red rag to a bull…

yes, I buy them, stops me getting bored on the train.

Can’t help noticing, one of the three will do an article one month, the next month, one of the others will do almost the same article in a slightly different format.

If it’s a bike – it’s the same niggles or praise.

If its aboout a group of bikes – it’s the same group of bikes.

Likewise clothing and gear.

Likewise workshop

etc

etc

Are they all drawing from a single pool of copy?

There’s only so much you can say about a bike I reckon. Some of the review are hilarious, especially on accessories. They just have to fill words innit. If you distill down what they’re actaully saying there wouldnt be much there!

WMB and MBUK are from the same publishers, use the some of the same journos/testers and the same offices I think. Bike radar& cyclingnews are part of the same group too.

MBR is part of a different group including cycling weekly

A lot of test kit does the rounds – manufacturers can’t afford to be sending out 12 sets of wheels so they use 1 or 2 sets which each publication has for a month or two hence reviews of the same piece of kit appearing within a few months of each other.

WMB must me the sh*test mag there is IMO half of it is a list of bikes!!

WMB is the only one that has any decent content IMO, the rest aimed too much at the kiddies level of article.

Wouldn’t say MBR is aimed at ‘kiddies level’

Yup, Doddie McGnarr

cubemeup – What Mountain Bike – the clue is in the title. Its a buyers guide. Have you ever looked in What HiFi / What Car etc?

I buy all of them at some point or other but not every month. But i subscribe to singltrack. Just seems a bit more mature.

I noticed that WMB, Cycling Plus AND Cycling Active (is that what it’s called?) all have grouptests of basically the same CX bikes this month.

I always enjoy a good grouptest of pointless accessories.I’m sure we’ve had comparisons of tyre levers – could we have some valve cap grouptests please? Or maybe stem bolt comparisons?

hepstanton never really thought about but thanks for pointing it out to me

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

I used to write for MTB magazines, but I found that I was repeating the same articles on a three year cycle, because the experience of mountain biking doesn’t change that much no matter how much the equipment does. After that it’s just a matter of listing all the new widgets whose designers want your money.

“Bike reviews” are junk, and I refused to write them, which may have led to my termination from Bicycling Magazine in 1990. The only thing that matters to me about my bikes is whether they will stand the abuse I dish out, so other than durability there is nothing I care to hear about.

The differences between riders and the places they ride are far more important than the differences between bikes, and there is no way for the magazine to know how your leg length v. torso, weight v. height, riding situation or level of skill compares to the test rider’s.

Any bike you ride that isn’t your own will feel strange, until you ride it for a week, when it will start feeling normal and your old bike will feel strange.