RIDE UK MAG

[kennyhunter6061]

fixed that for you

  They might as well be 10lb!!

Clive, I totally understand the guys at Ride have to look at the commercial aspect if they are to stay in business and, with the best will in the world, there are undoubtedly more 'lifestyle' kids out there willing to buy a bmx mag than all of us oldschoolers and the UK race scene put together.  But I'm not saying put racing and other forms of bmx into the mag at the expense of the other content, rather put it in as well as the present content.  Thay way they keep their present readership happy and hopefully bag a few more into the bargain.

I think a lot of racers feel the reason put forward by Ride not to include racing is pathetic.  Apparently none of their photographers will snap racers using clip pedals, and there aren't any other photographers good enough to contribute pics to them.  Good for Ride that they disapprove of clip pedals - So do I and many other riders.  But I enjoy racing - That's how I started riding 26 years ago, and so it would be nice to see a UK 'bmx' mag giving some support and coverage to our Olympic hopefuls and world champs than some spotty youth who came 3rd in the B Group 'Armpit Of Nowhere' Jam

Costs will always be an issue for any mag to include coverage of what is, in reality, a relatively small 'scene'.  By that I mean the oldschool scene and the whole UK race scene.  Compared to the number of guys who just ride street, parks etc we are very much in the minority so we're unlikely to be high on the agenda of ways that Ride could increase their profits.

Personally, my own BMX info needs are well catered for by this site, bmxtalk and the BC website.  I would still buy Ride if they included coverage of racing because they are good at what they do, and I'm sure that they could come up with an article that, depite how boring they might think racing has become, people would enjoy reading.  It's a shame that some of todays kids might be missing out on racing because of a lack of magazine coverage. 

[kennyhunter6061]

Oh and Clive,
Could you ask Tim how he likes my oldschool build I'm working on.............



PS. When u gonna post a pic of your Floval so I can see if it's as bling as Mr Boyle's? 

[stuntmaster]

more uk reports and bike testing as it a nightmare for newcomers and just layed out better as does seem a tad all over  , i can understand the adverts as that what keeps mags running and what happened to the for sale bit as good for bikes and hook up`s messages  as not everyone use`s ebay

[harris]

if its a money thing purely and simply then the adds will pay.
us old farts have been about for 25 years and still about today.
we ride oldschool, mid school and everything on the market today.
im just lacing up some z rims on one bike, and a bruce krisman reverse freecoaster hub on another
quite a gap in eras and we or alot find that we have to use the web and forums to find out if these parts last ,work stuff like that
magazines in todays www.culture do well to keep going but listening to part of the audience wont hurt.
im up for a test  lol dan
give big tim a hug from us we aint nasty just keyboard warriors.

[zed4130]

there has been a few OS articals in ride, but they are few and far between    its mainly adds and road trips, its the same every month, i only buy it if there are any good OS stuff in it, but i did buy it every month, i must admit i prefere bmx plus and allways have, as its got racing in aswell, gome on ride put some racing in , and a bit of history,  then you might sell more, to us old farts 

[dialledbikes]

Regardless of clips, Ride needs to start covering racing again.

Some of the current readership might think racing and old school stuff is naff or gay, but they'll get over it, just as we had to get over Ride featuring no racing for the last X years, but most of us still continued to buy the mag, cos at the end of the day, it's still a BMX mag.

[SaMAlex]

most of us still continued to buy the mag, cos at the end of the day, it's still a BMX mag.

Nail on the head! Id buy BMX Plus if I ever saw it for sale anywhere.

[dialledbikes]

I still have every issue of Ride Mag from day 1 when it changed from Invert to Ride (minus 1 or 2 issues maybe, that I still bought, but the kids got at).  It was actually a chance finding of Invert at Xmas 1990 the got me back into BMX after a 4 or 5 year hiatus, so I've still got a lot of love for 4130, even if I don't really fit into their demographic these days.

BMX Plus is still as cheesy and fluffy as ever, but I still love it, and still buy it whenever I see it, cos I like to see what's going on in BMX over the pond.

Pity BMX World isn't out over here.

[YGT]

I always kinda liked bmx plus ... yes its not "hardcore" but its always happy and upbeat .... exactly what bmx should be IMHO.

As for Mark Noble and his ever self "blowing his own horn" what more do you expect.
he's opinionated, often wrong and never steps up to admit or rectify problems or mistakes he has caused.

And just for the record I know for a fact that most of the time they never test the bikes .....
Personally I get more use from an argos catalog than a ride uk magazine

[zed4130]

Bmx plus forever, and bring back radical rick   

[Stodgy]

I quite like Ride, it covers a lot of stuff and I do like looking at ads (as I'm in the advertising business) - I like to see whats new.

Most of the longer articles are commericially driven (or appear to be), but then again for a BMX mag to survive you need to be commericial - you can't survive any other way. It does however mean that less-commercial articles (i.e. non branded stuf) such as the BMX Masters is always a bit low on coverage, which for such an amazing event is a bit disappointing. We had a bigger write up here.

Anyhow we need Ride - it presents the industry, attracts new riders and drives demand for product and the sport. Can that be bad?

[the_cyclops]

I think the main problem with Ride (well its not a problem with the mag as such) is that the BMX scene in general is made up of people in the sub 25 age group and thats who the magazine has to appeal most to

Most of us lot are pushing 40 and expecting the magazine to please us as well as the students!

I agree that it is stacked full of adverts and to be honest I dont think ive ever seen another magazine currently available (not just in the cycling genre) with anything like as many adverts! wether thats a good thing or a bad thing I dont know (probably fantastic for the ad execs salary!)

In my opinion Ride mag has a very teenage feel to it and if you think about it reading that now is kind of like your dad reading
Look- in magazine when you were a kid!

For a long time Ride (or Invert as it was) has had its knockers and the only people really to be pro-active about it is James Hudson (BMX now which was ace....shame he didnt have the funds to progress it) and Will Smyth (DIG magazine)

I bought Ride a couple of months back and I agree that it has a lot of full page adverts and not much content that pertains to a 37 year old who likes to reminisce about the old days, so I did the best thing I could do and stuck it in the recycling and decided not to buy it again!

[zed4130]

I quite like Ride, it covers a lot of stuff and I do like looking at ads (as I'm in the advertising business) - I like to see whats new.

Most of the longer articles are commericially driven (or appear to be), but then again for a BMX mag to survive you need to be commericial - you can't survive any other way. It does however mean that less-commercial articles (i.e. non branded stuf) such as the BMX Masters is always a bit low on coverage, which for such an amazing event is a bit disappointing. We had a bigger write up here.

Anyhow we need Ride - it presents the industry, attracts new riders and drives demand for product and the sport. Can that be bad?

but no racing, so it doesnt push , what started bmx in the first place   

[Stodgy]

I quite like Ride, it covers a lot of stuff and I do like looking at ads (as I'm in the advertising business) - I like to see whats new.

Most of the longer articles are commericially driven (or appear to be), but then again for a BMX mag to survive you need to be commericial - you can't survive any other way. It does however mean that less-commercial articles (i.e. non branded stuf) such as the BMX Masters is always a bit low on coverage, which for such an amazing event is a bit disappointing. We had a bigger write up here.

Anyhow we need Ride - it presents the industry, attracts new riders and drives demand for product and the sport. Can that be bad?

but no racing, so it doesnt push , what started bmx in the first place   

No, I see that, but Ride isn't about Racing, it's about the lifestyle, ramps and street...any magazine has to move with what's popular and what they feel is their remit.

I was surprised when they lost the 44-16 section, and the flatland section seems to be disappearing too (Chris - no doubt you'll be fighting to keep it!)...but that's the sign of the times. BMX Racing is very seperate from the popular 'BMX' scene, but it's set to grow with it's inclusion in the olympics and will no doubt re-appear in Ride as it's popularilty re-emerges.

Like I say, I enjoy Ride, it is what it is - a magazine which constantly re-invents it's content to reflect the 'scene' as they and their readers see it...it has to do this to survive - as being on the button attracts advertisers, and advertisers pay the salaries. Without advertisers there would be no magazine and no newsagent-shelf voice.

I do agree however with everyones points; it's a massive shame that there has been a move away from racing, it's a shame there are loads of ads and it's a shame that there is not a magazine in the world that is something to everyone.

But, thank god we have the internet and destinations like RADBMX where we can keep everything alive. Sit tight ZED, the re-imergence of racing is coming...and I can't wait.

 

[zed4130]

  fingers crossed, makes you wonder ,would mr march use clips if racing now ? 

[gossa]

GUYS, ,THIS IS GREAT!!!! So many very varied an valid opinions and you're all right!!!!

OK here's the deal, took Mark some choocy corn flake cakes today (just to butter him up)! Tim has gone to vegas with Will.  I told Mark that he needs to do some old school and racing stuff and he is into it, we discussed how MOTO (sister mx mag to ride) has a load of retro stuff and it's dead popular.  So I can pitch it, how can we find out how big the old school scene is (anyone know how many members we have here?) and also what kind of stuff do you want to see? the problem is if I get them to run a full on shoot of a retre bike, you guys see it every day so how would it interest you?  The problem with the old stuff is that we have all seen it for years haven't we?  However if we could track down some old dudes and interview them, that would be cool!

One idea I have is to cover the OS scene, feature a die hard collector with passion to a guy that does deals in OS just for the cash?  Different opinions and all that but i'm not sure how much milage is in there!  Your comments are awesome though guys, a real inspiration!

Also the problem with covering the current race scene is probably more about contributors.  If someone from the scene could get some decent pics and words, i'm sure they would look at it. 

[Stodgy]

3274 members Chris...and growing at about 5 a day... 

We have some awesome collectors on here that do it for the love...and there is only one guy I can think of who's just in it for the money...

[zed4130]

GUYS, ,THIS IS GREAT!!!! So many very varied an valid opinions and you're all right!!!!

OK here's the deal, took Mark some choocy corn flake cakes today (just to butter him up)! Tim has gone to vegas with Will.  I told Mark that he needs to do some old school and racing stuff and he is into it, we discussed how MOTO (sister mx mag to ride) has a load of retro stuff and it's dead popular.  So I can pitch it, how can we find out how big the old school scene is (anyone know how many members we have here?) and also what kind of stuff do you want to see? the problem is if I get them to run a full on shoot of a retre bike, you guys see it every day so how would it interest you?  The problem with the old stuff is that we have all seen it for years haven't we?  However if we could track down some old dudes and interview them, that would be cool!

One idea I have is to cover the OS scene, feature a die hard collector with passion to a guy that does deals in OS just for the cash?  Different opinions and all that but i'm not sure how much milage is in there!  Your comments are awesome though guys, a real inspiration!

Also the problem with covering the current race scene is probably more about contributors.  If someone from the scene could get some decent pics and words, i'm sure they would look at it. 

3274 members Chris...and growing at about 5 a day... 

We have some awesome collectors on here that do it for the love...and there is only one guy I can think of who's just in it for the money...

i wonder who you mean     this is great, i would subscribe to ride if they did this, and im sure many more would aswell,  imagine seeing your pic in a popular bmx magazine, one to show your kids     

[gossa]

OK I had another chat today and I think i'm making some headway!  Watch this space but also keep any ideas coming.

[billstup]

We`ve got something to announce later on Clive which might be right up your and Rides Street so to speak 

[zed4130]

things like history sections on racing and freestyle, i know the youngsters might cringe but it all started back in the 70's. old bike test would be cool, compairing old with new, and a look at the stars of yester year, and of course the OS racing today,   this would be so cool, keep us posted mate,  

[gossa]

What about racing now?  Do you want to see new school racing in the mag as well as no clips?

Cool Bill, look forward to whatever it is mate....

[zed4130]

What about racing now?  Do you want to see new school racing in the mag as well as no clips?

Cool Bill, look forward to whatever it is mate....

   of course , 

[dialledbikes]

I don't mind the ads so much as long as there is an even balance of good content.  Plus, when you're a kid, the ads were always an exciting part of the mag so you can spec out your dream bike.  Everyone must remember the Surrey BMX, Alpine Sports/Action, Faze 7, Hot Shot, Gecko Leisure Products, etc ads and choosing what bits they wanted on their dream bikes!

Personally, I think Mark Noble and 4130 deserve props for keeping Invert going and then Ride through the lean years.  Fair enough, the mag has lost its appeal to a lot of us older guys recently.  But if they're prepared to listen to potential new readers, that's a good thing.

[zed4130]

But look how long bmx plus has been going, and they have racing in it  i think they started back in 78-79 ish