i must admit to still buying magazines now and again (mostly mtb/guitar mags,but not that often) i must say though that out of all the mtb ones,am favouring singletrack the most nowadays.it just seems a more real (if that makes any sense?) down to earth magazine than the rest what do you think?

Read it occasionally, seems like the best of a pretty poor bunch, which sounds like I’m damning them with faint praise I suppose.

I really like it. It feels slightly more inline with how I see mtb.

Mbuk is my favourite, the rest are just too up their own arses. Though it’s still not that good.

I “think” this is an market segment related thing. Singletrack I like, but then I am slap bang in the middle of their key demographic. They know their audience and play to that. Good strategy.

Would like to see more articles by Ed (beard) though, his stuff normally very good and the “Man and Boy” one a year or 2 back was wonderful.

I liked Benji’s rant this month, didn’t agree with all of it, but a good article nonetheless.

Privateer I kind of like also, but it’s like thicker version of singletrack.

Really like the Ride journal. The rest really are all a mix. MBRs “old blokes who should know better” is great! 🙂

Kev

and blame the dog is excellent. Whilst on a “Bike” (US mag) tangent…

Can they do an “Ask Ed” column or “Ask Matt” in the style of “Ask Chopper” (also from Bike)?

It’s pretty variable, I find some issues much better than others. This month’s was pretty good, the Jenn Hopkins article was very well written. Quite often there are what seem to be “bought in” articles mainly about riding in interesting places, but I find the writing lacks a little depth – the articles seem to have been written by non-native English speakers or have been translated.

I’m more into the features than the reviews so they are at the mercy of how much they can write themselves in a month, and what outside contributions they get.

Much better than other monthly mags, but it would be nice to include some more Ride Journal style pieces too.

I like it. It’s aimed a bit more at the sort of rider that I fondly imagine I am (or would be if I had the money for flash bikes!).

overall the best of the bunch but I can’t stand blame the dog, that’s a load of pretentious bull.

i like a magazine i can read that’s written by adults who do the same sort of riding that i do or aspire to do, not a comic for children with a limited attention span, that’s why i buy ST and occasionally Dirt but non of the others unless i’m really really desperate

Quite often there are what seem to be “bought in” articles mainly about riding in interesting places, but I find the writing lacks a little depth – the articles seem to have been written by non-native English speakers or have been translated.

You know I’d never thought about it like that but I know what you mean.

The problem with all the MTB mags as I see it is that there’s just not a wide enough spread of different types of articles. Tests, ride articles, interviews. That’s yer lot really. I can hazard a guess as to why, but compared to ‘Bike’ motorcycle magazine for instance there’s an awful lot lacking.

OOh, forgot about Dirt. It’s excellent. Singletrack is highly relevant for me now, Dirt is definitely my aspirational state (hucking, tabletopping, gnar mashing, rock hound riding). Dirt are also very clear on their segment IMHO, and aim at that squarely.

Kev

Quite often there are what seem to be “bought in” articles mainly about riding in interesting places

in the very early days of ST there was an article about riding in Alaska and i’d read it word for word in Bike Magazine, happily it was a good piece so i didn’t grumble

I buy the magazine from time to time mainly because I use the forum a lot and feel I should support it. Some of it is good but some of it feels a bit amateurish tbh, and I find often the photography isn’t that great, IMHO.

Mind you I don’t find magazine for any subject to be that amazing, I’ve bought a few photography ones that aren’t great either. I quite like MBUK though 😳

MBUK doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is great. I do like Singletrack and also buy Dirt and Bike, but then I’m a photography whore. Bike is probably my favourite, even of half the articles are utter trollop – the photos just have me creaming my undershorts.

Edit: The Albion. A BMX mag as it should be, even if you don’t ride BMX (which I don’t anymore). F’king excellent. And free!

It’s not for me at all. the magazine content is pretty much irrelivent to the riding/bikes/kit I do/like/use.

i like the attitude and approach of ST more so than other mags.

they seem more interested in ‘riding’, lifestyle and adventure. more a ‘get out and ride’ philosophy than a ‘ooh, i know lots about new items, the weights, who that racer is, etc’.

their write ups seem honest and not full of anal detailing about weights and stiffness.

i only buy i occasionally, but keep meaning to sign up for the digital version.

here in germany the magazines are crap awful. more concerned with either xc, carbon wankiness or big bike hucking. not so much middle ground, which is what i think ST does well. there seems to be a lack of article written by riders for riders. more articles written by bike journos (i know ST are also bike journos,but they come across as a little less up their own arses than others) for people that want to know everything; who go on to tell you about each component on their bike, the latest forks, drivetrain etc, but seem to spend more time being engrossed in the lifestyle than living it.

how easy is it to start up a magazine?

the problem for all the mags is that there’s only so much you can write about riding a bike up and down some hills. most of the mags get away with this by largely being advertorials. singletrack does a pretty good job of avoiding that by and large and ime has always attempted to fill its pages with stuff that you want to read about, in a style that makes you want to read it.

plus, i’ve ridden as a guide for featured rides with almost all of the main mags and st were the only people that sent a couple of guys out that seemed like a couple of mountain bikers on a weekend ride rather than a couple of journalists on mountain bikes. i’m pretty sure that that is relevant to how the mag reads.

It’s OK. I’ve started being more selective before choosing to buy it (thumbing through first). I really like blame the dog but not a big fan of Jenns articles.
I do find that the articles about rides don’t include much detail of what the ride/trails are actually like and more about the feelings/emotions of the rider which can be a bit frustrating. Probably a bit too much niche-ness in there too IMHO. Pretty good and easily one of the better mags overall.

The editorials are usually good, grinder reviews seem relevant, fitness articles seem a bit copy’n’paste, big foreign trip articles don’t really interest, route guides are ok.

Used to like the ‘fish out of water’ type articles that ran a while back, most of the ‘industry insider’ stuff I also find interesting.

Overall I guess once you’ve read a mag for a few years it does tend to lose the *wow* factor, but stw does seem to be balancing the articles quite well between the interest of old hands and newcomers.

I’d miss if it weren’t there 🙂

Singletrack is a great mag, but gear and reviews seem a but aimed at their location. Not all of us are blessed with living oop north. Mbuk is good, but a bit too baggy-jeans-and-piss-pot for me sometimes, mbr is a steady ok, but it’s what mountain bike that gets my monthly subscription year after year.

they seem more interested in ‘riding’, lifestyle and adventure. more a ‘get out and ride’ philosophy than a ‘ooh, i know lots about new items, the weights, who that racer is, etc’.

That sums it up pretty well for me too.. and I find the articles are interesting rather than trying to be clever or cool.. and it’s not really trying too hard to sell me stuff either..

the first time I ever saw the mag it was mostly filled with articles advising us not to waste money following the latest trends and extolling an ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ attitude.. which is nice

I generally like Singletrack, and occasionally buy Dirt as I find the article style and photography to be good even if I can only dream of riding some of the stuff they talk about.

I guess the reason I like Dirt is that most of the articles are about something and have human interest even if I would never do the thing itself. Many of the Singletrack abroad articles turn me off as they usually seem to be expensive “look where I went on my holidays” diaries rather than experiential accounts set to a backdrop. I guess I would like to hear more about the culture of biking and the issues surrounding it.

I would like to see more opinion pieces (access articles, Ferrentino, Chips’ editorials, etc), rants (A la Benji this month), stories about biking not stories with bikes in (Ed Oxley, Great divide, Jen, etc) and reviews (preferably of affordable stuff and lots of tyres, this months XO and expensive wheels reviews had me laughing and choking in equal measures. Made the Tracer2 almost seem like good value.). I want to read stuff to inspire me and keep me sane when I can’t get out, not see someones holiday snaps with some words attached. Detailed route guides with trail info, conditions, etc would also be nice in addition to the story.

got an online subscription recently, so been looking at alot of the back issue, articles are pretty good in general, but i don’t read the kit stuff really, also too many ads for my liking, understandable but still too many..

If nothing else, the photography is generally stunning and will keep me entertained even if the articles aren’t too great. Overall though I really like it – good mix of reviewy bits, trip bits and interviews (with interesting people thankfully..). Keep it up I say!

As a magazine it’s absolutely top drawer. They’ve got the mix perfect IMHO, catering for the range of readership that a national magazine demands. Hence I’ve had a subscription for years.

I totally agree with alpin’s summary. I don’t want to read about dogs bollox, XTR, supa-dupa, ultra-light, carbon fibre, mega-bling, because its about as relevant to me as watching Clarkson test drive a Ferrari on Top Gear, insofar as they’re both about as affordable.

I think Benji’s rant was the best article for a while. I love Mike’s stuff. Consistently insightful and interesting. Some of the contributor articles (you lot) are brilliant, giving a non-industry take on everything. Which other mag does that?

The route guides are always good. Have you ever ridden an MBR route? No? Neither have they?

I’ve tried stuff ie: Bivvying – on the strength of articles. And, for gods sake, they provide this place. They should receive a government ‘care in the community’ grant for that.

I’m sorry TJ, but I appear to have bought into ‘the brand’ 😉

Ohh Errrr.. posting about the Mag on the Mags forum.. will this get shut down?

Well I like the Mag, I think it fits my riding style well and has some pretty good tests in it, with a variety of bikes too (all inclusive styles etc.) I’m a fan of the Journo’ist and story telling mentality, keeps me entertained anyhoo’s. Pics are a bit odd at times, I mean how many photos of a bike placed against a roack can one man take, but on the whole it’s a solid well build Mag.

I likes the forum me betters.

Its ok, I do pick up the odd copy once in a while.

I subscribe to what mountain bike which is ok to read, but I wish they would get rid of all the bikes and kit list at the back of the mags!

The STW forum is my fav though, just ticks all the box’s for me! 🙂

I enjoy having an ST subscription but don’t really analyse it each month…as a subscriber it turns up on my mat normally when I’m not expecting it and I read it, sometimes I’ll read every article, sometimes I’ll just browse through. Think I’ve looked at the current mag for about 5 minutes so far. Then it makes it’s way to the smallest room where it stays getting read for months, possibly years

I like the mag a lot. Have an online sub which works well for me. Articles are just the right mix fpor me.

I borrow copies of Dirt from a mate, also a good mag.

Don’t read it any more. Used to like it but I don’t think the quality of writing or the originality is there these days. There used to be the odd good article but not enough of them to keep me interested.

grum – Member
I buy the magazine from time to time mainly because I use the forum a lot and feel I should support it. Some of it is good but some of it feels a bit amateurish tbh, and I find often the photography isn’t that great, IMHO.

nuke – Member
I enjoy having an ST subscription but don’t really analyse it each month…as a subscriber it turns up on my mat normally when I’m not expecting it and I read it, sometimes I’ll read every article, sometimes I’ll just browse through.

Big Dave – Member
Don’t read it any more. Used to like it but I don’t think the quality of writing or the originality is there these days. There used to be the odd good article but not enough of them to keep me interested.

All of that^

I keep making a mental note to cancel my print subscription and go digital. At least that would save the waster of paper and the cost of postage.

Personally, I think they should just package up the best bits of the forum every month.

Would. Be. Comedy. Gold.

😐

I’ve been a subscriber for a couple of years now (and buying off the shelf for a year or so before that), for most of the reasons Alpin gave. Living in Sweden, we have no real dedicated MTB mag; just a couple of ‘cycling’ ones and the odd bit in outdoor-lifestyle mags. I don’t feel that any of the mags here reflect the actual situation of mountain-biking in the country. It’s all about top-draw, XC-race bikes and bits, or when they do beginner stuff it assumes that XC-racing is the default aspiration.

For me ST is just by, for and about ordinary people who like bikes. Yes, some of it’s a bit rubbish sometimes, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I also read Dirt simply because it’s entertaining, well written and, again, seems to be written by people who love what they do.

Bought first copy 2004. I read it and like it when I buy it. My subscription runs out from time to time and I forget to get around to renewing for 5 or 6 months – don’t know if that says any more than I’m disorganised!

Poor form to slag off a magazine/company on its own forum that it funds for little return imo.

The trouble with all MTB mags is that after a while they run out of things to write about and repeat themselves. Nowadays with the internet MTB news articals are pointless because they are a month out of date. So then the only new thing to write about is product, which is basicly ‘here is some new stuff, only just slightly better than the old stuff’

I subbed to singletrack for a couple of years, it was a slightly different take to what had come before, but then it got all a bit samey.

However, of all of them, Singletrack does seem to try the hardest to be good. So I still by it from time to time, Dirt less so, and MBR in moments of weakness.

I was a subscriber for about 4 or 5 years, really enjoyed it for the majority of the time I subscribed, however I got a bit bored with it towards the end of my subscription. While previously I used to read the magazine from cover to cover and reading some of the articles several times over, towards the end of my last subscription the magazine used to remain in its plastic wrapper for days/weeks. Part of the change was me though, while STW seemed to concentrate more on bigger bikes/bigger riding in the STW demesne I had changed from a LT hardtail to a rigid SS 29er, so it became kind of less revalent to me I felt. I’ll definitely subscribe in the future though once the ennui has passed.

Jamie – Member
Personally, I think they should just package up the best bits of the forum every month.

There used to be more of a link between the two. References to the forum are now occasional and usually in the midst of an article.

Poor form to slag off a magazine/company that funds a forum for little return imo.

I wonder what the web site revenue from advertising is? OK sure its nowhere near enough to cover the cost, but still, these guys are not some magical charity you know.

It is still the only mag I have ever subscribed to but that doesn’t mean it is perfect. There is still too much of the Calder Crew and Friends. I accept that if this is your experience then that’s what you will write about but it leads me not to take some reviews/comments seriously e.g I never believe anything about Ragley. In common with a lot of magazines, columns are sometimes a cop out. It’s easy and cheap to get somebody to write a page about anything. I already listen to plenty of ill informed ranting when I ride with friends. Having said that I really enjoyed Benji’s rant which wasn’t strictly speaking a column