[Closed] MBR - declining sales

It's the web innit?

Why pay a fiver for a mag comprising 50% advertising when you can go on the web and learn from experts there. 😉

No need to wait a month for what was at Interbike, see it live on twitter/facebook/blog/etc.

same with route maps, no point now with garmin/gpx

letters page? probably write it themselves

free gift - tat

demise of WH Smiths/in a bag at the supermarket no one casually picking up reading and buying

still sponsored by Specialized?

Brant left

Allen keys in issue 1 were alright

Yes, I often toy with the idea of canceling my subs to MBR. Too much in the pocket of the industry, goes through phases of self-indulgence and only about half of the format changes work. But I don't, because I like something to read over my cereal in the morning and when on the khazi.

Sometimes only hard copy will do.

I'm one of those 11000.
renewal offer was "not bad", but went to renew online and it was like £120 for overseas, and no apparent way to renew at the rate offered in the reminder.
sod that.
much much cheaper to cancel, and re-sub.
even cheaper still to cancel, and not resub.
plus they're one of the culprits where 26 has been outdated and obsolete since before 650b was actually available in the stores.

Now, I don't believe mtb ing has become less popular

it probably has

Why pay a fiver for a mag comprising 50% advertising when you can go on the web and learn from experts there.

Its not so much that magazines cost money its simply that the casual reading we used to do is now done on a laptop I doubt the 11,000 readers MBR have lost are buying something else instead, they've just stopped buying any magazines. On the occasions I buy magazines I don't really read them (I've got a whole bunch or Roleurs and Privateers which are still in the unopened envelopes they arrived in), let alone read them more than once, where as 10 years ago I'd keep magazines and read and re-read them. I don't know if you've noticed but - there aren't that many places around to buy magazines from these days either so all magazines and printed media are having to look at how the address themselves to a future without print.

I'm probably gonna cancel my sub. I hardly look at it, too many bike tests for me (as I'm not in the market for the latest steed, my 26" wheeled 5 is still a better bike than I'll ever be a rider) A lot of adverts & (like Singletrack) a lot of 'waffle'. I guess after 24 years of riding I just like to get out & ride, not read.

I started with MBR and MBUK, but now subscribe to Dirt and Singletrack. Possibly only stick with the latter as it looks so nice.

Still the best bike tests in MBR IMO.

Yes, I am not a fan of the waffle pages where a writer pontificates about his life. And the constant 750mm bars are narrow, 150mm travel is a minimum for a trail centre, enduros are fantastic blurb. Not sure what I do want from a mag except maybe a bit of news from the big pro races and list of races / events over the next few months.

I keep all the routes but have never actually done any. Bit of a waste of a fiver I guess......

Now, I don't believe mtb ing has become less popular

it probably has

Like most sports mags, you quickly hit the limit of new things to say. Desperate test items - the top 50 Allen keys you must have - are a give away.

How golf mags survive I have no idea......

I'm curious to know what happened to that Kitchener bloke. He was in Trail mag, then editor of MBR and suddenly disappeared from MBR about 7 years ago.

What teamhurtmore said, they hit a limit of what they can say.

See this month's workshop feature is how to bleed avid brakes again.

I don't believe mtb ing has become less popular

plus they're one of the culprits where 26 has been outdated and obsolete since before 650b was actually available in the stores.

They were right though

Mtb is less popular, road is more popular, be interesting to see if cycle sport mag etc has gained more buyers

MTBing is more popular not less. Numbers of participants (in the UK at least) are climbing. Road got away from us for a while, but MTB is catching up fast according to industry numbers from the last 12 months. MTB sales are up by more than road apparently.

Allen keys in issue 1 were alright

Issue one was cover mounted video and cover price was £1.

I brought it religiously around ten years ago but like all the bike mags I stopped buying them because they are basically on a loop every year. For the majority of the mags it's all about the bike and kit but in the real world MTBing is more about the fittness and how big your bollox are. If you have balls of steel and a good set of lungs it doesn't matter what wheel size you are riding.

Most of us have a live interactive magazine in our hands in the form of a smart phone.

You can't wipe your ass with an iPod/tablet though when you run out of bog roll. MBR/MBUK does have its advantages!! 🙂

Too shiny, not absorbent enough!
I bought this months issue because I haven't bought one in ages and it was exactly the same as last one I read which is I suppose inevitable . I wonder if I only buy ST out of sentiment.

Cancelled my subs over a year ago but it still arrives regular as clockwork. Got bored with the hyperbole and utter bilge written about what you had to have to ride certain places. I used to read the mags for the sense of adventure and inspiration, when they became self absorbed I stopped. I do buy ST off the shelf most months as it's a nice unwind on the train to and from Big Town.

I get the magazines when they have a subs gift I want, and will then get that mag for 12 months. I may occasionally pick one up in the supermarket or of I'm working away so I've got so etching to read whilst eating (so I don't gave to make eye contact with anyone in the hotel restaurant).

Otherwise, I just read what I need on the internet.

I stopped buying ALL cycling magazines several years ago.... Why? Lack of variety mostly. They only contain about 4 types of artcice - Tests, interviews, 'we went there and rode that' and fitness. The problem with cycling is that it lacks depth, and the writers lack imagination to get to the depth it does have. There's no real journalism at all, it's all spoon fed to them.
The only mag I subscribe to is Bike, a motorcycle magazine, which I've been buying 15 years now. It absolutely wipes the floor with any cycling magazine because the subject is more varied, and there's actxully something to write about.

I find their reviews irritating. Whinging about the length of stem or width of bars - two of the most personal items of bike fit after the saddle that you can get. And also two of the easiest and most common upgrades people buy.

They often sound out of touch and spoilt by their constant supply of new bikes and fancy kit.

And do you need to even pick up the magazine to know that the test was won by Specialized or a bike like a Specialized - a Whyte.

If you read a Singletrack review of a bike it seems to talk more about how it rides and feels and what it can do than whether X Y or Z is better than bike B C or D. While MBR waffles on about how disappointingly narrow a 740mm bar is.

And the light test that didn't include a £16 XML or £23 Solarstorm X20 or the new XT40 Solarstorm for £32 and yet was won by a £399.99 Light and Motion. No not out of touch with their audience at all - you only have to look at the light thread on here. Plenty of people mentioning quality lights but most folks are buying the cheap Chinese lights. But then they don't pay for advertising...

I know this because for the first time in a year I bought a copy this month and its wound me up a treat!

All magazines regardless of subject are in decline. Why anyone would buy one in the age of the internet and tablets is a mystery to me.

The photography tends to be rather nice though...never read any bike mags, they don't cover what I want to read about (but I'm not sure what I want to read about)...however, the photos in MBR do seem to be good 'uns.

The print industry is going through the same seismic process as the music industry already has. Why pay for content when you can get it free online?

If you look at Singletrack (yes... There's a magazine), they've reacted pretty imaginatively, certainly boldly, by changing the model, going for quality, and a subscription base. And good luck to them!

The big printing houses are reacting in the same complacent way as HMV and the big box music shops did. By burying their heads in the sand, and hoping something will come up, and this horrid internet thing will go away.

The end result will be exactly the same.

tomaso:

Agree with you regarding the light test, quote: "We've picked six bar lights and six helmet lights in various price categories for this test". So what price categories are those then? £125 - £400 for the bar lights and £70 - £270 for the helmet models, sounds like expensive and very expensive to me. C and B Seen have a full page advert in the back of the magazine.

The route cards used to be interesting but after a while you see the same routes but called a different name so there's less incentive to buy the mag for ideas as to where to go.

I used to alway buy MBR, in the last year or so i only buy it on occasion as said so much of it is on a cycle, the workshop articles, the riding tips and even a large portion of the route maps are just slightly altered versions of old routes.

The only magazine that appeals to me now is singletrack, I love the adventure articles and the whole get away from it all aspect. It is the only magazine I get and will happily read every article. Some may not be 100% to my interest but I can certainly relate to them all.

I started with MBUK from the first issue for a few years then tried others, favourite mag of all time for me was MTB pro in the mid nineties.

Wasn't going to renew my Singletrack subscription and just have the digital but forgot I have it on auto renew, still it gives me something to read at work and on the shitter.

I don't buy MTB mags any more and only subscribe to Singletrack as a thank you for this site.
There is only so much you can say about a push bike and they've all turned so similar.
I stopped buying motorbike mags when it all became which 600 super sport is 1 second quicker than the other ones.
I now buy Classic bike and classic guide.They talk about things I understand and can relate to.

I started with MBUK from the first issue for a few years then tried others, favourite mag of all time for me was MTB pro in the mid nineties.

Same for me. 🙂

I read MBR for a while, it started out well but then the same old rewrites, re-hashed route guides (usually the wrong way round...) and a constant sneering need to preach to the readers telling them they *needed* a 6" travel FS to ride anywhere.
I remember reading an almost incomprehensible article about why they'd suddenly decided to measure bike sizing using downtube length too - WTF was that all about?!

MBR and What MTB are beholden to large publishing companies who will often keep loss-leading mags going for a while as advertising for their big-selling publications. But it also means it's very hard to change direction whereas independents like Singletrack usually have a lot more freedom to change direction/move into new markets quite quickly.

All magazines regardless of subject are in decline. Why anyone would buy one in the age of the internet and tablets is a mystery to me.

Cos sometimes it's nice to read something that's not on a screen, have it to refer back to simply by lifting it off a bookshelf. #luddite

I'm very dubious that the concept of the magazine is still valid, regardless of medium. Nobody listens to albums anymore. Many don't watch live TV. The whole packaged selection of articles is something from another time.

Years ago I read MBR but I always thought it was a glorified sales brochure.
The only mountainbike mag I buy is Singletrack,mainly for the adventure & getting off the beaten track features.
I also ride motorbikes but as I've no intention of buying the latest sports projectile or 'Adventure Bike' the only bike mags I buy are Classic Bike & Classic Racer.

Nobody listens to albums anymore

I would disagree, people do still listen to albums there are just many more ways to acquire them. The format itself is still popular.

As for mtb magazines the only time I would buy one is before travelling or if there is a specific review that I am interested in.

I'm curious to know what happened to that Kitchener bloke. He was in Trail mag, then editor of MBR and suddenly disappeared from MBR about 7 years ago.

I remember reading a bizarre 'Editor's intro' where he basically had a mid-life crisis and said something along the lines of "All my friends got proper/boring jobs and earn much more money than me and can afford houses and things whereas I get paid f-all to work in an office in Croydon but I'm happy really because I get to ride my bike".

He didn't sound like he'd really managed to convince himself so I suspect he left to do something different.

Editor of London Cyclist magazine - http://lcc.org.uk/pages/staff

Haha, editing a magazine is much more about the editing process than the subject.

He's probably running Practical Needlework or similar.

MBR is an awful magazine, the reviews often contradict themselves, for instance praising something on one bike and slagging it off on another bike.

MBR is an awful magazine.

And don't forget MBR routes always seem to be the wrong way round!

Like many have already said I'm becoming a bit disappointed with printed media generally. I've bought Singletrack since issue one but I just don't seem to anticipate new issues with such joy as I used too.Perhaps I've moved out of the target demographic. I also currently get Bike (the American mtb one) but I wont be renewing that one. I seem to read more blogs than mags nowadays

To be fair, I bought a copy to read on holiday and it is much improved.

The reviews seemed more focused and less distracted by little niggles - and the staffers appear to be in tune with what experienced riders are interested in.

The design is way better than it used to be as well.

Editor of London Cyclist magazine - http://lcc.org.uk/pages/staff

I'd forgotten that. Explains why London Cyclist has got a lot better over the last few years

MBR went through a really good spell a while back, they did these great ride guide/interview/editorial/ramble things with Guy Martin, Crawford Carrick-Anderson, probably some others that I can't remember... Best magazine features I can remember reading, in any industry, just really indepth and interesting and something-for-everyone. Instead of "This are a kit review" "This are a ride guide".

One of the future mags seems to be trying to do something similiar and making their ride guides more interesting stories. Probably not a new idea. But they're shite at it unfortunately and it just seems to make for a really bad ride guide

after 20+ years of reading bike mags (i've been cocking around on bikes long enough to remember when Zak Tempest was cool), i'm not *that* excited about reading more of the same old stuff.

so here's an idea the mags can have for free:

include articles about other sports.

i want to read about skiing/boarding/climbing/sailing/paragliding with eagles/caving/canoeing/etc. etc.

all of these awesome sports have history, and legends, and characters, and events for you to tell us about. And kit, lots of lovely kit for you to review/explain - even if it's only once.

editors: stuck for ideas for an article? - don't do (yet) another 'what 5" trail bike for £5000?' article - send a couple of your journos out for their paragliding pilots license. or the 'moving water' canoe course at Plas Y Brenin. or etc.

we're dealing with outdoor sports here, a constantly changing world of challenge and achievements, how have we got to this point where you've got nothing new to tell us?

Publishers: a lot of these articles have already been written - just recycle them from your other magazines, i'd be very surprised if many people noticed.

interesting content for free? - everyone's a winner!

I seem to remember the ill-fated Maximum Mountain Bike magazine ran articles about other adventure sports.

Bike mags all follow the same format,New bikes just released, manufactuers want some fee advertising of their product, mags write nice things usually so propogating a relationshipm with supplier to get more free stuff to test,and sometimes keep.

Same with all bike products, and strange how most tested products also have a large advert nearby,

Then therre are the winter cycling wear tests,
the bike lights tests, the summer wear tests, get set for summer fitness, get set for cold/warm/wet weather riding, how to climb/how to decend, how to do tricks, a letters page, and they all follow the same format year in tear out, and wonder why sales slump.

Lets have more actual riders tests, not paid journalists, articles about the manufacturing processes involved in making a bike,wheels,components,less whole page pictures just filling space and looking like youve bought a huge mag, take out the pics and adds and youve bought a thin comic,

Oh and a pet hate, when youve tested something why take a picture of the product covered in mud, its not clever or even has any meaning, just you walked /rode throyugh some mud.

Magazines, please never do that. Magazine buyers, if you want an article on canoes, buy canoetrack. It was irritating enough when Singletrack started filling its pages with cyclocross bollocks never mind some other random unconnected nonsense. What else, restaurant reviews? Celebrity watch?

Magazines, please never do that. Magazine buyers, if you want an article on canoes, buy canoetrack. It was irritating enough when Singletrack started filling its pages with cyclocross bollocks never mind some other random unconnected nonsense. What else, restaurant reviews? Celebrity watch?

This.

I run a perfect binder, occasionally the one binding MBR.

Please keep buying magazines!

I lost patience with mbr when they decided to try and force a new geometry standard on everyone and stopped quoting toptube or reach but insisted on giving us downtube lengths. Bunch of cock wombles.

I lost all interest in mtb mags as they never seemed to review anything that was relevant to me, a shorts review where the cheapest still cost £80-100, high end lights that cost a months salary etc. I know there is other kit out there at more reasonable prices because i use it and find out about it on places like this forum.

If i do ever by a cycling mag then it tends to be a roadie one that focuses on the sport side of things rather than kit that i could never afford.

I certainly " get" all the negative stuff, with regard repetition, manufacturer bias and so on. But truthfully, in pre Singletrack and web days, MBR et al, provided a whole load of inspiration.
Even today, despite iPad and PC , I still like to read MTB mags and surfing ones. Granted for ages the MTB fraternity at large needed something a bit like Surfers Path for those who surf and Singletrack fills that void admirably, the offbeat, the quirky, yet strangely real worldliness of these rags is something I like.
That said along with them, I will , no doubt pick up Mbr again at some point , when in the supermarket this month too.
Slipping n sliding round some iof our local trails this afternoon, knowing they will soon be slipperyer and slideier and the evenings cold and longer, just means a little more time , feet up, reading. A mag won't break if it falls your chest , when you doze off, like an iPad can ! 😉

Like Dirt its slimmed/lost actual content overtime. Dirt'll survive as it seems to be positioning (intentional?) More and more as high price lifestyle end of mtb/dh.

Both mags price is insulting. Wierdly mbuk is getting slimmer too.

I think most enthusiasts magazines are great when you're a beginner/ getting into a new sport. Once you know what you're doing they're a waste of money.

(That said, I subscribe to Singletrack. The photos are stunning and the in-depth articles very absorbing. As noted above, Singletrack is 'different')

I lost patience with mbr when they decided to try and force a new geometry standard on everyone and stopped quoting toptube or reach but insisted on giving us downtube lengths. Bunch of cock wombles.

Here's why. Reach/stack are the most important fit measurement, agreed? Go get your tape and tell me what the reach and stack measurements of your bike are. It's a nightmare without two people, a straightedge and level etc.

The downtube measurement makes a lot of sense. Distance between the contact patches that anyone can measure. My only gripe is they should measure to the top of the headtube but it's still a good quick measurement.

Would a magazine ever be bold enough to test Lidl/Aldi bike stuff? Or a review of what is available used for (x) amount?

Downtube length makes a lot more sense than toptube length!

If it's universally used, maybe, but to quote a number that no one else uses is pretty pointless.

I'm surprised with the rise of cameras like the Go-pro the publishers/journalists are not using these to record interesting bits of the ride guides, then posting a link to the footage in the guide itself so people can get a better idea of whats in store.
If the publication doesn't have a website(why not?) then could easily be posted on You Tube.

The last mag I bought was MBUK which although much improved on old still didn't compel me to buy it again.

Would a magazine ever be bold enough to test Lidl/Aldi bike stuff?

Probably, but then by the time they went to press it'd all be sold out and people would complain: "Why do you review things we can't even buy?"

Mtb mags have always been stuck for ideas - witness MBUK circa 1991 - Brant, Paul Hudson and Jamie tatlow "raving" with/on bikes (complete with Bula trousers and cowboy hat)

Well due to this thread just signed up to single track for a year.
Canceled my MBR sub as fed up with the same old winges "fox dives through the travel" "bars too narrow" for example.

No one mentioned there are more mtb magazines these days? I dont subscribe to any these days. But i do subscribe to cyclist and cycling plus occasionally cycling weekly. Generally i find them much more interesting articles on training, diet and racing as well as kit

Used to have a sub to MBR as I read it a bit when I got back into bikes a few years back. Rapidly got sick of the same tests at the same time of year. It's like they had a calendar printed with what they were meant to be covering the next month but it never got changed, they just used the same calendar for years.

I still use the forum on there though as I've ridden with quite a few of them.

Aye, it's a wonder. The magazines call up the lbs's and try and get them on board to stock the mags,(I'll guess this is declining too, 2 stockists of Dirt in Scotland?) but they do themselves no favours by PSA'ing sportspursuit offers of deals on FB that nobody that runs an lbs in the country will ever be able to compete with.

Totally agree with PeterPoddy, there's so little depth to a lot of mtb journalism. After twenty-odd years of coverage its a shame the industry doesnt have more things of intserest to write about. It so often lacks character or humour or a rounded knowledge of all mtb disciplines...where are all the James Huangs and Mike Davis??

Also it's so frustrating that so many mags seemingly struggle to fill their pages all the while ignoring the domestic race scene (even Cycling Weekly is bad for this). Sure, racing isn't for everyone but if xc for example was covered in an engaging, informed manner then who knows, entries may increase, the scene becomes more vibrant, and maybe BC better funds XC!

After years of receiving an MBR sub as a Christmas present from my Auntie I still go through the same ritual...tear off cellophane, curse the stupid flyers/scratch cards that fall from inside, have a flick through, have a poop and never return to the mag again 🙁

where are all the James Huangs and Mike Davis??

Aren't they still writing for mountain biking publications / websites? You can buy Mike's collected Privateer ramblings for the Kindle btw - very readable. And the Angry Asian produces stuff for Bikeradar, no?

The bigger picture is that print publications across the board are losing readers. It's the internet. And the death of local newsagents. And the extortionate costs of magazine distribution. Also, several publishers have tried to launch multi-sport type magazines and they've all pretty much tanked, at least in the UK.

Bauer launched something called Outdoor Fitness, which was supposed to be a huge-selling gorilla of a thing, but they sold it a few months back because it never made the numbers they wanted it to. Go figure, as they say over on the other side of the big pond where Outside is still an astonishingly good publication in parts.

I like magazines, but if they continue to offer stuff that's available for free on the web, I can't see that things are going to improve for them. I'd love to know how many people under the age of 30 or so buy print magazines these days, there's a whole generation that's grown up with digital as its go to medium. I wonder if print readers are simply a dying breed, literally...

I find What Mountain Bike? Pretty enthusiastic and engaging, so I buy that occasionally, and Single Track too.

MBR seems a bit grumbling to me, but occasionally excellent in their 'this bike is awesome, buy this one' style reviews.

That you can't please everybody all the time might be what's at root of things?

where are all the James Huangs and Mike Davis??

Hello 🙂 James is all over BikeRadar. I'm not doing any editorial work any more, because I found myself increasingly unable to do a job of which I was happy in the time that the fee would permit. It's pretty much a job for staffers or people with either very low overheads or other sources of income. It was a fun 20 years, though 😉

Was in Sainsbury's this evening, had a look at the mountain biking mags with the intention of buying one. The only ones available were MBR and MBUK, both were wrapped up in film. Could not gauge from the front covers what was actually in there worth, left with neither. I tend to float between mags, might seek out Singletrack this month, is it any good? Nowt on Cx I hope?

The last magazine I bought was mbuk for a friend who broke his knee. He passed it on to me and I read it when on holiday. I got fed up of the adverts and guessed that about 1/3 of the magazine was taken up by them. Being very bored waiting for the wife I counted the full page and half page adverts and in total they accounted for 96 of the magazines 183 pages. I have never bought one since and probably won't again. I know they need advertising revenue but a line needs to be drawn when the magazine no longer has any content.
Also the content was all recycled rubbish accompanied by stupid posed photos.

Also the content was all recycled rubbish accompanied by stupid posed photos.

Doesn't that account for most magazine content? I wish there were more articles about UK riding. I'm not interested in seeing magazine journo's being paid to ride in places like Morocco and Bolivia etc...

might seek out Singletrack this month

I've never bought it, but based on the posters on here I should imagine its similar to socialist worker magazine with a few articles on roadbikes.

It's more like this:
[img] [/img]
But with unaffordable bikes instead of unaffordable houses.

I find What Mountain Bike? Pretty enthusiastic and engaging, so I buy that occasionally

The last issue I read was pretty dire, the usual stem too long, bars too narrow rubbish taking up most of a review. Slated all the bikes for diving Fox forks, apart from the one that won the group test (which also had the same Fox forks)...

One of the reviews also contained the text 'blip the throttle'. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Used to be a regular, but as a die hard 26er, I open any of the mags now and its all about the bigger wheel sizes so any tests or reports bear no relation to my world and its turns me off

Its a personal thing you know !!

If anyone has ever been into BMX, Ride BMX mag (UK version) pretty much got it spot on for many years, and can only assume it still does.

Albion BMX is also another one that got it spot on (and is free!)

New gear/products only ever was one or two pages with a paragraph (if that) on anything new.

No gear reviews.

Largely grade A photography based, some great inspiring words and articles on travelling with bikes and doing tricks with rad people. Great magazine.

Occasionally there was a "how to" trick section. But mostly interviews and articles all around the BMX life.

Pick up a copy if you get a chance, have a flick through.

EDIT:

So I just went on the RideBMX UK site, and it seems to have taken a slight downhill turn.

In more shocking news, Albion BMX is no more - announced with this quite morbid message on their site - http://thealbion.cc/

But, they've uploaded every issue here:
http://issuu.com/thealbionbmx

Some great words and photography.

Not enough photos of riders with both wheels on the ground. Too many pictures of riders with over-exposed sex faces.

Factual errors in product reviews - ie Montane's Hyena jacket isnt waterproof

Sheer volume of cliches is getting embarrassing - "buttery smooth" is still in use, "game changing geometry"

General @rse being written - "an steerer that's cut too long will weigh you down" , "bars under 760mm are not suitable for the Alps" blah blah

Still printing route cards with the route the wrong way on the map to the description

The "We Hate" section in the bike reviews

...not to mention the obvious Enduro obsession

.......and how can they be based in Surrey?!

I wont be renewing my subscription ( a gift last year).

Singletrack mag have also reduced their DD for next year, so maybe the decline is industry wide.