which bike mag is the best?

Singletrack for me – it has the most in-depth articles & photography. Not over-focussed on glam shots of products and bikes like many mags.

An analogy would be to say it is the Hugh Heffner publication of the bike world. MBUK now that is more like a Paul Raymond number – good for 5 mins & a quick read on the bog…

roverpig – Member

There is a real gap in the market for a magazine that takes a more skeptical view of the latest trend.

I’m always suspicious of advertiser influence – I like to see sites/mags that will give bad reviews from time to time. Simply not enough of that.

Would be fascinated to see a JD Power style reliability survey too – some kind of record of frame/component failures and the like, to gauge if the perception people have of some brands matched the reality. (I wouldn’t buy a Yeti or a Trek, for example – but that’s based one me encountering broken ones – my be that they break no more than others, but I just happen to have encountered more of them).

Both of these things are going to be affected by the big advertising dollar in the sky though, and that’s where it gets tricky. Most of these mags would be £15 an issue without adverts.

” *but don’t get cocky, it’s still not perfect “

LOL! 😉

I don’t comment on magazines any more. Last time I commented on ST mag I got a temporary ban from STW. :rolls:

I loved MBdoddyUK as a teenager in the 90’s, don’t buy it or WMB or any of those advert type ones any more.

Dirt is the only one that conveys the excitement of biking for me, and trying to read and interpret steve jones’ prose will soon be a school exam subject, but it has gone awfully race focussed recently, which I can’t really relate to.

There is a singletrack magazine too? Nah I’ve bought it twice I think and both times just felt it was a bit aimed at middle aged middle class, ron hills, urge helmet and beer gut with £4k bike rider. No offence to the staff, hats off for making an independent and unique mag, it just isn’t for me, but maybe I should try it again. I like the format though, good photos an ting

Digital sub to dirt, occassionally pick up a copy of MBR.
The free digital ones aren’t too bad; wideopen and the IMB ones.
There’s agood little paper one which I think is produced in Bristol. Shred?

Last time I commented on ST mag I got a temporary ban

That’s probably ‘cos Mark is moody sod, who can’t accept that his product ain’t all that at times. 2K for a beginner bike FFS!!

I’d pay money for a paper copy of Wideopen and Enduro but reading magazines online doesn’t seem to work for me

Dirt’s great if you’re fluent in ‘Jones’.

More recently every Jones review seems to be entirely about how big the L and XL models are. (either that or there’s a load more text printed in classic Dirt invisible ink on a purple background)

Northwind – Member

More recently every Jones review seems to be entirely about how big the L and XL models are. (either that or there’s a load more text printed in classic Dirt invisible ink on a purple background)

Yeah, it’s annoying, they keep getting themselves the wrong size, then whining about it.

Better still = Pinkbike’s Ion 16 review. 5’9″ reviewer got himself a large frame, and put a 35mm stem on it, “to put more weight on the front wheel”. And then complained when the front wheel lifted a bit on climbs.

I remember an MBR review when they put a 140mm fork into an Inbred and complained it felt long and tall. As far as I can tell, this was because it was either that, or they’d have to give it a higher mark than the Orange they wanted to win.

I’m always suspicious of advertiser influence – I like to see sites/mags that will give bad reviews from time to time. Simply not enough of that.

I think that’s not a problem limited to mountain bikes. I used to work for a small PC manufacturer (well, assembler really) back in the 90s and the review rankings with more than one magazine were directly related to advertising bookings e.g. book the inside cover (expensive) and win the “X Mag Pick of the Bunch award”.

But the mags have to walk a tightrope with this – if their reviews lose credibility with the readership, they’ll lose the readership, and without the readership the advertisers won’t buy, so they have to try and keep both happy, which can’t be easy.

My perception is that the bias is definitely there on who gets invited to submit bikes and kit for tests (and fair enough imo) but I’m not as convinced that the actual reviews and scores are “bent”.

I buy Dirt the most, but none month on month. I cant get past the purchase price for something which is laden with adverts and adverts trying to masquerade as articles to part with my dosh.

edlong – Member

My perception is that the bias is definitely there on who gets invited to submit bikes and kit for tests (and fair enough imo) but I’m not as convinced that the actual reviews and scores are “bent”.

If you’ve ever seen Dirt website coverage of Superstar stuff, you don’t so much suspect that they’re bent- you suspect Fruit’s writing the website. I left some comments on the review and I was getting responses literally minutes later, in the middle of the evening, “We’ve checked with Superstar and…”.

Are richmtbarse and bikeind actually the same person?

Are richmtbarse and bikeind actually the same person?

The longer you spend thinking and typing about your favourite mtb mag, the more time he has to steal your KOMs. You wouldn’t have a chance anyway, he’s in the bike industry don’t you know.

Where’s this two page spread of his?

Singletrack is good (fawn!) I have stopped bying Dirt as I am sick of paying for a book of adverts. MBR ins’t bad but I can’t be the only one who thinks that Doddy out of MBUK is a cancerous polyp on the anus of humanity.

Have to agree that its annoying Jones is always banging on about sizing, I trust the dirt opinion but spending a chunk of an already brief and wee bit cryptic review lamenting that his above average height isn’t fully catered for by bike manufacturers

Pook – Member

Where’s this two page spread of his?

Don’t worry, I think he’s lost his copy but I’m sure we’ll be able to find it once he gives us a bit more info on it.