Cranked - another magazine fading to black.

I picked up a couple of editions of Cranked, mostly at the airport before flying and while I enjoyed them 'mostly', I did find the house editorial style just a wee bit...I dunno; Hectoring? It always seemed that it was vaguely cross about something or other or was saying look at these people doing mountain biking in a way that's better than you. It was like the MTB version of Rouleur, and to me, that always seemed to have the same attitude

I'm sad to see it go, I'm pretty convinced the folks that loved it, loved it and It's cool that it lasted as long as it did.

There's now 3 threads on this ... this one here in 'chat', and 2 more in 'bike'. Can the mods consolidate into 1 thread?

Shame. I quite liked it, but £12.50 for a mag is just too much, no matter how pretty. 🙁

It's not about economics apparently. The journey is complete and it's time to do something else (paraphrasing obvs).

It’s not about economics apparently.

Sure its not.

I quite liked Cranked, it was a much better read than anything I've seen in Singletrack. I subscribed when it first came out as I was hoping it would be similar to Privateer or The Ride Journal, sadly it wasn't.

I only stopped my sub a year or two back when I realised that I got the magazine and never actually read it. I know that mark and the rest of them from Singletrack keep saying that print's not dead yet but I imagine that the days of their physical magazine are numbered as well.

As per above, at £12.50 for a magazine, I'd always.expect it to struggle.

Shame they didn't have a forum to subside their magazine.

Sorry to hear this. I did subscribe for a while and it was a good mag, if I were going to read a mag it would be Cranked. But the reality is I don’t read mags, they just pile up until I cancel the sub.

As a subscriber, I'm sad.

It’s not about economics apparently.

I'm sure it's a factor. Perhaps a case of seeing the way the numbers are heading and quitting while ahead rather than fighting a losing battle and souring the whole experience by potentially leaving suppliers/contributors/subscribers in the lurch.

£12.50 is a lot of money for a magazine. But even as a stingy Yorkshireman, I thought it was worthwhile. It's a big chunk of magazine, with minimal ads and quality content, nicely printed. It's only quarterly so the cost for a year's subscription isn't too painful, and I'd rather have a better magazine less often. But that equation isn't going to balance for everyone, and it's always going to be a hard sell.

Shame they didn’t have a forum to subside their magazine.

Unlike the gaping chasm of the forum that's opened up under Singletrack magazine you mean?

Must correct my earlier statement - seeing as I already buy a £10 mag and a couple slightly cheaper every month. £12.50 is too much for [i]another[/i] mag.
I [b]need[/b] print magazines. I can guarantee my mental health would suffer if I had to read everything off screens. I do more than enough of that at work.

Anyway, if it's not entirely about the economics, good luck to em in their next venture. 👍

Sad to hear this... Our Europe / German Ride mag is still going strong...

I'm sort of sad about it. I've subbed, on and off, since issue 1 and have every copy, but I think I've fallen out of love with magazines of all descriptions so was thinking about cancelling my sub this summer anyway.  Maybe I've just read too many mags about bikes or maybe they've become too formulaic. Cranked tended to be less formulaic but also less relevant to my riding - I'm not really interested in small towns in the US that have built some local trails around a microbrewery. 😀  (Could be worse, it could have two articles about riding brown hills in Scotland in every issue, alongside some other old-skool riding in the north of England, with maybe an occasional mention of the riding world outside of the northern part of this country. )

I liked it, liked the international stuff. Its like watching wish you where here.... was never going to go those places but it was nice to see them

Also I'm sad to see another mag go.

Ive lost count of how many have gone over the last 3yrs

Seb put a rather telling Insta post up a couple of months ago alluding to "fat ladies" IIRC. It was pulled but this perhaps explains it.

Sad to see it go, like others it kinda arrived and got put to the side but When it does get opened I enjoy reading it. Will definitely be missed.

I’m not really interested in small towns in the US that have built some local trails around a microbrewery

I know what you mean. When the last issue arrived, my first thought was "do I really want to read another article about the trails in a bit of Canada that I'll never visit?".

Could be worse, it could have two articles about riding brown hills in Scotland in every issue, alongside some other old-skool riding in the north of England, with maybe an occasional mention of the riding world outside of the northern part of this country.

Wot, you ride bikes down there?!

Could be worse, it could have two articles about...

Content doesn't write itself, and while there are some stw staff written articles they tend not to be the travelogue type so if the handful of external people who are writing and submitting articles are riding brown hills in Scotland then what else are they going to publish? I've submitted articles for another mag (different topic) in the past and it's quite time consuming, so I commend anyone who puts the effort in whatever their passion is.

It’s only quarterly so the cost for a year’s subscription isn’t too painful,

That's the way I think of it. If it was more often I wouldn't get though it.

Definitely the best MTB mag out there by a long shot (sorry stw) a magazine about riding and not the bikes, clothes etc. Stories about riding and the riders.

I do think all magazines get stale after a while anyway and in many respects it best to not keep on going for the sake of it. Let someone else take the seed and make it their own.

I liked it, liked the international stuff. Its like watching wish you where here…. was never going to go those places but it was nice to see them

Yeah it's a bit like buying Carve or Surfer, you are not going to Tahiti surfing but it's cool to read about and check out some amazing photography, a medium that used to define action sports but has now faded away sadly.

I really enjoyed it. I thought as a package it was top notch. It was good value, the articles were good. The photography and print quality were brilliant. I saved the first two of the year for my summer holiday, and the last two for my Christmas break. I will miss it.

I'd like to see some of the styles of articles appear in singletrack now.

Content doesn’t write itself, and while there are some stw staff written articles they tend not to be the travelogue type so if the handful of external people who are writing and submitting articles are riding brown hills in Scotland then what else are they going to publish? I’ve submitted articles for another mag (different topic) in the past and it’s quite time consuming, so I commend anyone who puts the effort in whatever their passion is.

As have I, for a bike mag, and it's difficult finding fresh ideas constantly. But I'd also have expected that the editor would stop publishing my articles if they got too samey. That's the reason I mention 'brown hills' in Scotland - for the rest of the country these could be any hill in Scotland, and one article about going up them feels the same as any other. Have a look at the back issues of the mag to see how often they've done this recently - it is pretty much every issue, often more than once per issue. And it's given me a bit of a bee in my bonnet.

Just to counter this, some of the writing is excellent. I especially enjoy Hannah's take on things (her boring ride in Iceland was an excellent article*!), and I've always enjoyed Chipps' writing.

*but no, even Hannah couldn't make me enjoy a write-up of a boring Icelandic ride in every issue.

Cranked always tried hard to be international. This is a hard country to make that work from now.

I came across Cranked at airport shops, usually smiffs, and was drawn to it for its subject matter and also its high production values, I like the overseas stuff, it's a magazine I'll be sorry to see us lose.

I guess that's the issue with "special interest" mags,  you can be the mbr type focusing on the very latest newist thingy/place/style or the STW /Cranked it's all about just riding bikes/people/places/parties (don't get me started).

But, in the end the punter gets to the point where they have seen it all before. Quicker with the  mbr type but it still happens with the others.

I was a day 1 subber with cranked, but I found the stories starting to be basically the same.

The tipping point came with basically the same euro written article in both stw and cranked. Followed by some subs issue with cranked and I was out.

Chapeau to Hannah for her good works.

for the rest of the country these could be any hill in Scotland, and one article about going up them feels the same as any other.

Conversely, there's an undoubtedly very good video been posted on this forum about a trip to Scotland but the riding basically takes place in a range of forests and woods that could be absolutely anywhere, making me wonder why anyone would make the effort of travelling to ride them 😀

I do think all magazines get stale after a while anyway and in many respects it best to not keep on going for the sake of it. Let someone else take the seed and make it their own.

I guess you're right. Perhaps it's best to quit while you're ahead for that reason too. A bold decision if that's the reason - most people would probably just keep flogging the horse.

just the other day I came across "Dropped", also very nice imagery and international in flavour, https://www.droppedmag.com/shop, looks like a newish mag.

Another 'sad to see it go' poster here. I did swap messages with Seb yesterday and he seemed upbeat (relieved perhaps?) that he's decided to stop now rather than constantly grumbling about print costs (which obviously, we're very good at, too). And given that Seb was basically a one-man editorial (home) office, with freelance designer and contributors, he'd pared it back about as far as it could go, I reckon.

I'd be happy to see if we can poach any of their contributors. And everyone has my email address if you'd like to suggest any future features that don't involve brown hills or sun-baked Pyrenean trails. 🙂

Given that (GoFar and then) Singletrack was founded after the demise of Mountain Bike World magazine, back in 1998, perhaps it'll inspire a new bunch of writers to launch something. Or perhaps it'll show them that it's all a bit expensive the second you try to print something and warn them off.

I'm off to subscribe to Rouleur, while it's still around...

Cranked always tried hard to be international. This is a hard country to make that work from now.

Is it? I got the impression that article where submitted by freelancers from over them place not "staff_ writers. Even it it were staff writers we have some of the best connections in Europe to the rest of the world.

I've still got the first 5 issues.

It's the kind of mag that I love the idea off, the photos are brilliant, the editorial good, but I just didn't have the time to actually read it, so I never bought any beyond those first 5 issues.

I don't think print is entirely dead, but it's continually becoming more niche.

And everyone has my email address if you’d like to suggest any future features that don’t involve brown hills or sun-baked Pyrenean trails. 🙂

I'm glad that my grumpy comments have been taken in the grumpy spirit that they were meant, although it's specifically Scottish brown hills that I reserve my ire for.  😀

Always... 🙂

I'm just waiting for all the Surrey Hills bracken to go brown so you'll have something else to moan about 😉

I’m just waiting for all the Surrey Hills bracken to go brown so you’ll have something else to moan about 😉

😀

I love riding the Surrey Hills whatever colour the bracken. It's the only place in SE England that us Welsh bikers will go to for a dirty weekend.  And, if we're talking brown bracken- covered hills, Dartmoor is awesome. Not all brown hills are equal. 😛

Whilst I am sorry to see it go, quite frankly I subscribed to give me a second fiddle to Singletrack. Being perhaps brutal , some of the presentation and topics reminded me of how interesting Singletrack certainly used to be.

I like paper mags, and I’m not interested overly in reading a ‘mag on a screen’, in much the same way as I don’t use a gps style device to navigate and use a paper map still.

I hope Singletrack can still cut some mustard, but there are a few things which perhaps need a re-visit to freshen things up again… and by that I don’t mean the beginners bike test in June re visit, just maybe some of the niche things ? Don’t let the wolf become the herd eh ?

I just found out about this...

https://digbmx.com/dig-this/greystoke-bmx-magazine-issue-1-out-now

I might give it a try. The last BMX mag I read was the Albion and that was excellent.

20" is much more my vibe than 700c.

Last bmx mag I had a sub to was Dig funnily enough. Can't remember why, was a free sub for a year or something but it was an excellent mag, bi-monthly IIRC like Dirt in its heyday.

There's also the newly launched other means

and bikepacking.com's journal

Both work out fairly pricey per copy though.