[Closed] Farewell Singletrack Magazine - I won't be buying again (Goodbye content!)

oohhh, you might get a email from someone in the hierarchy now.

LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!!!

Youll incur the wrath of Mark. 😉

think you've got a fair point* and can't see Mark or Chips etc. having a problem with you not liking it. I've only ever bought the mag once. it simply has nothing to offer me either. I like the website though.

* except "have I got news for you" isn't a sketch show

Fair enough. Personally I enjoyed this month's issue.

It always surprises me, Threads like this. What is it you want from ranting like this? What are you expecting to gain?

Strange realy the mag realy supports this forum, so no mag sales no forum

WAKEY WAKEY smell the flowers 👿

I personally enjoyed the climbing article. Look at any other bike mag and there will be some two line blurb from their resident fitness 'expert' saying, "Complement your biking with X (skiing for example). It works some different stretchy body bits." At least ST actually made something of the idea, rather than padding the mag with fluff and extra ads.

Surprised hasn't been any complaints about the car-rack test yet. There was a lot of preemptive whinging about that after the last issue.

It always surprises me, Threads like this. What is it you want from ranting like this? What are you expecting to gain?

He's simply expressing an opinion - why should he need anything to lose or gain
We all express opinions everyday without expecting anything

So we HAVE to buy the mag to support the forum? F*ck off...

DBW if you were in business and wrote a magazine that no one buys would you do a sister web site for it

Er now let me think a minute what would your answer be?

Oh and to be honest I have not bought this months mag yet, I will get it for my holidays next week though

i'm not always impressed with the mag but thought this months was a pretty good read despite the climbing feature and the 29er test. You can't appeal to everyone all of the time but i don't often regret buying the mag. Keep up the good work st.

I quite like the mag most months - although this months is still in its wrapper
not keen when it's photo heavy though

I too like the non bikey articles - in fact I would like to read a magazine that covered a variety of outdoor pursuits/adventure type of things instead of just focusing on the one discipline - anyone know of anything like this? When compared to other bike mags STW is actually readable rather than just viewable.

i'm not always impressed with the mag but thought this months was a pretty good read despite the climbing feature and the 29er test. You can't appeal to everyone all of the time but i don't often regret buying the mag. Keep up the good work st.

I am sure we can persuade WorldClassAccident to write one of his funny articles, possibly about this years [url= http://www.BigBikeBash.co.uk ]Big Bike Bash[/url].

What do you reckon, possibly a couple of free tickets for some competition winner?

I dont' read it very often as I'm normally too busy to get to a shop or have time to read, but I did pick up this months. I was a bit disappointed too, I thought the 29er article was dull, mostly because I'm nto interested and the bikes weren't really comparable. The two hardtails they compared weren't comparable either, so I didn't find that article all that relevant. On top of that I've no interest in reading about bike racks or rock climbing.

Now I don't have any problem with any of those articles being in the mag at one time or another, but to put them all in at the same time meant there wasn't room for much stuff that I was interested in.

There are a lot of bikers who climb occasionally (I'm one of them) and climbers who enjoy biking (my missus). I see less of an issue here than the low point of WMB when they did a twenty page group test of commuting bikes a few years back.

READ DIRT!!!! BEST MTB MAG THERE IS!!!!

+1 for Dirt. In a different league to other mtb mags 8)

Anyone who climbed would have found that article a load of twee claptrap.

The web site is good but the mag has never impressed.

I disagree, it was insightful and interesting. Even as someone who climbs now and again...

Disagree with OP.

But I think they need more and more varied contributors, but probably cannot afford them. Can we help?

exactly buzz,readers forum input here n there.

Farewell Singletrack Magazine - I won't be buying again (Goodbye content!)

This explains why you're crying on your profile pic.

It's just a magazine - for perusing while half asleep and eating porridge or on the loo.

I trust the feedback from Singletrack more than I would WMB. The calibre of writing is excellent too.

I for one liked the article and the rest of the magazine. I don't like every article published but that's life. As above I like the high calibre of writing and objective reviews.

PJM1974 - Member
I trust the feedback from Singletrack more than I would WMB. The calibre of writing is excellent too.

errrr, depends what you mean by quality of the writing. My mate, patent lawyer, imediately picked up on grammatical errors when reading it in my loo. Bad use of their, there, they're etc. Now, he may be, accurately, described as a tight arsed pedant. 🙂 BUt, still, has a point.

However, I think the overwhelming aim of the mag, the feel of it tries to put across, is absolutely bang on. Still refer to the Man and Boy article by Ed a few months ago. Simply wonderful.

Kev

I thought this months mag was the best I've read since returning to the fold 9 or 10 months ago. Up with the best of the heady days back in 2004.

Compare the misuse of ownership tense and apostrophe to Dirt for example 😉

it is obviously going to appeal to you some months more than others, just as the forum has times where its full of rubbish threads or troll I have no interest in. it doesn't mean I will never visit them again. I do find these "goodbye" emails tiring... shut the door on your way out will you.

i think the mag does a very good job of being a bike mag when compared to other offerings.

it's not selling you the idea that bigger is better. they write about riding bikes as opposed to the "look at how freaking cool we are" reports you find in other mags.

my german friends comment on how the mag lay-out is different and 'scatty' in comparison to the german mags, which generally concern themselves about weights, frame stiffness and nutrition. i doubt you'll likely see an article revolving around beer in their pages.

i also know one of the arbeiters, Matt, as i used to go into his shop in Chelmsford from time to time before he took off up north. he bought me a pint once, too. i did how ever just buy a bike from him.

There's a [i] magazine[/i]? 😯

Dirt?
Dirt's pretty ****ing awful now it's monthly!
other than photo content the quality is pretty dire, always full of typos, truely awful grammar/spelling, schizophrenic reviews full of irelevant pics and mindlessly following fashion for the sake of it rather than using any sort of insight, poor advice and out of date articles.
The latest issue is especially thin on content, don't buy it unless you want to compare the height and weight of the top DH WC riders. (actually that prob would appeal to a lot of STW forum users)
Cunny's section is possibly the most mature, well written section each month 😯 .

That's it. Had enough of average, unimaginative and sometimes downright boring articles. I'll not buy another issue.

...but did you really need to post about the fact though?

2nd that on dirt mag has gone down hill faster than a downhiller have not seen a good edition for around 2 years now shamw as for ST still one of the best reads to date in this and any country.

Batman.

Forget grammatical errors, how often do ride guide descriptions bear little resemblance to the maps - Cy Cotic's training ride for e.g. (Sheffield/Hope Valley). Doesn't bother me, just never seems to be bemoaned.

to be fair half of what I said about Dirt has always been true.

in Jerry's day as a serious magazine it was laughable, but the intent and enthusiasm was so strong it just didn't matter

I think the content is great, plenty of interesting articles to read. The layout is a little disappointing though, needs a bit more punch to jump off the shelf. I'm a happy convert 🙂

Why bother starting a thread like this? Attention seeking? Piss off to Bike magic or bike radar.

rjj - if you have a decent sized WHSmith or one of the increasingly rare independent newsagents that stock big ranges and look in the climbing/walking area. There are some mags that have mixed outdoors content. I only ever flick through them. The "problem" is too many subjects and not enough space. So you end up with very light weight articles on a range of subjects that don't have the breadth of specialist publications. IMHO.

I have to say generally I find the website rather dull these days and generally enjoy the mag. Hardly picked up the last issue and have only part read this months. I'll stick with it though as I do get a decent return overall, again IMHO.

DBW does come over rather aggressive, but that isn't unusual on here. He is right you don't HAVE to buy the mag to support the website. Don't go blubbin if it disappears though. No need for your final "sentence" though is there?

what tommid said . . . .

I havent bought this months issue of singletrack, or what mountain bike for the last few months, MBR also looks pretty poor from thje bag its in, this months mbuk is quite good though, and have just taken out a sub to Pro cycling to get a free jacket,strangely they have taken the money, i have yet to get a mag, and they know nothing of the free gift.

I've only read a couple of articles from this months; both seemed pretty good.

Last issue was excellent.

But odd.

I glanced through the titles, and they all looked quite dull. But on reading them, they were all excellent.

Easily worth whatever it is I'm paying.

I can't believe people think dirt is good. Absolute krap just full of pictures and ads. Everytime I buy it I wonder why.

FYI - due to being exceptionally bored at work this month I've bought singletrack, WMB, Dirt and I'm subscribed to mbr & mbuk

For me new product releases, industry news and reviews are what I find most interesting.

This month WMB wins it with I'm sad to say MBUK second

won't be renewing my subscription. The rock climbing article really was the last straw. I buy a mountain bike mag to read about mountain biking. There are plenty of other outdoor and rock climbing style magazines out there if thats what you want to read about.

I want inspirational articles that make you want to get out and ride, that challenge and inform you about what's happening and that are light hearted appraisals of life as a mountain biker.

Singletrack did all that for me when I started reading just over a year ago, so much so that I decided to subscribe. Hasn't happened for a few issues now which is a real shame.

i just wanted to add to this that today i ate some uncle bens microwave mushroom rice for my lunch.

by the time i had microwaved for long enough to be warm in the middle, the top had gone dry, the mushrooms had a muddy bitter taste to them and i found the fact that some of the plastic packaging had melted extremely off putting, as such i will not be eating it again.

rjj - Member

I too like the non bikey articles - in fact I would like to read a magazine that covered a variety of outdoor pursuits/adventure type of things instead of just focusing on the one discipline - anyone know of anything like this?

Just recently relaunched here in Norn Irn- [url= http://www.uberdogmagazine.co.uk/default.htm ]Uberdog magazine[/url]

Doubt it's available off the shelves over there, but covers multi-sport activities including surfing, kayaking, mtbing.

I thought it was a good issue and even suggested to another independent magazine editor that he check it out for some inspiration on how to improve his mag! The columns really set it apart from run of the mill magazines. Dirt is good but too far skewed from my riding to be relevant to me. I strongly recommend the full blown digital subscription, if you're a new-ish reader the years of back issues are awesome.

Who gives a flying **** about whether you are going to buy the mag again?

Forums already have a reputation in the industry for being full of opinionated w@nkers and i'm sorry to say that some members of this forum are are satisfying this reputation, maybe i'm one of them.

If you don't want to buy the mag then don't but please don't chelp on about it on here, what do you want to achieve from it?

Singletrack guys - ignore this bollox and carry on the good work - drop the 29er and singlespeed shit though 😉

And whatever you do don't allow the idea of forum contributors to edit the mag, it would definitely be a pile of shyte.

Perhaps the critics could actually state how they would make the mag better or they could always **** off and try and create their own but i doubt they'd succeed.

I gave up my gym membership last month. I did not feel the urge to tell the world about it.

i ve nearly finished the mag and have to say i m happy with most of it.there are always going to be bits you like , bits that you ve read before( just tweeked slightly)and then the fluff to fill the pages. but they make a fairly good job of it. it must be hard to find new ways of saying, " we got a bike of some sort and rode it in the mud somewhere.you should try it, it`s fun. "

What's wrong with saying something is rubbish? If someone said that to me I would either fall over and cry or MTFU and try a bit harder. I want to like the mag but when I read it it makes me feel too much like the early middle age dad I am instead of a rad dude which I like to think I am in the forest tonight on the new trail I made.

Hey.

Do you think I should sign up for the singletrack news letter?

I can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere!

Is the news letter any good?

Why not advertise Kaesae, instead of using your feral tactics, you'll probably get your own copy of the mag

I want to like the mag but when I read it it makes me feel too much like the early middle age dad I am instead of a rad dude which I like to think I am...................

That struck a chord and made me smile 😆 😉

colnagokid

I'll take that as a no, you can't give me any advise!

I'm a climber and Mountaineer (and occasional rambler), I read everthing in issue 57 except the climbing article, I suppose because I thought that a climbing article in a bike mag would probably be crap (a bit like watching a Hollywood montaineering related film). I'm now curious to see whether it reads as "twee claptrap", so I'll go back to it. STW peeps will think it unfair of me to assume it would be crap, but call it human nature, I'm a bit ashamed that I judged and didn't bother.
Overall, the other arcticles were good tho.

I bought the mag for the first time this month, and I found it...alright. I've never had any interest in climbing so that was wasted pages to me, but in a similar vain I've never bothered with a car article in a grot mag and I still bought them.

there really are some ****s on here.

I normally only buy out of date magazines for £1 each, 3 for £2.50, from the market and I have found that STW is the best of the bike mags.
STW had an offer on at Enduro 6 last weekend, a free T shirt, the current issue and the next year's worth of issues delivered for £15, so I am now a premium print & on line subscriber.
I haven't got a letter P next to my name yet though. 🙁

STW is the best of the bike mags.

+1
and not because I'm bumming anyone up for a free t-shirt or cheap subscription.. it just suits my tastes is all..

I have only bought 3 issues I think. Partly because I haven't known about the mag for that long and partly because I'm usually skint. I have really enjoyed the ones I have bought and found them more interesting and inspiring than other mags. I like the way they don't give stuff marks out of five and just say if they like stuff or not and it's all very unpretentious. I like the stories in it about peoples adventures.

I offered to write for STW some time go (or at least I think I did, I certainly meant to...) but heard nothing. I wonder why? I can write nicely when I try. The magazines out here seem to think so anyway. Hell, I even wrote for Kerrang once and they paid me. A girl called Scarlet something-or-other was my sub-ed. Hot name 🙂

Anyway Chips, if you'd like me to drag your readership back with something stunningly interesting and not in the least confrontational on MTBing in SE Asia, just yell. I'll do it for a years free mags mailed to me out here. Oh, and you have to say, 'Thank you, ro' on this forum 🙂

All mags have good issues and bad issues. Dirt has gone downhill recently and MBUK has been tosh for year.

The OP is allowed his opinion, not a Police State yet. However I disagree and thought this issue was pretty darn good. Keep it up STW staffers.

I'm just upset that the competition deadline was before the mag came out 🙁

BigBikeBash - Member

I am sure we can persuade WorldClassAccident to write one of his funny articles, possibly about this years Big Bike Bash.

What do you reckon, possibly a couple of free tickets for some competition winner?

No, **** off.

DezB - so it wasn't just me that noticed it.....

what a crap thread.

If you don't like the mag don't buy it, it's that simple. What i find strange is that you feel the need to tell the world of your decision? we're not interested.

we're not interested.

don't you mean [b]you're[/b] not interested ? You can hardly speak for everyone!

Fine, I'm not interested.

I still don't get it, Why feel compelled to tell everyone when a quick email to the editor may get better results. At least that way you guarantee the target audience is interested.

It's still a crap thread.

To be fair I'd like a mag that
don't patronize the reader
and is correctly written.
I know I should be the very last person on this forum to criticise the STW tower for their grammar and spelling, but, as I read a consequent amount of books/scientific articles/reviews I always find the bike mag to be on the weak side of the english language.

Then lets face it people, there is so much you can talk about bikes without repeating yourself. I think 6 numbers a year is enough. Plus the mag has always been a bit niche. So you won't find articles or reviews that will help the jo average reader (actually IIRC chipps said once that st market wasn't the joe average reader, but the bloke with several bikes that has been riding for a while).

I always try to go and buy magazine when I go on a train or a plane journey. But I always end up buying books or comics.

So thoughts for a next issue stw why don't have a novel about bikes? By a proper writer 😀

What i find strange is that you feel the need to tell the world of your decision? we're not interested.

Well if no one on here told the (singletrack)world what they were thinking the forum would be empty. The OP's entitled to his opinion and all-in-all this thread has been 'interesting' and worthwhile 😆

Well I'm enjoying this thread....

saladdodger - Member
Strange realy the mag realy supports this forum, so no mag sales no forum

If that's true, why the massive column of ads that you can turn off if you're a Premier member?

big_scot_nanny - Member
My mate, patent lawyer, imediately picked up on grammatical errors when reading it in my loo. Bad use of their, there, they're etc.

<pedant> I find this annoying too. </pedant>

Seriously though, if you're a professional writer with an editor overseeing what goes into the mag this sort of thing shouldn't really get through to print. Even running it through the grammar checker in Word would be a start. 🙂

For me each issue of the mag seems to have less and less that I want to read. Got half way through the climbing article and got bored, read the singular test cause it looked like a nice bike. Didn't go near the rack test, ferrentino article, fitness article as I find these articles boring usually or badly written. The interview I can't be arsed with as it will likley stop mid way through with the rest available online.

If I could be bothered cancelling my subs then I would. It just doesn't do it for me anymore, although that say more about me than the mag.

I think there is only so much you can say about a mountain biking and the mag is running out of ideas. DIRT does have one advantage in this regard in that it focusses on the DH racing scene which by it's very nature has a constant turnover of fresh material, news, reports and stories.

Brilliant mag from nice REAL people but could do with lots more single speed stuff. Special section for us SS freaks YAHOO !!! Lets all agree to disagree and feel the STW lovrve.... Forums are ace places 😯