New year Digital Sub price will be £20

If I compare the quality of STW to other cycling mags I’d say that it’s as good if not better than Cycling Plus.

I’m trying to work out whether this is a positive or a negative.

😕

New year Digital Sub price will be £20

Still too cheap. Stick it up to £27.50 or £50 for two years.

If I compare the quality of STW to other cycling mags I’d say that it’s as good if not better than Cycling Plus.

Damned with faint praise there, Cycling Plus is probably the worst mag on the shelves and has been for 20 years.

…and yet it’s the best selling cycling mag in the UK

Well in its favour it has the widest remit, so appeals to a lot of people and it seems to be bought by the casual cyclist as well as a few more serious ones. Still that doesn’t make it any good, half of it reads like press releases from the distributors, only fractionally saved by the odd ok article like the route guides.

…and yet it’s the best selling cycling mag in the UK

But then the best selling newspapers are the Sun and the Mail.

As Ben Elton used to say, “let’s not equate popularity with quality—Noel Edmonds knows a thing or two about that”.

(Admittedly that quote has somewhat lost its cultural relevance over the last 25 years.)

Print quality should be maintained, not reduced to meet costs. Increase the cover price if necessary.

I agree on removing the product reviews to digital and replacing with columns. Profiles, interviews, stories, etc.

I watched The Surfers Path go from a British version of Surfers Journal, (high quality paper, full page uninterrupted photos, very few ads, high cover price) to regurgitated articles, printed on tissue paper, a handful of pages, full of ads.

Well in its favour it has the widest remit, so appeals to a lot of people and it seems to be bought by the casual cyclist as well as a few more serious ones. Still that doesn’t make it any good, half of it reads like press releases from the distributors, only fractionally saved by the odd ok article like the route guides

I suppose that’s down to what different people want out of a mag. Sounds like stuff about the “essence” of riding is what floats your boat, so a more “product” based mag wouldn’t excite you, but as Mark rightly says, something must be being done very well to achieve those sales figures.

Cycling Plus is a classic example of what i posted a way back up the thread. Terrible magazine much like MBR and MBUK, but can be picked up as people stroll past them in Tesco/Airport/Hospital shop etc.

Not everyone wants a sub, maybe they cant afford it, maybe they only read mags on holiday, or maybe they just pick up issues when there is an interesting article on the cover.

Cycling Plus is a classic example of what i posted a way back up the thread. Terrible magazine much like MBR and MBUK, but can be picked up as people stroll past them in Tesco/Airport/Hospital shop etc.

I think Mark has covered this one a bit, costs them far more to put a mag in these places than can ever be recovered by sales (ie minimum stock per store and most gets pulped)

Have to say, I really like reviews. Even though I don’t put much stock in them I still like reading them. I’d miss that…

Have to say, I really like reviews. Even though I don’t put much stock in them I still like reading them. I’d miss that…

Aye, me too

I pay quite a bit for the printed sub – as it get delivered to Norway

but like many others, I’m a crusty old sod who likes to fondle the paper and I really struggle to focus when trying to read digital magazines. Again in part because I stare at a sodding pc all day long at work. And the print version goes to my mountain cabin with me

So I’ll carry on as it is for now – unless some serious changes occur

I only have a digital sub, and rather than reading every issue (probably only looked at 2 “new” mags this year), I do enjoy the archive of magazines and I’m happy reading the PDFs on my very cheap Tablet.

I do skip the reviews though, I’ve always seen ST as being about adventures (local and far away) and awesome photos.

Would be happy to pay more for the digital sub.

Postierich wrote:

Font size is still an issue for me

Me too. (Getting old, innit.)

Mark,

‘new Partner section of the website’, this is a neat idea but needs a lot of work. E.g. I like ION knee pads, and thought I might like other products from them; so I visited the partner section, clicked on ION, ignored the 1000 or so words on corporate gumpf, scrolled down and found some products, liked the look of the shorts, when I clicked on them to buy (I assumed), I was taken to a ‘complete the form for info page’. This is a bad UX, by modern standards unacceptable. Cant see how you make money from this as I didn’t buy. Had the shorts linked to a shopping cart somewhere??? I suppose its because ION don’t sell direct? Begs the question how does the partner page help raise money??

Surely you can buy the paper in the UK?

I reckon you can save print costs through a simple tender/RFP? Or even ask on here

Have to say, I really like reviews. Even though I don’t put much stock in them I still like reading them. I’d miss that…

me too 🙂

The partner section is subcontracted out to a company called Kindred. Shortly after launch we had a meeting where we told them what was wrong with it and they are currently making a lot of changes.

As for the content on each individual partner page, that’s down to the partners themselves. It’s their space that they rent from us and Kindred. It’s up to the brands to populate their pages with stuff that you guys are interested in. Each partner portal has the ability to be a complete retail environment – there are full ecommerce tools built in. Some partners are choosing not to use them and they just want to use the space to showcase their brand.

In effect we are kind of subletting the space. We help each brand to get people in their by running promotions and ads on the site in both ad positions and as content – competitions, promotions etc.

As for paper, UK based sources are not cheaper. As for tender offers.. I get print quotes on a regular basis – like every month. My inbox is full of both printers and paper buying agencies all looking for our business. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I’m not a novice at it any more. The print rises are coming and they are coming for everyone. No business that is involved in the print supply sector is going to escape the consequences of the currency drops.

We have a meeting with our printer on Tuesday next week. Any decisions we make about what we do with the printed mag will come after that.

Thanks for the reply Mark. Im certainly no expert of print and paper purchasing, I do do a lot on UX/basket conversion though. I hope the changes work out as its a neat feature.

Why is there not a mobile version of the site?

Re digital subscription. Not something I would pay for.

GCN/GMBN is good example of a bicycle media brand understanding digital media and embracing change. Not all the content is my taste, but personally I find my self ‘consuming’ far more content from them than I do STW. All for free.

chipsngravy – Member

Why is there not a mobile version of the site?

There’s barely a desktop version of this site 😆

My thoughts; I really enjoy reading the print version particularly the exotic rides that I can only dream about doing. I also appreciate the honest words on these rides and that not everything is sweet and smelling of roses. This months Mont Blanc tour described as ‘white mountain black mood’ reminds me of my classic ride of Col du Cou in Morzine; happy, rain, wet, moody, tired, loving it, falling off, failed brakes, loving it, beer, and plenty of smiles at the end. Real world rides I appreciate.

This is my go to website and only forum/social media I participate in. Rarely read the PDF version though.

I watched The Surfers Path go from a British version of Surfers Journal, (high quality paper, full page uninterrupted photos, very few ads, high cover price) to regurgitated articles, printed on tissue paper, a handful of pages, full of ads.

Had an interview there back in 2001. At the time the only full time employee was the editor, Alex D-R.

Following on from the shutting down of TeamRock and Classic Rock Magazine etc

Any updates about the status of the STW mag