A few weeks ago, blogmeister Joe Gresh vented on Bonnier and Motorcyclist magazine. It was a great piece of writing (not a surprise, seeing as it was coming from Gresh) and it garnered more than a few comments.
I thought that Motorcyclist had already gone belly up. I used to subscribe, and I thought my subscription had already ended, so I was more than a little surprised when I received the final issue in the mail last week. We checked our records and whaddaya know, we had renewed for a year, so now I’m annoyed that I’m apparently going to get stiffed for the last two issues (Motorcyclist didn’t say anything about reimbursing folks like me who are owed another issue or two). I guess the reason I was surprised was that with Motorcyclist’s recently-adopted quarterly print schedule, it had been so long since I received the last issue I assumed the subscription had already expired. Truth be told, the last few issues of Motorcyclist were terrible, I hadn’t read most of their articles after glancing at them initially, and I’m not missing Motorcyclist at all. It had become a collection of snowflake fluff.
Anyway, I looked through the last issue (the one I received last week) to see if they were making this a special issue (you know, because it was the last). Nope, not really. There was a brief article (less than a page) near the beginning that explained this was the last issue and it stated what I believe to be not more than a couple of half-assed excuses: The motorcycle industry has been in a permanent funk since the recession and nobody with any brains advertises in print media. It’s a digital world, Motorcyclist said, and motorcycling (as an interest, an endeavor, and an industry) is on life support (my words, but that’s essentially the Motorcyclist message). My take? These guys are good at making excuses. They’re right up there with that world-class, place-the-blame-anywhere-but-on-me hack who wrote What Happened. Blame it on the Russians, I guess.
The rest of the articles in the final Motorcyclist made no mention that this was the last issue, so my take on the whole affair is that it was a decision made suddenly. It’s a pity, as Motorcyclist used to be good. Really good. They had superb writing (including a regular column by a guy named Joe Gresh). But they failed to adapt. The market was changing and the coffee-table format and fluffy content Motorcyclist switched to a few years ago missed the mark by a mile. To their credit, they realized they had a problem, but their diagnosis and prescribed course of treatment was wrong. It’s that old joke: What do you call the student who graduates at the bottom of their medical school class? The answer, of course, is Doctor. Just having the title, though, doesn’t mean you know the right answers.
In the final analysis, I don’t buy what Motorcyclist said for the most obvious of reasons: There are good motorcycle magazines out there that are thriving. They’ve done a far better job of picking the right content, format, and market niche, and they are serving it well. One is Motorcycle Classics, with a focus on classic motorcycles. Another is RoadRUNNER, with a focus on touring. Rider may be in that category, too (I haven’t looked at them lately). And there’s Buzz Kanter’s American Iron magazine, with a focus on custom and vintage mostly-made-in-America motorcycles. I believe there are several things that inoculate these publications to the double whammies of a depressed motorcycle market and the brave new digital world. The first is that each is led by passionate riders. Think Landon Hall at Motorcycle Classics, the Neuhausers at RoadRUNNER, and Buzz Kanter at AIM. These are folks who ride, who tour, who love motorcycles, and who live in our world (and that comes across in their magazines). The second huge factor is that each of these magazines found a niche that doesn’t need to scoop the competition. If you’re in the printed magazine business and you need to be the first to publish breaking news, you’ll never beat the Internet. Nope, each of these magazines went a different route. Vintage bikes aren’t bold new graphics or the latest race results (let the Internet break that kind of baloney). Touring is not breaking news and that’s why RoadRUNNER does well. And custom, or vintage, Harleys and Indians…well, that’s the same deal: American Iron has what is essentially a timeless topic. And then there’s one last factor, I think, and it is that each of these magazines has superior editorial direction. The articles are profoundly interesting, well-written, error-free, and skillfully presented. Landon, Florian, and Steve are gifted editors who take their life’s work seriously, and if you didn’t know, they are the editors of Motorcycle Classics, RoadRUNNER, and American Iron.
Nope, the demise of Motorcyclist is unfortunate, but it’s of their own doing. Cream always rises to the top, flawed strategies ultimately fail, and the Russians had nothing to do with it.
Note that these mags also cater to older riders. The ones who still read magazines. It is futile to try and get young people to buy paper. CW and MC are clutching at smoke.
If CW doesn’t downshift to older readers they will fail also.
Who you calling older?
I’ve been reading Rider for the last 20 years, and have always found it extremely good – covering the entire market and also side issues like apparel and accessories. In the time I’ve been a subscriber, the writers have hardly changed and I think that says a lot.
I’m going to have to pick up an issue, Trevor. I think you are right.
I still enjoy Rider the most – the writing skills of Tuttle, Smith, and Drevenstedt manage to get me to read every article every month – even on bike reviews I have no interest in ever riding. And I look at every print ad in it also. I grew tired of the Neuhauser Look-at-me Diaries that made up most of RoadRUNNER – especially after Robert Smith left. I would rather save the subscription price of RoadRUNNER and fund my own adventures than someone else’s….
Good inputs. I think you are upset that YooHoo doesn’t advertise in RoadRUNNER.
Balance of subsciption is going to be paid by sending us Cycle World. If I had wanted CW, I would have subscibed to it. CW sux and now so does what was Motorcyclist.
Oh, boy. Cycle World. Yep, that will work. Bait, switch. I get it.
Yeah Joe – I’m pretty pissed at how MC got run into the ground too. It was one of my great pleasures in life to come home and find a new issue in the mailbox and sit in my recliner reading it. But 2008 and computers changed everything and they were left with a change or die situation and unfortunately changed in the wrong way. They aimed, fired and missed spectacularly. I read with some interest Jim Giantis’s comments about how they could have helped themselves by lowering ad rates but if they cut rates a lot they would still have had a revenue problem. Yes, I’m angry and disgusted about what ultimately happened but I don’t know if anything could have saved them at this point. I also get what your saying about the staff but I doubt if they had any real firm ideas about how to do it either. I wonder if at some point after the reboot someone in a meeting somewhere had the courage to say out loud “this isn’t working”. Maybe at that point most of them felt they were figuratively on the Titanic anyway. It will be missed. Luckily, as you pointed out, we still have a few good ones left.
Good inputs, Bob.
Here is my take on why it failed, as has Cycle World, and so many others. They forgot who the customer is. They used to write for the rider, the enthusiast. And when they did that, we used to buy their magazines and they stuff in it. So they sold more advertising, to the point that they forgot who the customer was and started considering the advertiser as their customer. We, they riders, the enthusiast, contrary to popular belief, are not stupid. We noticed the reviews, stories, product evaluations, all of it – became, well, to make it simple, FAKE. They started to be biased, and they lost readers. But, thanks to good salespeople, they kept selling advertising and they thought all was well because they faked the subscription counts. How did they do this? Well, for each magazine that went out, they considered that, what, 6, 7, 8 readers? Thanks to hand my downs, sharing, blah blah blah – hyperbole B-S of greedy dochebags that ruined a once thriving industry. Times changes, they changed, they never thought some of us didn’t and guess what, I miss the old old tests, I miss it when they would mod the bikes and see what they could make them do. I miss some of the corniness and fun that we used to have. Times changes, I moved on and the door did not hit me on the way out. Why? Because when I left them, I did so in a smokey burnout that turned into a full blown rolling burnout wheelie of extraordinary proportion and all the while I was flipping those that ruined it the bird. They lost my respect and it is up them to earn it back. I don’t think they care, they worship the almighty dollar, not the passion for the motorcycle or the ride. They’re the ones missing out, for I’m still buying motorcycles (Burgman 650 this weekend), still modifying them, still riding the snot out of them, for I am, as are countless others, the real deal. Ride on!
The next time you do that, let me know in advance. I want to get it on video.
There was a lot of fakery going on with regard to the circulation figures, to be sure. I used to see it from the “mark” side when I was at CSC and I challenged the numbers when they tried to get us to pay for advertising. That secondary readership baloney (people in dentists’ offices read the magazines, etc.) is right up there with the $1500 freight and setup fees the dealers put on their new bikes…it’s pure bullshit.
Bonnier sent me resub notices after they announced MC was folding. They did the same with hot bike . Crooks ! Interesting I picked up a large format magazine thunder whstever on Harley’s . Editor Mitch Boheim!! 😳
I was a reader of Cycle World when Gordon Jennings was the head honcho there. I remember reading for the first time about these new Japanese motorcycles that they were bringing over from Japan, of all places and when the 450 Honda came out being amazed. I used to really enjoy all the road test and then as a numbers guy was fascinated by 40 to 60 times and zero to a hundred times. The quarter mile was the gold standard for all bikes. To see what the magazines have become is very sad. I still get Rider , Cycle Source and purchase Motorcycle Classics at the drugstore. As for the next generation of flannel shirt bearded motorcyclist I don’t think they read anything that comes in a magazine. So maybe to reach these new Riders we’re going to have to speak their language and go to the internet. I miss the magazines personally but I don’t think the new generations going to miss him at all. It’s just the way of the world. Perhaps the new Gordon Jennings of the world and dare I say Joe Gresh will be the new YouTube Stars that will amazes with motorcycle tours, how to fix your bike, bike tests and just overall cool stuff that they do with motorcycles. Perhaps exhaust notes will be the new way than motorcyclist will get into motorcycling and read about the things that we love about motorcycling.
Good inputs, Terry. This is heresy and I’m sure more than a few millennials will get their tighty whiteys in a knot, but I never quite got the whole YouTube and video thing. I’d much rather read about something than see it a video. I like big, high res photos, too. Don’t like cell phones. But I am in the minority, I think. I did get a color TV a few years ago.
When I returned to motorcycling in 2002 I was introduced to Motorcycle Consumer News. I have subscribed continuously since and usually read it cover to cover, even, as someone else stated, the reviews on bikes I’m not interested in (I like to keep up with the technology). No advertising means they don’t have to pull any punches because an advertiser might get upset. Bike, clothing and accessory reviews. Moto personalities – interviews and histories. Tech articles and troubleshooting. Commentaries, medical aspects of motorcycling, legal issues and classic motos. They have it all.
My buddy Marty takes that magazine, Dan. He likes it, too.
Yeah, MCN is also the old stomping grounds of David Hough, author of Proficient Motorcycling . Just subscribed. Print plus digital for $34.99 a year, if anyone else is interested.
I am still getting a lot of motorcycle magazines mostly because the subscriptions are on auto renew and somehow they know your new CC number. So the old trick of letting lapse when you get a new CC no longer works. For me most of the motorcycle magazines starting going down hill about 7 or 8 years ago but perhaps it has been in decline before that? Be it slowly at first I am sure!
I still think a few magazines have pretty good stories. Rider is not half and I find Motorcycle Classics to be the best now. Motorcyclist for the most part has been worthless for the past few years however I do remember a brief reboot 18 months or so ago and it got good for a few issues. They must have hired some new journalist but that new talent quickly found greener grass someplace else!
For some reason I tend to collect and toss my old motorcycle magazines in the closet. I recently pulled an issue of Cycle World from around 2007 or so. Just as the financial crisis was hitting and gas was $4 + per gallon. They tested all the new 250’s on the market at that time plus a few scooters and they put them in a bunch of real world test for functionality and economy. The Ninja 250 came out ahead back then. Now that was fun and easy to read journalism that fit the times. I would love to see a “Take 2” of that test with the current offerings. Bikes like the CSC SG250 or more likely the CSC RX3 would take top honors now days I would think. Now its boring garbage you can’t even stand while using the throne!
Come to think of it I think my subscription auto renewed not long ago. I already get Cycle World or least did. At least they were honest. Some were only like $6 for the year. Hardly noticed in todays dollars!
Good inputs, Chris. I agree with all of it. I remember when Motorcyclist changed their format a few years ago under Ari and I thought the magazine became very good after that, then it slid into silliness. I strongly agree with your comments about Motorcycle Classics. You might take a look at RoadRUNNER, too; I think they are also outstanding.