[Closed] which bike mag is the best?

Digital sub to dirt, occassionally pick up a copy of MBR.
The free digital ones aren't too bad; wideopen and the IMB ones.
There's agood little paper one which I think is produced in Bristol. Shred?

Last time I commented on ST mag I got a temporary ban

That's probably 'cos Mark is moody sod, who can't accept that his product ain't all that at times. 2K for a beginner bike FFS!!

I'd pay money for a paper copy of Wideopen and Enduro but reading magazines online doesn't seem to work for me

Dirt's great if you're fluent in 'Jones'.

More recently every Jones review seems to be entirely about how big the L and XL models are. (either that or there's a load more text printed in classic Dirt invisible ink on a purple background)

Northwind - Member

More recently every Jones review seems to be entirely about how big the L and XL models are. (either that or there's a load more text printed in classic Dirt invisible ink on a purple background)

Yeah, it's annoying, they keep getting themselves the wrong size, then whining about it.

Better still = Pinkbike's Ion 16 review. 5'9" reviewer got himself a large frame, and put a 35mm stem on it, "to put more weight on the front wheel". And then complained when the front wheel lifted a bit on climbs.

I remember an MBR review when they put a 140mm fork into an Inbred and complained it felt long and tall. As far as I can tell, this was because it was either that, or they'd have to give it a higher mark than the Orange they wanted to win.

I'm always suspicious of advertiser influence - I like to see sites/mags that will give bad reviews from time to time. Simply not enough of that.

I think that's not a problem limited to mountain bikes. I used to work for a small PC manufacturer (well, assembler really) back in the 90s and the review rankings with more than one magazine were directly related to advertising bookings e.g. book the inside cover (expensive) and win the "X Mag Pick of the Bunch award".

But the mags have to walk a tightrope with this - if their reviews lose credibility with the readership, they'll lose the readership, and without the readership the advertisers won't buy, so they have to try and keep both happy, which can't be easy.

My perception is that the bias is definitely there on who gets invited to submit bikes and kit for tests (and fair enough imo) but I'm not as convinced that the actual reviews and scores are "bent".

I buy Dirt the most, but none month on month. I cant get past the purchase price for something which is laden with adverts and adverts trying to masquerade as articles to part with my dosh.

edlong - Member

My perception is that the bias is definitely there on who gets invited to submit bikes and kit for tests (and fair enough imo) but I'm not as convinced that the actual reviews and scores are "bent".

If you've ever seen Dirt website coverage of Superstar stuff, you don't so much suspect that they're bent- you suspect Fruit's writing the website. I left some comments on the review and I was getting responses literally minutes later, in the middle of the evening, "We've checked with Superstar and...".

Are richmtbarse and bikeind actually the same person?

[img] https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/5098540288/h91AC5504/ [/img]

Are richmtbarse and bikeind actually the same person?

Where's this two page spread of his?

Singletrack is good (fawn!) I have stopped bying Dirt as I am sick of paying for a book of adverts. MBR ins't bad but I can't be the only one who thinks that Doddy out of MBUK is a cancerous polyp on the anus of humanity.

Have to agree that its annoying Jones is always banging on about sizing, I trust the dirt opinion but spending a chunk of an already brief and wee bit cryptic review lamenting that his above average height isn't fully catered for by bike manufacturers

Pook - Member

Where's this two page spread of his?

Don't worry, I think he's lost his copy but I'm sure we'll be able to find it once he gives us a bit more info on it.