Trail Rider Magazine

[DirtFamily]

Does anyone have a subscription? Is it worth it? Their website is out of date....

Katie

 

[SCHLAVA]

Fantasic magazine but it really caters to east coast enduro riders. It does now cover GNCC's. It also has good offroad articles. Just that 80% of its coverage pertains to ECEA, NETRA and SETRA events.

 

[Offroadr]

Great mag, my only complaint is they only focus on east coast. I'd like to see less racing coverage of their local events and more 'generic' off road articles.

 

[DANIEL JOSEPH]

Originally posted by Offroadr
Great mag, my only complaint is they only focus on east coast. I'd like to see less racing coverage of their local events and more 'generic' off road articles.

That's what makes it a great magazine. It's nice having a magazine that caters to our local events. The articles written and pictures are taken by local contributors. I'm sure Paul would run stuff on other events if he could get someone to write them.

 

[DirtFamily]

I live in Colorado and was looking for something with mainly generic trail riding articles and reviews on equipment, bikes, etc. Any other options?
Katie

 

[MotoEnduro]

It's a great magazine! Although the race coverage is for east coast events, there are bike tests, maintenence articles, new product info etc in every issue. There's even a monthly column written by Mike Lafferty which always makes for great reading. It's worth checking out if you can get your hands on a few issues.

 

[SCHLAVA]

The subscription is $20 per year and the articles are great and trail related. Meaning if they test a YZ125 they do so in trail/enduro situations which benefit me alot more that a test of the same bike in dirt rider. Definitly worth trying for one year.

 

[DirtFamily]

Thank you all.....I'll try it out.
Katie

 

[lawman]

it's my favorite of the mags, even tho i've never been to new england (but not b/c schlava hasn't invited me!). lafferty's column is great, they ought to bundle them up from past issues & sell it as a book. they test the bikes in terrain & conditions that are alot more like what i ride in than the others. i also enjoy their liability disclaimers, which read like they are written by real people instead of corporate lawyers.

 

[justql]

If I was still subscribing to a mag it would be trailrider. They do tend to cater to the east coast though.

 

[yz 200 guy]

I subscribe (since 1999) even though I live in Iowa and only race local hare scrambles. It does have an eastern bent, but the best thing is it's overall laidback tone. It is so not a California magazine, instead it values function over form. If a bike or gear is not perfect, they focus on fixing the flaws and getting the most out of the product rather than jumping on a bashing bandwagon.

You get glimpses and reminders of what made the late 70's, early 80's Dirt Bike magazine so fun to read. Clipper is still alive and well...:)

 

[Offroadr]

Originally posted by DANIEL JOSEPH
That's what makes it a great magazine.

If you happen to live in Ct!


One cool part of the mag is the disclaimer on the index page. Anyone ever read it? Its funny! They change it every month.

 

[Timr]

Originally posted by DANIEL JOSEPH
I'm sure Paul would run stuff on other events if he could get someone to write them.

I've talked to Paul about this on the phone a couple of times. They will definately consider printing your race reports if they are well written, timely and include good photos. The thing is, you have to be consistent. It makes no sence for them to run 1 race article about a D17 enduro. If someone wants to report on all the D17 enduros, then you have something worth while. D17 can promote coverage in TR and get more D17 riders to subscribe.

Pick up the phone and call Paul if you're interested; He's very open minded to this kind of stuff as long as it fits in with the core of the magazine.

 

[Rodzilla]

I took the magazine for a year. It is a great mag. like everyone said very eastern.

Also, and this may be just me it also seemed to be very KTM oriented. At the time I was riding Red, now that I'm Orange (well silver and black) I'm thinking of re-upping my subscription.

DirtFamily, if you want to see a few issues before you decide, let me know I
ll send a couple of issues up to you or we can meet if you come down to Denver soon.

Rod

 

[DirtFamily]

Rod

A dealer I'm working with just got in a new Pampera and I want to take a look at it this weekend :cool:

I'll talk to John tonight if meeting this weekend might work for you....
If we come down, we'll bring the Xr400r pipe :)
Katie

 

[Gary B.]

Everyone is complaining about Trail Rider being East Coast dominated, but I don't think anyone mentioned ALL the other mags acting as though there is nothing East of California. Those people don't know how to ride in mud, I swear! When was the last time you saw a picture in one of those magazines with even clouds in the sky?

 

[Rodzilla]

Hey Gary,

Guess after reading the posts it does look like we're complaining. Actually I'm not. I think it's great that there is a mag that looks at REAL riding in the REAL world! It's just tough for a guy in Denver to relate to the circuits on the east coast.

As far as the articles and photos I loved the mag. But reading about the local races 1600 miles away is not as much fun as being there!

 

[BRush]

Originally posted by Gary B.
Everyone is complaining about Trail Rider being East Coast dominated, but I don't think anyone mentioned ALL the other mags acting as though there is nothing East of California.

Amen to that! I have to smile when some DB tester starts talking about how this or that bike was really good in "tight" conditions and all the photos are of sunny skies and wide open fireroads. I mean you just know that the writer has no clue ;) . Raise your hands, how many of you have fantasized about taking some of the SoCal magazine boys for a loop around your favorite mud & rock infested, rooty, beg-for-mercy single track? (in the perfect scenario, they would all show up on XR650s or YZ125s with stock suspension and gearing!) :cool:

 

[Offroadr]

Not complaining just WISHING that it had the resources to expand.

 

[Gary B.]

I really believe if these left coast guys would ride some nasty, snotty trails they'd have a new found respect for "foo-foo" bikes like small XR's, TTR-225/250, and KDX's. Jeez, just once I'd like to see one of their project bikes dirty!:p

P.S. let's hope that Trail Rider doesn't get bought out again by someone like Peterson Publishing. They had resources, just aimed 'em in the wrong direction.:p

 

[WR 250]

I have a subscription to both Trail Rider and Dirt Bike and Trail Rider is the better mag. I wish Trail Rider would do more bike tests but it is a quality over quanity thing compared to Dirt Bike. The how-to articles and tips are very useful and the columns are intelligent and worth reading. I can't say the same thing about Dirt Bike.

 

[LoriKTM]

Originally posted by BRush

Raise your hands, how many of you have fantasized about taking some of the SoCal magazine boys for a loop around your favorite mud & rock infested, rooty, beg-for-mercy single track? (in the perfect scenario, they would all show up on XR650s or YZ125s with stock suspension and gearing!) :cool:

Ah, guilty as charged! It is amusing, and sad at the same time to realize that the magazine riders in California have really no clue as to what "eastern" riding is all about. I scoff at what they consider "tight single-track!"

I wish Trail Rider would do more bike/parts reviews. I like the East Coast race coverage, but it does get a bit tedious when 75% of the magazine is race coverage for areas I'm not even familiar with.

 

[DANIEL JOSEPH]

Originally posted by LoriKTM


I wish Trail Rider would do more bike/parts reviews.

I think one of the problems is the manufactors don't give up bikes to Clipper like they do to the bigger magazines.

 

[GlennP]

Thats because TR tells it like it is, no BS.

 

[Arby]

Does Trail Rider have a web page? I would like to contact them about
a subscription. Thanks