MBUK OR MBR

Torres

I like Dirt. Once you get over the mental formatting it's a good read. Most of the articles are about exotic riding or the world cup race scene; which is refreshing.

I also really like how the majority of the regular columnists are professionals, either riders, mechanics or have some other involvement in the industry as a whole. They also get a proper amount of column space, unlike the MBUK 1/4 page.

El Zomba

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 full-page apology for previous articles on Cyclocross followed by a ten-page article on 'the evils of Cyclocross and how no good shall ever come of't'.

Probably followed by a Cyclocross kit review. :roll:

cycle monster

IMHO both of these are targetted at small minorities who are extremely fit/able to spend unlimited amounts of wedge or both. The test riders appear to be in a position to buy (or are given for nothing) forks that cost more than most readers entire bikes. All very nice to read and fantasise about and great for a while but when you step back and think about it very little of it is relevanto you and tour riding. It is not the lucky so and so's fault but they cannot cater for all, or seemingly even try to do so for the majority. Now I could be the only mountain biker with a sub £5,000 bike but I doubt it.

Mojo_666

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?

Write about the rise of the direct sale bike, Canyon, YT industries etc

1mancity2

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 was a subscriber for ages of WMB but issues started arriving later and later so I cancelled, I do subscribe to MBUK and MBR and I still buy WMB, but it was always late and usually available in the shop before I got my copy.

Oh and how about a "Riding with" section were readers write in and tell you of there local trail and you then go and ride with them, you will get not just trail centre routes but the hidden gems we all live for.

and a how to section on building trails, jumps etc

cat_with_no_tail

1mancity2 wrote:

Oh and how about a "Riding with" section were readers write in and tell you of there local trail and you then go and ride with them, you will get not just trail centre routes but the hidden gems we all live for.

Love this idea, perticularly if it's non-trail centre related.

Everyone knows where trail centres are, but it would be great to see some more proper "All Mountain" routes popping up.

The Rookie

My take...
STW - a bit to anal for me
MBR - had for a year (tesco points so cheap) but it never really hooked me
WMB - like reading it but I rarely buy a 'what' anything unless it happens to have an article on what I want and when I want it (double rarity).....I don't buy much new anyway!
MBUK - I'm older than target audience (45) I think, but it's the one I now subscribe to, wrecked and rated is brill, everything else I like (just about) although I will cancel and resubscribe every 12 months to get the freebies (loyalty doesn't pay!)

Simon

giblets

cycle monster wrote:

IMHO both of these are targetted at small minorities who are extremely fit/able to spend unlimited amounts of wedge or both. The test riders appear to be in a position to buy (or are given for nothing) forks that cost more than most readers entire bikes. .

MBR did have a joke article on buying 2nd hand, and when asked to suggest bikes on a budget simply suggested: spend more money, kind of defeats having a budget, and puts off newbies trying to get into the sport (both in terms of reading the magazine, and getting into the sport).
Am sure we all appreciate the advertisers pay the wages (along with the magazine buying public), but am sure they would make an awful lot of money getting the budgeting bike buying public on board. Who didn't start off with a cheap and cheerful bike (£300-400), before spending ridiculous money upgrading it (as per many suggestions on this thread!), probably beyond the frames ability, and then buying a higher end bike! :oops:

I recently picked up a copy of MBUK in the WHSmith Library, was actually pretty impressed, with a bit more information on trails and routes than I was expecting.

bourne1

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?

An article on helmets would be good but with less focus on weight style and venting. Most tests miss the point of a helmet they all should be crash tested at 20 mph, im sure there are alot of people who would be interested to see the resuls and i wonder how many £100 + helmets would get the thumbs down.

MountainMonster

bourne1 wrote:

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?

An article on helmets would be good but with less focus on weight style and venting. Most tests miss the point of a helmet they all should be crash tested at 20 mph, im sure there are alot of people who would be interested to see the resuls and i wonder how many £100 + helmets would get the thumbs down.

All helmets (to a certain extent) are tested externally by governing bodies. That is a bit pointless to double test them.

Stevo_666

MBUK is my favourite one, partly because I'm getting more into the gravity side of things. I've picked up a couple of copies of Dirt out of interest as well.

I've got most of the kit I need so WMB is less useful for these days: MBR is hit and miss (thuogh no problem with them covering more expensive stuff, nout wrong with that), so I just pick one of those up whenever I see a few things that interest me.