Face-Plant

Hey all,

I was wondering what peep's think about some of the different magazines that are out for mountain biking. I know that this is some what of a subjective question, but do any of the mag's below have on a consistent bases better and or more useful information then another, or are they just fluff with lots of adds, etc. I know that I have not listed all the magazines out there, and if you know of any that are not on the list that are worth reading via print, or digital, please list and tell us why you think it's a good magazine.

Bike
Dirt Rag
Mountain Bike/Bicycling
Mountain Bike Action
Mountain Flyer

Distilled Mountain Bike Magazine [Have not seeing printed version, only digital]
Transcend Magazine [Have not seeing printed version, only digital]

What you all think ?

DirtPedalerB

before ebay shut down the magazine sub auctions I bought 2 years of mountain biking and bike for like 5 bucks each.. I'm not resubscribing ... bike is ok, but it has dumb articles.. mountain biking was just a big wad of ads ... I may try dirt rag or mtb action next time..

anyone know where all the cheap subscriptions went since ebay ran them off??

9kBud

MBA has far better content than mountain biking

mcoomer

I like BIKE more than any other magazines that I see on the rack. They do have some articles that leave me wondering why the editor didn't ask for a rewrite but for my money the photography in BIKE is the best in the business. I buy some mags off the rack on occasion but I subscribe to BIKE and feel it's money well spent.

mzeffex 

I love MBA.

TimJ

I like dirt rag best and bike 2nd. mba has the most eye candy.

jroth

Mba

TechRydr

MBA - I get leftovers from my riding buds.

dminor 

Mountain Bike Action for all-'round; Decline for gravity.

Transcend is only an online presence as far as I'm aware of. I like Decline better and feel that Scott Hart is overall a better journalist than Fraser.

Ka_Jun

Dirt Rag
Bike

in that order.

ed 

I would have to second Doug's rec...except I'd go:
MBA: for tech geek (meat and potatoes)
I think sometimes they forget that there are riders that don't live on the west coast making 6 digits...as well as the fact that we don't all weigh 165lbs. Someone mentioned "eye candy". I agree...this is prob. why I like it best. I'm a geek about new stuff. I wanna know what's going to be available before it hits the market. I like "spy shots" of that trash-bag wrapped prototype that is being flogged on some private trail. (okay I've only seen that like 2x )


Decline: for gravity...I'd most likely gravitate more toward this mag if I had lift assist riding nearby.


BIKE: for lifestyle / embelished articles that focus more on "the writing style" than practical application. (fluff)


Dirt Rag: To me feels like a "Home Town MBA". They don't always get to test the latest stuff as often or as soon as MBA, but it feels a little more "blue collar" than the spoiled guys at MBA or the wannabe poets at BIKE.


My over all fav. is MBA, but Dirt Rag is a good strong 2nd.

ca7erham

Personally, I go with Bike just for the photography. I dont really like MBA because most of what they do is test bikes, and no matter what the bike is, it gets a good review and they ***** about little things that are extremely easy to fix/swap out like seats and stems. Also, Bike, MBA and Dirt Rag are the only ones that I've read. I didnt really like Dirt Rag for some reason. Both Bike and MBA seem to have issues with phrases that make no sense and poor grammar in most article (What I'm getting at is that their editors dont do that good of a job editing). MBA always does the exact same thing, so I went with bike to look at the pictures.

dminor 

All your bad grammar are belong to you . . . .

ca7erham

Oh, by no means am I saying that I have more better grammar, I'm just saying. . . You'd think in a publication that is being sold for profit, they'd at least take a bit more time to check it over.

RJM

When I first got into mountain biking/trail riding I picked up the first issue of Bike and thought it was great. I got a subscription for a few years and read every issue front to back. Eventually I just stopped riding and life, work and other hobbies took over, but now I am getting back into it so I figured I would check out the magazine selection. I just bought my first issue of Bike this past month and feel its alright, good photography but the articles leave something to be desired. I did like the MBA copy I got and would probably subscribe to it if I decide to subscribe to one. It seemed to have more info packed into it. I Also picked up a copy of Dirt Rag which needs more content.

One thing I can't get over is the price of the bikes being reviewed. Since 1995 or so it seems like they jumped quite a bit, also have more technology built into them. I still love my 1995 Stumpjumper, but those full suspension rigs put it to shame.

ed 

Yah...that's one of my big pissers too man. They said the avg. rider is pimpin a $2000 bike. What the crap evah! Not around poor ol' Kansas.

Face-Plant

I am like you RJM, did a lot of riding back in the late 80's into the mid 90's and I am now getting back into it and all. I was taken back a bit by how the price of bikes have jumped in over the years. I also say that I like what I have seen done with MTB technology today, some very cool shizzel out now. days.

Ps.

Thanks for your input all on the mags...

Magmol

None of them. But**********?
If you get Jimmy Mac to run MBA like he ran RBA way back when then I vote for MBA. This all is hinged on getting Bernie da Bus Driver back on board also.

TwinCam

Mountain Bike Action is a crock of ****. rememebr when the nomad came out? good lord the hype machine was hummin that day. it was the only bike any of us would ever need! it's unbreakable! it climbs as well as it descends! it jumps! it downhills! omg go buy one. now. NOW.

i think it was 2005 or six buyers guide and it was the "year of the trailbike" in MBA. that issue was positivly nauseating;

"hey dick cunny, what is a trailbike?"

....

"glad you asked, a-hole. its a mass produced bike with a thick profit margin thats readily stocked in any big bikeshop. looks dope in your garage. you really NEED ONE to enjoy mountain biking."

"thanks for clearing that up. looks like i can't afford to mountain bike at all."

"happy trails, sucker!"

Decline is at least worth buying to throw on the coffee table or next to the toilet.

Dirt Rag is soooooper frooty but at least they have their heart in the right place. altho i have been annoyed about them preaching 29 and talking yang on 26 for the last few years. nothing against 29ers but its just a bigger wheel. get over it and ride. or write, as the case may be.

ed 

mykster

I didn't care too much for MBA. I had a subscription to Bike and I really liked it. Alot of great articles. My favorite is Decline which reminds me I gotta renew.

TimJ

MBA does apparently have a bad rep for being shills and what-not, but they tend to have the most pics of bits and goodies so I get it sometimes, I just don't find the content all that helpful usually.

WannaGetGood

It all depends what kind of biking you do. Different mags like to talk about different things.

dminor 

Hey WGG's back! How've you been? Been doing a lot of riding?