Priller
Well-known member
First off, indulge me in a bit of nostalgia. I promise there's a point to this, which I'll get to eventually...
As I've mentioned elsewhere recently, I grew up reading British bike magazines through the '90s and '00s. They were irreverent, honest, silly, funny, informative, and offered a take on motorcycling that US and Canadian publications seemed either too old or too timid to try. Sure, there were some great writers at Sport Rider, Cycle World and Motorcyclist, but road tests were broadly puff pieces, and the pages of useful info per issue numbered in the single digits. The Brit magazines, by comparison, were brutally honest and full of articles about bike maintenance, gear reviews, riding techniques, consumer advice, etc. Websites were still in their infancy, and even now are best at quick-hit newsy items, not in-depth stuff.
You had the insane squid magazines like Fast Bikes and Performance Bikes, with their 'how to wheelie' and 'how to get your knee down at a roundabout' pieces, as well as performance upgrades. Then there were the more serious titles like MCN, Bike and Ride, which had a bit of silliness, but felt a lot more grown-up and covered the full world of motorcycles, not just sportbikes and streetfighters. And then there were the extremely serious titles like Motorcycle Sport & Leisure and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, which should have come with a beard so everyone could stroke one while reading.
I learned a lot from these publications, and definitely had my perceptions about what was cool and what wasn't shaped by their style. I also kept up with racing news through them, following World Superbikes, the TT, and GP's three to five months after the events happened. I was probably the biggest David Jefferies fan anywhere who'd never actually seen him race.
There were two problems with these magazines, though: first, they took forever arriving, so issues were two or three months out of date from the day they arrived. This was especially problematic for MCN, which is more like a weekly newspaper than a magazine. Second, and much bigger for broke teenage me, was the price. They cost between $10 and $15 per issue, which added up fast. Subscriptions were no cheaper, so I spent a lot of time perusing the racks at Chapters, reading three and buying one.
Which leads to my actual point (finally!): You can now get apps for these magazines, and for a reasonable monthly fee, read digital copies that are bang up to date. The best one is the Bike Unlimited app, which gets you Bike, MCN, Ride, Practical Sportbikes (formerly Performance Bikes), Classic Bike and Built for $11/mo. There's so much good s**t there on a monthly basis that it's a no-brainer for me. I've also subscribed to Magzter, which includes Fast Bikes, Motorcycle Sport & Leisure, and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, as well as Aussie, Kiwi and South African bike mags. Magzter is less easy to recommend, though, as they do make subscribing and unsubscribing more opaque than necessary, and lots of folks sign up for something different than what they get. It works fine for me, but caveat emptor. There are other magazines included, like Automobile, so it definitely offers more value if you're interested in non-motorcycle magazines.
Some things have changed, like Practical Sportbikes now being a nostalgia generator for riders like me who grew up obsessing about sportbikes through their heyday in the '90s and '00s. I love it, but I'm also squarely in their demographic. Other things haven't changed at all, like Fast Bikes being a bit shoddy but also manically fun, Bike having a mountain of content every issue, Ride doing great in-depth product reviews, etc. For me, digging into these again has been huge fun.
There's one big problem, though: flicking pages on a tablet in the can is a lot less satisfying than thumbing though a big, glossy, paper magazine. Considering the benefits, though, I'll live with the loss of tactility...
As I've mentioned elsewhere recently, I grew up reading British bike magazines through the '90s and '00s. They were irreverent, honest, silly, funny, informative, and offered a take on motorcycling that US and Canadian publications seemed either too old or too timid to try. Sure, there were some great writers at Sport Rider, Cycle World and Motorcyclist, but road tests were broadly puff pieces, and the pages of useful info per issue numbered in the single digits. The Brit magazines, by comparison, were brutally honest and full of articles about bike maintenance, gear reviews, riding techniques, consumer advice, etc. Websites were still in their infancy, and even now are best at quick-hit newsy items, not in-depth stuff.
You had the insane squid magazines like Fast Bikes and Performance Bikes, with their 'how to wheelie' and 'how to get your knee down at a roundabout' pieces, as well as performance upgrades. Then there were the more serious titles like MCN, Bike and Ride, which had a bit of silliness, but felt a lot more grown-up and covered the full world of motorcycles, not just sportbikes and streetfighters. And then there were the extremely serious titles like Motorcycle Sport & Leisure and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, which should have come with a beard so everyone could stroke one while reading.
I learned a lot from these publications, and definitely had my perceptions about what was cool and what wasn't shaped by their style. I also kept up with racing news through them, following World Superbikes, the TT, and GP's three to five months after the events happened. I was probably the biggest David Jefferies fan anywhere who'd never actually seen him race.
There were two problems with these magazines, though: first, they took forever arriving, so issues were two or three months out of date from the day they arrived. This was especially problematic for MCN, which is more like a weekly newspaper than a magazine. Second, and much bigger for broke teenage me, was the price. They cost between $10 and $15 per issue, which added up fast. Subscriptions were no cheaper, so I spent a lot of time perusing the racks at Chapters, reading three and buying one.
Which leads to my actual point (finally!): You can now get apps for these magazines, and for a reasonable monthly fee, read digital copies that are bang up to date. The best one is the Bike Unlimited app, which gets you Bike, MCN, Ride, Practical Sportbikes (formerly Performance Bikes), Classic Bike and Built for $11/mo. There's so much good s**t there on a monthly basis that it's a no-brainer for me. I've also subscribed to Magzter, which includes Fast Bikes, Motorcycle Sport & Leisure, and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, as well as Aussie, Kiwi and South African bike mags. Magzter is less easy to recommend, though, as they do make subscribing and unsubscribing more opaque than necessary, and lots of folks sign up for something different than what they get. It works fine for me, but caveat emptor. There are other magazines included, like Automobile, so it definitely offers more value if you're interested in non-motorcycle magazines.
Some things have changed, like Practical Sportbikes now being a nostalgia generator for riders like me who grew up obsessing about sportbikes through their heyday in the '90s and '00s. I love it, but I'm also squarely in their demographic. Other things haven't changed at all, like Fast Bikes being a bit shoddy but also manically fun, Bike having a mountain of content every issue, Ride doing great in-depth product reviews, etc. For me, digging into these again has been huge fun.
There's one big problem, though: flicking pages on a tablet in the can is a lot less satisfying than thumbing though a big, glossy, paper magazine. Considering the benefits, though, I'll live with the loss of tactility...