I'm a little bit cautious posting this as I guess it's a competitor to Singletrack. but if you've always thought of Dirt Mag as being for young downhillers and jumpers, it might be worth taking a look at this month's issue (125 July).
I've always liked it, but this one in particular has made an impression on me.
It's definitely more rounded than it used to be, and of more interest to 'general' mountain bikers imo.
They've changed the style slightly to be a bit more 'Journal'. Who knows, maybe after seeing Privateer and Singletrack. The photography is always amazing too.
Anyway - thought I'd mention it!
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Ooh - that image came out big - sorry!
The next one is better 🙂
Is it me or does that pic look a total Photoshop hack and slash? Rider, foreground and background are separate photos.
I take it they review one of your bikes? Or a feature on On-One?
Maybe they'll have a group test of bike locks and degreasers 😉
(I'm a singletrack subscriber btw!)
Is it me or does that pic look a total Photoshop hack and slash? Rider, foreground and background are separate photos.
The blur towards the top is definitely photoshop (maybe also the foreground), but I'd imagine the rider and location are genuine.
i shall be purchasing a copy, as i do each month. its a good mag.
all the bits are genuine but I don't think they were all in the same place at the same time!
I used to subscribe to dirt but then got fed up with Steve hyperbabble jones and the new subscribers getting cheaper charges or better gifts as I paid by direct debit.
I wish them well, as I do stw but I feel let down every time I buy one so will probably save the money's and put it towards beer and food!
I'm a little bit cautious posting this as I guess it's a competitor to Singletrack.
We love Dirt! 🙂
Its a 'tilt and shift' effect I believe.
After flicking through the last couple of issues of Dirt at the supermarket, I've been pretty impressed with it.
WIth the deals they're doing at the moment being pretty good, I've subscribed now. Singletrack, on the other hand seems overpriced and I find myself less inclined to bother picking it up as I know there's no way I'll buy it!
The last pic in the Torridon feature is stunning, the article made me even more gutted to have missed a trip up there recently.
Not completely decided whether I like the changes yet, but it's certainly more legible and broader in appeal - as Alex says in the OP.
I bought the previous issue from CRC, it came in a 17"x12"x5" box. Had to go to the post office to collect, as it wouldn't fit through the letter box.
I haven't read a MTB mag in ages, is dirt available on iPad
It's a shame the Art Director is leaving. He's done a brilliant job for the last several years.
Matterhorn is in clear bright morning sun I think.
Foreground trail is all soft browns, late PM light.
Not that I care, soz, just passing by a lunchtime.
Bike mags as a whole have a challenge to please regular riders I think, there are only so many articles they can write:
* we went riding somewhere and it was good
* here's some kit we tested
* an interview with someone whose riding probably bears no relationship with yours
* some nice pics
* opinion piece: riding is good and a we love it
STW do pretty good I think, but I find I read it less nowadays.
Its a 'tilt and shift' effect I believe.
Badly faked if it is, tilt/shift gives controll over the depth of field in relation to the lense, i.e. it doesnt have to be everything 'x feet' away, it can be at an angle so something in the left foregraound and right background are both in focus. It's more often used to make things look like minatures as you can setup so that most of the plane of focus is in the sky/air and only a narrow strip of the ground is, thus mimiking the effect of a macro lense on a minature model which usualy results in a similarly shallow dof.
If it was tilt/shift the entire mountain would be blured, allong the foregroud appart from the rider and a rider wide strip of the foreground.
Personally I think [i]Dirt[/i] gone more mainstream and God knows we have enough of mainstream as it is.
150mm FS, [i]29rs[/i] 😯 sooooooooo dull
Much prefer to read about prototype/pimped DH rigs
Great Mag, If the image is Photoshoped it's only the colours that have been tinkered with.
That shot was taken mid morning i rekon 😕
S&S yes re timing (east face of Matterhorn, AM, mid-or-later summer I think)
the only way to solve the composition question is for someone to put up another pic of that same trail
pic: http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=10027
that place is fresh air
the bit right behind the signpost is a possible candidate but IMO it's too low, too far left and too far away from the mountain
anyway not that it matters
We love Dirt! 🙂
I knew that really 🙂
There's some truly mind bogglingly spectacular writing from Jones in the latest issue.
Even more Jones-like than usual.
TINAS - does it *have* to be that effect though. I know this is probably faked, but I was under the impression that a tilt-shift lens can also achieve top/bottom or left/right out of focus with no relation to distance.
Like these:
http://tiltshifted.com/robwatson/rw02/
(bottom of this page) http://digitalphotobuzz.com/canon-ts-e-24mm-tilt-shift-lens-review
I bought this last night at Paddington station to keep me occupied on my train journey home.
It's a great issue, kept me awake for my 90 minute journey (which at post 10pm is good work!).
I haven't read a MTB mag in ages, is dirt available on iPad
Yes.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dirt-mountain-biking/id468642316?mt=8
will be interested to see how it fairs compared to recentish issues of dirt. About a couple of months ago they went to thinner/cheaper paper and lesser/crapper content IMO. Once upon a time it took many many toilet sittings to get through one. Now it takes/took a couple of flicks through. Sad really. The stories have lessened in length/depth.
thinner/cheaper paper and lesser/crapper content IMO
they are using thicker paper now it really is a nice weight and size
It's the least dirt-like issue in ages I reckon. Now that's not all bad but it does feel like a step away from its uniqueness.
I still can't decide if Steve Jones reviews are genius or gibberish. Perhaps they're both. But either way they're miles better than "The bottom bracket is .000001mm too high, and we ordered a large even though we're all 5 foot 8 and now we're marking it down because it's too long, and the bars are far too narrow at only 800mm"
all the bits are genuine but I don't think they were all in the same place at the same time!
The shadow cast by the biker and shadow over the Matterhorn north face suggest same time.
fantastic photo, the location must be on the Riffelberg somewhere, possibly below the Riffelhorn at Gagenhaupt/Dristelen
Pic from Riffelhorn summit
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Friend of mine from when we were there in 2007.
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Once upon a time it took many many toilet sittings to get through one. Now it takes/took a couple of flicks through.
There's some truly mind bogglingly spectacular writing from Jones in the latest issue.
You've learned to read in "Jones" it saves some time. Most of the print is legible and the right way up, that helps too.
I think the realisation that there's no point being a pure DH race magazine (pusjhing most of the race content online makes sense and they've done a good job of it, although Vital are pushing them) they can go back to being a riders publication, it's allowed things to calm down a bit.
Page 56 - pushing it so 'ard he's lost his rear wheel 😯
...good article tho'
Dirt is pretty much uniformaly ace every issue - it definitely appeals to the emotional side of riding a bike, rather than the "stato" side 😉
Are you reading it, or wiping your arse with it?hora - Member
About a couple of months ago they went to thinner/cheaper paper...Once upon a time it took many many toilet sittings to get through one.
Based on recent form wiping.
So I bought the latest. Thicker but also more ads. Looks quite good so far.
I agree, the best issue of Dirt I have read. Im a cross country rider, who likes my rides to have a DH slant. I thought that this issue had some really good cross over ish articles in.
At the moment its my favourite mag. TBH Singletrack is going a bit to Privateer-ish for my liking (still really enjoy it though:)
Sooooooo many adverts in dirt this month.
My favourite mag, best photography by a mile IMO. Just wish Steve Jones didn't write like he's on acid, all that cryptic crap that leaves you none the wiser.
Cool pic but I think blurring the mountain looks a bit crap. I reckon it's a tilt shift style effect applied afterwards not using a tilt/shift lens - I think CS6 has a new tool for doing this. It seems to be getting massively overused at the moment on all sorts of pictures that don't really suit it.
Do you get free socks with it?
Picture is from Strength in Numbers sequence
Whilst I believe Dirt was a much better mag in the days of 4130 it is still one of my favourite bike mags. Mark & Chris Noble and their team were publishing visionaries. Factory media doesn't have them same magic.
One frustration with Mpora/Factory Media (Dirt, BMX talk & MX Trax) is how far behind they are in making their web content mobile device friendy, namely IOS. They really are missing a trick with the DH world cup coverage not working on IOS devices.
Picture is from Strength in Numbers sequence
Yep, for all those saying it doesn't look like a real angle:
I dont like it. Its trying to be all things to all men.
The mini profiles on the 3 contributors made me gip.
It was also more advertorial in content when it should be articles.
The products reviewed of old have been reduced to a tyre and pedals. Forks? Yeah let me get 2k out.
Short conclusion is it would look good to leave lying around for nonbiking mates to see. No thanks.
Ah well - sorry Hora.
For me, there's something about the photography and general attitude that inspires me a bit more than the others.
It just reads and is geared (more) towards product sell than the old Dirt. The old Dirt (to me) came across as championing products they found worked and to a smaller part to fresh goods.
It seems they have wiped out all the race content and most of local trails/content. I don't think although the paper quality has gone back up, its lost
Its [i][b]soul[/b][/i].
It's never been the same since Paul Roberts stopped writing for them.
That was about soul.
What a strange discussion this has turned into. The trail is of course genuine, I've ridden it. I suspect the blurry mountain top was done to make the title stand out more.
I like Dirt, it's visually brilliant with superb photography. They are having a tough time because they have to compete with Vital and Pinkbike which I think is why they have changed the direction a little bit. Nice print mag which is good to look at and more content on the web.
[s]Kye Forte[/s][b]Paul Roberts[/b] k`in rules! 8)
bought every issue of Dirt from issue1 (must be 17? years 😯 ) but finally had to admit it had lost almost everything I ever liked about it sometime last year, bought a couple of issues since (old habits) but they just confirmed what I already knew..
still find the odd interview worth reading and the website's still v.good!
Wideopen covers all the stuff that used to make Dirt good
I like Dirt how it is now - it's the only MTB mag I read (Sorry, ST). It just seems to cover what I ride most of the time, a mix of Enduro-style XC, DH and just some good old pissing about in the woods. Good pictures, decent reviews that actually give you an impression of how the bikes ride (not just 5 stars to the highest bidder) and decent coverage of local scenes.
Superficial I imagine the Bothy story was an encroachment onto ST's territory.
decent reviews that actually give you an impression of how the bikes ride (not just 5 stars to the highest bidder) and decent coverage of local scenes.
what? like.. needs a shorter stem/wider bars, would be amazing with a CCDB or doesn't quite match the Geometry of an Orange?
Reviews in Dirt have on the whole been laughable at best.
I actually find Enduro style XC (and gravity enduro) duller than old skool XC to read about. and in pics it mainly looks shite..