Anybody here read Singletrack magazine?

[Globalti]

I used to subscribe to the mag (even had some articles published in early editions) but seldom read it now though I'm often on the forum. In the last six months I've noticed more and more "what road bike?" posts as mountain bikers who are tired of the mud and wet begin to go over to the road. This has become increasingly mainstream and recently forum members were openly admitting that they were guilty of prejudice against roadies and wished they had made the change sooner. Shock horror!

Which brings me to my point: we hear that sales of road bikes are growing while off-road bikes are flatlining. Has mountain biking had its day and will MTB mags like STW need to embrace the new zeitgeist in order to survive? Since STW is what you would call a "boutique" magazine with top-notch photography, imagine how it would look if it began to include road biking! I couldn't imagine anything more tasty!

 

[Motozulu]

Like you I go on the forum and road biking is winning, Does'nt bother me I must admit as road biking will never be for me - I even enjoy slogging through the mud!

Was at Cannock today - was passed by 3 road bikes on the ride up there but only saw 2 lads on the trails, speaks volumes?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I am a subscriber to Singletrack

I occasionally go into the forum; in fact I bought my most recent mtb from a classified there.

I ride more on the road than off these days; off-road is for phun timez, while tarmac is for transport and hanging out with badly dressed skinny people.

The trail conditions are cr@p and have been for over a year. No wonder people are riding on the road.

 

[zizou]

Generally road cycling is on the up compared to mountain biking for a variety of reasons - fashion being one (we've just had the best couple of years ever in terms of British success on the road so people are going to be inspired by that) demographics and to a certain extent the expense too - not just the upfront costs but the associated costs too whether it be replacement parts or for many petrol to get to somewhere with some decent riding. Road bikes have the upfront costs too but generally they are easier and cheaper to maintain and in most parts of the country it is pretty easy to ride out to some decent quiet roads from your doorstep rather than have to drive to it.

However i think alot of people who do both (like myself) have focused alot more on the road over the last year or so largely because of the weather ....up here in the last year the only time the natural trails were in a decent state was April and May, the rest of the time was muddy and wet, the ground never dried out the whole summer. That is fun in small doses but not all the time when you just want to go out for a quick ride and not have to spend half an hour cleaning the bike afterwards.

As for singletrack i used to subscribe but not anymore - still buy it from time to time but ive cut right back on magazines these days, was just spending far too much on them all.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Not renewing any magazine subs this year. Waste far too much whisky and beer money on them.

 

[02GF74]

Was at Cannock today - was passed by 3 road bikes on the ride up there but only saw 2 lads on the trails, speaks volumes?

No, a sample of 5 is far too small to draw any meaningful conclusion.

 

[Cubist]

I subscribe. Love the forum, as long as you avoid the usual nobbers. The mag has more and more CX oriented articles these days. I also enjoy the homogenised hive-mind of the forum. There is a real feeling that it is exclusively management or middle management, polarised between Orange Fives and self build Five-Spots and Yetis. This must be massively far from the truth, as there are the woodburners and coffeegrinders, the biviers and bothiers, the bikepackers and bridelway bashers. There's a lot of good advice from people in the industry.... start a thread on Cotics, and watch Cy join in about thirty threads down. Question On One frame geometry and up pops Brant Richards.

Ask on the forum itself and virtually every body agrees. MTB Has been a complete washout all last year, and the only cycling to be had was darkside.

 

[Globalti]

That's a pretty good summary; it is an excellent forum and far more amusing than Cycle Chat. Now imagine if STW began to sprinkle in the odd feature on road riding, using the same descriptive and photographic skills. I really do think it would make it a better-rounded magazine and I think the majority of the readers would enjoy it. If they approached the road bikes with fresh mountain bikers' eyes it would have relevance as well as affording them some great photos.

 

[al-fresco]

I'm a Singletrack subscriber - it's the best off-road mag I've found, good writing and excellent photos. Vastly better than, say, 'Dirt.' (I did enjoy the brief appearance of Switchback but that seems to have disappeared from UK shelves.) Can't say that I look at the Singletrack forums very often except when I google something and one of the results is a forum discussion. I'm quite happy with current vibe of the magazine and would be wary of changing it too much - I think times are very hard for the magazine business and their finances are probably pretty precarious. That said, if something is well written it doesn't matter too much what's been written about imo. I'm never going to fork out £3,000+ for a bike but that doesn't mean I skip a review of one - as long as it's well written. Similarly some of the columns have wandered off into philosophical backwaters and have been no less entertaining and enjoyable. (I have to confess that I've been known to listen to the cricket commentary during a rain break and turn it off when play re-started. Sometimes I think cricket gets in the way of listening to TMS.)

 

[Cubist]

That article on depression and cycling in issue 78 was pretty good. It was once described to me as the "thinking man's bike mag." It certainly gets the grey matter turning over more than the more commercial glossies , although I subscribe to MBUK for Cubester and treat myself to MBR occasionally just to see if they still love Fives (apparently not any more, the latest one has slipped into second place.....)

 

[dan_bo]

They'll be back on thier MTBs when they get bored of staring at their front wheel for six hours....

 

[Motozulu]

No, a sample of 5 is far too small to draw any meaningful conclusion.

Probably correct.

 

[simon.r]

I'm another ex-subscriber to STW (and ex forumite), who rides more on than off road nowadays. I think the main reason is that I can ride decent roads from my front door, but I have to drive to get to any reasonable trails. So an hour riding on the road takes an hour, while an hour riding off-road takes 3 hours! Add to that the fact that my road bike doesn't need me to spend an hour cleaning it after every ride

The novelty of doing a half road / half trail route from my door has worn off, especially given that most of the local bridleways are field edge. Having said that, I really enjoy it when I do get out on the MTB.

 

[Motozulu]

I realise how lucky I am - 2.6 miles from the start of follow the dog/monkey trails to my door - and umpteen cheeky trails, blue XC routes mean I will never get bored. I won't evet take it for granted either.

 

[User482]

I'm a subscriber - the mag is far more interesting than the usual "what tyres" fare from Future publishing, or the dreaded MBR (does anyone still buy that?).

I think the increasing number of roadies is a demographic thing - the mag seems popular with men in their 30s and 40s, who grew up when mountain bikes first became fashionable, so that's what we all rode. Consequently we've discovered road riding later in life.

And as others point out, slogging through the mud and spending a fortune on replacing disintegrated components does start to get a bit tiresome... can we have a dry summer? Please?