|   new print magazine | NWrider
May 17, 2002 8:42 AM | | we are in the process of creating a new magazine. it is about riding bikes. culture, travel, enviro facts, and stories about riding bikes.
not about all of the things current mags cover, like huckin, freeriding, how many gu's you need to get up a hill, etc.......
What do you feel is missing from current mags, and what would you like to see? Are things like recycled paper important to you? What about subscription based, not advertising based? Would you pay a little more for a non biased ad free mag, with lots of photos, printed in an environmentaly responsible way on heavy stock paper worthy of your coffe table for years to come?
Thanks for your responses. |
| 64.122.39.109 | Dijridoo
May 17, 2002 8:59 AM | | Well... it's kinda been done |
| What the? | Dijridoo
May 17, 2002 9:05 AM | | Dunno what happened to my reply, but I basically said that Dirt Rag is doing just what you describe. But there's always room for one more, and in my opinion, if you were to combine the realatively ad-free look, photos, and editorial excellence of early BIKE with the heavy paper, unbiased reviews, trail reports, and grass roots feel of DirtRag you'd have it made. |
| Dirt Rag = what I want | Rev Bubba
May 17, 2002 10:16 AM | | They are so far superior to everything else that I can only point to them as an example of what a new magazine should be. I'm looking for another literary magazine that also happens to have some things about bikes.
Don't leave out the roadies. I'm not one but I find it almost impossible to get information out of current magazines. The pendulum has swung too far away from road bikes and riding.
Pictures are nice but I don't give a darn about glossy color shots of jumps and races and, and, and, oh, hell, just give us quality articles and product reviews that can be trusted. I really do not care about pictures. I want quality articles that are long. I want to think and be challenged by what I read. We don't need yet another bike magazine that is aimed at 20 year olds.
Enough with the downhill/freeride cult. I have an FS and ride some technical stuff but just how much can I read articles about the North Shore and Moab?
Good luck. |
| I read your post... | -Chip.
May 17, 2002 10:46 AM | | ...and at the risk of sounding like I'm focusing on one small point, I've got to laugh at your wanting to be challenged by what you read.
It's a bicycle mag fer Christs sake. That's it. Accept that there are differences between them. You have a preference for DirtRag. Right on. Stick with it and be happy.
"When did mountainbinking become so serious?"
-Sun Tzu
-C |
| I guess I was taking a shot at the 7 word bike description | Rev Bubba
May 17, 2002 11:26 AM | | Okay, its not the most literary stuff around but I think some of the articles I read are pretty lame.
Many of the posts on passion are much better written. Guess I do get a higher caliber bike magazine when I print the stories here and read them on the way home.
Anyway, I believe the writer asked what we would like. That's what I would like. I don't think I was speaking for everyone else.
But geez, come to think of it, car magazines are just car magazines but lots of the things written there are way better then what is in most bike periodical.
Well, gotta' go. Its late and I'm leaving.
You'll be safe from my rants until Tuesday afternoon because I'll be riding and safely away from the computer.
Bye.
REV |
| Check out..... | Jive Tolkien
May 17, 2002 10:30 AM | | ... http://www.singletrackworld.com.
I subscribe to their print mag - they print on glossy, high-quality stock; it's got limited advertising; the reviews are honest; the stories are about interesting places/people (recent interviews have included Bontrager, Ferrentino and Brant Richards) etc.; it's pretty heavy in quality photography; and they steer away from the whole Mountain Dew EXTREME!!! ethos that many other mags seem to love.
For another example of great execution of a "serious" magazine, check out The Surfer's Journal. It's pricey at $13 a pop, but the quality of writing and photography is so far above Surfer and Surfing that there really is no comparison between them. |
| Is this the new one that Chips Chippendale has a hand in? | Rev Bubba
May 17, 2002 10:35 AM | | Looks good. What does a subscription for the US cost? Sorry if its in the post, I didn't take time to read it all. |
| Yep, that's the one | Jive Tolkien
May 17, 2002 10:45 AM | | I'm ot sure what a subscription to the US costs (but the scary figure of $38 for 4 issues seems to ring a bell), as I get mine delivered to my parents' house, and they forward it to me.
As a bonus, I lucked out and managed to get a 1-year subscription for the princely sum of 2 pounds (about $3) via an offer a British online magazine store was running at the time. Made sure that the Singletrack team wouldn't suffer financially from my taking advantage of that offer before I bought it, though :) |
| you got it/half anyway | NWrider
May 17, 2002 1:36 PM | | I am glad you mentioned the surfers journal. that is it. but we are not singletrack world. we are launching this fall. for all of you who are not familiar with surfers journal it s easier to say what it is not, and the same for our new mag. we will not have reviews, there are way to many out there. we will not have articles about how to go faster or rebuild your shock. we will have photos of huckin big air. we will have articles about riding, places to ride, people, travel and a whole lot more. it is not for 20 year olds. |
| Looking forward to seeing it.... | martini
May 17, 2002 5:18 PM | | A magazine that is simply about the life of bikers, thier travels, thier rides(not the bikes), thier takes on important issues(access access access) and good prose. Like Rev Bubba said, gimme something that makes me think for a bit. I like to articles I read that make me ponder my position on the subject. Bike has gone from something like that in the beginning to a simple travel advertisment now. Years one through three were fantastic for them. Now the articles seem recycled. DirtRag does a great job. MBA, MB and Mountian biking all suck donky dick. I've been tempted to subsribe to singletrack world, but the cost is kinda steep. I do read what I can online though, but its jsut not the same.
marty |
| history | beenthere
May 18, 2002 5:03 AM | | Bike magazine was originally gonna be called The Bike, and was originally envisioned to be a coffee table publication. Once they looked into it, they realized it couldn't be done without the ads, the lifeblood of any magazine. I say good luck to you, or forgetaboutit, take your choice.
For inspiration, look thru old pre-Rodale copies of Mountain Bike, when it was called MB: For The Adventure. Those three words, and Rodale's deleting of same, pretty much tell the tale.
I have lots of ideas for a "real world" mountain biking publication, e-mail me at fausto@fone.net, I am a well-known veteran, and could be an asset to your publication, once you get over the idea of not having ads. |
| Agree, "a little more for an ad free" mag is unrealisitic | shiggy©®
May 19, 2002 3:50 PM | | To pay the bills and pay yourself you would need a large currulation and a high cover price. |
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