Controversial perhaps, but out of all the UK mag forums this is by far the best one for on- and off-topic threads and most people know what they’re talking about (ie: fewer “why should I go tubeless”-type threads), but the mag seems like a parochial Hebden Bridge MTB club newsletter much of the time (seems that way to me anyway)?

The mag easily beats any of the others I’ve read in the past or still read and I’m not from Hebden. Have you actually read it recently?

trailridejim +1

Hmmm, this tubeless business. What’s it all about and should I try it?

I find the mag repetitive and boring.

Oh look, yet another 6-8 page feature comparing baggy shorts / hydration packs / softshell’s. Good grief!

And look, here’s yet another story of some ‘epic’ ride across some boring windswept, barren part of Yorkshire.

I enjoy the mag and find its only the occasional 1 that disappoints.

However I wont be buying it much in future as I just cant justify almost £6 for a mag (the same will go for any other mag aswell)

DIGGER 90

I find the mag repetitive and boring.

Oh look, yet another 6-8 page feature comparing baggy shorts / hydration packs / softshell’s. Good grief!

And look, here’s yet another story of some ‘epic’ ride across some boring windswept, barren part of Yorkshire.

err, what were you expecting from a mag about bikes/gear/riding?

The mag used to have a college rag-mag/footbal fanzine type independant feel, & for a while it seemed to be exactly where I was in terms of what I was getting out of biking. Perhaps its just people’s perception of where the mag has come to these days. I think its evolved, & in a good way. Its still a better read than the rest, & one of the things it still has (in abundance) is some fantastic photography. The artificially lit, chisel chinned models on beautifully clean bikes & kit that the other mags use isnt for me. I guess like any business model it has to change or it wouldnt be here.

The last few copies I’ve read in the supermarket have almost had me dropping it in the trolley, until I saw the cover price…CRIKEY !!!

Also, I honestly think I’d be more inclined to buy if the cover was as per the subs copies, with no wording other than the title.

There is a way around that Takisawa2: you could subscribe! The new, revised/relaunched issue is excellent, less of a magazine and more a sort of arthouse book. Very nice.

The forum is great cos it’s busy, even in the dead of night or on a weekend, there are plenty of people on here. I’ve seen other forums which can go for a week with no one posting anything or with the same 3 people on all the time.

yesterday i emailed chipps congratulating him on all the changes in issue 72

I thought the revised new look was trying to copy Privateer but not as good. Had a flick through the new version in Smiths and will stick with Privateer though I did buy a copy of Swithback which Smiths also seem to be selling mainly for the interview with Mert Lawwill and the cover shot.

Other way around for me – the mag has a much higher quality feel and is more “grown up” than the forumTBH I’ve no idea why I keep coming back here – not sure I get anything from it. It’s a habit I need to kick.

Have you seen the latest issue of the mag in the flesh? Quality product imho.

i like the mag, reading that i can avoid the knobbers on the forum

Convert +1.

I too find the forum poor quality, and full of repetitive discussions. The mag on the otherhand, especially the new one has a quality feel. I’ve never been to hebden bridge and don’t find it parochial. Considering subscribing, whilst I am trying to wean myself off the forum!

Any single-subject magazine is going to repeat itself. Gear, bikes and riding. I’d rather see some photos and read about a trip across another bleak moorland than some pisted trails in a forest.

Having said that, I only subscribe (digitally) as a way of subsidising the forum, which continues to be a mix of entertainment, knowledge and downright annoyance on occasion.

I don’t see it is just a mag, we get all the online stuff too. Free backdated magazines is something I have never seen or heard of before – back issues are usually print only and £3 a go. Free and 8 mags a year for £30? Yes please!

I love it.

Trailrider Jim, Which MTB magazines do you prefer?

I like the mag but there is certainly a bit of truth in this comment;

Hebden Bridge MTB club newsletter much of the time (seems that way to me anyway)?

The other mags seem to be more travelled and have more kit to test.

Fair criticism TJ, I thought the mag had lost it’s way a little over the last 3 or 4 years, for me it wasn’t the parochial nature that bothered me, .

Had a look at an issue from 4 years ago where Matt was reviewing a Turner Flux and ended the review saying how grateful he was to ride such a lovely bike. Since then it seems to have gone a bit high tech and specialist. [Lee and Cragg quarries seem to have made a big impact in that respect] and moved away from it’s more laid back identity.

Victim of it’s own success maybe? Staff writers getting better riders / better kit to test? I feel that the mag used to represent the kind of riding and attitude to riding as me.

Props to the new format though, moving with the times and responding to the changes in the publishing world. Don’t think it’s fair to compare to Privateer, ST cheaper cover price and more of an all round mag really.

ST probably helped develop the market for Privateer,. Privateer probably saw the way ST had gone and saw an opportunity to fill the gap that ST had left in it’s wake. ST coming back stronger, all good to me, I used to buy ST and one or two of the other mainstream mags, now just ST and Privateer, No extra spend, just don’t get the mainstream mags anymore, [unless tempted by the occasional freebee!]

Hah. I think the mag’s one of the best but the forum isn’t that great tbh 😉

druidh – Member
Any single-subject magazine is going to repeat itself. Gear, bikes and riding. I’d rather see some photos and read about a trip across another bleak moorland than some pisted trails in a forest.

Having said that, I only subscribe (digitally) as a way of subsidising the forum, which continues to be a mix of entertainment, knowledge and downright annoyance on occasion

This, but I like pisted trails in forests as well as “proper” riding. They’re a bit like smack.

tree – I like riding them, I just don’t have much interest in reading about them or seeing photos of them.

I still think the magazine’s excellent. Happy to pay the higher price for the better quality.

I don’t read it often, but I subscribed digitally for a bit. Seems like one of the only bike mags with articles on, you know, riding bikes. Which is good. I’d much rather read about an epic across a barren bit of Yorkshire than the latest revolution in knee pad technology. MBR / MBUK / WMB all seem like they’re just adverts for bike kit for idiots, followed by a review of a boring trail centre*. The digital subscription is a great deal, too.

I prefer Dirt mag if I’m honest, because I reckon that type of riding lends itself better to pictures, and they have articles about cool place. Although the standard of writing isn’t brilliant…

*I may be way off, I haven’t actually read any of those mags for a few years now.

forum used to be good but the mag has never been worth the effort of picking up from the newsagents shelf (even just to flick through).
I actually did think about picking it up in the newsagents last week knowing some of my friends are featured in an article in this months issue. Unfortunately I’d already heard there was not one single pic of any of them, unbelievable considering the effort/hospitality I know they’ll have shown the journo’s.. v.poor show. 🙁

<EDIT>

inkster – Member

Fair criticism TJ,What did Jeremy say?
a little honesty perhaps? please tell me this isn’t the reason he’s banned?

The mag has been one of the better through the last 20 years I’ve been riding but note the past tense. Recently it’s become to repetitive, as Druid said, it’s sort of inevitable as annual product launches continue.. Stw had avoided falling into that trap that mbuk and whatmtb fell into. Same trap that mbi fell into and even the mighty mtbpro. The new edition is a step in the right direction but it still needs more adventure and less product. Privateer has done this well in the last couple of issues and I hope stw continues to pick up its game and get there. If not it might be consigned to the same in as the others. IMHO.

The forum is like watching telly, sometimes fascinating and entertaining, sometimes like watching Jeremy Kyle.

Privateer has definitely done something different, and for now is my preferred read (although I willingly subscribe to Singletrack as well). The key things I’ve liked from Privateer are:

1. very original ideas for articles (e.g. the recent one about the trail in S America and the local industry built up around it). There’s very little on product, and although I initially thought I’d be uninterested in reading about mountain bike history, some of it is really very interesting.

2. the focus on ‘scenes’ e.g. the recent article about all those Welsh endurance riders – this is something Singletrack could/should really expand upon. I enjoy reading about other peoples’ lives and how they get involved in the sport, and I often feel Singletrack misses an opportunity here given that the staff must be tied into all sorts of interesting groups etc. Give me more human interest!

3. the interviews and reflections on things to do with the sport which are actually really inspiring (like the one about the welsh guy who designed the first trail centre there). The interviews in Singletrack, whilst often with interesting people, are sometimes poorly written. In my humble opinion, you should never have a ‘he said’ ‘she said’ write up as it looks like the text to a school play. I much prefer the style where the writer frames the story and gives their slant, while quoting the subject as part of the text. Others may disagree.

Maybe the link to all the points above is that my own involvement in mountain biking is very limited due to time, and not social in any way. Therefore, I want a magazine which widens my horizons and gives me some inspiration to get out and ride if that makes sense?

All in all though the new Singletrack is much better so far, and as I said I’m glad to continue subscribing.

What did Jeremy say?
a little honesty perhaps? please tell me this isn’t the reason he’s banned?

Nothing.

It’s not the reason he’s banned.

less of a magazine and more a sort of arthouse book

But some of us want to just buy a magazine, not a lifestyle choice. I downloaded the free samples of The Ride Journal and the photography is amazing, the writing excellent and the layout is fantastic. Is it worth what they charge for it? no, not in a month of sundays, in the same way that as much as I have in the past enjoyed Wax Poetics I wont be buying it again at the price they charge. Maybe I’m getting old but I refuse to fund someones art project, just give me a magazine

He’s banned because he is Scottish, there seems to be a dislike of anything North of the border, must be because we have all the best trails.

is TJ Scottish?

Dogbert you depress me a little. You liked everything about the Ride Journal, yet didn’t think it worth £8?

Anyway what’s wrong with funding an art project, life would be pretty boring without creativity.

I subscribe to Dirt and I’ve just sent of my subscription for Singletrack. Liked the new look and kinda like the forum too.

The forum is like any other open access forum – very dependant on whose contributing what at any given time. You are always going to get ‘What underpants for senile leakage’ type threads and they do fulfil a need for frank information not always available in mags.
I too am growing disappointed by ST the mag. Admittedly I have been reading MTB mags for 20 odd years and seeing anything genuinely new is increasingly unlikely. I was intrigued by the revamp and was indeed looking forward to it, yet when 72 hit my doormat I was distinctly underwhelmed.
There just isn’t enough that is different to justify the hype which seems mainly about the price hike. I am seriously wondering about renewing my subscription when it comes due which would be sad as it is still the only mag I subscribe to and it does have some content I enjoy but at that price I will have to think carefully.

Some confusion here.

In this case, TJ = Trailrider Jim, NOT TandemJeremy.

he has a replacement already!! 😆

how do you feel about the use of cycle helmets Jim?

Back.to the OP’s question…best forum would be driven by the user base. Best mag is driven by what the reader wants from a small pot of contributors.

If you have more in common with Chipps or Matt (from an ideology, education, riding style …whatever it may be) then I suspect ST is more appealing than if you have more in common with ‘Doddy’ or ‘Jamer’. Also whether you fit the marketing department’s core demographic. As much as I also like mbuk the poor grammar and language (but not the editorial style as a whole) does wind me up. But at 35 i doubt i am core audience. ST on the other hand is written in a much more grown up way.

Having now read issue 72 I would say it could do with evry article being a little shorter on words and one more article overall. But that is splitting hairs. Still rather st than any other mag at the mo.

I find the magazine and exhilarating read.

Whereas I find the magazine in my letterbox.

need to move away from hebby bridge bit of mythemroyd or even some where like exotic like cragg vale/ walsden req. need more features in mag from forum, like plumbing pages or log pile pron, slip in the odd bit of milibrand/ lib con and on slow months go the full hog with thatcher centre spread..

The print magazine is by far the best.

The forum is active and interesting, so content wise excellent. The software and format is from the Ark however.