MBUK going downhill?

Thewaylander

miss notax wrote:

Thewaylander wrote:

miss notax wrote:

echowitch wrote:

Hmm I thought that there was a distinct increase in female riders pics. Especially the last 6 months which has featured two female champs, and one semi-retired champ discussing fitness. (I don't have the mags to hand to fish out specifics.)

Singletrack I think

Don't get me wrong, there is the ocassional photo, just not enough in my humble opinion!

Thing is it's probably in proportion with the number of women riding compare to the number of men.

I wrote a long post about this and then deleted it as a) I sound a bit mad, and b) no-one probably cares anyway

So instead i'll just say, agreed. But the problem is that it then becomes self-perpetuating; not many photos of girls biking, so girls think they can't do it as no obvious role-models, so not many girls on the trails, so not many photos in the media etc etc.

More pics of girls biking = more girls thinking 'ooh that look fun, I fancy a go' = more girlies on the trails

Miss Notax,

http://vimeo.com/22426145

watch Darcy's film i think it says it all to me.

supersonic

People want different things from mags, and it is finding one that covers your interests. Even then you will get issues that vary, and many m,ags will got through an overhaul every couple of years.

Personally I like reading tests, about new kit, tech, science and so on. I like doing the tests! I less like reading about people riding, just don't find it interesting at all.

So as usual, personal preference.

lawman

supersonic wrote:

People want different things from mags, and it is finding one that covers your interests. Even then you will get issues that vary, and many m,ags will got through an overhaul every couple of years.

Personally I like reading tests, about new kit, tech, science and so on. I like doing the tests! I less like reading about people riding, just don't find it interesting at all.

So as usual, personal preference.

Sonic makes a great point, for me, its the new kit, great rides abroad, new trails, reviews and tests aren't always top of my priority, after all its only every so often a piece of kit comes around for test I'm interested in. Dirt strikes a pretty good balance of all this, just needs to go abit more trail/am orientated and it'll be spot on. Not knocking wmb/mbuk, they do some great stuff also, it just seems to miss the mark more often than not.

bluechair84

The weakest part of Bikeradar in my opinion is the lack of story articles. The blogs could be better and you could have a wider variety of contributors. I think then BR would be a very complete package. Maybe the reason the routes and adventures don't make it here is because it shifts the magazines? I've still not worked out why people who like reviews buy mags when much it arrives online somewhere or another.

supersonic

Not all of them do though! Only selected reviews are published online, and not always tech articles and first impressions either.

Mondy-John

supersonic wrote:

Aren't we all ;-)

The style of the mag has changed quite a few times in the last decade or so, and there are certainly more people writing for them. I guess the ads pay for this!

I quite liked this months issue. not just saying that because I write for What Mountain Bike, but I did like what was in it. And the free SIS drink was great for my hangover ;-)

I didn't get the free drink? Poor for saying it's because I'm a subscriber and didn't buy it from a shop! Either that or they just forgot to include the freebies in my copy??

billyballs

Just bought a copy of dirt , got it home, opened it and felt completely let down. Was expecting to find lots of pictures of men in their underpants. This thing is just full of bikes.

Northwind

Have to say I thought this issue was ropey. But it's generally a good read, everything has its ups and downs except that BMW rider's obvious. Most of the articles felt a bit rushed and lightweight, didn't seem to be much product either. Never finished an issue so fast.

Rubbish Superbike too- "This is a standard GT, it has ordinary stuff attached to it, sometimes it'll have different ordinary stuff attached to it" Dan Atherton's interesting but his bike aint.

Still I expect it'll be back to form soon.

Dog296

I prefer "what mountain bike" over most the biking Mag's. Spesh as it seems more XC rather than DH/FR

Caller

I've got to agree, MBUK has been pretty poor of late. It may have more pages of reviews and features but with the increase in adverts as well it just feels more watered down.

I was going to buy a copy of Singletrack last week but decided against it when I saw that it had gone up to nearly £6 an issue :shock:

DIRT seems to be getting some pretty good reviews here so I might have to give that a try when I'm down at the shops later. In my opinion, one of the best magazines about at the moment is IMB, it's free, it's got some good video clips to go with the features and apart from that, I can get away with reading it at work and no-one notices!

Northwind

The lastest Singletrack's also pretty poor tbh, waffliest and beardiest for ages. Also it seems that half the forks in the grouptest got "recommended".

mcnultycop

I was looking through an old (I mean, really old, from when I bought my Orange Clockwork) MBUK a couple of months ago whilst I was chucking stuff out and the article was laughing at people who claimed to be "Downhill Specialists" because they weren't fit enough to ride up hills.

I think MBUK is OK, I reckon I'll like it more when my free subscription gift eventually arrives.

tv

I prefer singletrack, but its now upto £6

hucking_fell

I've subscribed to MBUK for many years (maybe 10 or so). The money's just come out of my bank account, I think every 6 months, during that time.

A few months ago I phoned Future Publishing and swapped MBUK for WMB. After 2 WMBs being posted through my door I've a letter asking me to renew my WMB subscription and an email saying something like "what have we done wrong... why'd you stop buying MBUK ? ".

I realise the email will most likely be an automated one sent by computer and not a real person but why now do I have to renew my subscription to WMB ? I thought it would just carry on indefinately.

edit - If it gives me the chance to resubscribe and get a free gift then I'm not too bothered though

NickintheLakes

A long, long time ago back in the nineties, tests were quite long and informative.

The tests in this months mag' are feeble. On the multi-bike test the first takes about 30 seconds to read (it is very short) and then the others even less as they are virtually the same - just different parts etc inserted.

Lame and lazy.

1mancity2

I buy them all anyway, but Dirt is the one I look forward to the most.

Chunkers1980

The reviews in this month are a bit of a joke.

There's one on a Hardrock I think that says the rubbish tyres right the way through detract from what would be an ok bike. Then at the end they say the test bike has different tyres to the ones (better) listed in the spec on a website.

If they are going to test, then test the spec you'll be sold, or don't make a major point of it, as that's just pointless.

appy

Cant remeber if it was mbuk or wmb but last year they absolutely raved about the Ghost AMR, this year its the same frame pretty much identical weight and they say its crap and heavy!! Pah...magazines, what do they know.

Red.Devil.Ghost

I have only realy been reading mbr and MBUK for a few months. I just pick one or the other up every now and then - whichever one has a free gift or possibly a more interesting kit review etc. I haven't been into MTB properly for very long though.

I quite like both of the mags tbh. I bought Dirt once as it was the only magazine in the store in Germany that was interesting and in English. I thought it was pretty good - but I do like a lot of pictures.

If I cut all magazines out of my life, I could buy another good bike in a year I reckon.

andyrm

I reckon the mag is at some of the best it's been for a long time - and I started buying it in around 1993!

Like Supersonic, I'm not massively into those "Kerouac wannabe" style articles you see in Singletrack about some geezer's lonely journey across a country all on his own to "clear his mind" and "explore himself". I want interesting content that's quick to read, lots of tests, new product previews, essentially a broad spread of quick to read content that I can pick up & put down easily without fear of losing where I am at.

I also like good pictures - again none of that arty stuff in ST. I like proper action shots, like you see in MBUK and Dirt.

As for the ads - how else does the OP think MBUK makes it's money? Future, like any company, are in business to make money. That is business 101. And as has been stated elsewhere, the fact that MBUK has managed to increase ad inventory and so drive up overall pagination and content per edition is something to be commended - clearly they have a very, very good ad sales team who know their market. Without the ad revenue, the mag can't exist (I know - I've worked for a publishing house), so the ads are an intrinsic and essential part of the magazine's offering.

.blitz

Northwind wrote:

Rubbish Superbike too

Looked at that for quite some time trying to find something 'super' about it :?

lawman

.blitz wrote:

Northwind wrote:

Rubbish Superbike too

Looked at that for quite some time trying to find something 'super' about it :?

the fact its a "super" bike, and the fact its a GT, and a certain someone on this here forum likes GT's and writes for future...





Just saying

supersonic

Lol, nothing to do with me: but the Force frames (esp carbon) are excellent, light, pedal amazingly well for a 150mm platform, probably the best climbing FS frame I have ridden. Who else has ridden one?

marko75

I will give MBUK another month and see how it goes with reviews, ads, etc, ...... may switch my subscription to WMB instead or grow a beard and go STW

andyrm wrote:

As for the ads - how else does the OP think MBUK makes it's money? Future, like any company, are in business to make money. That is business 101.

Surely business 101 is keeping the customer happy - Without people buying the magazine (due to the excess number of ads in the publication) total sales will go down and therefore Ad revenue will decrease when suppliers realise that potential customers have switched magazine preferences. I am not some type of business guru and I realise its a fine line between revenue from sales and revenue from Ads to maintain a profit - but it just seems that Ads are dominating at the moment (looks like I am not the only one who thinks this) without the overall content improving.


If I were given the Superbike free - then I would agree it was a superbike - other than thank - its merely ok!

MTBers are a finicky lot!

supersonic

If the ads were dropped, then the staff will drop, content would be reduced, would be less tests and articles and no free gifts. Simple as that realy!

marko75

Supersonic - I am only commenting on the quantity of the ads and dont wish for people to be made redundant nor stopping the all important free gifts! It would be interesting to note the number of ads per given issue over the past 5 years (i teach at a Uni and so am rather nerdy like that) however, if you reduce the number of ads by 10% but mitigate that with a 10% increase in price per advert surely the sums equal out and placates the customer.

Anyway only a suggestion and I am sure there are more cleverer chaps/chapesses out there that think of a better solution!

lawman

I'm all for the extra content, but when every other page is an advert its abit of a shame really. In for one would give up a free gift every issue in exchange for a more thorough selection of detailed tests and articles

Northwind

supersonic wrote:

Lol, nothing to do with me: but the Force frames (esp carbon) are excellent, light, pedal amazingly well for a 150mm platform, probably the best climbing FS frame I have ridden. Who else has ridden one?

Rode the alu one, if the geometry wasn't ****ed I'd be up for having the carbon one. But it's another of them weird GT huge travel XC bikes. IMO of course Still want a go on a Sanction or a Distortion though, that might do it.

But anyway, getting off the point here... It's not very super, it's just a nice bike with normal nice bike stuff. After Tom Wheeler's especially.

andyrm

Ad sales in mag publishing is a tough beast and a ton more complicated than anyone from outside media sales realises.

You have a "rate card" price for a series of given slots. You have a minimum "per page" revenue yield that has to be achieved to offset print & production costs (which have ridden astronomically in recent years - paper costs into the UK rose 17% in 12 months). Factor in the "big guns" (Specialized, Trek etc) booking up large amounts of inventory early in the year, guaranteeing spend for 12 months but only if they can get a substantial discount and all of a sudden, while you DO have a solid and projectable sales revenue from ads, it's at a lower value than the "list price".

Therefore to make the sums stack up, you need to increase the ratio of ad space to content space or look at alternative angles such as feature sponsorship, page takeovers, advertorials etc.

It's ALL about the ad revenue in mag publishing. Mag sales revenue (once distribution, marketing, 2 or 3 tiers of margin from distribution, shelf fees and retailer margin are removed) is actually next to nothing. Hence the ads.

But as always - like when people get angry about receiving a "spam" email when they could just delete it, if you don't want to see the ad, there's an easy solution. Turn the page.

supersonic

if the geometry wasn't ****ed

Horses for courses - I love the steeper geo. Doesn't make it a bad bike - I wouldn't call a OnOne 456 a load of rubbish because I didn't like the geo ;-)

The LE though is a different beast - it has a slightly slacker head angle. Is sort of a cross between a standard force and a sanction.