Farewell Ride Magazine

[Renton]

I have bought Ride magazine for several years now, not religiously, but most months I will buy the latest issue. I've always enjoyed the kit reviews, readers letters and articles, even if it has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

My problem however, is the BMW R1200GS. Not the bike itself, but the fact that Ride magazine cannot, it seems, get through a single review without comparing the bike on test to the GS. I have no doubt that the bike has sold extremely well and grown hugely popular since its release (of course helped by what's his face and Renton....I mean, Ewan). But Ride have become that friend who's fallen in love with the ginger cousin who's good at math and finds every opportunity to bring her up in conversation. Yes she's a complete whizz with numbers, which can be very helpful in many ways, but she'll never be prom queen or head cheerleader.

The November issue, for those of you who haven't read it, includes a two day road test to find the modern day VFR, king of the sports touring class.

And Ride magazines winner....the GS. While the bike may be capable of meeting the sports touring criteria, it's crowning moment in the conclusion is negated by the seemingly biased way in which it got there. Reading the magazine front to back is almost like watching a day at the Grand National with a doped horse.

So for this, I will no longer be buying the magazine as I am sick to death of reading about a bike that I am never, ever going to own, let alone even consider.
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[johnsmith222]

I only ever bought one issue of 'Ride' but the issue I got seemed to be exclusively for people with loads of money for brand new bikes. If you're thinking of changing bike mags then perhaps have a look at practical sportsbikes.

At least they review a lot of bikes which are potentially within my reach and do have some helpful info on working on bikes.

[MarJay]

RiDE used to be good back in the late nineties and early 2000s. Back then it wasn't condescending or patronising but it had the same amount of wonderment and enthusiasm for bikes as I had at that time. Bike mag at the time was more aloof and a little more knowing in tone, but Ride was your mate who knew a little bit more about bikes and kit than you did and who went to for advice.

Then back in the mid 2000s it started to do more and more articles aimed specifically at new riders. Not just articles that could be enjoyed by all including noobs but specific new biker items. I found it started to sound a little patronising, then a lot patronising then very patronising, then properly condescending.

At the same time, Superbike started it's transformation from the nutters choice of mag with boobs in every centrefold, to being a sort of surrogate RiDE Mag. Not as condescending, but it had no niche. Fast bikes was sold to a bigger publisher and was no longer independent and became Rubbish, and Performance bikes became a crap Superbike knock off (which is pretty damn bad). Throughout most of this Bike stayed true to it's previous form until about 2009 when it started to talk more about the environment, economy and ecology than about bikes. Performance bikes recovered a little, and Bike did improve a bit but the damage was done.

The best mag around by far right now is Practical Sportsbikes. It's not beholden to advertisers who want their latest bike to be featured in the mag, it's just a bunch of guys who really like older sportsbikes and show you how to spanner them.

Nowadays, I wouldn't touch RiDE, Fast Bikes or Superbike. I occasionally buy Bike and PB but they aren't a patch on Practical Sportsbikes and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
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Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Afraid (for the magazines) I rather agree with Marjay.

Ride always was a bit aimed at new riders, but tended to cover a reasonably wide range of bikes. Last few times I have read it I have got a bit put out by it. Maybe condescending, but possibly more scared to say anything slightly controversial.

Bike magazine used to be a bit more rough, but moved upmarket around 1990. It is still very similar now but does vary a bit. Worth a read but again seems to be slightly scared to be controversial.

PB isn't bad, picked up well a few years ago. Quite similar to Practical Sportsbikes, but aimed at riders of newer bikes.

Haven't bought a copy of Superbike in years, and not sure I have bought a copy of Fast Bikes this century.

All the best

Keith
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[G]

In their annual test thingy (or the other one's) the GS always seem to win or do very well.

If it's what most of the people who buy it like, it's what they're going to focus on.

I've not worked out if it's that I've become (even) cynical with age or that magazines in general have gone down hill with the age of the internet, but I certainly don't find them nearly as interesting these days.

[Englishman]

What is it with the BMW 1200GS and biker mags? MCN might as well change it's title initials to BMW as every week sees a multi-page spread about bleedin' BMW's. That company could make a lawnmower and MCN would pronounce it bike of the year after printing ten four page articles on the effing thing.
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[nathan k]

Just downloaded the practical sportbikes app, you get a issue for free too. Great read.

[fatpies]

Is RiDE the one with Keith in every other issue?
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[Rogerborg]

I used to occasionally buy Ride (or RiDE as they style it) as it's a "general interest" rag and they do cover a wide range of bikes.

It's well up to the usual standards that I've come to expect of professional journos though. When they ran an article on the new A2 license category, it was riddled with factual errors, including banging on about the 0.2kW/kg limit and then listing some enduro 450 that was clearly over that limit as an example of an A2 bike.

And yes, I do agree that they are super mega gay for the 1200GS, and I'm just bored of reading about it. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy of every mid-life crisis bloke buying one - oh, no, no, I've never even heard of this "Long Way Round" thing, what's that? - leading to every mag wanking themselves dry over it while running pages of BMW ads, and round we go.

They might as well re-title it "RiDE a Beemer alternative marques may be available". 1200GS is not the answer to every question in biking.

[UPDATE]
Oh, FFS, they have a "Travel Q&A" this month with some couple wearing gripped-and-sorted Twa​tsuits on a big Beemer with the mandatory Mongolia-stickered panniers.
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[hornetmike]

[BTTD]

I got bored of Bike magazine when it seemed like every bike they reviewed was over £10k and somehow that was perfectly normal.

I like the kit reviews in RiDE and they seem to cover a range of bikes. Not perfect, but of more interest than the others at the moment.

Have to agree that RiDE do have bit of a thing for the GS, but it's not that different to when sportsbikes were in fashion and every commuter / tourer / 50cc moped was compared to the CBR600R as the benchmark do everything bike.

[Musketeer]

What's the point to spend money on those magazines anyway? All the info about the bikes/tests/reviews available online. The only time I bought any of those magazines was back in 2009 when I was on holiday.
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Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke

[Pigeon]

I subscribed to Ride in 90's after it changed from What Bike or something. It seemed good because it had a mix, but mainly focused around 2nd hand bikes. There was always a £1,500, £3,000 shoot outs and 5-10yr old bikes. And I really enjoyed their winter hack escapades. Their destruction of kit was useful to help narrow the search for stuff.

It also helped that their sub department never put up prices. I was paying £1.80 an issue up to 2004 when I cancelled it.
By then, as others have said, it was more and more about new bikes.

I still buy Bike because they still do a mix. It's two wheels, but not quite as focused on one area. Although as budgets have been cut, that's not quite so true either.

Why buy mags. I still like paper. I still like editorial. I like to read something put together by professionals but with contributions from amateurs. And, like a true child, I like the pictures

[Rogerborg]

[Ribenapigeon]

I got a sub for Ride for my birthday. Next year im going to get Practical Sportsbike though. Its more for real income riders and its spannering articles are good, unlike Rides which look like they were lifted from the Ladybird Book of Bike Mechanics.

The obsession with th GS is a pisser and just an obvious angle to get thd middle aged pound.

[Ribenapigeon]

The other thing thats shit are the readers rides photos, fat bloke plus wifie with "their" GS touring WW2 battlefields. What the fuck is the obsession with bike mags and war graves?

[Ariel Badger]

I only buy a magazine if there is a photo of me in it.
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[Slacker24seve...]

PB is all flaps and no minge. Too many ads and over very quickly. I'll read my cousin's secondhand FB, it's not a bad read but littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Bike is just a monthly MCN and Ride seems to be exclusively for Dayglo Derricks. Practical Sportsbikes is good but not really my era yet... Maybe in 10 years time.
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[johnsmith222]

[Hetzer]

I haven't bought a bike mag in years. An objective analysis showed there was approximately half an hour's worth of continuous reading to be had out of a copy, with another fifteen minutes if you also read the stuff of no personal interest. For £4.99.

Shite.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Derivative]

I've only ever read Fast Bikes / Ride while in the waiting area at my bike school/MOT place.

As far as I remember it seemed to be utterly pointless unless you had £10,000 burning a hole in your pocket. 90% of the coverage was focused on buying brand new bikes.

[Quornholio]

I once had a letter published in Fast Bikes.

[Shaft]

I still mourn the passing of Which Bike?, my preferred read, in the days when I actually cared enough about what was going on to want to read about it every month.

I haven't bought magazines of any sort for years, but I did get a copy of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics to read on the train, getting me in the mood for picking up the Katana.

Not a bad read and ex WB? staffer John Nutting is a contributor, which is a bonus.
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[gavcarter]

Streetfighter magazine is/was still is my personal favourite - not had a copy for a good while like.....

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Think that one's gone now.
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