The pictures are great.
No.
😯
Only if you are about to buy a bike and need advice to get your head round the options.
If you subscribe by the end of the year not only will you have about 4,000 pages describing everything from the best 500 hardtail to the best cost no object downhill bike. Worse than that a bike that at the begining of the year had "razor sharp handling and great vesatility, the best hardtail for under a grand" will suddenley be "unable to match the stiffness and value of its competitors". When you check back to the earlier edition the stiffness and value bike was "well equiped but let down by poor handling"
So in summary WTB is a brilliant mag for 3 consecutive editions or less
I really have no interests in biking mags. let's face it, MTB magazines have little to do with riding yer bike! any info you want or need is online! bike mags are defunct old things trying to sell you stuff you don't need.
As a noob acouple or three years back I actually believed the script. Some money later I discovered they were just shopping lists.
The buyers of STW thank you for your contribution to the forum kev and are happy to pay for your continued use of the website ...where you tell us the bit that supports it is crap.
If I was grumpy resident i would have some fun with your posts and account next week.
Of the current crop of MTB mags I find Dirt to be the best.
Personally I prefer The Ride Journal.
Struggling to see the point of any MTB magazine in 2011 tbh. Or any print magazine really. What could it offer that a forum like this one (or any similar one) doesn't?
I like this one http://www.imbikemag.com/ its free!
Although obviously Singletrack is the best printed paper effort!
No. It's a loaf of bilge.
Actually I like the feel of paper between my thumbs just before the feel of paper between my buns.
Don't want to do that with a lapping top
Best thing about bike mags is you can read em whilst on the pan.
Anyone want to buy some second hand bike mags BTW?
I get singletrack by sub and I quite like it. I buy odd copies of other mags now and again but find them just the same as when I used to but them years ago.
How do you feel about the featured trail rides? Does anybody try them?
Always many albums away from us Cod Head's locality.
Personally I prefer The Ride Journal
+1
The articles in The Ride Journal are outstanding. Don't get me wrong, ST is okay for a quick read on the bog, but I find myself re-reading Ride all the time.
STW is the greatest magazine ever. It even beats hairy birds monthly.
Can I have some free stuff now?
WMB has to be the worst MTB mag and the only one I won't buy when stuck for something to read. It's not badly executed, just a poor basis for a mag IMO.
Went off WMB a while ago, I was given a subscription as a gift and I felt it got really boreing. The odd good article. Then all the bike tests seem to have the same brands over and over. Dull.
I only read MBUK, MBR and of course STW. Gave up on WMB about 12 months ago - wasn't really going anywhere. I still flick through it in WHS but have not felt the urge to part with cash for it. If times are hard - MBR may go the same way. STW and MBUK are consistently good reads.
Breaking the mold here, I buy it and enjoy it - though would be the 1st to say it's not the best out there..
BUT I enjoy it, as it has no 'lifestyle' crap that I'm not interested in, the occasional 'epic' article is more than enough. Shows me the latest bit's of kit, we all like to drool over, & give for the most part decent advice IME.
Yes it the same old articles regurgitated, but really what long standing magazine isn't? Yes it the same bike reviews, but again they come from test fleet supplied by the manufacturers, do you really think STW Mag gets anything they don't?
As for the occasionaly spelling mistake, mislabelled picture/wrong picture, it's a MTB magazine not a scientific journal, some of you need to stop taking yourselves so seriously.
WMB is a good read if you're looking to buy something. But other than consumer reviews, it's not got much going for it.
MBUK is the Max Power of the cycling world. Only worth reading if you're under 15.
STW i find difficult to read. It looks like some students photography coursework - IE lots of glossy pictures, and a bit of small writing in an awkwardly contrasting colour. To be honest, i find Dirt to be similar.
My magazine of choice is MBR. It's a long way from perfect obviously (they pretty much declare hardtails illegal, for a start), but i find it's more aimed at riding than buying fancy kit.
Dirt is the best of a bad bunch, but they need better writers and to think a bit harder about making thingslegible sometimes.
Sidewalk and Ride BMX demonstrate how much of an embarrassment MTB "journalism" is.
Old copies of [i]Bike[/i] are best.
the only mag i buy now is stw, out of loyalty i suppose.
they are all full of the same old B.S that we all buy into, and lets be honest, we all buy stw cos we think we are getting something a bit differant from the norm, but we are not.
there is only so much you can write about regarding bikes.
There is a point to printed magazines as you can take them to the beach or read them in bed/on the loo. Surfers Path shows how a sports magazine should be put together.
All bike magazines are dull by comparison. I find WMB just wants me to spend money by convincing me that I must have this or that.
of all the ones that i have read would say stw for me (although i don't buy many mountain bike mags nowadays)