Trail Rider Magazine -
http://www.trailrider.com/
Trail Rider is off road riding and racing only, no MX. Trail Rider has always had the very best coverage of the ISDE and now Trial Rider is THE magazine for Endurocross. Trail Rider also boasts the very finest writers in the industry. Joining Paul Clipper are legends Ed Hertfelder, and Rick Sieman aka Super Hunky. Charlie Williams, Jerry Bernardo and a cast of dozens make Trail Rider the funniest magazine on the bath room floor.
If you like riding, racing or adventure riding, Trail Rider is the magazine for you. Along with humor TR has bike test and gear reviews, it’s better than you’d expect….
–(With Excerpts from Rick Sieman of Offroad.com)
“Based in New Hampshire, TRAIL RIDER MAGAZINE is run by Paul Clipper, a graduate of the Hi-Torque/Dirt Bike group. TR is unabashedly written for the Eastern fun/play/trail/enduro/hare scrambles rider. If you ride in trees, rocks and mud, you’ll find a home here.
Tests in TRAIL RIDER are done with the emphasis on how the bike works in the woods. Here, a soft, supple suspension is welcomed; coping with 75-foot triple jumps is, thankfully, ignored. Paul is patient with a test bike. Just because an ATK 250 is not the fastest bike available, or the trickest, Clipper will not write it off. He’ll go to great pains to tell you how to make the thing work in the woods. TR will tell you what gearing works, what jetting to use, and how to set the suspension up without spending a fortune on after marketparts. They’re especially knowledgeable on KTMs and Huskys.
Clipper has his own certified mad-man writing for TR: Charlie Williams, listed as National Affairs Editor. Paul gives Charlie lots of leeway in his stories, and the result is a loose, weird, gonzo-journalism that is a joy to read. Following Williams through an enduro or hare scrambles in print, is almost like being there with him. Everybody knows someone like Charlie Williams, and Paul is smart enough to exploit this. Often, Williams forgets to take photos when he covers an event, and makes up for this with crude (and intensely funny) stick drawings.
Paul writes a column (Last Over) every month, and nine out of ten times, it’s good stuff. His column in the March ‘97 issue “Knowing the Language,” is a pure gem.
Photography in TR is excellent, in general, with crisp photos; layout and graphics are clean and simple, with no wasted space.
Ed Hertfelder, who was cut off at the kneecaps at DIRT RIDER, found a new home at TRAIL RIDER.
All things considered, TRAIL RIDER is certainly readable; it’s not a pretentious magazine. Paul Clipper knows where he is, what his people want, and delivers it.”
Super Hunky
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