I dont mind a bit of GMBN, its a bit chavvy but has some interesting stuff in amongst the rubbish stuff. I hadnt realised they were so deep in the pockets of the MTB sugar daddys that pay their wages though, this is pure clickbait drivel.

Yep mostly just noise. Watched one of those ‘should i upgrade stuff on my current bike or buy a new one’ videos from them last year. Guess what side they leant toward, reasoning being you get new school geometry and latest standards. No mention of the fact that if you do invest in a new bike in two years time it’s not worth much and itself starts getting obsolete. Preferred the dirt shed show days when Warner was still on it.

gmbn grouptest

Another one who liked a bit of GMBN nonsense for a while. It does seem to have gone downhill since Henry left the tech channel and Rich joined the main one. I’m not blaming either of them, could just be timings coinciding with other changes, but it does seem to be around that time they changed the direction of the channels.

I hope it’s just an effect of them not being able to get out and do some of the overseas stuff they do well, plus their tie-in with the EWS means they have lots of time to fill at the moment. Normally I bump into them all filming as I ride at similar spots regularly so I know what they’re like away from the camera (Blake is a bit more mellow, Don’s very shy, Martin is just Martin and Doddy really is a bike geek!). Maybe the owners are pushing the brand partners side rather hard, try and monetise the MTB side so it keeps up with GCN with their GCN+. They could do with a female presenter too, Manon on GCN is a great addition to their team.

Dunno why but I find most MTB media really……. mehhhhh.

It’s always a bit …….. look at this new exciting thing, followed by loads of guff about this year’s incrementally shinier thing or niche.

Whereas GCN is quite watchable, even if 90% of it is just stating the obvious. Aero Vs comfort – yes there is a tradeoff, can you get fit in 7/8/10 weeks on our sponsor’s turbo – yes, is 105 better than 10 year old dura ace – it depends, are new bikes stiffer and lighter – yes.

I enjoyed the random tandem, guess the seats aren’t 2m apart?

I know with lockdown that good content has probably been hard to come up with. But, why not do an article on how all old wheelsizes are great and bikes are universally cool etc, etc. Just look at the comments below. People pooing themselves because the overpriced bike they have stretched to buy might be obselete soon…poor show. They know exectly what they are doing. Whatever next…

Feels like MBUK for the YouTube generation. Not helped by having Andrew Dodd on board.

I guess it works for the 14-18yo demographic, I’ve just outgrown it.

since Henry left the tech channel

My finger isn’t on the pulse, I was surprised when he turned up on the latest Pinkbike podcast.

Looking at their groupco accounts yes I think you are right reluctant jumper – expect to see lots more ‘brand partnerships’ – also note the effective controlling stake now from Discovery. Singletrack it ain’t

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10605512/filing-history

Yep i liked the random tandem, i think Ashton is an ace guy, really adds value to the channel. But increasingly the whole channel just looks like a Chain Reaction/Nukeproof sales video. No drama but im unsubscribed and its gone into the “used to watch” filing cabinet..shame as ill miss Doddy telling me about the new 35″ wheel size running 1.9 panaracers with a 74% head angle and super short reach for a poppy ride…and that all lls stuff is destined for the skip.

I quite like a lot of it – but they’re audience is mostly kids and I do wish they would stop pushing the fact that you need a really expensive bike. As well as stupid things like a vide saying you can’t use washing up liquid and need to spend 15 quid on muc off

I quite like Doddy, he’s a nerd and I’m a nerd and he’s usually pretty good at expressing nerd thoughts. But, his opinion on wheel size? A long long time ago, I went to a bikeradar demo day, rode my first 29er and as it happened he was there hosting and he also rode his first 29er, and is t was the same bike. It was shite- bad tyres, horrible geometry (toe overlap on the medium ffs!), heavy and it felt like 50% of all teh bike’s weight was in the wheels… a proper “try and make it like a 26er and fail to reap any benefits” early shit 29er like a lot of companies made. Maybe a KHS, not entirely sure.

Anyway. That 40 minute test ride on that shit 29er was all that informed his completely negative opinion of 29ers for at least another couple of years. And that was one of the big influencing things that made MBUK and WMB so conservative on wheel sizes, since part of his job was to give editorial/policy direction.

In fairness, he did finally ride a good one, ate some humble pie in print. But then… along came 650b and he was one of the first on the bandwagon and went 100% the opposite way and enthused in print about how it was the future, the perfect balance, the “all the advantages and none of the advantages”, before he’d ridden one.

So yeah, shut up about wheel sizes mate.

Stopped 12mths ago

Trying to hard I think at being edgy

Can’t see much wrong with that piece about wheel size. Generally explains what is going on at the moment. It’s just a 2 minute piece, not an in depth exposé. I’ll still be watching, although do skip a few bits. Do miss Henry though. He was the best of the bunch, good sense of humour. Hope he does end up on pinkbike, they make some good videos too. GMBN do make a good team with a mix of attitudes. Some reasonable content especially over the last year in trying times

You don’t have to watch it all. The number of videos they put out across the multiple channels is quite staggering, and covers a broad range of interests and skill levels.
Yes there’s some (lots of) filler but 90% of the time when I’m stuck on some maintainence, it’s Doddy showing me how to do it.
When I’m bored and curious about a particular skill, I go to Blake, (or skills with Phil).
I really miss the vlogs from the big events too. Hopefully soon they will return.

Other stuff yeah, I realise I’m a few decades too old for that particular videos target market.

@nickjb beacause its irellevant and it’s only objective is to causes unease regarding wheel size. Theres no article on the death of 27.2 seatposts is there? But buyers remorse regarding wheelsize involves a new frame/fork/wheels/tyres…keep those punters spending. The only other industry i can compare it to is clothing fashion…

Never subscribed to them. Can’t be bothered with YT channels that are just adverts with some pointless content in between. I’ve noticed quite a few channels going that way recently

I also unfollowed it this week, funny enough.

Never really been a fan, but it does seem to have got even more patronising and formulaic in recent times.

Possibly a deliberate thing to target new riders, but more likely just lost some creative energy. The whole setup is a content sausage factory basically.

I do feel Martin Ashton is a bit wasted there. Such a funny, charismatic guy. Surprised he’s not doing something on the BBC already.

I used to subscribe to both their channels, didn’t last long as they just churn out too much stuff (full stop) and too much rehashing and filler. Now I visit them now and again for whatever videos pique my interest. Usually skip quite a lot within many videos (timestamps are great, when they include them – sickest thing of the week… no thanks). There’s a lot of useful skills and tech advice delivered well by good presenters and I’ve learnt a lot, so they’re free to try and abuse me with X amount of product placement as thanks for that.

I do feel Martin Ashton is a bit wasted there. Such a funny, charismatic guy. Surprised he’s not doing something on the BBC already.

That is a fair point, he really does prop up the dirt shed when it’s a bit lacking in content sometimes

I gave up a while ago. It’s just one long advert and product placement shot with about 40 seconds of content aimed at the under 12’s with their parents credit card

I use to like GMBN but got bored of it being all about jumping and enduro.

Just to add, they need to deliver content on other mtb disciplines other than jumping and enduro. They focus too much on the “send of the week” type stuff and nothing that I’ve seen about fitness, planning local routes, or climbing challenges etc.

Also agree Martyn is a bit wasted there. Its almost like he’s babysitting.

They do a lot of adventure stuff in the summer, things like the SDW or IOW in a day have been done before and bikepacking gets done regularly. It’s usually to coincide with one of the sponsors launching a new range of kit but when done as part of a longer 30 min or so video it works.

Agreed on Martyn is holding it all together currently though despite being stuck in his room! He should be signed up for the Paralympics as a minimum.

Like some of the others have said, it has its place.

We watch selected episodes as a family, and as a rule never watch the dirt shed show as it’s primarily advertising… funny thing being that the one and only time we did watch it my youngest son appeared in the send or fail segment (sending a tabletop).

I coach kids MTB for a local club and some of the videos can be good to watch as reminders of what they learn in our sessions.

Aside from loving the random tandem segments and the game of bike episodes it’s been quite good for teaching my kids how to spot veiled advertising (it’s not just Nukeproof, there’s a lot of Canyon in there too) and showing them what deciduous forests and moorland landscapes look like compared with the heavily vegetated landscapes where we ride in Queensland.

Meh. It’s a bit of fluff about a subject I’m interested in. I watch some of it. Blake seems like a good lad and Doddy is a bike nerd like me. Martyn Ashton just comes across as a really sound guy.

It could definitely do with focussing more on general trail riding rather than all the park rat stuff though.

I’m still in.

I don’t watch or like all of it, but there’s plenty to keep me interested (as someone who still regularly rides a 26er).

It’s not all advertising, especially not Doddy’s retro stuff.

And to be fair, Neil did a video a while ago about cheap bike vs superbike using a Halford’s Voodoo something (less than a Bizango). He basically said you’d be fine on the cheap bike.

So I cut them some slack as it’s free, regular and informative in the round.

Feels like MBUK for the YouTube generation.

^^^^this^^^^^

Pretty unoffensive time killer. Not too deep. bit of new tech, bit of reader’s sheds, but of retro bike. I’m sure they’ll be gutted to know so many of the STW elite are poo-pooing them.

They struggle to find enough interesting content to fill the time they need to fill but don’t appear to have the budget to put good stuff together. I guess they do OK given those constraints, but it does mean a lot of it is a bit samey and drivelly.

Can’t see much wrong with that piece about wheel size. Generally explains what is going on at the moment.

Agree. It is just commenting on what is happening. It is clear that the direction is towards only offering 29 on a lot of models and it makes sense to do so for the manufacturers.

I subscribe to GMBN and GCN and probably watch about 10-20% of the videos which is fine. I enjoy the ones I watch and I don’t need to watch a video on how to fit a pedal so luckily you can just immediately hide those from the list.

They provide a load of useful information, especially for people new to the sport.

The Dirt Shed Show Christmas specials are usually good for a laugh as well. One with Rob Warner on the loose a couple of years ago springs to mind.

Inevitably, some content is repetitive but you pick and choose what to watch.

They are upfront about the commercial tie ins which don’t really bother me. At the end of the day, it’s subscription free and they’ve got to make a living like the rest of us…

If you’re on STW, you aren’t the target audience. Nobody ever asked GMBN to run a comparison on wood-burning stoves. It’s not media for the reasonably wealthy mediocre middle aged middle-class. Try Gran Fondo or perhaps eMTB magazine.

“Feels like MBUK for the YouTube generation.”

you know you sound old when you say that – seeing as youtube’s been around for 15 odd years 🙂 what’s the youtube generation you’re talking about?

In’t maaah daay……..

“Feels like MBUK for the YouTube generation.”

you know you sound old when you say that – seeing as youtube’s been around for 15 odd years 🙂 what’s the youtube generation you’re talking about?

It’s just a literal fact. Their primary revenue stream is YouTube.

Supported by product placement fees and merch.

OK, I’m guessing but it’s quite an educated guess.

There’s some good stuff on there but you’ve got to sift through the marketing fluff and the stuff that is put on for effect.

Like back when I used to subscribe to MBR. There were certain brands that if you saw they had a bike being reviewed it would never score above 7/10. Maybe they were brands pumping out not so good bikes, but a large advertising spend gives you the ability to influence reviews, no question.

“Hi guys, I’ve just signed off the ad invoice for last month. Incidentally, what score are you going to award our ‘Shredinator v.4.2.1’ in next month’s mag?”

“Seven out of ten”.

“I see…. it is an awfully big invoice I’ve just signed off, we might have to look at this before next time….”

“Eight?”

“Call it ‘nine’ and don’t let any other bikes in the review get a ten”.

“Nine it is then”.

Just to add, they need to deliver content on other mtb disciplines other than jumping and enduro. They focus too much on the “send of the week” type stuff and nothing that I’ve seen about fitness, planning local routes, or climbing challenges etc.

Also agree Martyn is a bit wasted there. Its almost like he’s babysitting.

I don’t watch a lot of GMBN but even the quickest browse at their channel I can see multiple videos on XC and fitness in the last month so seems like you just made that up?

what’s the youtube generation you’re talking about?

14-18 year olds in this case, as I said in my post. The ones that have grown up with it, and it’s ‘features’, as a main source of broadcast media.

I don’t watch a lot of GMBN but even the quickest browse at their channel I can see multiple videos on XC and fitness in the last month so seems like you just made that up?

TBF, he/she may have got that impression from following them on social rather than actively looking at their YT channel.

I would have assumed similar, as someone who mainly scrolled past their content on Insta and FB without fully engaging with it because it always seemed the bloody same.