Bike magazines
Discussion
Used to subscribe to Ride and Superbike. Superbike went massively down hill and I have no interest in subscribing to it again.
Ride just seems to be very "samey" and seems to concentrate on a demographic I'm not in (ie. tourers and adventure bikes) - the only article that caught my attention was the Fireblade buying guide in this month's edition.
I have bought Fast Bikes and it seems to have got a little better, but Performance Bikes is still the best - just a shame it's not so easy to get hold of.
Ride just seems to be very "samey" and seems to concentrate on a demographic I'm not in (ie. tourers and adventure bikes) - the only article that caught my attention was the Fireblade buying guide in this month's edition.
I have bought Fast Bikes and it seems to have got a little better, but Performance Bikes is still the best - just a shame it's not so easy to get hold of.
got another copy of Ride through the door, it’s now cancelled.
Utter, utter dross. The first twenty pages of readers views and editors thoughts etc is woeful.
20 odd reviews of nakeds and tourers no thanks.
The glove review was ok though.
Next weeks looks ok they have the a guide to picking a Daytona 675 up for £4,000. Pah I got one for £3,000 with 1,400 miles on the clock.
Im through it in 20 minutes.
Utter, utter dross. The first twenty pages of readers views and editors thoughts etc is woeful.
20 odd reviews of nakeds and tourers no thanks.
The glove review was ok though.
Next weeks looks ok they have the a guide to picking a Daytona 675 up for £4,000. Pah I got one for £3,000 with 1,400 miles on the clock.
Im through it in 20 minutes.
moanthebairns said:
The glove review was ok though.
Yeah, I thought so too. Ride used to be better when it had decent reviews like this (with proper SATRA testing, not just some bloke's opinion); this was useful info.I too have had enough of all these reviews of tourers, although everything seems to be adventure bikes now. Whatever happened to sports tourers?
I'm surprised that people would subscribe to 'Ride' magazine. How many glove or boot reviews do people need/want to read? There aren't that many new or used bikes to review either. There's always going to be some re-hashing.
Sports bikes have been popular for a long time. 'Adventure' bikes are the new-ish thing and there are a lot of people buying them. What is a 'Sports-Tourer' nowadays? Sports bikes from a decade ago are now regarded as 'comfortable' because they are less track-focussed than the newest versions.
ps. Most magazines on any subject become repetitive. It must be difficult to try to produce good, new material every month.
Sports bikes have been popular for a long time. 'Adventure' bikes are the new-ish thing and there are a lot of people buying them. What is a 'Sports-Tourer' nowadays? Sports bikes from a decade ago are now regarded as 'comfortable' because they are less track-focussed than the newest versions.
ps. Most magazines on any subject become repetitive. It must be difficult to try to produce good, new material every month.
Got another copy of ride through the door......simply the worst magazine I have ever read and I've read plastic and rubber weekly.....
they really need to change the name from ride to "middle aged high vis texitle wearing das/iam rider monthly"
pages and pages of touring and constant awful bikes. just buy a f
king car and be done with it.....
it's one thing to mention the odd trip abroad but to nearly fill a fking magazine with it.
my god, I flicked through it like the o/h reading heat.
they really need to change the name from ride to "middle aged high vis texitle wearing das/iam rider monthly"
pages and pages of touring and constant awful bikes. just buy a f
king car and be done with it.....it's one thing to mention the odd trip abroad but to nearly fill a f
king magazine with it. my god, I flicked through it like the o/h reading heat.
I always thought the Ride was allright... Granted it was a bit 'pipe and slippers', but they did have some decent features and them buying guide things.
Superbike magazine is worth a look, I only read it cos it was the only half decent magazine available on the kindle for a while, and it's not bad to be fair.
Superbike magazine is worth a look, I only read it cos it was the only half decent magazine available on the kindle for a while, and it's not bad to be fair.
Why has Ride magazine gone down the pan? I'm sure it used to be better.
The buying guides are useless now Ride's stopped doing proper tests. The new product "tests" are just some journalists' opinions, without any lab testing. I can get more useful opinions on Pistonheads.
Thanks to falling for Ride's free gift subscription offer, the latest issue fell through my letterbox. I think Ride has got worse. Not content with last month's highlight about base layers, which I could have read in any outdoors magazine if so inclined, this month has pages and pages dedicated to the magnetic tank bag. I could barely contain my excitement. What's next, I wonder? If I'm lucky, next month will have a 10-page review of socks to wear whilst thinking about bikes. And let's not even mention The Letters Page: one reader wrote in because a tyre wore out. What rotten luck!
Ride magazine, what's going on? It used to be so much better. Now it just puts me to sleep! I certainly won't be falling for that 'free gift with subscription' malarkey again. No sir!
The buying guides are useless now Ride's stopped doing proper tests. The new product "tests" are just some journalists' opinions, without any lab testing. I can get more useful opinions on Pistonheads.
moanthebairns said:
Got another copy of ride through the door......simply the worst magazine I have ever read and I've read plastic and rubber weekly.....
+1Thanks to falling for Ride's free gift subscription offer, the latest issue fell through my letterbox. I think Ride has got worse. Not content with last month's highlight about base layers, which I could have read in any outdoors magazine if so inclined, this month has pages and pages dedicated to the magnetic tank bag. I could barely contain my excitement. What's next, I wonder? If I'm lucky, next month will have a 10-page review of socks to wear whilst thinking about bikes. And let's not even mention The Letters Page: one reader wrote in because a tyre wore out. What rotten luck!
Ride magazine, what's going on? It used to be so much better. Now it just puts me to sleep! I certainly won't be falling for that 'free gift with subscription' malarkey again. No sir!
Edited by SVS on Wednesday 21st May 00:28
I bought the latest Performance Bikes to pass the time away on a flight at the weekend. I’m just glad the flight was only an hour and not long haul.
I was shocked at some of the typo’s in the magazine. We are not talking one or two either. It became apparent that this isn’t proof read before going to print.
Well done Matt Wildee on your editorial skills!!
While I was semi interested in the Carl Fogarty article, the rest of the mag held next to no interest.
I think the standard of journalism in most bike mags is pretty poor and will definitely be avoiding PB in the future
I was shocked at some of the typo’s in the magazine. We are not talking one or two either. It became apparent that this isn’t proof read before going to print.
Well done Matt Wildee on your editorial skills!!
While I was semi interested in the Carl Fogarty article, the rest of the mag held next to no interest.
I think the standard of journalism in most bike mags is pretty poor and will definitely be avoiding PB in the future
I still have a Bike subscription but am seriously thinking of cancelling it. It seems to have got 50% thinner over the last year or so. There appears to have been several changes in editor over this time, which may explain things. I have bought a few copies of Ride & have to agree with the majority negative view here. Also, all these publications seem to be owned/run by Bauer Media & all have their HQ in Peterborough............
Fleegle said:
I bought the latest Performance Bikes to pass the time away on a flight at the weekend. I’m just glad the flight was only an hour and not long haul.
I was shocked at some of the typo’s in the magazine. We are not talking one or two either. It became apparent that this isn’t proof read before going to print.
Well done Matt Wildee on your editorial skills!!
While I was semi interested in the Carl Fogarty article, the rest of the mag held next to no interest.
I think the standard of journalism in most bike mags is pretty poor and will definitely be avoiding PB in the future
Yep, your right about the proof reading, it's really poor, but I still enjoy it simply because it isn't full of the latest hyper bikes and they do put their money where there mouths are by modifying old bikes like the rest of us.I was shocked at some of the typo’s in the magazine. We are not talking one or two either. It became apparent that this isn’t proof read before going to print.
Well done Matt Wildee on your editorial skills!!
While I was semi interested in the Carl Fogarty article, the rest of the mag held next to no interest.
I think the standard of journalism in most bike mags is pretty poor and will definitely be avoiding PB in the future
Fleegle said:
I bought the latest Performance Bikes to pass the time away on a flight at the weekend. I’m just glad the flight was only an hour and not long haul.
I was shocked at some of the typo’s in the magazine. We are not talking one or two either. It became apparent that this isn’t proof read before going to print.
Well done Matt Wildee on your editorial skills!!
While I was semi interested in the Carl Fogarty article, the rest of the mag held next to no interest.
I think the standard of journalism in most bike mags is pretty poor and will definitely be avoiding PB in the future
I occasionally buy PB and I did buy the latest issue before a train journey. You're right that it didn't take long to read, although there is some interesting stuff in there (the non-Buell) -I'm really not interested in reading a press release about the latest bike with 0.1bhp more and 0.1kg less than the previous year's model which lots of bike and car mags seem to be.I was shocked at some of the typo’s in the magazine. We are not talking one or two either. It became apparent that this isn’t proof read before going to print.
Well done Matt Wildee on your editorial skills!!
While I was semi interested in the Carl Fogarty article, the rest of the mag held next to no interest.
I think the standard of journalism in most bike mags is pretty poor and will definitely be avoiding PB in the future
"Bike" used to be quite good at times, but it hasn't appeared very appealing when I've been browsing in the station WHSmiths recently.
I still really like PB despite the typos and crappy paper quality.
When I first started out on bikes back in... eh... 1998 (yikes) I used to buy nearly all of them but Bike and PB were my regulars. I quickly "grew out" of Ride and never read it again. It is definitely for new riders if you ask me. Fast Bikes by the time I ever read it was after the Shakey Byrne era and I really didn't like it, same with Superbike and that's still the case now. I eventually stopped buying Bike too as I wasn't interested in reading new bike reviews any more and PB became the only bike mag I buy. I've subscribed for about 10 years now I think... and the only other mag I read (and also subscribe to) is evo. Both are superb mags and very different.
Practical Sportsbikes is pretty interesting but I only ever buy it about twice a year. I do like it though.
If PB could smarten up some of the daft errors and print it on proper paper I'd be delighted but as it is I'm still subscribing and very much enjoy reading it, so it's all good really. Right up my street in fact, even after all these years.
The other mags, I've tried and don't like. And despite the MCN video channel being superb, the paper itself is bloody awful and I've refused to read it for years. Every time I decide to try it out again, I find it's still crap and go back to refusing to buy it. Damn shame, but it's how it is for me. Wish they could somehow translate the brilliant videos into articles that deliver on the promise the contents page offers...
When I first started out on bikes back in... eh... 1998 (yikes) I used to buy nearly all of them but Bike and PB were my regulars. I quickly "grew out" of Ride and never read it again. It is definitely for new riders if you ask me. Fast Bikes by the time I ever read it was after the Shakey Byrne era and I really didn't like it, same with Superbike and that's still the case now. I eventually stopped buying Bike too as I wasn't interested in reading new bike reviews any more and PB became the only bike mag I buy. I've subscribed for about 10 years now I think... and the only other mag I read (and also subscribe to) is evo. Both are superb mags and very different.
Practical Sportsbikes is pretty interesting but I only ever buy it about twice a year. I do like it though.
If PB could smarten up some of the daft errors and print it on proper paper I'd be delighted but as it is I'm still subscribing and very much enjoy reading it, so it's all good really. Right up my street in fact, even after all these years.
The other mags, I've tried and don't like. And despite the MCN video channel being superb, the paper itself is bloody awful and I've refused to read it for years. Every time I decide to try it out again, I find it's still crap and go back to refusing to buy it. Damn shame, but it's how it is for me. Wish they could somehow translate the brilliant videos into articles that deliver on the promise the contents page offers...
andyp79 said:
And despite the MCN video channel being superb...
Interesting - I'd personally call it fecking useless, but then again it's just my opinion. 'Ok, here are 4 bikes you can watch us ride. At the end of the ride we shall talk (with very badly edited audio), stating that each bike comes in different colours, accelerates, turns and stops. We shall make no attempt at being objective or test anything for longer than 5 minutes. Now go forth and multiply' Ride is like a print version of Pistonheads in a way - answer to every question seems to be
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