RIP Motorcyclist Magazine

[NoVa Chris]

Just heard that after 100 years of publication, Motorcyclist Magazine is finished. After the upcoming issue, it will just be the website. Thanks a lot Bonnier!

I think many NT fans will share some of my feelings about the demise of print motorcycle magazines. For decades they were an integral part of my motorcycling experience. I often had four subscriptions running at once, and looked forward to every issue. When the piles got too high, I would clip out the reviews of bikes that had some appeal to me and but them in binders for future reference. And a separate binder for Kevin Cameron's tech articles from Cycle World.

This has gotten me thinking of the value of printed magazines and what we are losing. They were just fun to hold and flip through. But they didn't control you. You didn't have to keep opening them up to see if there was some new review. You didn't have to fire up a computer, or set up a connection, to look at them. You could look at the ads, or not. The magazines were just there, ready when you were for some time out dreaming about another bike or another ride. They never intruded on your time. And they aged well. You could look at an issue from the previous year and maybe notice something you hadn't seen the first time around. They also encouraged you to feel a connection with some specific journalists like Kevin, Peter, and Clement, that I don't get in online sites. As another commentator pointed out, we are not growing these kinds of moto journalists any more.

I am probably past buying another bike -- well, maybe -- and I have pretty much all the gear I can use, so in a way it doesn't matter as much to me. But something has been lost. Despite the value of Youtube reviews and instant updates, I think the upcoming generation of bikers will not know what they are missing.

There are still some good magazines out there, but to my mind Rider is the only one holding up the generalist flag with monthly issues. I do wish them well and plan to keep my subscription going for as long as they put the magazine out.

 

[junglejim]

I agree with you Chris. The squeeze is on. And like you I hope Rider hangs on. But it goes well beyond motorcycle magazines. Our local newspaper is on the way out too. First they went from a daily (except Sunday) to dropping some of the weekdays. Now they publish only 2 papers per week (but continue to call themselves the Ashland Daily Press). Other editions are available on line (for more money of course). I understand this. trend is nationwide. My puppy will have to learn how to pee on junk mail.

Next is our TV stations. I've always had over-the-air TV which worked great until they went digital. Now I only get about half the stations I on the old analog TV. Recently it got worse too. Two stations dropped out completely. I don't know what happened, but I no longer receive them. And now with summer coming and leaves on the trees I will receive only one station. I fear it won't be long until the only TV available will by from cable or satalite (for pay). I won't miss the TV much because the programs are terrible and all I ever watch is news - which really isn't news any more anyway. Even the commercials on You Tube are becoming too much.

What's a person to do? Maybe I'll have to go visit a neighbor and talk to a real person. Wow - talk about old-fashioned!

 

[mikesim]

I too am saddened that the dead tree version of Motorcyclist is now history. I am subscribed to Motorcyclist, Cycle World, Rider, MCM News, Road Runner and The AMA mag and visit most of the MC websites. Having said that, there is still NOTHING like a real mag in your hands. The mag journo's are head and shoulders over what the web offers and I don't see any up and comers on the web that can fill the shoes of a Peter Egan, Clement Salvadori, Mark Tuttle et al. Cycle World is now a shadow of its former self and if my intuition is correct, it is not long for this world in print format either. Going forward into news papers, like Jungle Jim, I too lament the daily paper that used to appear on my lawn. I can get the news via the net of course and I refuse to watch television... it just ain't the same as a REAL newspaper.

Mike

 

[ARKNT]

Yes, I agree the time for printed media looks short. A couple hunting mags I get are cutting back to almost nothing. Moto mags also struggle. I also get frustrated over the TV stuff. I want some local news but I don't think they are worth all that much either.
The Major newspaper in Little Rock just announced they are cutting back to digital only except still printing on Sundays. They are offering their subscribers a tablet to read the news from to try to hold on to them. The end is near.
There is a loss in all this that maybe only us older fellows that saw it build up and then fall understand.

Brad

 

[Phil Tarman]

I've been getting Motocyclist's quarterly edition. Has it gone belly-up? Cycle World's, too. I agree that Rider is at the top of the heap and I'd place the British monthly "Bike" up equally with "Rider."

 

[DirtFlier]

The only mainstream motorcycle rag I still get is "Rider." I stopped taking MCN for a few years and recently restarted but I notice a fair number of mistakes in their text.
And I haven't subscribed to Cycle World in eons but I sometimes receive old copies from pals and I noticed when they lowered their annual subscription price to $12 a year, the magazine seemed to be 50% ads with hardly any content.

Jungle Jim - you might have to breakdown and buy a modern TV so you can receive more channels!

 

[Warren]

I used to subscribe to all the motorcycle magazines and am now down to Rider. Dropped my local paper as well when it got down to four pages with the rest being ads. They will be going all digital soon. The world as we knew it is changing rapidly

 

[junglejim]

Jungle Jim - you might have to breakdown and buy a modern TV so you can receive more channels!

Hey, come on now! I do have two modern TVs. Neither one works (receives) as well as my old analog with the digital converter box. All the TV stations are in Duluth 50 miles away and my roof-top antenna just doesn't receive a good signal. I think some of the stations have reduced their power, but that's not information they readily share I found out.

Besides, I can find a lot more productive things to do than watch the crap that is on TV.

 

[DirtFlier]

I agree about the "crap on TV." I mainly watch local news/weather in the morning and the PBS channels at night.

 

[suvcw04]

When I was in grade school, I had a paper route. I worked at my home town paper from the time I was a Freshman in high school until 3 years after I graduated. I then worked at two other papers for the rest of my working career. I LOVE NEWSPAPERS!!!!
When a dictatorial regime takes over a country, the first thing they do is seize control of the press . . . newspapers, radio and television. Or, they threaten reporters and publishers and turn the citizens against them. The press is the last line of defense for the public from those who would control us totally.
I once worked at a paper where the Managing Editor had this sign on the wall behind his head, "It Is The Job of The Press to Hold Their Feet to The Fire" I did not like him, but I will always remember his motto.
When the papers are gone, and all we have left is FaceCrap and television, we will turn into just another footnote in history.
For another perspective, read "Four Preludes Playthings of the Winds" by Carl Sandburg. Think about it. Then read it again.
Soapbox put away until another rant overcomes me.

 

[Miairhead]

At on time I looked forward to the Newspapers and Magazines, now little use for either. In college as was the chief photographer for the college paper. I miss reading a real newspaper and a monthly magazine. Now the newspaper is once a week, filled with mostly an agenda I do not follow. Magazines are mostly advertisements and articles are little interest to me any more. MCN has become too expensive, and even the articles tend not to hold my interest.

 

[JimTid]

MCN is my preferred MC magazine. I prefer to pay more for no advertising

 

[Coyote Chris]

The only mainstream motorcycle rag I still get is "Rider." I stopped taking MCN for a few years and recently restarted but I notice a fair number of mistakes in their text.
And I haven't subscribed to Cycle World in eons but I sometimes receive old copies from pals and I noticed when they lowered their annual subscription price to $12 a year, the magazine seemed to be 50% ads with hardly any content.

Jungle Jim - you might have to breakdown and buy a modern TV so you can receive more channels!

I am down to Rider, but it is a shadow of its former self....now they even embed the road tests with advertising (Look what our honey road tester is wearing!) You have to just about beg them to put any tech data about bikes into the road tests...People like Minton and Cameroon and Clem and Peter rock. My local TV stations are members of conglomerates and they are terrible, just like national news. I got more channels with digital rabbit ears, but not much is worth watching.

My local newspaper kept up raising the price till it was over $400 a year, so I pay $12 every six month for Wed Thur Frid and Sunday only. The big advertising days. And when it runs specials, I take the Wall Street Journal for six months for $100. They actually do news.

I dont read electronic books and I dont read the newspaper on line. I have an attention span. I also know how to get out of a car that just drove into a pond.
I am sad about paper media going away but I am happy I lived when I did, too. I just hope I dont have to dodge autonomous vehicles!

 

[Coyote Chris]

I agree about the "crap on TV." I mainly watch local news/weather in the morning and the PBS channels at night.

Yeah, me too. I work around my property during the day when I am home and maybe watch some PBS I have recorded at night, but not often. And I like to camp out and shoot steel buffaloes at 931 yards with my other old friends.

 

[DirtFlier]

931 yrds with iron sights is pretty darn good for "old guys."

 

[Mellow]

In 20 years everyone will be say "man, I remember when everything was on digital storage, this hologram stuff is just too techie for me"

 

[junglejim]

In 20 years everyone will be say "man, I remember when everything was on digital storage, this hologram stuff is just too techie for me"

Probably, but it won't take 20 years and they won't be saying it in the english text you posted. It will be some cryptic and contracted new language none of will understand (if we are still alive).

Humans have the ability to adapt, but we seem to change things more quickly than we can adapt to them. Many of us struggle to know when is the time to quit riding motorcycles. Maybe when 100mph is too slow on a motorcycle I'll be done (if not dead).

 

[Mellow]

Probably, but it won't take 20 years and they won't be saying it in the english text you posted. It will be some cryptic and contracted new language none of will understand (if we are still alive).

Humans have the ability to adapt, but we seem to change things more quickly than we can adapt to them. Many of us struggle to know when is the time to quit riding motorcycles. Maybe when 100mph is too slow on a motorcycle I'll be done (if not dead).

Actually... your're right... I won't have to type or say it at all.. I'll just think it and it will be posted on MindBook...

 

[ARKNT]

Chris I can see where shooting long distances like that would be quite fun, esp with the right people but your eyeballs must be way better than mine. I don't do too well with modern rifles and scopes, but with iron sights that buffalo would have to be within charging distance for me to hit it. Good thing steel targets run slow.

Brad

 

[Phil Tarman]

931 yrds with iron sights is pretty darn good for "old guys."

I've been semi-blind all my life, but my eyes have always corrected to 20/20. Just in the last year, I've noticed that I just don't have the sharpness I've always had and when I went to my vision doc a few weeks ago, he reminded me that he'd told me two years ago that I had the beginnings of cataracts. Well, they're worse and I'll have cataract surgery this fall.