Extension of the MBR vs MBUK thread really.

Has anyone seen the TDF issue of 'Rouleur' magazine or seen the free mag called 'Fixed' and thought how mtb publishing has slipped/got lazy?

Roleur;- Beautiful words, photo's, layout, art and printing
Fixed;- Good words, photo's, layout, art and printing, plus attitude. Like 'Vice' magazine on two wheels [and no freehub]

Discuss………………

Cough..
http://www.privateer.cc/

🙂

Are you a fakenger?

Seriously though i do subscribe to st but do get board of it every now and then as i find they get very similar with similar stories month after month, i find this the same with most magazines mbr and mbuk so a change to something completly diferent does give a whole new look as you said above.

Read them for a few month and they will become plain and MTB mags will look better again.

The grass is always greener and so on.

Not seen 'Fixed' but I much prefer Rouleur and the Ride Journal to any other cycling magazine. But they are both more in tune with the kind of riding I do, like lots of different types of bikes, than a specific mtb mag.

Yes and Rouleur is £9!!! 😯 an issue.

I'd rather pay £9, although under £8 if you order from wiggle, for something I read from cover to cover than £4 for something I only read half of.

But each to their own and all that.

I've always thought that dirt magazine was a brilliant magazine. Well written and beautifully put together.

Thats what I'm talking about Mr. Munro. Looks promising……..

Remember getting my 1st Singletrack [ah!] with a pic of just a tyre and mud on the cover [issue 4 I think] and feeling connected. Over the years it seems to have developed into something more mainstream, [thats progress for you, victim of its' own success. No blame attached] Still buy it and feel it's heart is in the right place. Just been looking for something new, thats all.

I'm sure putting out a magazine monthly is the biggest dictate on its' identity, so it would be great to see a publication start with a bit more time and space to breathe. [and yes, I am holding my breath!]

Singlespeed Shep;-

I'm faker than a fakenger. Ride a singlespeed Giant bowery [not fixed] all over East & Central London and Manchester, [usually in a pair of cut offs'] or a ss rigid mtb when i'm not on the fully in the Peaks, North Downs or Chiltern Hills! [not in cut offs' I hasten to add!]

Seriously though. I live in Manchester, [GF in London, same bike collection] and easy as it is to laugh at Hoxton tw*ts on fixies with scooter bars, the bike scene in London is amazing. There's more to life than chucking the bike in the back of the car and heading off to a trail centre.

Oh, and another thing, the whole fixie 'trend' has done more to get girls on and into bikes than anything. [you do like girls don't you?]

Sorry if i'm hijacking my own thread here 😳

The Rouleur crowd have a quarterly mountain bike magazine out later this month

link

magazines about fized wheeled bikes?

Edited by Nathan Barley?

I read dirt and ride singletrack, to be honest dirt's text has started to peeve me off, occasional pages in landscape I can live wit, but the random font sizes, line lengths, orientation is beinging to give me headaches!

I usualy like the photo annual issues, really liked the ride BMX one, bought their actual magazine (the ride to glory issue) the other day and hated it, it was actualy crap! Read like a diary from someon who took so many drugs they couldnt remember what they'd done or why they were writing it (which may be true judgeing from the pics).

Ooh, like the look of that Privateer thing.

Am a Rouleur subscriber. I'm also a Ride Journal reader. These appeal much more to wider areas of my life than just riding (good writing, design, etc.).

Yes and Rouleur is £9!!! an issue.

The first issue of Rouluer now sells for 200 quid +. issues 1 -10 are about 25/30 quid a pop on ebay…. well worth the 9 quid investment!

I am currently thinking ProCycling is the best of the bunch.

The Ride Journal is pants IMO. I don't want to read articles about commuters, and there's too many of those to balance out the good stuff.

Read like a diary from someon who took so many drugs they couldnt remember what they'd done or why they were writing it (which may be true judgeing from the pics).

Ride BMX has always been like that. It's great, i like the way it doesn't devote fifty pages to "reviewing" products.

The only Rouleur I don't have is issue 1. And the cost s/h (for either the pink or silver versions) is now beyond my reach. I would, however, like to read it some time.

the latest issue is interestingly printed on a different grade of paper, lending it a "floppier" feel. I'm in two minds as to whether that's a good thing or not.

It has captured – and, more importantly, informed – a key part of the new cycling zeitgeist. £9 isn't much to pay, given that it was originally quarterly and is now published six times a year.

I bought the TdF copy of Rouleur, my first one, and I still haven't finished it.

Some of the writing is so massively boring that I keep avoiding picking it up. (I'm stuck on the 'Mountains' article. I've ridden some of these mountains, but the descriptions are so dry that they give me no enthusiasm to actually go and ride any more.)

And truthfully speaking, the photography isn't fantastic in my view either – there's nothing in there that made me want to learn how to use a camera properly!

There is nothing in the mag at all that made me want to subscribe and for £9 an issue I was expecting a little more…. I'm not sure…….. maybe enthusiasm for the subject?

I just want a mag that isn't 80% adverts and 15% telling me I need a slack head angle to be gnar!! I have given up with all mags at the 'mo.

ourmaninthenorth – Member
Ooh, like the look of that Privateer thing.

❓

Seriously why? That advert is the biggest load of horsepoo I've seen for a long time.

“Mountain bike syndrome they call it, Privateer is just a symptom.”
Tym Manley

Oh look, Tym Manley from MBUK is involved. His columns in MBUK are always good and thought provoking aren't they? No!

Privateer is for mountain bikers who already know the obvious; for riders who have paid their dues in sweat and dust and broken bone, and are irrevocably hooked.

Good grief. 🙄

If you’ve got mountain biking and it’s got you, a deep emotional connection exists that is agony to even try and explain:

It's getting better……

a permanent bond with the trails, the sounds, the fear, the great outdoors, the beads of sweat, the coffee and cake, the beer – a bond between rider, bike and terrain that grips forever.

Can I say 'Good grief' again?

You do not want to be told what to buy, how to ride or where to go. You much prefer to get closer to the spirit of the thing. We aim to remind readers why they got into mountain bikes in the first place and why they continue to love it.

Didn't Freddy Mercury sum it so much more succinctly back in the 70s?

I'm off to bond with my bike, some beads of sweat and cake.

I've only ever seen one copy of Rouleur, but it was nice. I'm too tight to spend that much on a mag though. Like Dirt, signed up for Privateer ages ago haven't heard owt yet.

Seriously why?

Because if they can do with MTBing what I like that Rouleur has managed with road, cross and track racing, then it'll be good (in my eyes). The criteria I measure it buy are (1) good writing (which doesn't mean a detailed description of turns, corners, roots and rocks, as is the norm for MTB magts) and (2) interesting photography (in my eyes).

I agree that the advertisement is weak, so the end product (if it appears), better be more capable than that. I'll reserve judgement until I hold a copy in my hand.

Rouleur is pretty good and so is Ride. But i also like Urban Velo (which is a free download from their website).

Privateer looks pants…but then again so are almost all the mountain bike mags.

I heard a rumour that the first issue of Privateer was going to be out on 27 Aug. Not heard anything since though, but would be interested to have a look at it as I like Rouleur.

Andy

Just signed up for the notification on Privateer as I had never heard of it, thanks. My collection of early Rouleur helped me to avoid eviction when I sold them. £90 for issue 1! But then again I got £20 for one of the Rapha free brochures that they used to post out in the first couple of years. And got about £80 for all 10 when sold in the end. I like most of the writing. Production vales are very good IMHO. Photography. Good but not brilliant. They seem to think that full page, double page, B&W automatically means hihg art photos. There are some good pics but IMO also a number that are somewhat self indulgent/not as good as the photog/art editor thinks they are. Overall though, I like it.

The Ride Journal has many of the same problems but I don't feel the writing is as good/interesting as Rouleur.

A2B and Velovision are my staples. They go with the beard and singlespeed 8)

New to this mountain biking thing, so have read the past two MBRs. I was riding fixed when it wasn't trendy; in rural Oxfordshire so might look at Rouleur.

And yes, Procycling is the best for road race commentary.

Has anyone had a copy of the Freehub twice yearly bog reading material?

Bar a couple of intros on celeb riders, it's pretty good…

I do like the "new" Procycling and subscribed straight away. £8.11 for 3 issues as opposed to £4.99 in the shop. Seems daft not too really.

Hate to say it but I do find ST very up and down these days. I've hardly touched the last issue while I read the previous one in no time at all. I think personal head space may have something to do with it. Do wonder though if it's a problem of having such a long standing staff. Maybe some more freelance stuff would boost the interest factor.

Managed to kick the MBR habit earlier in the year (I am a magazine-aholic) and think What Mountainbike could well go the same way very soon.

Procycling since the relaunch has been great, well worth the sub, it seems to have really picked up, MTB magazines take off the cover and the scoring system and it's nig on impossible to tell the difference between them, writing and photography is about the same along with the content, Dirt is the exception to the rule, it looks nice and seems to actually focus on riding rather than kit and when it does look at kit it's often at a far more detailed level which makes a refreshing change.

Can't wait for privateer this time next year I'll hopefully be doing an ebay special of issue 1 of the Ride, Rouleur and Privateer, that'll be a holiday paid for I reckon 😉