It’s not easy being Singletrack. Please help.

I suspect that the number of folk who are going to install and use another browser just to access the STW forum is also vanishingly small

It would take a behaviour change, but that’s why I suggested STW should try pushing this. If the ad generated revenue model is now not worth it, I think people would be more receptive to something like this than requests for more money every few months.

I would say the effort required to install a new browser and set up a monthly tip is less than the effort required to navigate to the subscription page, find and enter all your credit card details, find your phone for the 2FA, and check that the payment went through.

Not to mention the psychological barrier of starting to pay for something you’ve always gotten for free.

In this way you’ll be paying to use STW but you’ll be paying money that you were never aware of in the first place.

Brave might help, but it is marginal at best. Focus on the big stuff and it would be pretty insignificant.

Survey of 1 – I wouldn’t change my browser for one website.

On the subject of YouTube, it is clear to the world that this is a huge generator of traffic and revenue, but one that Mark has discounted in favour of a printed magazine with 6k subscribers. Go figure!

Whatever you think of the presenters on your favourite Youtube channels, they all have a strong personality. What little video content appears from STW has a very awkward, home made ‘drawing the meat raffle’ vibe to it. Presenting is a skill, and not everybody is a natural (me included!).

Jigsaws are popular with present buyers. My mum got me a Forest of Dean one for xmas… just a slither of singletrack through the woods. Quite nice really.

Charlie, you can turn the “fancy” editor off in your preferences… 😉

The shop and “Random chains”.

What’s going on here is the ST store is offering everyday consumables at really good prices to members. Sure it’s a random chain if you don’t need a chain, but it’s also a rather good member perk if you do, or want to bag a bargain for your spares box.

If you are not a member you will see the normal RRP. Members see a price which is just about the best in the U.K. and get free postage too.

We keep a watch on trade offers and pick wisely. There was <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>also a great deal on colourful Fist brand gloves. Coming up soon there will be SPD cleats and hopefully some hip packs.
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Someone mentioned technical riding clothing. We have tech shirts, but other riding clothing such as jackets or hoodies takes a big financial commitment as they have chunky minimum order quantities. This area is already very well served by countless cycle specific clothing brands.

“casual shirts”. That will be the Club Ride plaid shirts that have been super popular. A unique product that is full of tech, don’t dismiss them as casual riding gear. I’ve been riding in them for years from day rides to bikepacking trips.
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Jigsaws. They went really well, and we have sold out several times. Yep… not my scene, but we have sold hundreds. The silent jigsaw bikers are out there.

Oh the irony. Just look at the formatting of Charlie’s post!!!!!

Charlie actually works here and even he can’t master the functionality of the forum. What hope do the rest of us have?!

SO much goodness in that one post!

Check out the Funn valve article on the homepage right now for a perfectly good reason why you will find it hard to attract subscribers if you keep doing what you are doing……..

You have simply reprinted a press release. Lazy journalism won’t help your aim to increase subscriber numbers!

1) What’s your view on these? Good/Bad/Indifferent? Are you planing a review? Have you seen them? Are you adding any more value than a copy/paste of a press release?

2) How much are they? They look like a brilliant (and potentially lower priced?) version of the Santa Cruz Reserve version, but how do I know that?

3) I can’t even buy them anywhere! They aren’t on the Funn website linked and after a bit of digging it turns out that CRC distribute them, but I can’t buy them on CRC either.

C’mon chaps. You are really going to need to raise your game if you want to achieve your goals!!!!

And where’s the press release about the new Hope Pro 5 that Hope themselves have just released (on YouTube BTW, just saying – feels like the future!). Oh, let me tell you where it is – a fellow STW member has just posted it on the forum (having seen it somewhere else) and beaten you to it.

The writing is on the wall and the lessons are there for all to see. Your challenge is whether you can see them and do something about it.

This will be final post on this one (‘hurray’ – the entire STW staff) before I risk being banned or divorced! You need to be self critical, work on the feedback in this thread and go forth and grow STW. Best of luck and bon voyage!

@charliedontsurf appreciate your input regarding the shop. WRT members discounts this is the first I’ve ever heard. If you’re doing stuff like that then you really need to shout about it more. Branded stuff has “member discount” banners so the parts need that as well. Maybe even put the members price in small typeface as an incentive if its not going to upset anyone.

I also used the filter the other day, “other stuff” was just a jumble sale of “crap we couldn’t be bothered categorising”. You’ve run a shop, a very good one IMO, so know what a good UX looks like. It just needs a bit more thought put into it.

As for “pay to post” – HELL NO! I can’t think of a worse way to kill a forum dead. Maybe regulars would stump up but anyone new would just turn around and go elsewhere.

As for “pay to post” – HELL NO! I can’t think of a worse way to kill a forum dead. Maybe regulars would stump up but anyone new would just turn around and go elsewhere.

@squirrelking Just for some lazy market research and as you are apparently a free member, do you think you could be persuaded to use the Brave browser and then set the proceeds to be automatically sent to STW each month?

Bearing in mind that Brave acts as a type of ad-blocker that allows you to send your advertising proceeds to the site you choose?

I joined as a digital member yesterday. Mainly as I thought I’d give the rest of website a bit of a go (I’ve been Forum user only since 2009) and to give something back after making a few £100 on the classifieds last year and am about to list a couple of bikes. I’m still seeing adverts and showing as a ‘free member’ though. Does the membership have to wait until office hours to be manually updated?

[Mod] we seem to be having a few glitches unfortunately but we can certainly check for you tomorrow. Apologies for the inconvenience.

If people weren’t in a hurry, could you save the postage/planet by popping small items people have ordered in with the mag each month?

imagine that would be a logistical nightmare as suspect that mag is printed/shipped straight from the printers.

with consumables, would the effort be worth the benefits (if there any) financially?

@solarider. Great contribution. No idea if you’re right, but I thought it well considered and informative.

Not much to add, but I worked for a major publisher of print media (anybody over 50 will more than likely have bought one of their products) and I watched the slow decline as they cut costs by reducing content and print quality. They missed out on the growth of You tube and made a pathetic attempt to get a foot in the You tube door.

The company were eventually sold to a business that was only interested in the digital offerings and all print media was stopped. I realise that Mark is keen to keep the mag, but looking long term I can’t see how it will remain profitable. Specialist print media is dead.

And please put a header up at the top that say’s ‘Affliate links‘ + sort the classifieds.

Who stole the preview button?

I used to work in specialist magazines back when it was a license to print money. 3-4 months a year away, paid to do my sport and 8-9 months slaving away in the studio.
I had my meltdown and got out around 2002 just before the big importers fragmented into a bunch of smaller ones and the internet started being an attractive proposition. Now I don’t know what I’d do. Advertisers seem loathe to pay for digital ads, the mags costs go up as printing gets stupid.
Content costs the same to create whether is is for print or digital.
Flying people around the world to great venues is expense. If you don’t do that then you end up with some depressing images shot in less than ideal conditions because it is the UK and you have a deadline.
It used to be done, the rival mag used to come out two weeks before us. We’d grab a copy, see what they were testing in the next issue, ring the importers, blag the kit and a day later be on a plane somewhere windy and sunny to test and photograph it, write it while away, get back and bang it in the mag days before their issue came out.
All because the money was coming in.
We had a big advantage over Singletrack as we published several titles so the cost of accounts and subscriptopn matters and premises and design staff was spread wider.
I’m rambling but those days are gone. Singletrack seems to want to stay in them.

Btw I have read the mag since issue 1 but like others I dont anymore. I subscribe not to block ads nor to read the mag but purely in the hope the forum carries on.

The idea of a payment to use the forum should not be chucked out imo.

Something like £12 a year to use forum inc. classifieds (old style classifieds)
£xx to get online mag and member offers
£xx to get print subscription

Constructive. Very constructive. That should certainly help get STW out of this dilemma.

You beat me to it there, I was about to say the same thing, almost word for word!

Ha thanks. I have broad enough shoulders to withstand Drac’s mighty Sword of Truth! It’s all part of the STW banter to some degree but also a bit to do with why more people don’t find the place as welcoming and accepting as they might need to in order to pay to be here.

There’s not much more to add really, hence my comment earlier.

Mark and the team have a lot of opportunity and lots of options.

I really hope that they make the right decisions.

I was reflecting on this morning’s ride (beautiful day for it BTW!) about why I give a sh1t about this. Partly because for once I have professional experience that might help. But more importantly, I feel like STW is a big part of my life.

Over many years it has seen me through single life, a failed marriage, my father’s death, finding my life partner, the birth of my son, it has been my link back to the UK when I have lived overseas. It has been a constant in my life and the diverse bunch of contributors have been a source of advice, enjoyment and solidarity. I have met very few of them in person but this place was a social network before social media was even a ‘thing’. I feel strangely compelled to try to help somehow.

We might have different political views, we might have different jobs, incomes, attitudes, ways of communicating but we all love fannying about on bikes and that is a wonderful glue that binds us.

The reply was to your comment about being banned, you haven’t broken any rules. HTH.

As for feedback on the business. I have any ideas I have direct contact with the team.

Thought I’d take a peek at the main page.

This:

[Colournoise]. I’ve not given this a huge amount of though but stuff I don’t see covered elsewhere that might have some legs…

– Grass Roots UK racing across all disciplines (just look at the popularity of, and engagement with, weeksy’s thread).
– A real focus on local riding around the UK, whatever that looks like (not just the honeypots).
– Sustainability in what can be a pretty ‘single-use’, transport-heavy hobby.
– The experience of ‘normal’ UK MTBers – their bikes, kit and riding.

(basically, using some of the common concerns of the forum to drive more content for the published material?)

I’ve said this before, I was a Subscriber from Issue 2 or 3, bought (or maybe was given) issue 1 at one of the 24hr races by Mark. I thought at the time the mag was a breath of fresh air, good quality photography, grown up writing. I cancelled the subscription around 5 years ago. It wasnt the same, reviews of £1000 wheels (this was when a typical set of Mavics was £150-300), and lights at £500 when ebay copies were £50, less photography and watercolour pictures. It lost me, as I’m not made of money, and the articles were just not interesting any more, the reviews of Rolls Royces, when I was in the market for a cheap car. There used to be a lot of articles about local rides, places to go etc. That was lost, and with it a lot of the interest for me.
As for Staff, Ive said this before, you have 6k subscribers, why are there 9+ Staff? With so many Staff, you’d expect the output of a newspaper nowadays, but I dont see that content on the website, or even the content from 4 Staff. Really, what do they do? Their job is to get a good magazine, with well written, intersting articles.
Get back to basics, the print world is dying, but with just a few Staff you might be able to survive. Selling a few things from the Shop? – come on, I’d say that doesnt even cover the expenses of one employee. If it does, then you need to change your business direction, and expand it, as it is clear the magazine distribution will not increase, but its cost will.The Forum is still awful. Pop up ads on every page. Who ever clicks on these ads? I get a ‘godaddy’ pop up on every page. I would never click on it, and cant believe many would, so why irritate potential forum viewers with thes intrusive ads? Make it easily accessible, have ads down one side or the other, or maybe both sides of a page. Expand your range of ads. I’m looking for a car in 9 months or so time. Reviews soem cars to see how to fit bikes in the back – there are enough queries on this subject on the forum, that I’m not sure why you’ve missed it. Add in roof and tail brackets, something that many UK bikers are interested in – go to the trail centres and see what people are using, that’d make a good article.
I’m sorry to say it, but you’ve got too big, and not kept up with business requirements, you need to reset, and totally change.

Well I’ve been a free member since at least 2012 according to my emails and I’ve never paid to be a member nor a subscriber etc. I’m here on a daily basis, several times during the day in fact. I’m a member on a few different forums but this is the one I frequent the most because my passion is cycling. I guess I’m probably a typical person who you’re hoping to convert to a paying member of some sort. I don’t pay for any forums and I actually dont know of any forums that do charge (I’m sure they do exist but over the years I’ve never gone to a forum and not been able to access it because I’m not a member). For me there is nothing else involved in the equation from home page content to the magazine to justify the spends. I don’t buy a magazine to read about other people doing something I get enjoyment out of because you can’t recreate that feeling I get when I ride a bike and that’s all I’m in it for. I like to keep up to date with news/release articles, that’s why I occasionally visit bike rumour, but I can just look at the forum for that because a forum user spots it first. We’ve all seen the rumour posts, someone has spotted a leaked article and shared it. I don’t bother to read any review articles or FGF because stuff turning up in the post and being tried on or stared at gives me absolutely zero perspective as to how it’ll be a week or a month later. If I need a genuine user review I just go to the forum and ask for people who own and use it. Clothing reviews are pointless because I’m the minority around here as I’m female so I’d also need to find a proper review of women’s clothing by a woman who has actually used it.

I’ve recently cancelled my zwift membership, cancelled my NHS prescription, negotiated my phone contract down all in an effort to save money. The forum works just fine for no cost and so that woudn’t drive me to pay. Yes I wish we could post instagram posts again, yes it takes a moment to upload my image to imgur before then sharing it but it’s a free forum so I just think oh well that’s that.

Why would I pay £25 for something that by the sounds of it won’t survive 12 months, especially when this is the umpteenth beg. If a mate came to me and said give us £25 I’d give it with no justification needed but if I disappeared tomorrow nobody would notice or blink an eye. If I came on tomorrow and found out I needed to be a paid member in order to post or even view, I wouldn’t pay simply because there isn’t enough justification in it.

That probably doesn’t help at all but I’d imagine it’s the same view as a lot of free members who just frequent the forum who get no benefit from either the magazine nor the other content.

If I need a genuine user review I just go to the forum and ask for people who own and use it.

This x 1,000

I’m genuinely shocked ( to the extent that I don’t actually believe that) people place any importance whatsoever in what a magazine writer says about a bike product. I’m really amazed that anyone else does TBH. The idea of asking one opinionated author in a magazine what a bike is like is just nuts. Especially when that magazine has to keep on the right side of the industry.

I am extremely interested in what the writing portion of the 130k STW members think. Hell yes.