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kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,149
13,358
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
@Udi

Consider this question: is there ANYTHING that Lee Trumpore or Sven have not completely fallen in line behind that the bike industry has done in the last 8 years? In this day and age they honestly seem incapable of it, and just dismiss any kind of honest complaint as 'just being a hater' as if that phrase actually means or or diminishes anything.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,149
13,358
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
Tom Ritchey's Moustache said:
I tend to fall in line with the people who pay my bills too.
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Yeah it makes for great coverage. Especially when it comes to picking fights with the people you really want to hear from. Even better with a non-native English speaker.

You think team robot couldn't have generated ad revenue?

When Mike Levy is the industries version of 'keeping it real' it's time for someone to revive littermag.
 
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Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Monkey
Sep 11, 2015
332
118
I think Team Robot could have generated a little bit of ad revenue back when people still gave a shit about blogs and had a lot of money to spend on shitty internet ads. Now? Not so much.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,149
13,358
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
Tom Ritchey's Moustache said:
I think Team Robot could have generated a little bit of ad revenue back when people still gave a shit about blogs and had a lot of money to spend on shitty internet ads. Now? Not so much.
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What do you think pays for vital? Shitty internet ads.

My point was that there's value in not just being an industry mouthpiece. It's how spomer made his name to some degree. Blog or not team robot could have done something with the 'readership' it created. I'm not saying in it's last glorious state (praise be his name) but he got people's attention and had readers.
 
Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Monkey
Sep 11, 2015
332
118
Vital and Team Robot aren't even in the same league as far as ad buying goes.

How many monthly readers do you reckon Team Robot had in his heyday? I'd bet it was well under the 6-figure mark.
 
Udi

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,918
1,213
kidwoo said:
@Udi Consider this question: is there ANYTHING that Lee Trumpore or Sven have not completely fallen in line behind that the bike industry has done in the last 8 years? In this day and age they honestly seem incapable of it, and just dismiss any kind of honest complaint as 'just being a hater' as if that phrase actually means or or diminishes anything.
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Haha yeah agreed, what a joke.
I've said this before - everything from American mountain biking websites reads like an ad, I stopped reading them ages ago unless the reviewer is literally from outside the country (eg. Paul Aston @ Pinkbike). I try to avoid Vital as much as possible because the website is horrible (Adblock can't fix AIDS), but it's mildly amusing that when you get past all the "interstitial ad" pages, the actual content is just a big ad anyway.

Anyway, that's nothing new, but making a talented and passionate young guy look like an idiot for the sake of selling bikes is a low blow. Making it sound like a joke doesn't make it any less of a dick move.

You know what I like about Loic?
He's honest. It's the rarest quality among humans in developed countries today. The fact that he's willing to stand up for what he truly believes in even though it: a) might make him unpopular, b) will make his employers unhappy, and c) will probably lose him money - in my book makes him someone worth lifting up rather than putting down. I think that character trait completely transcends the technical fact/fiction behind the topic - not something I'd often say.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,149
13,358
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
Udi said:
You know what I like about Loic?
He's honest. It's the rarest quality among humans in developed countries today. The fact that he's willing to stand up for what he truly believes in even though it: a) might make him unpopular, b) will make his employers unhappy, and c) will probably lose him money - in my book makes him someone worth lifting up rather than putting down. I think that character trait completely transcends the technical fact/fiction behind the topic - not something I'd often say.
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Agreed. Far too little of that in people, athletes and everything else. I love sven's photography but god damn, you just can't take anything he does outside of that seriously. You'd almost think the dude never actually rode a bike sometimes.
 
Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Monkey
Sep 11, 2015
332
118
kidwoo said:
You actually want to discuss this or keep arguing against points I never made, or you just refuse to acknowledge?
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I'm not really even sure what we're arguing about. I guess I'm just not as offended that people who make their living from the bike industry aren't rebelling against the bike industry. < shrug >

Disclaimer - I didn't watch the Loic video, so perhaps I should shut my bong hole.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,149
13,358
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
Tom Ritchey's Moustache said:
I'm not really even sure what we're arguing about. I guess I'm just not as offended that people who make their living from the bike industry aren't rebelling against the bike industry. < shrug >

Disclaimer - I didn't watch the Loic video, so perhaps I should shut my bong hole.
Click to expand...

I'm not claiming team robot had the same advertising power (he had zero because there was no advertising) as vital. But people read his blog because he presented a perspective that had value, one that wouldn't have just sat in front of a well known straight forward speaking athlete and berated him about something just because it was "what the industry decided". That's why I said he could have done something with it. Even if it were just writing for pinkbike or vital one day. Maybe that would have changed if he did have to answer to advertisers but we'll never know.

What sven was doing in that loic interview wasn't even backing down from offending an advertiser. It was the 'potential' of offending the general concept of some advertisers which is even worse. He should have just let loic speak. We know it's loic's opinion coming out of his face, not sven's.

I'm not saying I don't know that 'journalists' cowtow to advertisers, that's gone on forever. I'm assigning a value judgement of "that sucks and it cheapens your product". Knowing the ins and outs of why it happens doesn't change my mind.
 
ianjenn

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,003
708
SLO
The ideal situation would be having a industry website that has no advertising from within the industry. I want Apple, Samsung, Pepsi, Coke, and Marlboro you know companies with $$$ to spend on advertising. That way you could write anything you wanted and the industry would have a hard time having too much influence. It would take probably 2 million plus unique hits a day for that to happen maybe even more.
 
Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Tom Ritchey's Moustache

Monkey
Sep 11, 2015
332
118
kidwoo said:
I have no idea what you're talking about and I've just reported this post.

I have a fairly strong, seething hatred for most of the bike industry right now.
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You shut your mouth when you're talking to me.

Don't we all hate the "industry" here? Isn't that why we keep coming back here instead of MTBdeRp?
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,801
5,630
Ottawa, Canada
kidwoo said:
I have no idea what you're talking about and I've just reported this post.

I have a fairly strong, seething hatred for most of the bike industry right now.
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but but but... they also make that thing that makes you so happy. is that cognitive dissonance? or maybe cognitive resonance?

I'm so confused.
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,520
6,426
UK
Udi said:
I stopped reading them ages ago unless the reviewer is literally from outside the country (eg. Paul Aston @ Pinkbike).
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Nah... UK bike journos are probably worse... remember. we do have a slightly different scene over here. That's the thing tho. "scene" is what "Mountainbiking™" has been reduced to here. it's become absolutely ridiculous the shit from the latest bandwagon the MTB media here jump feet first into and now that there are very few actual paper publications it's only getting worse. Pretty much every video or website review these folk put out is glowing.. nothing with glaringly obvious flaws is even noted.. and worst of all no one ever even dares to say the shit they're reviewing is ridiculously overpriced. Dirt being one of the worst (nothing really new there, it's just become even more obvious)... Bikeradar, Singletrack and whatever the fuck the others are called all have their own specialist (niche if you like) followings so it's piss easy for each of them create WANT from their fanboy/wannabe "lifestyle" fannies and just sell them all that latest "lifestyle" shit while they lap it up. Moving on to wanting the next "bestest" thing so quickly it's just a constant stream of bullshit led consumerism.
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,520
6,426
UK
jonKranked said:
That's because all the dentist's that bought road bikes in the last decade are starting to realize how much it sucks
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I'm just back from a road ride. It actually didn't suck. It pretty much never does.
if you ignore all the fuckwits, riding most bikes is usually pretty enjoyable.
 
atrokz

atrokz

Turbo Monkey
Mar 14, 2002
1,552
77
teedotohdot
Gary said:
I'm just back from a road ride. It actually didn't suck. It pretty much never does.
if you ignore all the fuckwits, riding most bikes is usually pretty enjoyable.
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It can be. Do it in Toronto or another big city and it's one of the shittiest, cortisol producing things you can do. In the country it's one of the most stress relieving. Just don't tell anyone here I used to road bike on a KG461...
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,520
6,426
UK
meh... I was a bike courier in the city when younger... loved it at the time. didn't find it stressful in the slightest. I still occasionally head in during rush hour for a wee endorphin rush blastin through queues of miserable motorists.
 
Inclag

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,779
462
MA
That'll be the irony of the situation. If there is a chance that the locals decide to engage with the riding community for developing new trails then it'll be with the new bourgeoisie of mountain biker. Then all of the above will happen......sigh
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,183
10,713
AK
Gary said:
I'm just back from a road ride. It actually didn't suck. It pretty much never does.
if you ignore all the fuckwits, riding most bikes is usually pretty enjoyable.
Click to expand...
If there were no cars, I'd ride the road too.
 
sethimus

sethimus

neu bizutch
Feb 5, 2006
5,333
2,427
not in Whistler anymore :/
Gary said:
meh... I was a bike courier in the city when younger... loved it at the time. didn't find it stressful in the slightest. I still occasionally head in during rush hour for a wee endorphin rush blastin through queues of miserable motorists.
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this, riding around berlin is quite enjoyable, especially in the middle of night, high as a kite
 
ianjenn

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,003
708
SLO
What should really concern you all is Moir got second aboard an ALUMINUM Intense 29" Bike. Granted Intense has been messing with this for almost a decade there is still a 50/50 chance the frame wasn't even straight......
 
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