MBUK OR MBR

baconater

its my brother 21st soon, and have decided to get him a magazine subscription. Was just wondering on people opinions about which one would be best to get or if they have any other options??

Cheers

supersonic

All the mags have target audiences, and even then, you are going to get issues where things may not take your fancy. But to generalise:

MBUK - younger audience. Focuses more on harder riding ie DH/FR/DJ, but still branches out into XC and general all round riding.

What Mountain Bike - product focused magazine, tests more than any other mag. Aimed at general trail riding across a broad range of budgets, from beginner to expert, with routes and tech features too.

MBR - similar to WMB, but for the rider with more money. Less content in general.

DIRT - about the essence of riding, photography. More of a readers mag than a review mag, but of course still does.

STW - again, more feature driven, but a good all rounder.

If he is into the DH scene and stuff, go for MBUK. If likes his products, tech features and justgeneral riding, WMB. MBR if more money than sense, and either of the other two for more soul type beardy reading ;-)

cooldad

Two reasons to go for MBUK:
1 - This thread - viewtopic.php?f=10002&t=12832303
2- The links to mags at the bottom of the page.

Or get WMB and you can read SS stuff if the net goes down.

Northwind

MBR is about 80% pish and 10% fantastic. MBUK, I don't remember ever being even 1% fantastic but there's not much pish either. So it depends on whether you prefer a small amount of fantastic and will tolerate lots of pish, or whether you want a lot of decent and don't mind if there's very little fantastic, just so long as there's less pish.

That's science that, it's got the % symbol in and everything.

supersonic

So What Mountain Bike then? ;-)

The Northern Monkey

Prefer MBUK because its a lighter read and is less serious... I don't take MTB that seriously, its a hobby and more of a laugh... so it suits me better.

WMB is a bit roadie-esq anal for me (sorry SS ) and MBR is shite.

I tried reading Dirt once... I think I had a fit trying to figure out which sentence followed which and couldn't get my head around what the hell some of the articles were on about!

I do like the online mag IMB though, tis usually a good read and its freeeeeeeeee!

Northwind

supersonic wrote:

So What Mountain Bike then? ;-)

Rouelleueulrueur.

eoeor.

delcol

if your bro has an orange 5 then get him mbr.. it should be an orange 5 owners mag.. thats all they seem to bang on about..

mbuk has took a killer dive since the editor changed no were near as good as it used to be.

and what (despite ss article which is always good) aint the mag it once was...

like all mags though there are good issues and bad issues...

supersonic

I'm looking for ideas for WMB articles, features and reviews. Put them to me! What do you want to see and why?

diy

Spring cleaning - something for the less mechanically minded to service their bikes.
Something on refreshing older bikes to keep them current.
Hidden routes and trails - the stuff few people know about.
An article on how to get the mrs to come riding
Something on saddles. How to measure yourself and how each of the current saddles rate, not on weight, price of bling, but fit and comfort. I find choosing a good saddle is a very expensive experiment.

1mancity2

I buy them all, god im sad......

MountainMonster

1mancity2 wrote:

I buy them all, god im sad......

I do the same, blanket buys encompassing all, and it's just a few times i'm actually disappointed with some of the stuff I read, but we have different writers here in the German speaking lands.

weeksy59

supersonic wrote:

I'm looking for ideas for WMB articles, features and reviews. Put them to me! What do you want to see and why?

What s/h bikes to buy..what's a good deal in S/H bikes for different things.

E.g is a 2008 Meta really a terrible risk.. or would a 2007 FSR XC be better.... How would that compared to say a 2006 Orange...

What XC second hand bike to buy and what to look out for...

IT seems to me that magazines (quite rightly in some ways) focus on what's new... but what percentage of riders actually buy NEW bikes ? surely not 100% that's for sure.

.blitz

mbr =

Morning all :twisted:

Northwind

A guide to buying used would be good, can't remember seeing that... Not just what to watch for but maybe also what not to worry about, frinstance a mate of mine walked away from a great buy because the bearings were worn, but that'd be a £10 fix.

No more reviews saying "The tyre comes up large" when actually it's just the claimed size and what they actually mean is "I'm so used to tyre manufacturers lying to me that when one of them is honest it freaks me out". So on that subject lets have genuine weights vs claimed weights for absolutely everything you ever touch. Lets hear about it when things aren't the size or weight they claim they are.

As a general thing it annoys me when reviews don't cover the previous winners- like the bike of the year test excluding the previous Boardman category winner because it was too cheap, even though it had beaten bikes that were expensive enough to go in the test. I'd like to see as well as "WMB winner" or "value" also "previous winner", even if only as a boxout, sometimes it's a really glaring exclusion and it seems like an inferior product gets recommended just because the previous winner was left out to save space/get more new products in.

Ride things... I like ride things with people in. MBR have nailed this, go out for an XC ride with Crawfy or Guy Martin, get an interview but also get a ride guide into the bargain.

So on that theme- go to trail centres, ride with the builders. Sort of like the wrecking crew in MBUK but with interesting people- I'd sooner see you guys out on a ride at Drumlanrig with Rik Allsop frinstance, than hear about how rad Ric or Doddy are Get the history of the place, a wee bit of an insight into the building, etc, bit of recognition for the people that do the hard work but also get their insight on the trails. Nice fat detailed features. "I remember when all this were just trees, then, I cut the trees down and cut some of them down the middle and turned them into mountain-biker-hurting-devices"

diy wrote:

Hidden routes and trails - the stuff few people know about.

Mmm. Depends. MBR printed a map for a local XC trail here, 3 months later it no longer really existed, it couldn't cope with the extra traffic Lots of hidden trails only survive because they're hidden... Magazines need to use their noggins a bit more on this IMO.

Neal_

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thewaylander

I have to admit i default to MBUK but this is mostly due to what i see in the others is pure xc style pedalling and i like to mix it up.

I actualy think even though the attitude of MBUK is a bit young, that its mix of DH/FR/trails/XC is balanced accross the whole mag so if your into the entire sport its the best mag to stay in touch. shame there proof reading is terribad(not unlike my own in fact, except you guys don't pay me to do that, we do them).

to be honest though i don't any of them to be that great, MBUK is written by people who love themselves, the rest seem to be written by 60 year old ex roadies and there is nothing down the middle i find, with DH/XC trials all discaplines.

Rushmore

MBUK has freebies...












I like turtles

agg25

supersonic wrote:

I'm looking for ideas for WMB articles, features and reviews. Put them to me! What do you want to see and why?

A lot of mags seem to have a "best budget bike" every second issue, how bout one showing some higher end bikes, £3000 plus? Not just 2 or 3 but say 10 or more. I guess you're reliant on what they'll send you to review eh?

An upgrade feature might be handy for some, inc what things to buy in the order they make the most difference on the trails eg wheels, handlebars...bla bla

xand_xand

''I'm looking for ideas for WMB articles, features and reviews. Put them to me! What do you want to see and why?''

More readers input:
1. more readers own bikes section with pics and details inc upgrades they have carried out.

2. more readers letters.

3. Lets get some readers own reviews..how about inviting us normal readers to come and try out some new kit and let us draw up our own comparisons rather than just reading the same ones from the same team month in month out.

4. more articles on the many different bike companies out there...who they are, how they started, where they are based, best products they offer, their own future ideas on bike design etc.

more more more.

supersonic

Some excellent ideas, and many that echo my own.

I guess you're reliant on what they'll send you to review eh?

Indeed. it is getting harder to get parts off the distributors as their budgets are being squeezed. Some just are not bothered either!

The price bands for bikes tends to cycle.

angry_bird

I've never really liked MBUK, seems to be written for teenage fuckwits and posers by posers wishing they were still teenage fuckwits. Almost come across with the same attitude as the top gear presenters trying to be cool... Just my opinion. It's true though and you know it

Quite like WMB, used to buy it occasionally, but as I'm never really looking to buy stuff and it's very product orientated I don't tend to get it regularly.

Have a subscription to Dirt on the ipod/phone/pad things, quite like it.

Will buy singletrack occasionally too, much more orientated around the riding than the products which I like, especially as I have relatively little money and don't get to ride much while I'm down at uni.

Got an MBR subscription for Xmas :roll: , it's not great, but having said that I still read it but I can't say I'm ever waiting around wondering when the next issue will arrive or open it as soon as it does, I just dip in and out. I just ignore half of what they say, mostly their reviews, I generally find I prefer some of the riding based content and articles to those in WMB, but then again it varies each month.

rhialto

Angry Bird wrote:

I've never really liked MBUK, seems to be written for teenage fuckwits and posers by posers wishing they were still teenage fuckwits. Almost come across with the same attitude as the top gear presenters trying to be cool... Just my opinion. It's true though and you know it

I have read many issues of MBUK and I want to like it but by the end I always end up agreeing with A-Bird's take. I remember quoting parts of an article to my wife, it was so adolescent. I can't quote it here - I threw the mag out as it annoyed me so much. Contrary to most here, I like MBR, mostly for the articles on different areas to ride, as well as the route ideas section. Singletrack sounds like something to look into (the magazine, not the terrain feature, although you can never get too much of that!).

x3man

In no particular order:

MBUK=Gnarly, rad, so stoked duuudes feeding off of each other
MBR=L'amour des oranges
Singletrack=http://www.beards.org/

cat_with_no_tail

x3man wrote:

In no particular order:

MBUK=Gnarly, rad, so stoked duuudes feeding off of each other
MBR=L'amour des oranges
Singletrack=http://www.beards.org/

QFT

CharlieH

supersonic wrote:

I'm looking for ideas for WMB articles, features and reviews. Put them to me! What do you want to see and why?

How to keep your feet on the pedals when doing drops/jumps etc after swapping to flats from 8 years of spd's

stubs

Fewer articles on boring bland budget bikes please, I wouldnt buy a motorcar mag to read a test on a diesel Ford Fiesta I want to read articles about Ferraris and Aston Martins made out of unobtanium with Nuclear bombs under the bonnet.

bwfc4eva868

After this month i have come to the conclusion MBR is turd. I'm sick of reading about 29er's, do they ever test mountain bikes that don't cost £1500 plus? Also the trail of the year thing Gisburn forest got about a paragraph. Also this months, Mountain bike Mecca according to them is Bristol?! I'm sorry but give me Edinburgh or here thanks.

MBUK can sometimes be boring, but at least they test bike i can actually afford, some bits are interesting and some bits are crap.

Not bought WMB for ages. And STW i just did not get.

supersonic

stubs wrote:

Fewer articles on boring bland budget bikes please, I wouldnt buy a motorcar mag to read a test on a diesel Ford Fiesta I want to read articles about Ferraris and Aston Martins made out of unobtanium with Nuclear bombs under the bonnet.

You tried MBR? ;-)

This is the thing with an all round mag, some issues are not going to appeal.

louthepoo

I've read mbr, mbuk and wmb. I quickly dismissed mbr and perservered with mbuk and wmb. After 6 months of buying both I'm going with wmb.

I quite like the idea of a readers section and used bike section.

camerauk

supersonic wrote:

I'm looking for ideas for WMB articles, features and reviews. Put them to me! What do you want to see and why?

I would like to see a feature on riding around Dartmoor would make a great feature
there are never routes featured this way would be great to see Ride Guide for Dartmoor PLEASE