You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Loving the new look and it smells great.
Aaaah - so scratch and sniff was the new super-duper feature then! 🙂
Most definitely. The aroma is very strong.
I wondered why the postman was sniffing my mail!
Mine arrived just as I was reading the above. It's been pissing down here and it only just made it! The mag seems to be unscathed, looks and smells great.
Was just going to post that mine arrived intact after the previous couple had envelope damage...
I was hoping for a bit of a shake up of the format but unfortunately it's the same old thing with a new look, feels like a bit of a missed opportunity and despite having not missed an issue since the first one I don't have any regrets in cancelling my subscription
I like the new format. I'll keep supporting by buying the mag...
But it's the forum I'm here for mostly.
I do agree it would be good to have a shake up of the mag articles. I don't know what to suggest though but will have a think.
Would be better if there was less introspective waffly and/or virtue signalling stuff.
I tend to always enjoy interviews with interesting industry figures, especially if they are divisive and have a good story or something controversial to say (e.g. Chris porter, Rob Warner) but they are pretty rare.
I like stories about epic rides where stuff goes wrong. Proper type 2/3 fun stuff. Eg. mark's ill conceived lake district 4 passes on the eeebs.
Edit:I also like a good group test
Hi folks,
The content is still evolving - some things are planned nearly a year in advance, other things are more short term, so it’s not an instant flip from one thing to another (unlike the paper and printer). With bike tests, we were having trouble getting bikes reliably delivered that made sense as a group test. We don’t want to be scraping the barrel and giving you something like ‘3 bikes that begin with R’. Or worse - 2 bikes and some blank pages! Grinder was a previously popular feature, so for now we’ve brought that back as it lets us look at bikes (and other things) without them needing to be alike in some way.
For those that were hoping for something different - what else have you seen that you’re enjoying? Or have you enjoyed in the past? There are only so many way to say ‘the trail was rad’ or ‘I pedalled over the mountains and found myself’! If there’s a guitar mag, tractor weekly, or wood burner monthly that you think has some interesting formats, let us know.
Hannah
Edit: more interviews are in the works!
Stories based on experiences?
Thinking here of the guardian's experiences series which is normal people who have had a unique or special thing happen to them.
And/or
Very relatable ones that most people have had. Eg. on the type 2 fun theme: stuff like bonking, first trip in an ambulance, being dropped miles from home, rode into wrong valley; it was getting dark and no lights, I got lost and missed an impprtant thing. Maintenance disasters.
Could do a good series out of that I reckon with a new theme each month, then a few contributors' stories.
we often get long threads on the forum about this kind of thing. I usually end up loling at them, because I can relate my own similar experience.
Mines not landed yet, but currently poorly (again) so looking forward to it.
My thoughts.....mixed views on the far away travel multi multi page epics. Used to like them, but not so much now. Couldn't tell you why, maybe it's a change in me and less desire to travel. Similarly less interested in the UK ride reports/guides. Probably because I live somewhere with so much awesomeness and as yet untapped opportunity I'm never going to venture further for (imo) less. But again, that's probably me.
Thinking back to trip articles that I really enjoyed they are ones with a mission. I remember one early in ebikes where Chipps tried to see how much further you could take one on an all day (or was it an overnight) without ending up with a dead heavy lump. Then there was one where 3 £100 BSO were bought and ridden hard for a weekend trip to see if it was still fun. And a group of friends that had the most awesome weekend that left their offices at close if play on Friday and they had to be back for work on Monday; I think using trains. The lands they travelled through were great to see and read about but were a backdrop to the narrative. Or was the narrative a hook to keep you reading - who knows, but it worked.
Industry interviews are good.
I'd like a few more event reports - Strathpuffer style.
Oddly Id like some exercise advice - yoga for riders etc. I'm no longer a racing snake and I've come to realise that JRA is more fun if you are fitter....but I'm less and less good at making that happen.
Agree with convert about the mission idea (even thought it is a bit top gear).
The more 50/50 it is in the balance the better.
Also see the Geoguessr YouTube missions which are brilliantly entertaining
Best self rescue bodges and/or walks home (more points for being epicly far from home with very fundamentally broken bike)
Get lots of route guides that go around in circles. What about some nice linear rides (e.g. train assisted for return trip). The longer the better
Or have you enjoyed in the past?
I used to like the 1 page correspondence from the likes of Jason Miles and Mike Ferrentino. There were a few others over the years, but I don't remember the names.
I don't really care for the lengthy adventure articles, and in last issue there was nearly no other content. I read two pages, Chipps editorial and the contents page. Very disappointing, and the reason I stopped my print subscription.
wood burner monthly!!!... there's a mag?
That is what gets used as the firefighter!
Not received mine yet. I agree with @tthew though, the long travel stories are OK occasionally or maybe one per issue, but they do seem to predominate over all other content. The quality of the writing is usually great though and I get how difficult it must be to find original and engaging content for every episode. I look forward to giving the new format a once over when the postie gets his finger out.
I've had a flick through and liked the look of things. I like the long form articles in print. To my shame, I gave up on Amanda's Spanish jaunt because I can't stand reading proper stuff on a phone screen. My attention wanderers. So I hope to enjoy the various travel pieces this month.
As for virtue signalling? The alternative is just page upon page of white guys riding bikes. Other people doing things differently is not a bad thing.
Being a paper thing, how does STW know what content readers actually read and enjoy?
Personally when I flick through or even read most/all of it, the feeling I often get is that I'm not in the target audience for 75% of it. Perhaps I'll like it in a decade and a bit when I'll enter the quintessential STW age band.
I think the revamped mag looks great.
(but then I might be slightly biased)
I think the cover photo is great - was pretty sure it was one of yours @colournoise
Also liked last month's by Amanda I think - took me a while to figure out what was going on
Mag arrived this morning. One of the best cover photos (of stiff competition recently) Should do that more often. Going to sit with a cuppa and have a read.
Mines just arrived. Love the cover picture @stwhannah I’m interested in why it’s harder to get bikes to test. Many others seem to have access to bike pre launch let alone after. Is this the industry cutting back on who they will lend them too or other reasons
Mines just landed. As usual, I opened the packaging and inhaled deeply. Still smells as good as ever and looks great too. Loving the bolder, more adventurous layouts very much indeed!
New mag looks good, but, really... You like the smell? It smells pretty rank! Why and how?
@chrismac deliveries have been becoming more and more unreliable for a while with things ordered slipping for weeks at a time. Fine if you don’t have a print deadline to meet, perhaps, or if you can take all the test bikes away somewhere for a week and do nothing but bike park laps on them in a condensed test period. The end of last year got especially bad (something another journo commented on to me just last week). Not sure exactly why, just is the way it has been recently.
Personally when I flick through or even read most/all of it, the feeling I often get is that I’m not in the target audience for 75% of it.
I'm the same (although probably in the stw age band). I enjoy some articles more than others, but your never going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time and is one reason I stopped my physical mag sub this time last year, and skip to the digital stuff I'm interested in now.
Bought the new look mag though and tbh I've enjoyed what I've read so far. Especially liked the style the small product reviews are in, less of the spec and details more on the actual what it's like to own which is great.
I guess from about 1990 to 2010 I used to buy every mag every month on the shelves in WHSmith. But this was almost always for the reviews for new product development stories rather than "X went for a ride up a mountain" style stuff.
Now when a new product or dev in MTB comes out, my goto is the internet and YouTube. Mags used to be the front line of information, that's the internet now so mags have to provide something the internet doesn't for their value to be retained.
Imo the best article stw has ever done was the Jamie Tomkins interview a year or two ago. Informative, inspirational, and about real people. I handed re read an article multiple times for years, but that one.i must have gone through several times. It wasn't just another, "we went for a ride and this is how it went" article.
I've no idea how stw can try to counter the downturn in print medium, I sell news papers and mags in my shop, and year on year it's getting a smaller part of my business.
@stwhannah mags I like are positive news, byline times and art review. Positive news and byline times just seem to be slightly different to the other usual trope of information and put out articles that are relatable and upbeat. Art review is a bit more glossy and well presented (being an art mag).
When we bought our shop (8yrs ago) we sold round 3x more mags than now....which is a depressing thought. Our best selling category is kids mags, but I highly suspect that's due to the plastic cr"p on the front. Best adult categories would be TV mags (elderly customers) and countryside, so farmers weekly/country man's weekly and country life due to the rural demographic. I stopped getting the MTB mags in years ago because I only sold a couple copies a year (probably to myself).
Just had another rambling thought (sorry😂)
Having had a career in retail and before my shop specifically supermarket retail. Us retailers would generally make more money per meter of shelving, not selling mags at all and dedicating the space to an alternative product (almost cirtainly food to go in my case). The reason many shops like mine have mag shelving is not because they sell well with big margins, it's because our contract with Smith news or Menzies for newspapers we have to sell magazines, the meterage of magazine shelving is pretty much dictated by the supplier.
But newspapers sales are also in decline.....
Subscription is cirtainly the way forward.
New mag looks good, but, really… You like the smell? It smells pretty rank! Why and how
I’m a graphic designer and love designing for print far more than for screen, which I just find quite sterile.
I love the smell of fresh print in the morning… 😉
I'm hoping the predicted death of the magazine will go the same way as the predicted death of hard copy books due to e-readers, audio books etc. Real books seem to be doing just fine despite all that e-competition. I know that it is harder for magazines and that they are in genuine decline, but surely there will be a backlash at some stage? Don't some of the same things which keep books going apply to mags? The tactile and olfactory pleasure of perusing a physical object? Larger, better quality images than your phone? Taking in the whole spread of a couple of pages without scrolling, pop-ups, ads etc? I'm probably kidding myself and they're doomed but it will be a sad day when you can no longer buy an actual paper magazine about your hobby/sport/pastime.
"The tactile and olfactory pleasure of perusing a physical object?"
👍
that's why I still buy paper maps, spread em out on the kitchen table and get a real sense of the lie of the land... just cannot be done on a screen.
Mine hasn’t arrived yet, but looking forward to seeing it.
Read it in an hour unfortunately,I found it very boring. I now understand I’m not the target audience anymore - ( I do buy bikes though ) but would it be so bad to have some humour and relatable fun mtb content. Navel gazing and whining isn’t for me. I am pleased I didn’t get too much of a prescribed hipster instruction manual this time though, last 2 editions I didn’t even bother after an initial squint. There’s entire articles that don’t discuss mtb once, just the past and taking over and lipstick - it’s just boring to me. I just don’t care about this group or that group or inclusion, I began reading singletrack a long time ago for escapism and to be entertained. I really like the layout and the smell is immense. The chipps article and the tech reviews were great additions though. I’ll try another one though through fomo, tis getting harder as I’m no longer wanted it seems 🤷🏻♂️
Has the magazine got smaller?
Paper smells of plasticine.
Happy that Through the Grinder is back.
The 2 international pieces I'll save for later.
I don't miss the cookery section.
@STWHannah, why does the digital version take so long to arrive?
“ Our best selling category is kids mags, but I highly suspect that’s due to the plastic cr”p on the front. ”
My children love magazines and although they do play with the plastic crap (when it actually does what it’s meant to do), they like the magazines for what’s on the paper. An interesting thing we found about all the kids’ mags is that you can’t subscribe to them.
why does the digital version take so long to arrive?
Wot ‘e said.
As for virtue signalling? The alternative is just page upon page of white guys riding bikes. Other people doing things differently is not a bad thing.
The problem being that a massive majority of MTB riders in the UK are 'white guys', so if the mag changes direction and tries to pull in non-white-guy readers then that first group might will stop reading your mag and the second group don't bother because they were never there in the first place, which leaves you with no readers.
I received the mag on Saturday. It looks nice, smells nice but, after a flick through, seems to be an off-road-lite version of Cycling UK's mag. There's very little of interest to me, yet again.
Mine hasn't arrived yet 😪
Our best selling category is kids mags, but I highly suspect that’s due to the plastic cr”p on the front
I occasionally buy MBUK when I see it in the shop, but only if it has a decent looking free gift 😁
Can you wrestle Mint Sauce off them?
I would reluctantly have to agree with IdleJon, looks pretty, might smell nice to some, however I find most of the content irrelevant to me, out of the 10 only 4 stood out for me, Editorial, Interview, Tested and Tech Head.
TBH, it's a hard act to balance with all the digital content available out there and kudos to the team for the other content, but each to their own.
I'll keep my current paper subs going for now, however might have to cull the paper version next time.
I love the new look. There is enough to read and flick through to keep me off the internets for a while - and that's a good thing. And as I continue to highly value the forum here, I will happily look at the big picture and keep my subs going. I've stopped drinking, so boom, one night in the pub covers a whole year of the mag and forum.
My wife has just become the Chair of PetalPower ( women's riding club based in the Cairngorms), so one article at least is extremely relevant and interesting. Shane they didn't get a name check at the end though.
@ianbradbury The project Fi is working on is trying to compile a list of as many groups as possible. Your wife could add PetalPower to the list here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MH_ksn3NTkql2rGM8aQVG-m_8bLVgORKmo8JMjM0eUlUMkU5UFM2VUxQQVdKMk5LRzBRTklORDNOQS4u
Thanks, I'll let her know
Why only female groups? What about groups that welcome everybody
As others have said not a good issue. I miss bike reviews, have no interest in riding a modified road bike anywhere, and I still have no idea what a purposeful adventure is and how it differs from going for a ride
Why not female only groups? And expand the list to something-only other groups...plenty of people are happy with mixed groups, but there are plenty other who aren't...if a something-only group encourages more people to get involved then that is surely a good thing, is it not?
The Minority Rapport article is literally about why having women only groups is a helpful thing for mountain biking as a whole. If that’s not enough to make it of interest or relevant to a male mountain biker reading it, I would assume that every bloke reading the article knows at least someone who isn’t a bloke, and understanding their world perspective might be useful?
@reluctantlondoner I like your logic… But is that one night in a London pub?
It’s just arrived, and for the first time for a while, in an undamaged envelope. Perfect timing as we’re having a “do very little day”! Ten pancakes in and I think that’s a given so looking forward to reading and relaxing.
Haven't read much of it so far but must say I love the design of the Balkans article.
The way the mountains of that dark teal background keep coming over the image, and especially that one page with the cloudy photo where the text is over the image instead of the background... I like 👍
Thanks for all the feedback so far. Please keep it coming.
As some have said, we can't please everyone with every article, but we would like to please most readers with most articles.
To answer a few random questions:
Reader reflections - where possible, we try to include submissions from readers, although we still have to produce a good looking magazine, so sometimes the standard of photos (quality, size or number) that we/you demand in a good-looking magazine. We try to run a balance between having lovely looking features of generally foreign places shot by professionals, and more relatable down-home content. We'd have a greater choice of features if we just ran phone photos, but then we'd run the risk of the magazine image quality suffering. See the 'You can't please everyone' comment above.
Bike tests - as Hannah mentions, trying to get new (or newish) production bikes in to test, all at the same time, is often very difficult. The more interesting the bike, the more demand there is for it from the manufacturer's demo bike fleet, or even from its customers. We've previously been to fancy bike launches, only to be told that we can't have one to test back home as they were all sold out. If we can incorporate individual bike tests within Grinder and perhaps travel features, then that's probably a better approach than 'Three bikes with a Pike fork'.
Humour - we've always tried to have a decent amount of humour in the features we run and write. Sometimes it's been great fun (usually Mark or myself breaking ourselves) and other times it's backfired (Pedal car racing anyone?) but I'm currently trying to push the staff and contributors to be a little less serious with themselves and trying to bring back fun features like the one-ton* challenge, which did lead to some great features. (*Having a weekend adventure on £100 - though we might have to adjust that for inflation...)
In short, we're here and we do listen. This forum gives you a direct line to the people who write and plan the magazine (and I don't know many magazines with a similar direct line to the writes), so please keep the suggestions coming. You can email the team any time on the editorial@... address. And I'm on chipps@... Changes don't always happen overnight, partly as our print planning schedule sees us working on August's features in February/March time so that there's enough time for Amanda's careful design and a fair amount of proofreading before the final files are sent to print.
How about a list of things that do interest you, the below is what I enjoy most:
- Glorious photos of great riding in beautiful locations
- UK route write ups
- Adventure write ups
- New bikes and kit reviews
- Longterm reviews
- Bike setup and kit use
- Cycling events and races
- Funny cycling anecdotes
- Skills and techniques
- Training and fitness
- Health and wellness
- International travel
Received my copy yesterday and after a quick flick through, there wasn't really anything that caught my eye. But sometimes I'm interested in the whole mag. Just different from month to month. I've been a subscriber for years and won't be going anywhere soon.
Mine just arrived. I've left it captive in it's envelope, smell and all, until this evening. Has it physically shrunk a bit? By coincidence the recycling lorry has just taken away my stash of past years. It felt weird ditching them as most were lightly thumbed (oh er missus) but my inner Marie Kondo demanded it (or my wife - same difference)
Good stuff Chipps. I'm glad humour is up there on the priority list. Reflecting back, it's a thing I'm looking for. Worthy is good, but.....I've bought a lot of worthy books over the years and they mostly remain lightly 'thumbed'. Possibly I'm not as into worthy as I think I am.
Actually - I don't think I care about bike tests. Bikes are mostly great these days and unless by some miracle my next bike happens to by one you get lucky with, I'm reading about a thing I'll never own that turns out to be as good as I'd expect it to be and in comparison to another thing I'll never own that is also very good.
What I'd say would be better would be trends and their real world impact. What changes in geometry actually mean - who is doing them and why. How would I have to ride them to benefit from them. A case study of bike X or Y to evidence why it's good or bad and for whom. Same for tech - what's coming down the line and what could it mean. Then, a few case study bods - "James here rides this sort of stuff, he's a bit of a woose and bottles anything gnar but can ride the legs of all his mates - what sort of bikes should James be looking to buy? Not specific models maybe but what features should he prioritise? What will make chuff all difference?".
Love the look of the new mag, the quality of ST has always been good but I particularly like the matt background which makes it much easier to read when I have barely woken up at breakfast time
I've had a look back at some recent issues and I'm surprised at how the actual content of the mag has been reduced, issue 150 had imho a much better balance of pics and text, I'm not a very visual person and I don't want want to me almost feels like a picture book.
The Minority Rapport article is literally about why having women only groups is a helpful thing for mountain biking as a whole. If that’s not enough to make it of interest or relevant to a male mountain biker reading it, I would assume that every bloke reading the article knows at least someone who isn’t a bloke, and understanding their world perspective might be useful?
I look forward to the article about how men only groups is helpful for mountain biking as a whole. I assume every lady reading the article knows at least someone who isn’t a lady.
See how silly it now sounds when you just switch the genders round. Perhaps I’m just lucky as about 1/3 of our group are ladies so don’t get the whole single gender thing
Thanks for the update Chipps, I used to always really look forward to getting my hands on the latest singletrack, it meant a good few hours chilling out and having a laugh and learning stuff about mountain biking, discussions with mates about the mag etc - they’ve all unsubscribed now. Last funny one I remember was about 2 years ago, a guest writer about her travels with two men in Eastern Europe I think. Anyway I’m beginning to almost dread it, it’s turned into social commentary with a few bikes in. Nothing to actually read or be of interest - politics, inclusion all the rest of it is constantly beamed everywhere at the moment and singletrack was an escape. Hopefully it can get its mojo back.
why does the digital version take so long to arrive?
Was thinking the same, but I guess it takes a while for the STW hamsters to recreate the digital fresh paper smell I’m so looking forward to.
No freebies with the STW mag, not even a packet of haribo.
I think I've a box of mbuk freebies somewhere(no mint sauce keyring unfortunately, sold that off yonks ago) belts, useless knitted gloves, sunglasses etc.
but I guess it takes a while for the STW hamsters to recreate the digital fresh paper smell I’m so looking forward to.
Is that what the smell is 😕 I was beginning to think they'd taken advice off the Russian Salisbury poisoners.
The problem being that a massive majority of MTB riders in the UK are ‘white guys’, so if the mag changes direction and tries to pull in non-white-guy readers then that first group might will stop reading your mag
Or alternatively; white guys might be interested to read articles that aren't just reflections of what they do themselves. Walk in some-one else's shoes (metaphorically) My wife, who doesn't ride, but reads Singletrack sometimes, enjoyed this month's especially.
The problem being that a massive majority of MTB riders in the UK are ‘white guys’, so if the mag changes direction and tries to pull in non-white-guy readers then that first group might will stop reading your mag
Or alternatively; white guys might be interested to read articles that aren’t just reflections of what they do themselves. Walk in some-one else’s shoes (metaphorically) My wife, who doesn’t ride, but reads Singletrack sometimes, enjoyed this month’s especially.
If you didn't subscribe would she be reading it? Would she be subscribing?
probably not as she doesn't ride a bike. In the same way that occasionally I find interesting articles in the 18thC literature journal she subscribes to. Should they perhaps start writing stuff about mountain bikes to temp me d'you think?
mags like Singletrack often end up in the strangest places, and you never know who's going to read an article. From my perspective MTB should be a broad church, and if Singletrack can put wheeling 11 year old girls on the cover, or do long form articles about female riding groups, then that's all grist to the mill. I enjoy them, and someone down the line might be inspired.
My mag just arrived. I like the new size and there is a nice mix of stuff to read. I know it must be hard running a mag these days. When I started cycling the only source of info and place you could indulge your interests was a bike magazine or a bike shop (if you had one close). Now we we don’t actually need the magazine in the same way as you can OD on bike stuff everywhere. So I appreciate the efforts STW is going to to adapt and keep the content interesting and relevant.
We all like a good group test but they are a quick fix and, unless it covers a bike/bike type you are about to buy, when you have read it that’s it. More thought provoking content may be less immediate but longer term it makes for a better read.
I applaud the work you are doing on gender equity. Keep doing it.
I hope the magazine develops and thrives. I am happy to subscribe to it even if I don’t like every article as we’d be the poorer without STW. I take the same view with Bikepacking.com and I get their publication. I must admit I sometimes look at the photos without reading it all but I subscribe because it comes with a great website and helps keep the activity (sport/hobby/pastime/whatever) that I enjoy alive and developing.
The first priority has to be what the people are doing/saying and that being interesting - after that their gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ status might play a part. Their gender or ethnicity has to come second. In a different but comparable world I know a very inspirational person called Cal Major. They are a SUP adventurer and environmental campaigner. Some of their adventurers are awe inspiring (both as physical feats and the scenery they travel through) and what they have to say is very thought provoking. The fact that Cal is a lady makes an interesting sideline to the overall narrative. But if Cal just paddled around in circles like the rest of us muppets then it would be a wholly uninspiring read - unless they were very funny in the way they twisted the tale together. That transfers to mtbs and singletrack - if the person or group of people are doing something completely unexceptional and the only noteworthy thing is their gender, it's a non story. Much in the same way as writing an article about me going for a ride from my front door is not worthy of words and photos in a magazine that anyone will bother reading unless I was able to thread in some other angle that gave the piece some teeth. I guess the challenge is finding people doing interesting stuff or telling the tale in compelling ways when fishing in the very very small pool that is non white, male, stale mtbers.
I agree ChrisMac, our local group have a ‘women’s only ride’, males are not invited, women are free and encouraged to ride with the main rides. Switch it round the other way and there would be outcry. Magazine is ok, but as stated above is more of a picture book, words take time and constant inspiration to make interesting, and with a small team must be tricky, big pictures not so.
"The problem being that a massive majority of MTB riders in the UK are ‘white guys’, so if the mag changes direction and tries to pull in non-white-guy readers then that first group might will stop reading your mag and the second group don’t bother because they were never there in the first place, which leaves you with no readers."
No, they won't. Are you suggesting most other riders lack sufficient empathy to be able to imagine themselves in someone else's shoes? Reading about topics you have no direct experience of must be a struggle.
And at this stage, it's not about pulling in 'non-white guy readers'. It's about educating the white guy readers about the other people who mountain bike - so that any potential new "non-white guy riders" feel a little bit more welcomed than they are at the moment by the more lunk-headed members of our collective.
"I look forward to the article about how men only groups is helpful for mountain biking as a whole. I assume every lady reading the article knows at least someone who isn’t a lady.
See how silly it now sounds when you just switch the genders round. Perhaps I’m just lucky as about 1/3 of our group are ladies so don’t get the whole single gender thing"
Blimey. Well, the vast, vast majority of mountain bikers are men. There is far from parity wherever you go. The sport is widely recognised as masculine, and is filled with masculine tropes. Adrenaline, risk, rarrrr. These are all seen as 'male', yes even if women do them. There are many papers on this. I you really want to read them I'll dig out some links. Getting women who don't MTB to actually have a go means wading through a lot of common cultural tropes, which includes rad bikes, gnar, and massive air, and risk and all of that, and actually very little of the actual mountain biking that you and I do on a regular basis, involving hills, and adventure, and scenery - all the stuff that gravel is trying to successfully monopolise. Oh yeah, women are taking to greavel in droves! I wonder why? Women who mountain bike feel that they are riding in a male space, regardless of how *you* feel about it. They are interacting with it on male terms. They form their own social networks and prefer riding with other women rather than men, who, blindly or not, have difference social interactions and understandings. This is all to our detriment. There is research on this too. I am actually involved in some of it.
It 'sounds silly' when you switch it round precisely BECAUSE this is such a male space. And you are male (I strongly suspect). Try substituting it with any other minority group and see if it sounds ridiculous. Women find riding with other women to be relaxing, and affirmative, and fun, and a bunch of other good stuff. Why is that a problem? If we could all learn from that, and then integrate it into mainstream MTB culture, isn't that a good thing? Ask the very many female riders you know and see if they agree. from what I've gathered, a lot of them will.
Also, International Men's Day is Nov 19th, before you ask.
Although I haven't finished it yet, I read a bit yesterday and I liked what I saw. I enjoyed the article on Surrey Hills as well as the custom bikes section. Some good photography and a variety of interesting destinations.
It is true tho that most bikers I see are white middle aged male, less ladies and very few coloured riders, it’s a large topic and would make an interesting article that would not only be of interest to mountain bikers but a wider spectrum as it takes in societal issues. We are after all rather privileged to be able to prat around bike trails drinking artisan coffee on £5k bikes.
I’ve now read about a third of 153 and I think that it’s excellent. I’m looking forward to reading the rest when the fumes from the print calm down and I stop sneezing - this is not an exclusive problem for STW but something that affects me with some other publications!
I must say I opened it with some trepidation as I’d read some of the negative views above but to use the vernacular “I don’t get their problem”! I do enjoy the out and about stuff, especially in Britain (I don’t have a passport), I enjoy the gear tests and recognise there’s only so much a team can do (perhaps get some of the more active readers to help test stuff?), I also enjoy the social observation pieces. When I’ve finished the magazine will be going up the road to the local tyre depot where after the staff have finished with it (male and female) it goes into the waiting room to help spread the word. Oh yes, well done, I didn’t spot the word “cockpit” anywhere - my subscription will carry on!
About half way through, I tend to read it in dribs and drabs.
I like the new size, it's slightly handier to hold in one hand (stop it! Whilst holding a mug of single origin organic Ecuadorian coffee in the other - obvs)!
I like the thicker paper, printing quality and and general 'feel' of it.
The bits I have read so far are well written and have held my interest.
It smells a little odd, I haven't quite decided if I like that or not yet.
It's a thumbs up from me so far 👍
probably not as she doesn’t ride a bike. In the same way that occasionally I find interesting articles in the 18thC literature journal she subscribes to. Should they perhaps start writing stuff about mountain bikes to temp me d’you think?
My point was that STW need to tread the line between attracting new readers and maintaining their existing readers, NOT that they ignore those potential new readers, but there needs to be a balance otherwise they lose their core audience, and that seems to be happening judging by this thread and previous ones.
Your point about C18th lit mag is interesting because you've hit the nail on the head, maybe without meaning to. No, that mag won't write lots of powder-puff filler articles* to try and entice you in - why would they? - but that's what STW are doing. I browse through plenty of mags of all genres (via Readly) and STW seems to be the only one agonising over who their readership is. The others just get on with whatever it says on the cover. And that really is helpful, because if I subscribe to a birdwatching mag, let's say, I want to read about birdwatching and all that entails. I'd be disappointed if every third article was written by someone who has barely ever seen a bird, or the article was a thinly disguised excuse for taking mum for a nice cup of tea. Or repeatedly wrote about bloody Scottish sparrows!
*How to make coffee like Defoe.
How to style yourself like Pamela.
Candide or Les Liaisons Dangereuse to impress on a date?
Which environmentally friendly tote-bag to carry heavy books?
Short coffee shop walks in London.
😀
As a white 50 something mountain biker the last thing I want is a magazine full of white 50 something mountain bikers, surely it’s best for mountain biking to be open to all. I want my daughter to feel that she would be welcomed into mountain biking community! 🙂
This could be it IdleJon, articles to be well researched and relating to the subject matter on a deep level and for god sake don’t ask readers for stories, and don’t write about a ride across the Peaks telling us what you took to eat and what the weather was doing, we’ve done it and it isn’t that interesting that we need to read about it. Sell us dreams, not how grey the skies were over Sheffield on a Tuesday nite.
And at this stage, it’s not about pulling in ‘non-white guy readers’. It’s about educating the white guy readers about the other people who mountain bike – so that any potential new “non-white guy riders” feel a little bit more welcomed than they are at the moment by the more lunk-headed members of our collective.
That is fantastically patronising. I'm amazed that I'm allowed out without supervision, being a white, middle-aged MTBer. (Maybe that attitude is why some of us are struggling with the mag recently.)