The 1970s were the golden years of motorcycling. New and exciting motorcycles poured out of Japan at dizzying speed, so many new models that it was all the moto-magazines of the era could do to review them all. The surge of new motorcycles changed the focus and content of motorcycle magazines for decades to come. It was all motorcycle reviews all the time. Multi-bike shootouts became necessary as there weren’t enough pages or time to give each new bike a thorough review.
Expanding on the motorcycle-review theme, the magazine industry began to review more and more motorcycle accessories and motorcycle related products. You’d get a new moto-mag issue in the mailbox and the entire thing seemed like one big sales pitch: You must buy this! The hard sell made sense for an advertising-based income stream. Besides, who didn’t like reading about the latest and greatest motorcycles? I sure liked it.
We review a lot of junk here on ExhaustNotes; it’s an easy way to fill empty space with empty words that don’t require much creativity. The Internet has taken over written and video reviews for all topics, motorcycle or not. Those old style, review-heavy magazines failed and became unreadable Internet product shilling sites. It’s telling that two of the largest remaining paper motorcycle magazines, RoadRunner and Rider, focus more of their content mix on the experience of riding and owning a motorcycle.
Testing and reviewing motorcycle stuff is still a worthwhile occupation but as Revzilla-type, retail/editorial web sites become the new normal you have to wonder how unbiased a review can be when the publisher makes the lion’s share of their income from selling you the item they are reviewing. In a lesser way, ExhaustNotes makes a few pennies when you buy a reviewed product from that Amazon link we include in a story. Now, a few pennies won’t make us biased but what if it was thousands of dollars?
Which brings us to the VJMC magazine. The VJMC is a really well done club magazine that harkens back to moto-mags from the 1940s. Editorially, the VJMC mag sells nothing. The content mix is vintage event reports, how-to articles and nostalgic look-backs into those heady, Japanese motorcycle invasion years. In other words exactly the stuff I like.
The VJMC magazine uses premium glossy paper that is thick enough for gasket making. How-to stories are extremely detailed and if you’re not into that sort of stuff you may find them tedious and boring. I’m into that sort of stuff. Event stories have plenty of photos and lists of winners (typical club magazine stuff).
A big surprise for me was how many vintage Japanese motorcycle parts and service providers advertise in the magazine. Most of them were news to me and I spend a lot of time looking for parts. I’ll have to try out some of these guys that I’ve never heard of before.
Let’s face it, you don’t buy motorcycle magazines looking to read Hemingway and you’re not going to get Hemingway in the VJMC mag. You will get workmanlike prose that conveys the intention of the author. I’m guessing VJMC mag doesn’t pay their authors much, if anything. It’s more a labor of love. Still, the magazine works.
It’s been years since I’ve had a motorcycle magazine show up in my mailbox. It was quite a thrill when I opened the box and saw the VJMC mag inside. Kind of like the old days when Motorcyclist or Cycle Guide would show up. The paper motorcycle magazine is all a part of the vintage motorcycle experience and really sets the tone for a quick spin on the RD350 or RT1-B. To get the VJMC magazine you have to join the VJMC motorcycle (club? gGroup?) and you’ll get 6 issues a year for your $35 entry fee. It’s worth it to me, so you must buy it!
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I’ve spoken with Surj Gish (the main man at CityBike) a few times during my days with CSC, and he was always a straight shooter with me. We wish these guys good luck with this change in their approach to market.