Motorcycle magazines...

[ScepticalScotty]

The time has come. I have started recycling 23 years of Motorcycle Sport and Leisure. Feels somehow like a sin throwing these out. So many great things in them, not least to columns by Maynard. But I never read them after the first week or so. Or very occasionally. I have gone to a digital subscription. What would be nice would be to pick and choose from around the world, the people whose writing you really appreciate, and pay a small monthly fee for that. But I have been told by an industry insider that would not work.

[mhershon]

Scotty, first, thanks for the kind words! Are your magazines all Motorcycle Sport and Leisure? Or are some of them Motorcycle Sports? If you have some old issues of Motorcycle Sports, I would love to have them for my "Back When" pages. I'd be pleased to pay for them and for postage.

[Scout63]

I’ll buy what Maynard doesn’t want Scotty and I’ll pick up the cost and postage to Maynard as well. PM sent. Ben

[ScepticalScotty]

Sadly Maynard they are all MSL from 2000-2023. I used to rent a room from a bloke who had years and years of the old Motorcycle Sport; it was excellent and a window into the 60s that I really enjoyed.

[mhershon]

I have all the MCSL issues, Scotty. Ben will enjoy them, I feel sure. Thanks, Ben, for the offer to spring for the old issues and postage! You'll see when you get the recent MCSLs why I want them.

[s1120]

MAN the money I spent on car, and Motorcycle mag's back in the day! About 10 years ago I did the same, and cleared out the BOXES of car craft, hot rod, etc from the mid 70's on, and all the diferent bike mags from the late 80's on..  It was so sad to toss them, but till this post I havent thought about it so I guess it was the good thing.

[Scout63]

A friend gave me three boxes of 60s and 70s Cycle Guide and Big Bike magazines about five years ago.  I still read them over and over.  It is interesting to see the movement from four stroke to two stroke and back.  Also, these magazines were heavily into DIY maintenance and major modifications right out of the box. Bikes now are so much better but seem a little domesticated. Sigh.

[SIR REAL ED]

I've never seen an issue of Motorcycle Sport and Leisure.  If it is anything like Practical Sportbikes out of the UK, then it would be enjoyable reading.

The American motorcycle magazine industry (or the buyers) died years ago.  The last magazine subscription I had was to Motorcycle Consumer News, but when Dave Searle leftest the editors post it went to Hell in a handbag.  It has been 5 or more years since I have bought a motorcycle magazine.  All the others turned to carp around 2000-2005, IMO.

I remember when the local Barnes and Noble carried at least 15 different issues of motorcycle magazines.  Now I think they carry 3.

On the flip side now that Mitch Boehm is editing the AMA magazine, it has never been better.  I used to throw those away after only about 45 seconds of review.

[ScepticalScotty]

MSL is the only one I have regularly bought since I left Australia in 2000. It always seemed to be a magazine for people who liked reading. And I do. Pre 2000 I used to buy Two Wheels which had some very good writers, and very occaisionally Australian Motorcycle News, which was a bit of a curates egg. For a while there was CycleTorque, a free newspaper with quite a few outcast and rebel writers  - that was great but didn't last long.

[s1120]

A friend gave me three boxes of 60s and 70s Cycle Guide and Big Bike magazines about five years ago.  I still read them over and over.  It is interesting to see the movement from four stroke to two stroke and back.  Also, these magazines were heavily into DIY maintenance and major modifications right out of the box. Bikes now are so much better but seem a little domesticated. Sigh.

I used to love when I could find some of the bike mags from the UK. They were much more like the older ones you speak of. Lots of tech, mods, and interesting stuff that most of the US publishers, with their issues full of mostly ad copy, just didn't have

[Speciality]

I had MCS from February 1973 to well into MCS&L days. A couple of years or so ago I started re-reading them. As I read a batch I’d then take them to a local charity store; I’m sure they’ll have made a few £s selling them on. MCS&L is, IMHO, nowhere near as interesting or good value as was MCS. Apart from Maynard and Kevin Cameron I find it less interesting than some other current mags and, TBH, I can’t see it lasting much longer without more content and a bit of a rehash. In my view it is not as good as the recently departed Practical Sportsbikes, which was unique in its blend of humour and interest, despite my never being a sports bike owner until very recently, when in my early seventies I bought a new CBR650R to act as a foil to my V7 850 Special and because I wanted to try one while I still can. Fortunately some of the writers in Practical Sportsbikes have found new homes in Classic Bike or Classic Mechanics, so all is not lost. I have stopped buying MCS&L as a matter of course, something only loyalty prevented me doing some while ago now. For me it is not the magazine it once was. It’s tough to survive in these days of high production costs in publishing, but by the same token disposable income has taken a nosedive too, especially here in the UK.

[nc43bsa]

All the others turned to carp around 2000-2005, IMO.

Whether that is a typo or a Freudian slip, it's still apropos.

[SIR REAL ED]

Whether that is a typo or a Freudian slip, it's still apropos.

that sir, is what I call a Freudian typo!   

[kingoffleece]

MSL and BIKE from the UK are the only two worth reading. 

Motorcycle Classics for, well, the classics is also fine reading.  All these make motorcycle.com and Rider look like kindergartners wrote them.