Forum menu
I think they're quite canny about the product tests... Frinstance, that "3 £1000 bikes" test wasn't just a bike test- it was also a ride guide. You might skip past it thinking "I don't want a £1000 full suss" but you're missing other content if you do.
Still, I hope Mike didn't get paid for his article this month, he's somehow lowered his bar. Matt Hart's was pretty useless too.
sefton - Member
I'd like to see some real in-depth stuff! product reviews lets speak to the developers and CAD people who created them. let see some CAD's,
The scary thing is, I think you're being serious!
dam right fuel the inner geek!
the alternative is well written guff about nothing!
Only those without a sense of humour.Gary_M - Member
> Could we have Premier-only threads on the forum?Why? Do you want people walking away from the forum as well as the magazine.
I only buy the mag if I am in a shop that sells it and they aren't doing a photography special.
However as I look at this site everyday and have bought and sold on here I feel its only fair that I buy a subscription.
Help to keep them going and it will leave an alternative to the other mags if you should need one.
[i]Only those without a sense of humour. [/i]
I tend to save laughing for funny stuff 😆
Only those without a sense of humour.
It's enought to make a lady flounce.
Quite liked the one ton weekender articles they use to have, good to know you can have a great weekend away on a budget.
(Including the Mary Townley on an £89 Halfords bike ...classic!)
[i] Have you seen the xtras you get for being a subscriber? [/i]
what, there's more forums??
There's an extra 33 pages of the mag for a start 🙂
Canceeled my subscription this morning.
Will resign to digital only when that runs out in August
Are there still some subscribers that have not linked their subscription to their STW user name (and are thus not Premier even though they are paying for it?).
ir_bandito - Member
teamhurtmore - if you're planning on spending £1000 on your neice, then maybe.
ir-bandito - you obviously missed the smiley!!! Ok, so not that funny a joke, I admit!!
[i]There's an extra 33 pages of the mag for a start[/i]
Is that a good thing 😆
Yes please!druidh - MemberCould we have Premier-only threads on the forum?
infact give them their own "special" section 😉
Right, just submitted the upgrade to Premier thing. Lets see if its worth it now...
An explosion of sensory perception accompanies ir_bandito's transformation from regular guy to Premier Member.
The effect is wondrous. For the MTB enthusiast, it's completion. A sense of wholeness.
And it lasts 30 extra pages. Or so I'm told.
ooh, I'm a Premier user now.
what does that get me then?
You get a host of hidden features including:
bike parts I made in my kitchen,
the ultimate service free bike,
and what's in your hip flask?
😉
what does that get me then?
http://singletrackworld.com/premierclub/
http://singletrackworld.com/magarchive/
http://singletrackworld.com/category/news/premier/
And you can turn down the adverts on the forum here:
http://singletrackworld.com/premier/account/
Oh and a shiny [img] 
[/img] by your name.
...we set off on a cool October morning, the long grass glistened with mountain due. as the gradient steepened our legs quickly tired and things slowed down to a perfect view embracing pace....GUFF 🙄
thankyou i_did_dab 😉
I'm a Premier member but my P disappeared a long time ago. I never got it back *sniff*
[EDIT] Wow! There it is. Magic 🙂
...we set off on a cold January afternoon, remarkably despite now being a large group of [s]STW cronies[/s] riders, we managed to get underway with very little of the typical faff that besets large groups of riders. Someone had brought their dog along. One of the group soon got a puncture. We managed to fix it. The sky was brilliant blue and frosty. We rode for some time through it. I was glad I'd brought my warmest gloves. Someone rode over a tree trunk. The rest of us couldn't manage it. I took some photos. We eventually got back to the car park saying we'd all return to this area again and then we headed of to the pub for some rather nice ales. We found that one member of the group can really eat a lot of desert...
..we set off on a cold January afternoon, remarkably despite now being a large group of STW cronies riders, we managed to get underway with very little of the typical faff that besets large groups of riders. Someone had brought their dog along. One of the group soon got a puncture. We managed to fix it. The sky was brilliant blue and frosty. We rode for some time through it. I was glad I'd brought my warmest gloves. Someone rode over a tree trunk. The rest of us couldn't manage it. I took some photos. We eventually got back to the car park saying we'd all return to this area again and then we headed of to the pub for some rather nice ales. We found that one member of the group can really eat a lot of desert...
GOOD BUT NEEDS MORE GUFF! THINK CREATIVELY! (think about how the wind feels on your face as you rush down the valley) 😉 think about the smokey cured bacon roll that you ate pre ride 😉 or the old creaky oak floor where you spent the night dreaming about the forthcoming ride 😉 think about all the pain, discomfort and suffering you encounter throughout the day, and how in a funny kind of way makes you love being out on your bike. ohhh being a mountain bikers is wonderful 😛
My bells and whistles subscription came to an end a few months ago, I didn't renew. These are some of the reasons -
1. Premier content was frankly cr@p. It was rarely updated
2. The magazine. There became less and less that I wanted to read in the mag. I think the last thing I read was Chipps moaning about the Conservatives. I don't want to read a bike magazine that is biased toward any subject/product.
I think I read the first Ferrentino article, thought he was a tool and never read another one
3. Big increase in adverts
There are other reasons but can't think for now
The only articles that I read in depth were those that went behind the scenes at bike companies
Now this is what a ride write up needs!
A snippet from Loweys blog
Here, gentle reader, we were presented with a sight that will be forever etched on my mind with infamy. I was in front, hurtling towards the gate with Jase I guess about 30m behind. Our stealthy approach from an unexpected location clearly took the 3 gentlemen on our side of the wall by surprise. There is no easy way to describe what was occurring, so i'll just come out with it. FULL ON MAN ON MAN BUMMING! WITH AN AUDIENCE. Picture the scene if you will. A 50 odd year old rotund bloke, lets call him "the receiver" was on all fours, face pressed into the stone wall, as his young friend, who we shall call "the giver" pumped him. All this was being witnessed at close quarters by another, presumably, close friend who we shall call "the spectator". On seeing us hurtling towards them, the spectator obviously warned his friends as their hitherto bare bottoms where hastily covered up as the jumped up pulling up their kecks. It was no use however, we had reached the gate, some 20m from their location by the time they had sorted out their wardrobe malfunctions. They then proceeded to wistfully look over the wall, pretending I suspect to be soaking up the glorious countryside around them, however, unfortunately, Jase and myself had witnessed the full horror.
The worst thing about the whole sorry incident was the fact that after the gate, there was a smorgasbord of potential bummers, all waiting for their turn.
😯
The only articles that I read in depth were those that went behind the scenes at bike companies
you'll love Peloton mag then - they feature all the manufacturer, chris king, trek, bmc, loads - for a road mag it still appeals to the mtber in me.
Now this is what a ride write up needs!A snippet from Loweys blog
Here, gentle reader, we were presented with a sight that will be forever etched on my mind with infamy. I was in front, hurtling towards the gate with Jase I guess about 30m behind. Our stealthy approach from an unexpected location clearly took the 3 gentlemen on our side of the wall by surprise. There is no easy way to describe what was occurring, so i'll just come out with it. FULL ON MAN ON MAN BUMMING! WITH AN AUDIENCE. Picture the scene if you will. A 50 odd year old rotund bloke, lets call him "the receiver" was on all fours, face pressed into the stone wall, as his young friend, who we shall call "the giver" pumped him. All this was being witnessed at close quarters by another, presumably, close friend who we shall call "the spectator". On seeing us hurtling towards them, the spectator obviously warned his friends as their hitherto bare bottoms where hastily covered up as the jumped up pulling up their kecks. It was no use however, we had reached the gate, some 20m from their location by the time they had sorted out their wardrobe malfunctions. They then proceeded to wistfully look over the wall, pretending I suspect to be soaking up the glorious countryside around them, however, unfortunately, Jase and myself had witnessed the full horror.
The worst thing about the whole sorry incident was the fact that after the gate, there was a smorgasbord of potential bummers, all waiting for their turn.
not a good place to get a mechanical problem then??? 😆
I think I read the first Ferrentino article, thought he was a tool and never read another one
'+'1
which article?
premier members get to write boobies as much as they like and never get banned for doing so. hell watch this:
boobies, darcy's boobies, boooooobies, yetis nipples, BOOOOOBIES. boobies, darcy's boobies, boooooobies, yetis nipples, BOOOOOBIES. boobies, darcy's boobies, boooooobies, yetis nipples, BOOOOOBIES. boobies, darcy's boobies, boooooobies, yetis nipples, BOOOOOBIES. boobies, darcy's boobies, boooooobies, yetis nipples, BOOOOOBIES.
I'll lob my two-pennies in....
Yesterday I posted off my DDI to re-subscribe after a lapse of about 7years. Reasons being:
In the last year I've got back into my biking and refound the love I have for my bikes and the rides.
The last two issues of STW Ive picked up at WHS have been different to the rest and whilst not connecting with all of the articles, they are (generally)well written and the photography is art.
ALL the other mags - MBR WMB MBUK yadda yadda are soooo up for massaging the prostrates of the bike industry marketeers....
I used to read Mike Ferrentino back in the 90's and I like.
Personally speaking, WTF is this 29er movement???!!! Since getting back into the sport, I've been assaulted with all things big wheel in all the other publications and I'm saddened that the bike industry has gone down the slippery slope of generating sales from an existing market base. The other mags have gone for it hook line and sinker, but at least they'll continue to get their trade week/day invites to Horse shite creek et al. It seems to me that STW have not gone all out 29er and so they get my money.
My mum died last week too. It's all bollox anyway.
Disgruntled 'Big Hitters' wander the internet
Marvellous work, Binners - mods should make it a sticky. 😀
29er is, like, soooo 2011-12 maaaan. It's soooo where it's at. You can, like, totally ride the same trails you are riding now, but on a 29er!!!! 😛
Can't you see the point?
(Yes, it is all bollox anyway matey. 😉 Just riding round in circles for fun and reading vaguely entertaining (or simply uninspiring) stuff on thin paper (or distracting screens) that gets thrown away eventually, (or simply deleted) 😉 )
Joined up right at the beginning - and loved the first couple of years. It has had some bad times, but ST has lost the 'difference' that it had at the beginning - it is not bad, but I would like to it return more to its roots. However bills have to be paid - and the past was never as good as you remember.
Cant you think for yourself !
Lowey makes them sound like homoZombierotics 😆
I don't tend to buy the physical mag as its about $20 here, i am a digital subscriber tho and think generally it is a good magazine. we have Spoke here which is good as well but a bit more gnarl/jumpy/dh stuff which isn't really my bag. I suppose it's an evolution and I for one would find it hard to think of new articles all the time. Mike F, I dunno, sometimes Ok but other times awful and he slagged of adventure racing and then even worse mid-adventure race I was mentally agreeing with him. A low point in my life.
You mean there's a magazine too? It took me years before I clicked on "home". It's great now the chat forum isn't cluttered with people rambling on about bikes.
seems to be running out of content these days, and know we have to wait until Febuary for issue 71
seems to be running out of content these days
This might sound negative, but it's not meant that way:
The thing with MTBing is that is has very little history. It's a young sport that evolved from one place, and like it or not, it's still very much a niche market in general. Most of the public aren't interested in it, and racing gets little coverage. Compared to, say, motorcycling, the bikes are very simple, it doesn't have the long history and variety of racing, it's rarely televised, and it's not as glamourous. People in general don't aspire to the sport in the same way: I mean riders, journalists, and companies as a result.
If you pick up a copy of BIKE or MCN SPORT (m/c monthly and glossy quarterly) you'll see there is a MASSIVE amount more to write about, and those mags are light years in front of the MTB press, because they have the staff, the resources and subject in their favour.
The MTB mags never will be anywhere near that sort of quality. There's just not the attraction in the sport, the depth of knowledge or the stuff to write about.
For instance, ST don't write any technical articles, but I read a whole article on the decompression system on the Ducati Panigale engine the other day, and it was a good read. Can you imagine an in depth article like that on, say, shifter internals, or subtle changes to hyperglide? Nope. Me neither.
seems to be running out of content these days
and:
The thing with MTBing is that is has very little history
...which is why if you fill a magazine each month with endless pictures of shiny, shiny new stuff, you never actually run out of [i]new[/i] content. Facile as that might be.
...which is why if you fill a magazine each month with endless pictures of shiny, shiny new stuff, you never actually run out of new content. Facile as that might be.
New? Maybe.
Varied? Of wider interest? Nope.
And the testing itself, it's all only opinions. There's never any hard data gained, apart from maybe weight.
I quite like tests, but there's only so many you can read before it gets old.
It has lots of history! Repack etc but also do people think bikes were never ridden on paths, trails previous to this?!
I used to ride My Striker off road too!
Where MTBUK do 'better' (its not my cup of tea) nor is the rampant ad space but they cover more disciplines within cycling in their mag to keep something to write about.
Could STW expand in a similar (but in their own way) - with dedicated CX news and racing etc etc?
Could there be more emphasis and regular updates on racing in general- doesn't have to be Dirt DH does it.
It has little comparative history.
Take roadies. The races still being watched have been raced for years - some approaching/over a century, many at least 50 years. The previous races still relate to the current ones so stories/etc about them are of interest to those with interest in the modern sport (generally speaking).
Rapack might be of interest up to a point but how well does it relate to current mtbing and more to the point, there's only so much repack to go around. Riding on paths/trails/etc in the past was very different to what most people consider mtbing now (it was much more more roughstuff type) and so it's only going to be of limited interest.