but the mtb audience was never like that during the life of ST mag. Maybe 5+ years before that but not in 2001(?) when ST started

I’ve never really been that into the mag and only ever bought a few copies, however the last one I bought a few months ago was quite interesting.

Have to agree, I’m not into buying an MTB mag and reading about CX though.

Well, i like it! There, i’I’ve said it!

No, i’m not really personally that interested in CX, but i’m mature and open minded enough to realise that others are, and enjoy reading about things, even if i’m never going to actually go and do them. The photography is great, the stories about world travel make you want to be there (again, even if 99.999% of people will never get off their ass and go). Critising what others do just because you have no interest in it is pretty narrow minded. (unless we are talking about Golf, which is just total S**T!)

You’re never going to get a magazine that has to cater to a wide audience, such as all the minutiae of “Biking”, that perfectly suits every reader every month!

It’s totally fine to not like the mag AND not consider writing anything better. I hate marmite but no one thinks that’s an invalid stance because I’ve not yet come up with a better recipe

You’ll not come up with a better recipe, either – it’s already perfect.

I buy the mag every month and have done for about 3 years. I always enjoy it but I have to say this months left me feeling a bit uninspired. I like CX but wasn’t expecting to see that much CX content in a MTB mag.

It’s still one of the better mags though.

Pft. Marmite is good people not manly enough to have Bovril. It’s like trying to pass vege-bacon off as smoked bacon.

I’m waiting for the Sainsbury’s down the road to get MBR in. Used to have subs to MBUK but not for a while now, it made me spend more, ride less. Only buy a mag now if there are a few articles/suggested routes of interest, usually either MBUK, What Mountain Bike, MBR or Singletrack.

Are we talking about Issue 86?

Having flicked through it I can only find a review of some CX shoes and SRAM road hydraulics. Oh, and two pages on the Pivot CX bike – a bike made by a MTB company, so surely worth a mention?

Are people that sensitive that they can’t cope with less than 4 pages of content they don’t like? Or am I missing a big chunk of mag somewhere?

“Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine” unless I’m mistaken

…

What you can or can’t do on a cross bike doesn’t matter; it still doesn’t belong in a mountain bike mag,

So just because you can ride that bike on singletrack in the mountains doesn’t mean it is suitable for Singletrack Mountain Bike magazine? Interesting.

Should they also remove coverage of riding/routes that features hills instead of mountains, or anything that doesn’t actually have singletrack?

Pffft… it’s all bikes innit?

maxtorque – Member

i’m mature and open minded enough to realise that others are, and enjoy reading about things, even if i’m never going to actually go and do them.

ST and others have done interesting mtb-derived articles on other stuff including cx. Was it Chipps that did the 3 peaks? Dirt sent a boy off to do a CX race with flat pedals, kneepads and a pisspot. Same sort of vein as Chipps doing the endurance downhill at fort william, “not singletrack” but still good.

But simple product reviews? That’s different IMO, an article can be interesting even if it’s “not for me” but a review of a product that’s outwith your sport, not so much, that’s only interesting if you’re already interested in cx. And even there, there’s degrees- an entry level CX bike is far more likely to be of interest to a cross-curious mountainbiker than a set of brakes that cost as much as a bike.

GrahamS – Member

So just because you can ride that bike on singletrack in the mountains doesn’t mean it is suitable for Singletrack Mountain Bike magazine? Interesting.

I could ride my downhill bike to work, doesn’t mean it belongs in Roadieworld. I can plug my phone into my guitar amp- should Guitar magazine include phone reviews?

CX is not mountain biking, and ST is a mountain bike magazine, is it so ridiculous that people buying a specific interest mag should get what they paid for? It’s not like ST have run out of mountain bikes to review.

IdleJon – Member

Oh, and two pages on the Pivot CX bike – a bike made by a MTB company,

Going by that logic, you can safely include a couple of pages on Shimano’s new fishing reels next month

Just for some perspective, issue 86 has around 100 pages of editorial. 3 pages were allocated to CX this issue. Or in mathematical terms… 3% CX.

Are still folk trying to pigeon-hole mountain bikes? Perhaps we should have a few definitions;

I assume that lack of rear suspension is allowable.
Lack of front suspension appears to be OK too.

Is it the funny bars that put folk off then – or is it the width of the tyres? What about drop-barred mountain bikes with 2″ knobblies?

What about bikes that don’t get ridden on mountains?

We’ve got a van test coming up in a forthcoming issue! Should we put bars on the office windows and use mirrors on sticks before we get in our cars?

🙂

Mark – Resident Grumpy

Just for some perspective, issue 86 has around 100 pages of editorial. 3 pages were allocated to CX this issue. Or in mathematical terms… 3% CX.

In the spirit of that perspective, I will restrain myself to asking for a 15p refund from my subscription 😉

almightydutch – Member

Could it be that Singletrack magazine are making an effort to produce content based on the threads we see in here? CX bollocks et al

I eagerly await the 100 page feature on the killing of Mark Duggan

I like it, its a mag about mountain biking, not about mountain bikes.

I like the fact I have little idea what it’ll contain but its normally worth a read. If it floated in the bath it would be better.

Things I love:

Gear reviews
Rides in inspiring places
Adventures
Great photography

I don’t love columns which seem to me the rantings of people with too much time to think.

But then I never expect to like 100% of content in any magazine unless it is Flipboard, which is bespoke for me! Perhaps that is the future forward for ST, selecting and paying for the content that most interests you. In the meantime I don’t mind paying knowing that I will like most, if not all of the content.

If it floated in the bath it would be better.

It does…

All the mags follow the same principle no change, go to Wales, scotland, down south, oop north and then start again,

how to replace a hub,tyre,various parts of the bike etc,

New bike test,

bikes under a thousand quid,

bikes over a thousand quid.

tests of shoes,equipment accesories, all covered in mud etc,

How to ride mud, gnarly bits ,uphill, downhill, flat and anything in between,

Bike shop mystery shopper,

and then winter riding, lighting, warm weather riding, etc etc.

Same every year, thats why ive stopped buying the mags.

Nice summary Project, except ST mag is nothing like that.

It was all still bivvying, CX and – in the immortal phrase coined by someone on here – “whimsical mincing” the last time I read it.

* signs up for life subscription *

Just for some perspective, issue 86 has around 100 pages of editorial. 3 pages were allocated to CX this issue. Or in mathematical terms… 3% CX.

Next you’ll be telling us the font size has never changed.

I subscribe mainly because I spend so much time on here, but I must admit I often forget to download the mag.

Incidentally – can we arrange some kind of kindle version that gets automatically pushed to your device, like newspapers? Given the small number of publications on the periodical Kindle site I assume that it costs money to do?

If you could use some third party tool to create a Kindle version you could just email it out to subscribers’ kindle addresses. Or for that matter, just email the PDF would be a start.

scotroutes – Member
Are still folk trying to pigeon-hole mountain bikes?

Don’t think so, no.

Mountain Bike = Mountain Bike
Cyclocross Bike = Cyclocross Bike
Mountain Bike =/= Cyclocross Bike

Hope that clears it up for you

Mountain Bike = Mountain Bike
Cyclocross Bike = Cyclocross Bike
Mountain Bike =/= Cyclocross Bike
Hope that clears it up for youYes
[/quote]FTFY

Oh I see there is a Kindle version. I sense an app coming on.

There’s a few folk have said that they only subscribe to support the forum. Perhaps Mark & Co should look at a forum only/reduced ad subscription option….

CX is not mountain biking, and ST is a mountain bike magazine,

Singlespeeding is not mountian biking. Mountain bikes have gears.

Cross-country is not mountain biking. Needs mountains.

Downhilling is not mountain biking. Mountain bikes go up mountains too and lots of downhilling occurs on paths that are wider than singletrack!

Just had a flick through the current mag and really I don’t know what folks are moaning about – doesn’t seem like too much CX bollocks in there to me. In fact I had to go through twice to spot it!

is it so ridiculous that people buying a specific interest mag should get what they paid for?

Where can I buy “Riding CX Bikes Up Hills For Fun Instead Of Round Muddy Fields In Pain magazine?”

If riding a bike up and down a hill/mountain for fun isn’t “mountain biking” because the bike has curvy handlebars, then what exactly is it?

What if someone puts straight bars on it? Is that allowed?

franksinatra – Member
Things I love:

Gear reviews

Just goes to show you can’t please everyone. I skip past pretty much all kit / bike reviews. If I wanted a cheap hardtail / riding gloves, I’d ask on here then go look in the shops. I do love everything else mentioned though.

I really, really miss that American writer’s pieces. Lifted the mag from being all about bikes to being about life seen through the eyes of someone who loves bikes and articulates it very well.

Enjoyed the real ale piece too 🙂

There’s a few folk have said that they only subscribe to support the forum. Perhaps Mark & Co should look at a forum only/reduced ad subscription option….

🙂

Saying CX is as close to MTBing as DH is ludicrous.
ST lost me when they started putting roadie stuff in. I want a mountain bike mag, not a cycling mag. Talk of CX isn’t tempting me to pick up a copy.

I really, really miss that American writer’s piece

Mike leaving and being replaced by someone who writes in a load of other mags was the proper end.

We all different aren’t we? For me it was a happy happy day when they ditched Mike ferentino

Have cancelled my sub but only because I am riding road far more than MTB. However, there’s no ‘road’ Singletrack out there. There’s Rouleur but it’s a bit too much picture:text ratio for my liking.

Singletrack used to be excellent, now it’s just good. I remember reading a few mags cover to cover, whereas these days I’ll skip the CX bits etc.

I’ve been a subscriber since the beginning and generally enjoy the magazine

Its hard thing to move a magazine to keep matching a sport that is evolving. In general I’d say job well done on the magazine

But I think I’m allowed rant

If I had a rant it would be carbon wheel reviews. For example issue 86

The ENVE jobs. £800 per rim. Not a pair or even a wheel. That’s just a carbon hoop, with some holes. The first line of the review is something like “testing really posh kit is completely pointless but we like ridding with free nice stuff”

Actually that’s not what it says but that’s how I read it

OK my sugestion is that they do some realy long term testing say XT verses Hope hubs. Say for 5 years with the odd catch up

or Deore vs XT long term cost diffrences

faz083 have you tried Cyclist as a road mag?

I like it and so do most of the guys I ride with.

Doesn’t mean it will suit everyone but thought I’d mention it.

However, there’s no ‘road’ Singletrack out there.

“Cyclist” is pretty good. Nice photography, interesting stories and not too “grim roadie”.

Their emag particularly is a nice example of how they should be done too (one article per long page, swipe down to read article, swip left/right to go to next page, swipe on photos to see extra ones that didn’t make print, swipe on bike photos to rotate them in 3d etc).

I started subscribing because the reviews used to seem honest, there would be reviews saying something worked fine but they couldn’t really see any need. That appealed to me at the time. Now I subscribe for the occasional brilliant article even thought they aren’t always there.

The Karwendal article highlights a problem to me though as I’ve been there quite a bit and the area is incredibly beautiful but the article just left me cold and seemed to end before it started. There was nothing there that would encourage me to want to go there. Having said that though I have no idea how you would write something that conveyed that. It’s a real skill that not everyone has

I’ll keep paying my £2 a month mainky for the forum and a very narrow chance I’ll win something some day.

Read the bits you like and skip the ones you dont…especially if you’re short of time standing in WH Smiths.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll read and enjoy (most of/bits of) the mag, as with any other mag, so I’m happy that it comes free with my forum sub 🙂 It’s just that I gave up mag buying and reading years ago (no point these days with the ‘net) and I never remember to download it.

I used to know when mags came out and look forward to buying them. Before the web that was the only chance you had to read about bikes.

molgrips +1 – that’s pretty much exactly where I am at.