cwalker2
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I just received the last issue of Motorcyclist. I feel like I've been punched in the stomach.
I've been a reader/subscriber since May of 1979.
Cycle Guide disappeared first. I think their second to last issue had a Honda CBR on the cover with chrome body work and a young hottie straddling it. It was a thinly veiled desperate attempt to up the dime store magazine-rack sales numbers. One last hurrah to save the magazine from the clutches of death. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. 4 monthly rags dropped to three. As a young man, subscribing to 4 monthly moto mags was costly, but I always got a free duffel bag and huge discount on cover price.
When Cycle magazine went belly up in the early to mid 1990's they joined forces with Cycle World and it felt like a dark time for magazines. Still we soldiered on with two magazines offering monthly product tests and great articles on equipment and bikes. The shoot outs were my favorite features. Kevin Cameron was wisely picked up by Cycle World to continue his great engineering prose. Then just a few years ago things got a major overhaul when Cycle World and Motorcyclist became "archive quality" - read 'thick and expensive' and only 6 issues per year. Ugh. Was the end really near?
I read my final issue of Motorcyclist this week with great sadness. I still have my 1st issue with the 125MX shootout on the cover in may of '79. I was just a boy, but I could read and I swear to God it came with the smell of fresh dirt, chain lube, and pre-mix melded into the pages.
The internet does not provide the same information or the same wonderful photos. The difference is like working in your buddy's well lit garage on a summer night with the door open. You take action, see things, meet new people, and learn things. Mission accomplished. The other is like trying to attend a cook out with dozens of families. The kids are screaming and playing, folks are talking, the din of the stereo garbles the conversation, and the alcohol works to blur the rush of info thrown at us. In the end I'm not really sure I learned anything even though 10 times the info was thrown at me. And although I remember both events with fondness the one that stays with me is that night we measured ring end gap, degreed camshafts, or bolted the head and valve cover back on at 1:00 am. Not just camaraderie, accomplishment. Learning. Teaching. Success.
I feel like I have no one to commiserate with. I feel like an old man who has lost one of his last two good friends. After this it's just me, then darkness. Am I the only one who misses print media that much?
It's been 40 years since I began my dance with Motorcyclist. It's hard to say goodbye. I feel like I'm laying a life long friend to rest.
Godspeed Motorcyclist Magazine (1912-2019)
I've been a reader/subscriber since May of 1979.
Cycle Guide disappeared first. I think their second to last issue had a Honda CBR on the cover with chrome body work and a young hottie straddling it. It was a thinly veiled desperate attempt to up the dime store magazine-rack sales numbers. One last hurrah to save the magazine from the clutches of death. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. 4 monthly rags dropped to three. As a young man, subscribing to 4 monthly moto mags was costly, but I always got a free duffel bag and huge discount on cover price.
When Cycle magazine went belly up in the early to mid 1990's they joined forces with Cycle World and it felt like a dark time for magazines. Still we soldiered on with two magazines offering monthly product tests and great articles on equipment and bikes. The shoot outs were my favorite features. Kevin Cameron was wisely picked up by Cycle World to continue his great engineering prose. Then just a few years ago things got a major overhaul when Cycle World and Motorcyclist became "archive quality" - read 'thick and expensive' and only 6 issues per year. Ugh. Was the end really near?
I read my final issue of Motorcyclist this week with great sadness. I still have my 1st issue with the 125MX shootout on the cover in may of '79. I was just a boy, but I could read and I swear to God it came with the smell of fresh dirt, chain lube, and pre-mix melded into the pages.
The internet does not provide the same information or the same wonderful photos. The difference is like working in your buddy's well lit garage on a summer night with the door open. You take action, see things, meet new people, and learn things. Mission accomplished. The other is like trying to attend a cook out with dozens of families. The kids are screaming and playing, folks are talking, the din of the stereo garbles the conversation, and the alcohol works to blur the rush of info thrown at us. In the end I'm not really sure I learned anything even though 10 times the info was thrown at me. And although I remember both events with fondness the one that stays with me is that night we measured ring end gap, degreed camshafts, or bolted the head and valve cover back on at 1:00 am. Not just camaraderie, accomplishment. Learning. Teaching. Success.
I feel like I have no one to commiserate with. I feel like an old man who has lost one of his last two good friends. After this it's just me, then darkness. Am I the only one who misses print media that much?
It's been 40 years since I began my dance with Motorcyclist. It's hard to say goodbye. I feel like I'm laying a life long friend to rest.
Godspeed Motorcyclist Magazine (1912-2019)
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