z5Levi

@Geochemistry: good call - both earlier advancements but would be crazy to try a modern bike/trail without indexed shifting.

Lachie can put `Boulder, CO` on his tag all he want's but he's an Aussie no matter what.

Haha not "Outdoor" but still qualifies as "pay-to-play" - what they said they were trying to avoid by selling to Outside. Let the soul sucking begin!

@mikelevy: All cyclists are fragile ;)

@Rubber-Buccaneer: Yup, and I'm sure it's not free to do all the work on it, gotta pay for the passion some how.

@mikelevy: it's not really unfounded reactions - many of us have pointed directly at publications we've enjoyed for years that were purchased in the past 6-12mo by Outside and what's happened to them. If those publications were the same quality as what drew us there in the first place then I'd agree with you - but having watched Climbing/Rock&Ice after Outside/Pocket purchased them I can't help but feel you're overly optimistic. That all said I hope you are right and that PB improves and doesn't just become the beige Outside+ site that many outdoors media sources they purchased have become.

@jeremiahwas: I'd say majority of the people in the comments are with ya - had they put $5-10/mo fee between PB/TrailForks we would have been happy to pay to continue this quality content. But to give that money to Outdoor feels about as good as pissing into the wind. I think I'll save my $99/yr and spend that buying some beers/coffee during a ride and support some other non-corporate efforts. The sentence "As a lifelong cyclist, I’m a huge fan of these brands..." just makes me gag. It's just a token gesture to try and say "hey people, us vulture capitalists totally have the same interests as you".

@Sweatypants: Haha you used to pay $90/mo for cable - now you pay $10x8/mo for all the steaming services you want. All these companies are really "revolutionary".

I've watched as well through Climbing and Rock & Ice - and sadly I totally disagree. They've stripped any unique brand equity down to just a logo and some colours. It's all the same shitty WP theme with content slathered across it. Add onto that the fact there was some cross over content but now it's not as individualistic across different media sites. Then your 70% is very generous I haven't clicked on an article that wasn't behind a paywall on either of those sites, maybe there is 30% but ti's certainly not what I found valuable. I'm sure that Robin is doing some great stuff and inevitably things will change (global warming ;) - but the reality is that it's concerning to think that all outdoor media is going to become one bland voice across countless sources. Part of what makes the internet and media great is diversity, and sure they're retaining staff, but you also have to see logic that all products of a company are still guided by the over arching mission of the leaders. It's great that the owners are able to sell and get rewarded for the work they've put in, but it's also equally disappointing for many fans to see a site that they loved potentially reduced to another beige WP site with a PB logo slapped across the top.

It's not about the money - if you look at the other sites Outside has purchased in the last 6mo then you'll notice they've all been shoved into the same shitty WordPress theme and ALL content has been pay walled. If the quality/content stayed the same it'd be one thing - but it hasn't. Maybe PB will be different but from the last 6mo I don't trust the outcome from Outside/PocketMedia purchases.