best mountain bike magazines

Which magazines do people like and dislike? I like singletrack and mbuk and I think dirt is rubbish just seems to talk in riddles.

I subscribe to Singletrack and buy Dirtrag if/when I see it. I don’t normally bother with any of the other UK ones unless I’m bored in an airport.

I subscribe to ST and digital version of privateer, both great reads.

For many years singletrack and mbuk for me. (I really should subscribe to singletrack 😳 )
Dirt is good for looking at the pictures but not to read, never really liked any others.

Dirt is my favourite. They all get a bit samey after a while though

my all time favourite was MTB-Pro, but now I subscribe to STW 🙂

Subscribe to Dirt just now. Used to get Singletrack too, but got bored with it. Very occasionally buy What MTB or MBUK if I’m travelling. Tbf, the last MBUK I bought was a vast improvement over the previous one a year or so before. On the other hand, I hadn’t bought MBR in years, but the one I picked up the other week was really awful.

Digital version of this place, (postage too much to Sweden).

Didn’t know Privateer was available in digitial format, goes off to check.

Dirt for me… I get them all though, Singletrack is usually the best of the rest. MBR went through a patch of quality but is back to being crap, WMB and MBUK have their moments. Usually enough of interest to me that I don’t feel ripped off tbh.

Oh yeah, and Privateer… Might cancel that tbh, it’s sometimes good but it’s kind of hard work.

I was in Smiths and having flicked through the mtb mags I bought Classic Bike instead.
Nice to have something that lasts longer than a trip to the toilet. I do subscribe to Singletrack. Mainly as a thank you for this web site.

None of them. Might pick up whatever looks most interesting in Smiths if I’m desperate/going on a journey etc but they don’t tend to contain anything that I can’t read for free on the internet and a few just seem to contain mindless drivel for the sake of filling pages…

Singletrack digital subscription is an amazing deal. For £2 a month you get access to all back issues. Privateer also looks good but I’ve never bought it due to the astronomical price – sure the production quality is better than most magazines, but even the digital subscription option is more expensive than most paper mags. Only other magazine I buy regularly is Dirt. MBR has gone the way of MBUK and I can’t be bothered with it any more.

I’m not rad enough to read MBUK.

I find all of them hit and miss, tbh. I have bought quite a few issues of MBR just recently, their current Riding Basics and the regular How To articles are useful for noobs like me.

So many of them are geared really heavily towards ‘what you should buy this month’ I sometimes find it a bit depressing.

i used to read MBUK, MBR, Singletrack and What Mountain Bike. i stopped getting WMB when the newsagent stopped getting it in but i was still content on the other 3. occasionally i would buy Dirt as well. problem was that i would collect the magazines and there eventually came a cut off point when i had no room in the house and the wife refused to tolerate the amount of money i was spending on them and the space they were taking up….i had every issue of singletrack and MBR. my MBUK collection went back as far as 1997!!
i ended up getting rid of them all 18 months ago before we moved to the new house which didnt have the space for them… 🙁
i stopped buying magazines for a while but have recently started again but i’m limiting myself to 1 magazine a month…so it depends on which one contains the most interesting articles…

Singletrack for me. It seems to cover all bases for my type of riding, i.e. a bit of everything off road.

Having been a Dirt subscriber for years, the magazine appears to have lost its way. Its got very thin on content, and whats in there isn’t great. I’m letting my subscription lapse this year.

MBUK always seem to be targeting the teenage reader (too many G-outs, slamming berms, radness etc.) and MBR always struck me as a bit dull.

Have a sub for Singletrack and Dirt. Occasionally buy WMB for shits and giggles, would rather but a roadie mag before MBUK or MBR though. Bought a copy of privateer the other month, wasn’t all that.

Long term subscriber to Singletrack, yeah its had its up and its downs, but I still love it.

Love buying The Ride Journal.

I used to get Mbuk and Mbr when i was little and they had boobies in them,

Dirtrag and singletrack for me,

Used to really like dirt‘s stream-of-consciousness editorial style esp when they had the reader’s letters and fantastic one-off prototype DH rigs but since about Oct last year I think it’s become far too dull. Basically mbr with a few DH pictures to give it some reflected glory.

Don’t get me started on the others

to be honest i find them all crap, i might read the odd article in Smiths but that is about it.

To much repetition over the years, the focus has shifted to a type of riding i have no interest in, reviews are out of date and of questionable value, relate to the tester but not to another person. etc.etc.

I’ve had to force myself to chuck piles of old mags , loft had to be cleared for upgraded insulation . Had to be brutal and now realise how much I’ve wasted over the years . TBF they have been entertaining and informative on the whole and have helped me save money. ,!,! Must get disciplined in the future and cut right down . Singletrack still on sub from day one for some strange reason I can’t bin those ? Also got Mountain Bike World and Maximum Mountain Bike both complete that I’m trying to hang on too !

None of them.
They’re all just manufacturers’ press releases presented as product reviews.

They’re all just manufacturers’ press releases presented as product reviews.

I agree on that part, I haven’t looked at a review properly for years.

I’m liking the new singletrack, the articles i really enjoy are ones either about multi-day rides or riding somewhere exotic.

It’s a shame with the digital versions of all these mags you can’t rate articles or add comments to give the writers feedback to steer them more towards the kind of articles we collectively like

At least we’ve got it better than the US or French market though. Our mags seem to have a lot better content/ads ratio

Im a big fan of Bike. The USA seems to be a far more inspiring place than UK somehow.

Bike’s good but I always find it’s on the thin side compared to UK mags

add comments to give the writers feedback to steer them more towards the kind of articles we collectively like

*Shhh* they’re watching…

Singletrack
Dirt
Shred

Does Cycling Weekly count? it does mention MTB’s when someone wins a big race or in an Olympic year.

Liked MBR when they did there riding mountains series with Dan Milner, great photo’s and very inspirational, having said that, think they are gash as a general rule, consumer gear catalogues.

http://www.imbikemag.com/%5B/url%5D

I used to religiously buy mtbPro and mountainBike action from the states, STW replaced it but now I rarely get up the enthusiasm to buy a paper version.

MBUK is for kids
Dirt is for people who can’t read
MBR is for newbies
Singletrack is for overweight Orange riding, Audi driving IT managers.

They all get a bit repetitive after a while and so I rarely buy now. Tend to flick through to see what new stuff is out. I miss MTB – Pro 🙁

I still subscribe to Bike* and Dirt Rag.

Bike has always had the best writing & photography, IMO. Dirt Rag has had some great art work (and beer reviews!) over the years, too.

(*my absolute favourite mags are old issues of Bike circa 1996/97/98 – the Singletrack Special, The Dark Issue, The Joy of Dirt, etc – I regard ’em in pretty much the same way I regard my favourite books, and they get read again and again…).

+1 for older editions of bike, a jolly good read and goodpics,

this is ok http://enduro-mtb.com/en/ dont think its been mentioned?

newstuff just the web…

I subscribe to Singletrack and buy Dirtrag if/when I see it. I don’t normally bother with any of the other UK ones unless I’m bored in an airport.

+1

I also buy Bike when I see it, just to dribble over the photography.

MTB Pro, Maximum Mountain Bike and Mountain Bike International were the best – although Mountain Biking UK was a really great magazine c1990-1993.

I still buy Singletrack but am drifting away from it somewhat. Not sure that it is better after the revamp either… A few years ago Singletrack really hit the spot.

Mountain Biking UK was a really great magazine c1990-1993.

The Glory Days – occasionally had my copy confiscated for reading it in class.

Part of me still wants a Chas Roberts White Spider, a la Dave Hemming. 😀

^^ Oh yes!