Who said this?

[bullet350]

 i bought MCN the other day because it had the new Norton on the front (yes, the 13th new norton in ten years).

 after reading the two pages on the Norton i realised why i stopped buying it- its utter crap!

'best summer gloves for £100', oh how useful. £100 for some gloves that are suitable for one month of the year.

 MCN also had a 1000cc track shootout (not even on the road!). they've really got their finger on the pulse there! we're all looking how best to spend £9'000 on a bike when many of us don't know if we'll have a job next week.

Where is the article on £1000 do-everything bikes? or best waterproofs for £20/50/70? Or if a £700 jacket lasts longer than a £150 jacket?

Is it me or is it just adverts inter-cut with adverts disguised as articles?

bullet350

[Steffan]

On a slightly different note ,it seems {to me at least}they've completly b******d up Classic Bike Guide .Its amazing how a change of editor and 'facelift ' can put a spanner well and truly in the works.They've simply fixed something that wasn't broken in the first place all in the quest of more sales.I can't bring myself to read the damn thing now .

Better stop now ,starting to RANT .

 

And there I was thinking it was just me. Thanks Rob, it's good to know that my reaction to the crap that now is CBG is borne out elsewhere

Steffan

[robG]

Ah corroboration !

How about a bring back 'Biffa' campaign, Steffan?

CBG has lost the cosy traditional feel that it had .The articles were nicely worded and layout was easy on the eye . Now the layout seems to have been done by some spaced out art student trying to impress .Gives me a headache just thinking about it . Haven't bought it since and won't until it's sorted .

Starting to RANT again , where's my pills.......................

 

[Bill Rutter]

After years of buying about three bike mags a month and MCN every week I gave up. You just knew that the latest test of the latest GXSR/R1/Blade would be followed the following week by a test of the "tweeked" Harris version. It was of no interest to me at all. RiDE magazine ended up being the best of the bunch (for me) but even that can't keep me interested for long nowadays

[SteveC#222]

I used to edit the Cossack Owners Club newsletter a few years ago.  MCN was one of a number of Bike magazines that were always sent a freebie each month.   I got a phone call from them one day saying they wanted to do a piece on 'Russian bikes' and could I point them in the direction of some
' rough looking' bikes for some photos  ( no prizes for guessing how that article was going to go!)  .  I told them I could find them some well looked after and uprated examples but they seemed to lose interest!    MCN has been crap for years and most of the monthly mags aren't much better.  I don't buy a regular magazine any more, I tend to just browse through in W H Smiths. If I do buy it's usually Motorcycle Sport & Leisure.

[squirrelciv]

Don't buy any bike mags anymore as I find they're all filled with rubbish. Every-now-and-then, when I'm truely bored, I go up to Borders bookshop, pick up a selection of mags, walk upstairs to the Starbucks, order a pint of tea and two slices of fruit loaf (lovely stuff. Yum!) and flick through the lot. Once I've digested the fruit loaf and any vaguely interesting articles/pictures I pop the lot back on the shelf where I found them. the couple of quid on the tea & snack is by far greater value than any money spent on the mags.

[Richard]

Motorcycle Sport and Leisure used to be the best quality read out there.  Was.

Much the same as the rest now.

[Andy M]

I had a subscription for MS&L bought as a present in 2004. It was good enough for me to ask my cousin to renew if for Christmas in 2005. First issue of the second subscription, January 2006 guess what, 600cc sportsbike 4-way shoot out. February it was sports tourers, March a BMW GS special and in April the "season" was starting so it's race replicas. Neil buys me wine for Christmas now.

They actually wrote to me on Friday, some deal where you get 12 issues for the price of 10. Wasn't remotely interested. I'm thinking they might be seeing falling sales.

Andy

[SteveC#222]

Like so many magazines, I think MSL fell by the wayside after a change of editor.  When I first started to read it the editor was, i think, a Newzealander, who's name escapes me.  At that time it was a cracking read with a unique editorial style for a UK magazine. Sadly when he left it quickly became the same as all the others. I now only buy it when there are any interesting thumper type articles.  They use to have a series of local rides recommended by readers, I've tried some of them and they're great.  That's now gone in favour of transcontinental tours which, lets face it, many of us are unlikely to actually do.   

[xbruby]

MCN and others amuse the hell out of me.  Each time they test the Triumph 675, Street-Triple, Speed-Triple etc, they declare it as the best in class, I seem to remember that the 675 has topped the middleweight class of that big jurno's bike thrash thing for a number of years.  Then they test the latest Jap 600, compare it to the other 600's (or street fighters etc etc etc ) and declare the new one "the best", later on they eventually do a group test and involve Triumph and are stunned to have the Triumph do so well (other makes are also available, terms and conditions apply) - it is as they have never even read their own road tests.

MCN - and bike journalism in general - is pretty poor, and god of the poor journalism must be Kevin Ash, who rants and raves in Daily Mail style and Sunday Sport quality - and a lot of the time he is plain wrong in his 'Techwatch' too.

Now read MCN in the shop - takes about 2 mins

R

Hmmm! Not that many years ago Triumph flatly refused to lend press bikes to MCN as they crassly slagged off just about every new Triumph they tested for a period of a couple of years, hence why you so often used to see MCN testing Triumphs with Pidcock graphics all over them.
Nowadays they seem to rave continuously about Triumph bikes which is somewhat of an about turn. Frankly MCN is written by failed 'real life' journos and edited by the most immature moron in motorcycling journalism. There are very few decent motorcycle journos left, sadly the late great LJK Setright was the last of the truly great motorcycle journos. I selectively read the mnotorcycle press as most of it is so dissapointing, that being said there are a few journos worth reading, try Mike Armitage and Khal Harris who both write for Bike. Khal is only a young guy but writes intelligently and with a great deal of wit. His disassembly of the idiot drug addict Dan Walsh was a wonder to behold. It's not all bad, just most of it.

Onepot for editor of MCN I say - Hoorah 

[robG]

I still enjoy the Classic Motorcycle .I was aquainted with Mike Lewis who regulary writes for them some time back ,a genuine nice type ,if ever there was one .
I'm still confused by CBG and can't bring myself to look at the damn thing now .
Classic bike is worth it just to read the sayings of Rick Parkington . Top boy .

However all the above have plenty of pictures .

Rob .

[Steve Lake]

i alternate between classic bike and classic motorcycle, both are usually a good read, and i agree, Rick Parkington does a good article...also enjoy Peter Williams... a great design engineer, and in his other life a fantastic racer having personally designed and ridden (successfully) the first moncoque chassis and cast wheels, amongst a lot of other very clever innovations....i confess I don't always completely understand what he's talking about (i.e. this months discussion on vibration and it's harmonics)
pip pip

[guest18]

That's the reason they don't test ride the bikes; 12-year old straight out of art colledge turns up, shows press badge, goes all randy over said plastic missile, gets asked about insurance, hops back on "pimped" 50cc moped/Ford Fiesta without silencer and returns to office after hanging about in local shopping mall for a few hours. Its a "Lifestyle/Aspirational" publication (read consumer porn for people without the bottle to reach up to the top shelf), nothing to do with bikes. The target audience is spiky haired stockbrokers who travel everywhere by train and have £300 to spend on trainers or video games....

The sad bit is that this rant is essentially true, hence the two/three year old sportsbikes that keep turning up for sale with less than 2k miles on the clock  ffs I used to do more than that on a sodding pushbike!?! 

[guest7]

I used to edit the Cossack Owners Club newsletter a few years ago. 

I didn't know that (did I? the memory is a tad unreliable). So that means you're familiar with Tim Berry, Isle of Wight Alistair (the flag-stealing git) and the Northcote brothers.

A good crowd the Cossack crew.
GC