“So, what does a cycling journalist do?” The question came from a metro-looking man in his mid-twenties wearing square-toe Italian slip-on shoes, tweed pants and a light-blue, button-up Prana shirt. We were making polite conversation while our drinks were being prepared at Peat’s Coffee.
“I travel, mostly Europe and North America, ride mountain bikes, and write stories.” I replied. “That’s the short version.”
“Have you covered the Tour de France?”
“Technically, yes.” I could have predicted that question - the classic non-cyclist lead-in. “I have covered a few stages and had the opportunity to ride in some team cars following the race. It’s quite a show, but I have never been assigned to report on the entire Tour. Most of my time has been spent on the mountain bike side of the sport, writing technical reviews and about events.”
“So, you do product reviews for the cycling biz. Is that anything like
Consumer Report, where you buy a bunch of bikes and then rate them against each other?”
“Jeremy! Caramel, half-caffe macchiato.”
As he reached for his coffee, I spied Ferrari’s prancing horse, worked into the sleeve tattoo on his right forearm. “Sort of, but we do things more like a car magazine,” I said. “We don’t buy the products. We arrange with the brands to send us bikes and parts for reviews.”
“Does the cycling industry cheat reviews like the automotive industry does, and hot-rod the bikes that they send to you?”
“Most bike and parts makers aren’t organized well enough to do that,” I chuckled. “But, it does happen. Normally, we receive bicycles and components new, in sealed boxes. Some guys switch parts like tires, gearing and handlebars to ensure better outcomes. Suspension companies have been known to go over forks and shocks which are scheduled for reviews. You would be surprised how much better they work compared to the same items that come OEM on test bikes. I wouldn’t call that “hot rodding,” but small changes can still add up to a better review.”
“Does it pay well?”
“Salary, plus tips,” I smiled. “It pays the bills.”
“Tips?”
“A good review can sell a lot of mountain bikes,” I quipped. “Bike brands are willing to do what it takes to make that happen.”
“Richard! Double espresso with whip.”
“I find it hard to believe in this age of internet transparency, that any major brand would risk paying bribes to ensure good press,” Jeremy popped the lid of his macchiato and shook in a dash of cinnamon. “What are we talking about here? Do they give you the bikes if they like the review, and you put them on eBay?”
“It would be a lot easier if that were the case, but it is the tradition to send the bikes back when we are done with them,” I said, moving towards the door. “Smart editors establish
industry relationships with one, maybe two key marketing people who can be trusted. If my review is good, my publisher gets a fat advertising buy and I get a piece of the action on the side. The bike business is like a revolving door for product manager and marketing positions, so as my guys move around, they pass on the program to other product managers and the checks start rolling in. We’re not talking big numbers, but it all adds up – especially when an editor has been in the game as long as I have.”
“Are most cycling editors on the take like this?” Jeremy seemed a little shocked by my candor.
“It’s like drugs and the Tour de France. It’s no accident that certain doctors and team managers are always associated with winning teams. Numerically, what are the chances that every racer on a team lines up at the start with testosterone and hematocrit levels at the highest margins allowed by the racing regulations – every day? I laughed. “Follow the doctors and you don’t have to guess which teams are on the juice. Once you know who is paying for editorial, all you need to do is match the brands with the editors’ review schedules and lifestyles – it’s simple math.”
“Just talking scientifically, how does this work? Do you solicit a particular sum beforehand, or do you publish the review and later, if the person (presumably, the marketing director) likes it, he sends you a check?”
“Jeremy, I gotta get rolling, and I have already told you more than I’m comfortable with, but it’s pretty simple really,” I stepped off the curb into the parking lot. “It’s a voluntary amount, but there are expectations. When someone sends me a bike or a component to review, I ask them to send the
product specifications in a separate envelope. Usually, there is a check included, and depending upon the amount, I’ll massage the review accordingly. Fifty bucks assures that I make minor improvements. I’ll round off the weights, like ‘in the 28-pound range,’ instead of ‘28.9 pounds’ and I may overlook one or two components or aspects of its performance that may be insufficient, but still are functional. Five hundred or more, and I’ll craft the story to work around the product’s most glaring negatives in a way that positions the bicycle or component as viable competitor like, ‘It may round corners worse than an Etch-a Sketch, but get it pointed in a straight line and it can run with the best-in-class.’ I don’t lie about the facts – readers are too sharp for that. I have to be subtle to make it work. I present facts in a way that highlights the positives, and I inject opinions in just the right places – kind of how
Car and Driver always manages to present American cars as overall winners in comparison tests with European models.”
“Well, that was an interesting conversation,” Jeremy paused at the driver-side door of a lifted, late-model silver-metallic Ford F250 with a Specialized Demo 8 and an Ibis Mojo HD resting on its tailgate pad. “You never told me which publication you worked for.”
“And I won’t tell you now,” I laughed. “These your bikes? I didn’t figure you as a downhiller.”
“No. I assumed this was your truck.”
“My ride is over there,” I pointed at my Volvo wagon. “It was nice talkin’ with you Jeremy. Have a good one.”
As I was waiting to make the turn out of the parking lot and onto the street, a cream colored Tesla pulled alongside. When the darkly tinted window retracted, I recognized it was Jeremy.
“What’s with the beater Volvo? He laughed. “So, you were bullshitting me the whole time?”
“Yeah, I was.” I admitted. “Sorry. I was going to tell you that I was leading you on back in the parking lot, but when you stopped by that F 250, I started wondering if I had chosen a darker path, whether the money would have been worth it.”
“No time like the present,” He smiled. “I’m sure more than a few companies would pay for reviews if you could make that work.”
“Couldn’t do it. Cycling has become my family. I owe them the straight story and I'm pretty sure that's how most of us roll, but thanks for letting me live the dream for a couple of minutes. Next time, I’ll buy your drink – I owe you that at least,” I laughed. “And, if you care to hear it, I’ll tell you what a cycling journalist really does for a living - after you explain how you got that Tesla.”
“That’s another story,” Jeremy said. “I’ll take you up on that coffee RC.”
The traffic light flashed green and the Tesla screeched off. The license plate frame read: “My other car is a Trek.”
www.churchoftherotatingmass.com/2014/12/02/are-we-not-journalists-part-2
I did know a well known bike editor/reviewer for a major magazine that lived in our small community for awhile. Much of his product testing involved him loaning test bikes to friends-I only ever saw him on a bike once. But when he left town, it took more than one full size U-Haul to load up all the bike shwag in his garage, including a number of bikes that somehow never had made it home to their distributors.
I am suddenly more willing to pay for membership. If we pay for PB then there is less risk of them needing to suck up to the big guys.
That said, they did not give the slash, ctd, or a host of other big names a great review so I doubt they are bought and paid for the way some people are saying.
I get a service (video clips, good stories, race coverage, product releases) in exchange for eyeballing some ads in the mix. If a particular website had an "about us" section that contained a bunch of "we exist to provide the most current, accurate, and unbiased coverage with the utmost in journalistic integrity and professionalism...." and then violated that claim, I'd take issue. But I don't know of any bicycling media outlet that makes me any such promises.
Good read, overall. Thanks!
You are right though. Why should we demand more of PB than we do FB? Everyone knows Facebook is a giant billboard, but we are fine because the service it provides, which is not as good a service as PB provides.
read.dmtmag.com/i/450545/23
Wankers!
I disagree man. If I was being paid by dirtrag to bring up these concerns wouldn't it be disingenuous to pretend they were simply my honest concerns?
Do you follow non-bicycle related news? Good journalists state any potential conflict of interest ahead of time. Bad ones don't, instead lying about public event to manipulate voters. Judges are supposed to recuse themselves when they have a conflict of interest. Bad judges don't instead punishing according to race or other bias.
It is not too much to expect, waki. If your blog got kickbacks from companies I would want to know I was not getting your opinion, but instead an ad. I value hearing your thoughts on longer stems and narrower bars because I think you are giving me honest thoughts. If some narrow bar company hired you so say that stuff I wouldn't read it. I have better things to do with my time. I read it because I trust you. I read PB because I trust the journalists here. Is that ridiculous? If it was then PB would be a waste of time. We could all just visit the bike websites directly and see how their moms think they are so great.
Do you honestly not think this is possibly an issue? You say it is too small an industry for that, but that actually makes it a much more likely problem. Of I was the CEO of fox and I wanted to increase my tiny profit margins you can bet I would do everything in my power to get journalists on my side.
The only hope is something RC said above. It is what gives me some faith. He said biking means too much to him to sell his integrity. He said he couldn't do that because cycling is like his family. That statement of belief is what I need. I want it from the rest of the staff too once in a while. Sometimes it comes in the form of the writer confiding about the flaws of a product (levy and kaizimer do this sometimes) or in an outright statement like RC or the form of an ombudsman to answer questions about it.
As for the man in charge at Dirtrag, he obviously was really concerned about the whole thing. he redacted names and waited, trying to decide how he felt about it all. Not being a jerk about it in my book.
I know what you mean, but I prefer a review on Pinkbike that bears signs of being an infomercial, than Peaty telling me that V10 hooked up great, or Loic Bruni posting instagram pic of his LaPierre, with superlatives in text under. As I wrote to you before - you know what? Even if it wasn't an infomercial, 90% of it would be true, 90" of the written word would look the same. Why? Because those bikes are God damn great these days - as simple as that. When I hear someone demanding an honest comparison between Enduro and Nomad I die inside. People wanting Shootout?! Really? What's better Mazda 6, Audi A6, Merc C or BMW 5? - when I see a shoot out in BikeMAG where half of bikes come with nearly identical setups it makes me want to laugh. And what happens when a really different bike comes along, like 29" Banshee Phantom, 26" Commencal Hip-hop?! They get stoned for being "targeted at no one" with too high prices - by the very same people who swore eternal hate to 275 wheels and make most Enduro specific jokes.
What I mean is: people look for problems with journalists, while there is no pleasing them because they are fkd up themselves! I am no better, I mean, I feel better in a way that I am conscious of my stupidity. Journalists from other disciplines, thank you for bringing that up: This is what I am ultimately getting at: THESE ARE JUST FREAKING BIKES! A biased review? And so what? If your vision is biased towards looking less ahead than looking ahead then it doesn't matter. Due to lack of skill you are losing tons of fun and many seconds anyway, so you may as well enjoy whatever it is you buy.
I also know I am not good enough to appreciate the difference. At the end of the day this is all throwing sand in the sand box.
The thing is, those bikes are people's religion on this site. The reviews are the priests. No one want's their priests to be heretics. We want them to be believers.
As for the shirt, is it an ad that he wears a shirt for a brand he obviously likes better? I say no. If Sram paid him to wear it then yes it is an ad. Otherwise it is a review in itself. I don't know anything about the guy, but I do think you make too much of the shirt.
People behave about all this thing like a 10 year old who came upon his parents having sex. What were they expecting - a stork?! If someone recorded our meetings in on city planning projects in office I work in, and released them to public there would be a mess! Some people are just too immature to accept how the world works in order to go forward, their idealistic images of reality are as necessary as holding them down. But that's ok... It's the eventual dismay by journalists from other companies, that disgusts me.
Think what you like but to me he's another world in credible journalism compared to Pinkbike. As are a few other UK journo's.
I will honestly tell you though that I like Mike Levy's reviews a tad more than ones by Steve, because they are more personal and more entertaining. Steve used to be sharper, he seems to look at stuff more holistically now - can't blame him for that. When it comes to advertising of PB vs Dirt I will never agree with you. Dirt gets lots of sht for how much advertising space there is in it. Furthermore mags are more prone to feel obliged to be nice to manufacturers, compared to websites, because they are much more of a physical entity. I have no problems what so ever with anyone or any mag, having better relationships with one company over another.
I think what renders anti/Pinkbike arguments useless is that, I am sure that every company gets proposals for advertising and most of them accept them, which means that we get back to point zero, because A-companies don't bid who gets most coverage, and B - if everyone pays, you don't need to feel obliged to favor anyone.
I love PB and all it has to offer. But RC in "the right stuff" parlance you have "screwed the pooch".WTF-you were in a position to rationally explain away the "cash for comment" type accusations 4 weeks ago. Hell most of us would accept an explanation that PB was courting with the devil to improve the site etc. No one would really think you were out to feather your own pockets given the amazing service you have provided to MTB journalism. But ultimately MTB is entertainment and not life and death. Most of us read the reviews for an idea of what shit is out there not as some biblical declaration to buy it. Hell most of the reviews are on stuff I can't afford and besides the real entertainment is reading the shit people hang on each other and pearls of wisdom in the comments section.
But from a position of possible strength you traded away with some bullshit psychobable parable. And worse still a cynic might see the liberal use of brand names in the article as first instalment of the contract. I mean really how much better would the piece have sounded if it read "my other car is a bike".
Now all PB can do is sling mud at Rotating mass.Great work RC and PB.
1.I don't directly defend Pinkbike - I say that EVERYONE works in ways where big chunk of stuff they post is proportionate to how much money they get from some sort of advertising, and I am sure there are "worse" than Pinkbike. it's natural - you get stuff for tests, you get paid for advertising, you are nice to your clients if only as an act of gratitude? Since when being grateful is bad? So when I read that other journos got dismayed, I think they are full of shit hypocrites. Yes VitalMTB tests seem like it was the Vital that asked for a product initally - yes, they are as thrilling as car TV shows before top gear came along. BTW RC reviews are really bad too IMHO. Should he change something? No, I don't give a damn. As long as he does not want me to acknowledge how great he is, he can write twice as much, being even more opinionated.
2.If Trek, Spec, 661 or Bell pays for commercials so do others, field levels. Bias is next to non existent
3.If someone wants clean reviews and high journalist virtues in MTB world, then he also better believe in Virgin Mary and that George Bush is after peace in the world.
4.RC caused a stir as usual, he is a true journalist Troll. He makes me laugh, but I don't think there is a single journo in the bike world spawn more crap in comments. Honestly? That was dumbest thing he ever did. Even article on clipless doesn't come close. It did more harm than good to PB
5.Cash for comment - yea, it's about it a lot, website views, google analytics is great, but it's not everything. It cannot always explain why things go up and why they go own. The more times you see Sram Guide brake banner at the top, the more likely you are to buy it. When you comment, you want to come back, the dumber the discussion the more interested people get. But there is the law of critical mass...
6.I am psychobable yes, always. Wait till May until you see my videos... we are all fkd up in one way or another.
And Waki-defence of PB was the wrong term so I apologise but just because other mags seem to be biased it doesn't make it right.But as I said if being on the take aids a more entertaining site go for it. Just don't write a shit article to get everyone guessing AND at the same time use brandnames seemingly fulfilling your "obligations" at the same time. Bad form.
Look forward to your video Waki.
BTW I get my mother in law to babysit. And no I don't shag her.
Faulty premise. Yes paranoia can arise from internal guilt, but it need not always be the case.
I am not a sellout. I just want unbiased reviews. Maybe that is impossible or it is already what I am getting. Either way I still read the reviews like they are water in the desert so it doesn't really seem to matter.
Jeeze why did I comment? This thread had a chance to die and I just had to keep it going. Facepalm.
It is not like the reign of terror here with journos being beheaded and some hypocritical Robespierre making bold proclamations from high soapboxes as his foes go to the guillotine. The indignant rants came later and mostly from the audience.
If the day comes when I chose one bike over another based on a review and feel cheated I will be pretty mad, and everyone will point out it is a rich person problem and I will think of his series of arguments and sigh as I realize I should have dine my own bike testing and that will be the end of it.
www.churchoftherotatingmass.com/2014/12/02/are-we-not-journalists-part-2
then:
read.dmtmag.com/i/450545/23
Makes everything much clearer including the possible reason for RC's article.
"Cycling has become my family"......eh RC?
it's all about status symbols :-(
EDIT: My house to Bend, Or is 124 miles. Drive, ride, charge while sipping a pint (only to be safe), drive home. SOLD.
"Is there a bag of nickels in your transmission?" Nope, that's the sound of awesome.
www.prana.com/men/clothing/knit-woven.html
Except decaff. That's just soil pretending to be coffee.
www.churchoftherotatingmass.com/2014/12/02/are-we-not-journalists-part-2
Admitting some kind of wrong doing by deleting the post much?
read.dmtmag.com/i/450545/23
I still don't like the idea of "paid for" editorial content. Just don't.
I think you should keep the advertising in the left and right columns if you aim is to keep some kind of jounalistic credibility on this site.
R.C. you break the mold. I will always respect your opinion.
RC
There are dozens and dozens of different interpretations of any sort of media. I think I could put a picture, a 3 sentence statement and 10 second video clip up and poll every individual about it.
There would be 100's of "interpretations" of just about any media bit on earth. Relax folks.
Had there ever been any discussion of that I would have pulled all our advertising on the basis that they were running an unfair ship and we couldn't ensure a straight review. There's always someone with deeper pockets than you and there's no point paying top dollar for adverts in a magazine that you can't trust.
Thanks for the welcome diversion from reality.
www.churchoftherotatingmass.com/2014/12/02/are-we-not-journalists-part-2
RC is saying they don't do that. The above link suggests otherwise.
This is a compliment.
(apple not falling far from the Hi-Torque tree.)
blackthorne, screeching tires still screech whenever it comes from tires corrected to a gas, diesel, or electric car.
"...steel or titanium build up weight faster than Oprah Winfrey."
Turn it off and no problem, except having to replace your tires...
691 horsepower.
0-60 in 3.2s.
Real room for my legs.
Equivalent of 90 mpg.
$105k - tax incentives.
Ok I grinned....... Alot
That Jeremy guy sounds like a pretty cool dude. Can't get any better than EVs & MTBs.
The car is great but I only see it being useful in countries which supply recharge stations. Here in South Africa you better have a bike rack with a bike on attached to your Tesla!
I still like the videos and ride coverage tho!