The attempt to turn a simple bike ride story into some sort of high art just makes me yawn.

…because it’s typically not done very well perhaps?

I just want to agree with stilltortoise.

There, done it.

Dirt has the best article content as far as i’m concerned but I had to bin my subscription as i couldn’t put up with the quality of the writing. The main offender is Steve Jones who, despite his obvious enthusiasm for the sport, can’t cobble together a decent article. His reviews turn into mindless drivel with no real opinion or insight into the kit in question and his trip articles just ramble on in an incoherant manner. Shame really but i guess that’s the problem with a magazine written by bikers on biking rather than writers that happen to like biking.

STW – on the whole well written but way too many boring articles about lifestyle cycling for me.

Might try the latest MBUK though, sounds like it might provide some much needed impetus to get out and ride in the mud.

I just want to disagree with stilltortoise.

I think STW is well done, I just think it’s repetitive and has got a bit dull to me. There are only so many times I can read ‘we went somewhere nice and we found some nice people and we rode some nice trails and here are some nice pictures of it’.

Anything if it’s done long enough gets dull. I don’t blame the STW crew one bit, they work hard and do it as well as anybody could.

New people getting into biking will pick it up with fresh eyes and love it. So maybe it’s me that’s dull.

There, done it.

its like the daily star of biking world.

I like to read reviews of kit, see race results and otherwise be inspired to go out and ride my bike. I pickup a mag for a short 10minutes or less entertainment. If I want something more involving I’ll read a book. The attempt to turn a simple bike ride story into some sort of high art just makes me yawn.

^^ This

The main offender is Steve Jones who, despite his obvious enthusiasm for the sport, can’t cobble together a decent article. His reviews turn into mindless drivel with no real opinion or insight into the kit in question

I really like Jones’ “authentic” style. Granted it’s not going to win awards for journalism and prose, but I like the irreverent, enthusiastic, “down the pub with your mates chatting about stuff you REALLY love doing” way he writes. I’d sooner read ten articles like that than one where someone is trying to write an arty, MTB version of Into The Wild……..

I’d sooner read ten articles like that than one where someone is trying to write an arty, MTB version of Into The Wild……..

There’s a big middle ground between these examples that I reckon it’d do mags good to venture into more often

There’s a big middle ground between these examples that I reckon it’d do mags good to venture into more often

Good point there….

stilltortoise – Member

So true, which is why the quality of the writing is as important if not more important than the content. ……………………

I’ve said it before, but someone like Tom Ford – who writes for Top Gear mag amongst others – could write about paint drying and make it a good read. It’s a skill that few of the writers in the MTB mags possess.

I was mentally comparing bike mags to car mags as just before I read this comment.

I’ve bought Evo mag irregularly since it started simply because of the standard of writing. Despite only writing about performance cars they still manage to find articles which feel fresh and cover things that I know nothing about. (An excellent article about the Pikes Peak hillclimb, or Catchpoles series about rally driving spring to mind.)

I don’t see that bikes are any different. There’s a whole world of places to ride, events to do and different disciplines to write about. The problem is when you try and restrict all that to something randomly called a ‘mountain bike’.

I’d love to see a well written mag covering everything that I do. MTB, cx racing, touring, spectating at pro-road events. Unfortunately just that short list needs different mags because road keeps itself to itself, MTB mags won’t write about road and who writes about track?

Anyway, I’ve wandered off slightly!

I’d love to see a well written mag covering everything that I do. MTB, cx racing, touring, spectating at pro-road events. Unfortunately just that short list needs different mags because road keeps itself to itself, MTB mags won’t write about road and who writes about track?

Thing is that there are plenty of good “sub category” car mags, focusng either on a brand, an era, performance, tuning etc etc. What I think has happened in MTB mags is that they have got a little too polarised, either towards DH or expedition riding in STW’s case. I don’t count WMB as it is just a buyer’s guide really. MBR and MBUK seem to straddle the middle ground pretty well, but it does look like Dirt and MBUK will be the ones to really capitalise on the accessibility of Enduro, which going on sellout race entries when so many other formats are suffering, seems to be the way the sport is headed.

The “MBUK is for kids” thing makes I lol… Last issue I read had a fat bike review, a carbon xc race bike review, some nice riding around kinlochleven, a feature on Matt Page, and a slightly beardy tour of Norcal. More singletrack than singletrack in places.

The “MBUK is for kids” thing makes I lol.

Yup I downloaded it, it’s changed a lot since the “Rob Warner comic strips” days.

It’s now near indistinguishable from MBR and WMB.

I used to subscribe to Classic Bike until they started recycling the same articles from a couple of years before. Maybe there is only so much you can write about and I don’t envy any of the staff at any of the MB mags having to come up with something original every month.

That said some of the content in road orientated mags is just bizarre (try the article about Brian Nygaard in the current Rouleur)..

I wouldn’t mind seeing some tests in ST where owners of the same bike / frame put theirs up for comparison. Might only run to a couple of issues I guess (month 1 – Five’s, month 2 – Soul’s) 😉

I like MBUK because they publish my blog.