MBUK or MBR?

You’re risking a ban here. Swearing isn’t allowed 😀
My suggestion – Dirt.

Dirt.

STW or WHAT Mountain Bike

for what purpose? Surely you can be suggesting reading either?

None of the above.

Razzle.

I like MBUK.

i think all the magazines pis5 in the same pot.
stw mag used to be good, but that is falling into the same trap as the rest.
it seems to me that all they want to do is big up certain brands who obviously look after the magazine staff.
some of the items recently have been truly shoddy. imho. 😀

the courier item in the recent mag….was that even finished?

MBR if you need to be reminded that the mousetrap you own is obsolete and may as well be consigned to the scrap heap as it’s more than 1µ-second old.

MBUK if your brain has dribbled out of your left ear in an effort to escape the infantile confines of your skull. Though Mint Sauce is cool.

(is this a troll??)

(edit) Oh, neither are better/cheaper than Andrex and using magazines as firelighters is bad for the planet. Both would probably make good Bourne-style weapons.

MBR. Its ok.
MBUK. Its for da yoof

MBR if you need to be told to by a Spesh..

MBUK if you wear yer jeans about 6″off yer arse…

Having bought MBUK recently when stuck for something to read on a flight, I was quite suprised – get beyond the cover and some of the article and it’s not actually the rad-fest that it got to when I stopped reading it. I actually found it pretty good and I’ve bought it a couple of times since when I’ve wanted a mag to read.

WMB make too many errors. I want to read a mag that informs me, and if I can spot glaring errors in it, they aren’t getting my money

MBR seem very blinkered to me – SSs are crap, you must ride ‘these tyres’ and ‘this bike’ and trail cantres are the best thing ever. Some good technical articles though, and their testing seems reasonably good.

Dirt, from the few I’ve read seems to try too hard to be alternative and ‘hard core’. Just not my thing.

Singletrack is OK (I’m a subscriber) but I’m getting to the point where I can’t be arsed reading about yet another epic ride in some far flung country – “I did this, then I did that, then we drank beer, we’re so cool” or some arty guff about ‘why I ride’
The bike and kit tests are very good though, they seem very honest.

MBUK is I think the most balanced. I don’t buy it very often, but there’s a bit of everything in it and I reckon their photographers are easily the best in the business, but that’s a personal thing. Their bike tests are the most thorough, too….

Don’t get either but used to- prefer mbr because there are (slightly) more stories about riding and routes rather than mbuk with yet another article on “get those drops dualled” and grimetime showing you how to wash your bike!?

Used to like dirt before it went monthly but always found the writing style a little odd, not too sure what some of the articles were about.

Singletrack is ok but my favorite must be the ride jounal, a true page turner

After 20+ years of mtb magazines I can barely read any of them anymore.

Have you all read MBUK lately?

It’s actually got more articles, greater variety and better writing than any of the other mainstream mags.

Only just got round to finishing off the last ST yesterday evening and I have to say I’m worried it’s going up its own bum a bit (more).

To any commissioning editors reading: Please stop publishing articles by people who only have English as a third language! Even if you do really like the pix.

And please make sure your columnists actually have something to say!

[/rant]

Anyone else spot the typos in the latest STW?

Yes, shocking.

Bought WMB for the first time in ages recently (June issue I think) and the whole mag was just reviews – I’m sure there used to be a bit more other stuff in there. Disappointed, it didn’t even last the 1 hour train journey I bought it for.

I don’t want to sound like a bumlicker here but I still enjoy ST and look forward to every issue. Really enjoyed the dirtbag ish.

cynic-al – Member
After 20+ years of mtb magazines I can barely read any of them anymore.

amen brother………

I had to stop reading STW because of the liberal sprinkling of typos (as a sub editor that kinda stuff bothers me – I know I must get out more…)

Been subbing on WMB recently so I hope the errors you spotted PeterPoddy were a while ago!

You’re right though, they all fall into the trap of cuddling up to the brands that give ’em nice shiny stuff to keep (sorry, review)

I’ve started reading STW more recently. The “Pass Storming” article was great, as was Chipps’s day out with a £100 bike.

I find you can OD on bike mags quite easily, same with any other specialist publications.

Pook – Member
the courier item in the recent mag….was that even finished?

Ditto that sentiment. you got a job as a courier – well done you!!

I am enjoying the £100 weekends articles tho.

but i have to say, i’m not even getting the point of the Blame the Dog articles, i dont even attempt to read them anymore.

Been subbing on WMB recently so I hope the errors you spotted PeterPoddy were a while ago!

It was every time I bought it. Wrong price. Wrong size. Bad information. Bad English.
I gave up buying it because I thought I could have done better myself, well better proof reading it at least!

I don’t read MBUK because I’m an adult.
I don’t read MBR because I’ve no desire to buy a Specialized.

Ok, if we’re going into detail – I subscribe to Singletrack, MBR and Dirt.
They all give me something different to read (although it takes me well over a month to get through them due to lack of reading time).
Singletrack – I like the travel articles the homegrown appearance, and most of the columns, bike and kit reviews always seem honest.
MBR – new kit, lots of reviews (admittedly the bike ones can be a bit guff, I just like to read about bikes!)
Dirt – THE Number one for photography. Race reports, factory visits, the foreign travel articles are good and the photos from those are fab, a different angle on bike reviews. Can’t read the letters page though!

Been subbing on WMB recently so I hope the errors you spotted PeterPoddy were a while ago!

They were absolutely awful about six months to a year ago, and the editor said he was going to do something about it.

Maybe he hired you as a result, because it has been much better since.

I’ll expand too. I like MBUK because it doesn’t try to make out that riding bikes is some noble spiritual pursuit. Funnily enough i also like Rouleur because it does the exact opposite.

I find you can OD on bike mags quite easily, same with any other specialist publications

Something you want to tell us, Mr_a? 🙂

If you think Brit mags are bad try some of the mainstream USA mags they are so sycophantic to the big brands I bet if Specialized or Trek made a bike with square wheels and a hacksaw blade for a saddle they would give it 10 out of 10 and claim it was bike of the year

I know you weren’t talking to me, but I don’t think Brit mags are biased at all. At least not consciously.

I don’t read MBR enough to be able to comment on this supposed Spesh bias, but ST, WMB and MBUK all seem willing to say when a bike is rubbish – and don’t seem to favour any one brand.

After last weeks ‘How gay are you?’ test, Gay Times.

MBR i find more technical and gives better detail of things but i find MBUK much easier to read and much more variety of different things
.

The MBR Specialized “bias” doesn’t matter in the slightest to me. I can imagine Spesh bikes are bloody good. Doubt I’ll ever buy one though, so they won’t influence my buying.

Subscribe to MBUK and Dirt.

Haven’t read a mainstream bike mag in ages. When I worked in Halfrods I used to flick through MBR on the quieter days and sometimes Dirt. I found reading them together gave plenty of info but either on their own lacked something. For now I’m quite happy with my “Cycle” magazine that I get from CTC. Some interesting articles, not full of men showing off, and the things people find to complain about in the letters just make me laugh. It also keeps me up to date on what’s going on road safety-/legal-wise with cycling in general. And it’s free so if an issue is cr@p I don’t care.

The MBR Specialized “bias” doesn’t matter in the slightest to me. I can imagine Spesh bikes are bloody good. Doubt I’ll ever buy one though, so they won’t influence my buying.

I don’t think they are biased.
The problem is that Spesh have been making MTBs for a very long time, and they seem to be rather good at it by now. Then because they are so big, their good bikes can be sold cheaply. As such you’ll struggle to get anything much better, at any price point.
I seem to remember ‘back in the day’ that a Stumpy was a bike to be drooled over, whilst Giant and Scott were virtually budget brands and made some god-awful crap. How many cool retro Scotts do you see, for instance? You don’t.
And when I bought my Pitch, I read reviews in 3 mags that gave it top marks, Singletrack included…….

Anyone else spot the typos in the latest STW?

Just the latest?