Following on from the interesting what do you read and why thread i thought it might be interesting to know what people want from a mag?
I'll start:
1. I'd like less info on the routes but more than just the directions and map. a page full of pics and a brief description of the trails (ie rocky, rooty, loamy) and what conditions it will stand up to. I dont want a story book about who said what to who and that they decided to stop for a banana and a pee cos the wind was getting up a bit!
Not to say i dont want ride ideas but a few pics and a few hundred words should surfice. I agree its good to ride other places, but i want facts and figures not a story.
2. a bit more real world tests and opinions please. MBR this month have slated singlespeeding and they have called a 32lb £1500 150mm bike a budget trail bike. Now i dont know anyone who would call £1500 'budget', or anyone that would call 150mm 'trail', or anyone who would want to ride a 32lb bike with that much travel for more than 20mins where i live in the Peak District. And if anyone from London tries telling me i 'need' 150mm for their local trails then they need shooting. I grew up in london and 'cut my mtbing teeth' in london, riding north and south downs, epping forest and the like and there is no way that much travel is needed. in fact there is a guy i see from time to time in the peak who rides a fully rigid singlespeed. and if you can ride that there, then you can ride it anywhere. I went to the Alps with a hardtail with 'only' 120mm forks. and that was on some really rather nasty stuff around Les Gets.
3. More new products pages. I could swear there were more new products and stuff like it only a few years ago, but recently the trend has gone away from that.
4. more product tests. fewer full bike tests and more product tests. I dont know about you, but once i have a bike i like i dont think about changing the whole bike for something else, i only think about upgrading or at least changing parts.
5. get rid of the 'workshop' page where it tells you how to fit a tubeless tyre. This page used to be really good but since the internet became a popular item in most people's houses, this can be used as a tool for 'how-to's and it only takes a few mins to find what you want. this also gives me a sense of a job well done when i have researched it, repaired/fixed/fitted what it was and relaxed at the end. havig 12 random items a year aint really providing anything extra is it?
I quite like the readers letters and the question pages. i like the product tests that most mags put out and can see their place in the market. I like some of the bike tests but i would rather see bikes tested individually and honestly than matched up against 3 other bikes that may have been designed with something else in mind just to see which is 'best' when who's to say that the one that receives the lowest marks might be the one best suited to my riding.
so in short i would like; facts and figures about routes not stories, a bit more of a 'real world' perspective, more new products, more product tests, and lose the workshop pages.
