Jones turned out to be right though, if you look at the way geometry is heading now.

And the dark-on-dark text stopped when they changed designer a couple of years ago.

I can’t believe Dirt will cease to exist on paper, there’s too much value in the brand IMO.

So it’s official then…
https://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/factory-media-to-close-print-titles/017662

Brave move. Good to see the editorial team will keep their jobs.

now you can read about Steve Jones’ dissatisfaction with sizing options on an online format instead 🙂

im a Dirt subscriber and its well worth it just to look at the pretty pictures rather than actually read an article, even if the pictures are adverts. Also, I agree the history of DH bikes was a great article and I really enjoyed it. Who’d have thought the ‘classic’ V10 from 2006 had a 66 deg HA (albeit with a bunch of sag)

If they are going to online only they need to ditch or sort out that woeful bloody mpora player.

I used to enjoy the Dirt 100 issue (would buy it digitally) but even with the change of focus from purely downhill there wasn’t enough there to keep me interested the rest of the year.

I remember it launching, probably still have the first 3 years of it in my parents’ loft somewhere.

Singletrack (yes, theres a magazine, apparently) is a prime example of the small indie title trying imaginative ways of changing things with their subscription only model. Unashamedly going for quality in content, writing, photography and print . And good luck to ’em! I can’t even remember the last time I flicked through MBUK or MBR

Niche, direct-sub publications are the only part of the magazine industry doing well apparently. I remember an article on here about why the mag isn’t stocked in the supermarkets and the wastage and inefficiency of mainstream mag distribution seems insane to me. If you can find a (small) market, sell a high-quality product to them at a price that allows you to operate.

I hadn’t realised Dig had been sold back to the founder, wouldn’t surprise me if some of their other titles do similar.

Whether you like Dirt or not the boys can still build some awesome tracks. At least these can’t be digitized 🙂

You can moan about the product reviews but the race reports from the DH world cup and the EWS were great. I’ll be sad to see it go (from print).

I’m another Luddite in magazines land, only like the paper ones. Just no interest in embedded content and I really couldn’t tell you why.

If STW went emedia/online only I’d most likely not subscribe.

BoardinBob – Member

You can moan about the product reviews but the race reports from the DH world cup and the EWS were great. I’ll be sad to see it go (from print).

Aye, the EWS coverage last year was superb.

I just like paper magazines. I’ve happilly swapped to a kindle for books but you consume magazines differently, you can’t flick through a tablet. Maybe the magazine-replacement hardware just doesn’t exist yet

Sad news. The thing is Dirt has been getting slimmer on content etc for quite a while. I remember buying a copy of dirt and still flicking through/reading etc over quite a few nights/days. Lately a quick flick-through in WHSmiths gives you all you need to know before buying.

There were the odd glimmers of old dirt but for the main the writing seems to have gone out of it. Sounds like they basically want the advertising ££ online but without the hardwork and print costs.

Hmmm. All online, eh? Because Factory are doing superbly with their online content in the form of Bikemagic.

so whats the deal with subs, do i get a rebate?

Hmmm. All online, eh? Because Factory are doing superbly with their online content in the form of Bikemagic.

Pretty much my thought. Dirt’s website makes the mag stuff people complain about seem excellent. When the hell was the last time anyone thought “Hey, let’s go look on the bikemagic website!” (the latest news on there just now is about the 27.5+ Fox 34 that was presented weeks ago)?

Luckily my sub has two issues to go and I was considering not renewing anyway.

@Kimbers, they’re saying full refunds.

Ironically I got an email survey from Factory today, in which I suspect I was supposed to tell them that mpora is as influential as dirt. So I told them the internet is shit and I only read things printed on papyrus. In purple ink.

In the last few weeks ive got 5 issues of Pro cycling for a fiver, 5 issues of cycling plus for a fiver and 3 issues of cycling world a free pump and a calender for 3 quid, and lots of Intermediate and future mags available for very low sub rates,if you google them, theyre just trying to promote sub numbers to say to the advertisers we have this many subscribers, and we are charging more.

Then there are magazines like singletrack the daddy of this forum, limited availability, more expensive, less advertising, better pictures, and more words than other mags, but i havent seen any issues in Tesco or Morisons for months.

@Project, I subscribed to Your Sinclair for £3 for 9 issues and got a free copy of Sim City on tape (which took 9 months to arrive), cut-price subs deals aren’t really anything unusual or indicative.

Admittedly, Your Sinclair isn’t going any more 😆

very sad really, cant see dirt surviving as a sub only digital issue

i guess im just stuck in the past

cut-price subs deals aren’t really anything unusual or indicative

but they push up the number of subscribers for little cost and hopefully those subbies will become full time buyers of the mags,

The sub for STW works well for me because of the additional content both in the mag and online and a website that works on various platforms (sat on the bog typing this). It didn’t work for me with Dirt because the mag has started to look like an advertorial, the copy quality had become a teen fanzine rant and the website a jumbled mess that barely worked on most platforms. The latest dirt 100 was the first I hadn’t purchased in years because it seemed irrelevant.
It is interesting to see how the likes of STW and rouleur have embraced a cohesive approach to print and digital whereas the likes of Dennis Publishing see online as something to fight/ an inconvenience/ potential pot of gold depending on the day of the week and want you to pay separate sub’s for both

So now theres more room for a mag that hasn’t let its content slide, page-count drop, article word count drop in the market.

In the last year I stopped buying Dirt. I felt almost insulted by how slim it had gotten. Stark reminder- I picked up a three year old copy of dirt recently and thought wtf. The later Dirt mags really were light on everything. For anyone to say print is dead is ridiculous. At my son’s school they use Apple tablets and pc’s. They also use reading books. Everything has its place and application. Moving solely to print (IMO) is just a way for the publishes to avoid paying a printer/distributor etc. They should focus on total content. Their competitors will or…….a new competitor will walk into the market and take over. All IMO but print aint dead for a long time. Its just people trying to shave costs.

Moving solely to print (IMO) is just a way for the publishes to avoid paying a printer/distributor etc.

How does that work exactly? 😕

Doh. I mean online.

Theres all the change/people changing etc but we are tactile creatures. I (personally) think media and print is the way forward.

Look at music- I bought a ipod over a decade ago. Why hasn’t vinyl and CD’s died off yet?

IMO bad editorial decisions, flimsy insulting content and ads galore (see bad editorial decisions) is what killed dirt. People drifted away from it.

MBUK etc are also getting abit too much like mags with ads and **** all content. Customers wont keep buying such insulting content.

THATs what kills a magazine/drops its circulation. Bad content/insulting amount of ads.

IMO bad editorial decisions, flimsy insulting content and ads galore (see bad editorial decisions) is what killed dirt. People drifted away from it.

MBUK etc are also getting abit too much like mags with ads and **** all content. Customers wont keep buying such insulting content.

Which brings us full circle to Privateer, which IMHO was the best MTB mag for decades. Great content, great imagery, no ads – no more 🙁

There’s definitely a market for great printed, mags in someway shape or form, but you’re right, light content and ads aren’t the way but neither it seems is the polar opposite.

Singletrack is someway towards it but I prefer more gravity lead content so I tend not to buy it all that often. I’ll happily pay £10 every three months for a damn good downhill mtb mag that will sit on my coffee table.

Singletrack could(?) pick up a subsection more on dirt’s content? To bring dirt’s readership ‘up’ as they grow older/change their tastes too?

This has really spoiled my day. I still remember the first issues I bought of Ride BMX and Sidewalk Surfer.

What’s wrong with pdf’s and kindle etc?

Less clutter and paper.

They all need to get online and have flash adverts etc.

I have had a Dirt subscription for the past 3yrs and have bought it for many more. The content has gone downhill and the mag has got thinner. It has always had some very good articles and interviews, DH and EWS race reports were the best of any publication by a long way. Which is why I subscribe. The website is a mess when trying to view it on the iPad, but ok on the PC.

The best bit about dirt was DirtTV at the EWS. 20 min video edits every race. What now? I looked forward to those immense and avoid all other race reports until I had seen them (sorry ST). Will dirtTV still run? Who is going to cover and produce a decent video edit of each round. I’m a bit fed up of 5min web edits. I want something I can sit down with a brew or a beer and get into.

Agreed privateer was great to, but missed the boat on a sub. Shame

What’s wrong with pdf’s and kindle etc?

PDF’s are particularly bad – they’re designed to mimic a piece of A4 paper exactly – with no text flow, crap zoom support, etc.

Kindles are fine for novels – assuming properly prepared ebooks – where you read straight through. As soon as you need to flick back and forth (for example consulting a map in a guide book) they’re crap.

Properly designed apps are the ideal solution, but they’re expensive. And mean another step in your workflow when publishing, another cost…

Properly designed apps are the ideal solution, but they’re expensive. And mean another step in your workflow when publishing, another cost…

It’s worse than that, actually. VAT rules mean print mags are 0% rated and digital editions attract the full 20%. When you take into account the fact that everyone expects digital to be (significantly) cheaper to buy, the margins on digital quickly evaporate.

What’s wrong with pdf’s and kindle etc?

You can’t flick through a pdf

Less clutter and paper.

More energy spent on charging the damn things then.

They all need to get online and have flash adverts etc.

No they don’t, and Flash doesn’t work on iOS and many publishing houses don’t have a capabilities to run HTML 5 ads yet either

8)

Lots of people saying ‘xx killed dirt’ are missing the point. Dirt didn’t die, it was culled. Ok so I agree it was crap (IMO) but we don’t actually know how much of a success/failure it actually was. ALL the factory mags have been culled to move to non print media, which includes (focuses on) video content. They may have done this as a last ditched panic, it may be a strategic early call to get a jump on what they see as a failing industry? We don’t know.

Not being a reader of any other factory mags, anyone care to comment on what they were like and how they changed over the years?

Not being a reader of any other factory mags, anyone care to comment on what they were like and how they changed over the years?

Well, Sidewalk was a bit like Privateer or The Ride, only 15 years early. Long, in depth interviews, with a really varied and interesting mix of industry types/professional skaters/shop owners etc. Good, creative photography, and absolutely no “reviews” of product (they’d have a page or two of ‘fresh produce’, but that was literally it).

I really liked their “working class heroes” series, where they’d interview a postie or a hospital nurse or whoever, who also happened to be an amazing skater.

I didn’t see it change a lot over the years. Maybe that was the problem – not attracting new younger readers?

EDIT: unsurprisingly, they’ve got a pretty good editorial about the decision here:

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century – Sidewalk Magazine

muppetWrangler – Member

… not sure I could see myself taking a tablet into the shitter anyway

It becomes very normal very quickly.[/quote]I used to like reading dirt whilst on the hopper.

Always think it looks like you’re off for a Monkey’s Fag Break if you take a laptop, iPads or smart ‘phone into the bogs.

Personally, I think some things do still work better in print. Thumbing through longer articles, especially when they’re accompanied with decent pictures, is certainly more satisfying.

Ive been considering trying to start up a magazine in a similar vein to Dirt for a while. Maybe now would be the best time to do it.

I remember picking up issue 5 or 6 (can’t remember which exactly) at the age of 15 – it had a review of the original Spooky Metalhead and an interview with Paul Roberts (AKA Grotbags). It was amazing and focused on all the things i loved about MTB at the time.

Back then the two month wait between issues was excruciating!

Ive got some ideas on content but any suggestions would be greatfully recieved!

Back then the two month wait between issues was excruciating!

true dat!

Ive been considering trying to start up a magazine in a similar vein to Dirt for a while

Wait for the day before the copy needs to be handed in ready for print, get extremely drunk then stare closely at your pc screen as you attempt to type the reviews.

Then don’t spell check anything and send it in. 😀

Only just found out about this. Been a subscriber for years now and to be honest the way it’s been handled is pretty sh*tty.

Coyote – Member
Only just found out about this. Been a subscriber for years now and to be honest the way it’s been handled is pretty sh*tty.

In what way? Thought everyone was getting a refund of monies owed?

Have any other subscribers been contacted by the magazine yet?