Why is this forum the best, yet the mag isn't?

I’ve been disappointed in in the lack of coverage of Hope vs Shimano and other important topics in the mag.

I don’t have much interest in the mag, it’s not really st’s fault, given the limits of the content I just feel every mag is the same just with a different date on it. The forum amuses me just because people take it so seriously.

There’s a singletrack MAGAZINE?
😉

Well the new issue is a good read, as per usual fantastic pictures, and this time some intresting articles, but please dont do tests of stuff, that is obviously made in the same factory and re branded as something else, its not big and its not clever, and wastes words.

Oh and i would definately subscribe, if the road tax, didnt need paying, home insurance needs paying, phone bill needs paying, council tax needs paying in a weeks time,and van insurance which has gone up needs paying,along with the electric and diesel fuel.

the only times I bought the mag it seemed very parochial, reviewing bikes/kit made by industry mates, interviewing mates, narrow horizons on trail articles etc.

Maybe I’m too old for MTB magazines but I found MBUK unreadable even when I was young, MBR and the like shallow and very repetitive. I used to buy the US Bike years ago (having lived there in the mid-late 90s) and in terms of photography, maturity and breadth of article/editorial I thought ST set it as a target but failed to meet it.

A recent Privateer had my dream collection of articles; the history of freeriding (which coincided with me arriving in the US and inspired me), the history of Ti bikes (as a fanboi and someone who used to chat to the likes of Gary Helfrich on Usenet) and Orange (being from Yorkshire and owning one). Cant expect any magazine to get that lucky again.

This is the only cycle forum I use and whilst I have started to skim over more threads (regular topics that get repeated on a near weekly basis etc) the S/N ratio is higher and the number of idiots/trolls far lower than other forums I’ve used. Having missed the whole of last summer due to serious injury living vicariously through STW kept me motivated to train on a turbo and enthusiastic about bikes so I possibly value it (and you contributors) more than some.

Try MBUK for some real shite

the new, revised/relaunched issue is excellent, less of a magazine and more a sort of arthouse book. Very nice.

it’s like a really watered down plebs version of privateer 😀

ST is the best mag in my opinion. Don’t buy it if you don’t like it.

I think the magazine is the best there is in terms of MTB mags. Certainly much more stimulating content than the same-old gear fetish of MBUK or What Mountain Bike, and much better written than Dirt (see the recent thread on the illiteracy of one of its writers). Having said that, I haven’t read the ones that are marketed as more ‘high-end’ such as Privateer and Ride Journal. However, the new issues are supposed to be more in line with them in terms of paper quality and photography etc.

Oh, and if you don’t like the higher price, do what I did recently and subscribe. For £2.50 a month(!) you get a year’s worth of issues delivered before they’re in the shops, access to the full back catalogue of issues online right back to Issue One, no ads on the website, T-shirt, blah blah blah, etc. etc… It really is a no-brainer for the price.

STW is the best forum in my opinion. Don’t read it if you don’t like it.

druidh – Member

STW is the best forum in my opinion. Don’t read it if you don’t like it.

ooooo how clever you are Sir…

Stw is the over 40’s equivalent of mbuk. It’s a rite of passage mbuk to stw when you enter middleage, grow a beard, and prefer radio 4 over owt else

I read the roadie mags now, far more interesting due to the sport, riders, teams, tours and then bikes and kit.

I’ve always quite liked the mag, although I agree it has a tendency to be introspective of late, as to the forum I find it rather like a modern school class, highly PC, very left leaning and nasty boring teachers ruining any fun that might break out.

Actually weaned myself off for five or six weeks of which I’m really proud of myself, so i won’t be on night after night as i was, it’s so addictive, when everyone’s wrong in a particular place on the internet.

But eventually it does get very samey and not controversial enough for my taste, it is successful however because of the two channel approach, that works well.

I’m glad I started this thread now. At first I feared I’d get shot down for trolling but reading back it’s real user feedback. I’m pushing 40 and have been seriously into trail riding for coming up 10 years. I guess I’m one of the middle-age masses that spent a small fortune on the moneygoround of the cycling boom of the last 10 years and I’m now too pretty much bored of reading about biking (seems to be one of the common themes in this thread). Maybe the likes of me have read the endless routes/tests/epics features for too long? Nowadays, I get my fix from riding, seeing what kit works by my richer mates buying it first(!) and doing the odd event now and then.

The forum is far from the best due to mid life crisis morons droning on about roadbikes they’ve bought by defrauding the C2W scheme, petty political arguments & people putting others down.

mid life crisis morons

people putting others down

😀

Well as someone living abroad I like the northwest centric tone

It makes me feel homesick as hell but in a nice way

Trailseeker – do me a couple of shirts while you’re at it.

Trailrider Jim – it might not be your cup of tea, but have you tried seeking out blogs about cycling instead of the magazine. I’d much rather read about what “real” folk are doing than what usually appears in the mag.

I thought the photography in the new format issue was absolutely stunning. The mag layout and style was much better than it has been. I think it might have turned a corner.

I haven’t spent as much time on the forum for a couple of reasons. The little ‘un takes up all of my time, and I’m not that much a fan of the inconsistency of moderation, although I appreciate it must be a crappy job.

2nd the blog thing druidh. I read loads of blogs as i like the cross over from peoples other interests on there blogs and where the bicycle is just there way to see and do other interests 🙂

Been off here for a while due to reasons outwith cycling but on here esp is a lot of folk who have opinions of stuff they have not tried, like the look of, or see as fun. Most will probably have moved on and be doing another hobbie in a few years time…for them the Golf Clubs await where they will fit right in 😉

Photography of the new magazine is superb. I have to admit to not buying any magazines or newspapers on a regular basis.
I would buy a magazine on a regular basis if it had a fat bike section for us freaks as that is what is of interest to myself at present in cycling 😀

I’m not that bothered about reading about cycling or cycling kit so don’t buy mags, I work in a shop that sells them and have a shoofty through ’em on downtime and it’s all much the same. Anything I want to find out I can find on the net, mostly. I like this forum though.

New Emperors. Broke. Not. Fixed new. Great!

Broke the new fixed Emperor!

The new fixed Emperor broke it.

They were Emperors, and it wasn’t broke so they fixed it, because they could.

Now it’s broken?

Regeneration….sweeping the land…here’s the future…feel good…embrace every new challenge…..I’m justy sooo pleased to be a part of this.

Sorry…pressed the wrong button

What did Jeremy say?
a little honesty perhaps? please tell me this isn’t the reason he’s banned?

Is he really banned? I hope not but want to know why if so. He really knew his stuff in my opinion and was a nice bloke!

Are we allowed to speak about it???

TJ is just having a little (enforced) time off.

There is no internet access in his cell.

Did he actually go into orbit?

Its probably the best forum for the 30-something left field mountain biker, but not if you are 17, for example, so I wouldn’t say its clearcut. I have bought the magazine twice, only buy a few mags a year, mostly Dirt.

I would subscribe but I have not got a printer to print a direct debit form!

If you guys want to send me one I,m in

richard.munro2@ntlworld.com

Rich I’ll get them to sort something out.

We won’t discuss why members are banned on the forum unless we deem it necessary.

Bullheart it’s a thankless at times and getting the consistency is very difficult as some of the offenders go unreported or unnoticed. Glad you’re enjoying the mag.

for what now is TJ banned then may I ask?

Excessive arguing I believe. Don’t know which thread.

“Budget – I’m actually better off” was vintage Jeremy…..

My tuppenceworth, I dont really read any bike mags but like the pictures in STW. I like the forum, deep pool of sound advice on here on everything from buying a fridge to kicking depression. The recent Electronic music thread was worth the price of admission alone.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/best-electronic-album-of-all-time

Hebden Bridge MTB club

HB is the centre of the MTB universe.

Except one should always refer to it as “The Valley” in the same tone as 1960’s West Coast counter culture.

#all the leaves are brown….#

I prefer Dirt mag if I’m honest, because I reckon that type of riding lends itself better to pictures, and they have articles about cool place. Although the standard of writing isn’t brilliant…

This, although I’d disagree about the standard of writing.

TBH I rarely finish reading a copy of either, Dirt makes me want to go out and ride too much, Singletrack (with the exception of a few articles) makes me want to go and watch some very arty paint dry whilst drinking expresso.

And the photography in Singletrack is mediocre at best, I even prefer the overly photoshoped/HDR/lots of flash styles in MBUK. Maybe it’s the yorkshire light.

If you have more in common with Chipps or Matt (from an ideology, education, riding style …whatever it may be) then I suspect ST is more appealing than if you have more in common with ‘Doddy’ or ‘Jamer’. Also whether you fit the marketing department’s core demographic. As much as I also like mbuk the poor grammar and language (but not the editorial style as a whole) does wind me up. But at 35 i doubt i am core audience. ST on the other hand is written in a much more grown up way.

So if I like Bike Magic, what/whom do I have stuff in common with and whats my core demographic that I answer too?

just interested like….

What seperates the mag from the forum is the varied nature of the forum contributers, the mag is just too samey and cliquey.

What seperates the mag from the forum is the varied nature of the forum contributers, the mag is just too samey and cliquey.

Agreed. The mag doesn’t have enough me.

In fairness. All mags, about any single subject suffer from the exact same problems that I imagine ST does.

You’re never going to please everyone with a magazine. I think the guys do a pretty good job and have been a subscriber since magazine #3. I used to prefer the mag when it had more niche bike reviews and exotic stuff, but that’s just me.

I used to love the mag and I even had some articles published in some earlier editions. However I started getting bored with it at about the same time as I started getting disenchanted with mountain biking, which probably coincided with reaching 50 and moving to road riding. I haven’t read it for a long time now but from an admittedly ignorant standpoint I’d say it would probably interest more readers if it began to widen its coverage into other areas of cycling than just mountain biking. TBH I think mountain biking has peaked and many like me have moved on into other types of cycling; the mag needs to follow them.

STW’s appeal was that it was a boutique magazine with great pictures and none of the trash that you find in mass-produced mags. It can still keep that appeal in a wider cycling context as there are plenty of cyclists interested in great photography and well-written articles.