wrong, they could be tilting the photos!

why are you ranting on here?

MBR, IPC Media, Leon House, 233 High Street, Croydon, CR9 1HZ.
Tel: 020 8726 8000 E-mail: mbr@ipcmedia.com

I done my usual reading of other mtb mags in tesco whilst my wife was shopping. I thought the Utah Moab section in MBR was actually quite a good article.

Quite right MrSmith, I shall email my constructive criticism to them directly.

Didn’t read the features yet, I have enjoyted a couple of their recent travel pieces too. There was a good one about Iceland some time ago for example.

Sadly MBR was the only mag available with Clubcard Points on subscription, so my wife bought it for me as a little prezzie, however I loathe the stupid gnarly riding styles they all assume when pictured.

by way of comparison, here’s a first look type thing from here.
Scott Genius LT

Two days of riding, and we get a couple of sentences saying not much more than it goes uphill better than you expect, and downhill as well as you’d expect.

Maybe it’s not as easy as you think to produce a meaningful review from a product launch?

rubberduck – I spent my clubcard vouchers on tokens to take the car on the eurotunnel so I can go to the Alps next summer!

🙂

vinny – that’s got about 10x as much “riding” detail as the pieces I’d refered to and I think is a pretty good piece.