The last issue of Cycle NewsAmericas foremost weekly bike magazine Cycle News has shut down. The magazine was the American equivalent to AMCN or REVS and even though it was never freely available in Australia it was one of the iconic mags of our sport. The long time editor has been Aussie born Paul Carruthers, son of GP legend Kel. Here is a bit more detail...
Cycle News Shuts Down – The Digital World Claims One More
by PAUL CROWE - "THE KNEESLIDER" on 9/2/2010
in MOTORCYCLE BUSINESS,MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINES,MOTORCYCLE ADVERTISING
The creative destruction continues among the print magazines as Cycle News, the long running California based print publication, best known for coverage of motorcycle racing, closed its doors on August 31st. This long running shakeout has been harsh and any printed magazine or newspaper slow to come to grips with the Internet is likely facing a similar fate. Paul Carruthers, Cycle News (recently laid off) Editor-in-Chief, confirmed rumors of the shutdown.
Cycle News is familiar to anyone who has been involved with motorcycles and motorcycle racing over the last four or five decades, but when the online world offers many of the same things your print publication does, only faster and often for free, your print model needs to change. News of all types is becoming a widely available commodity and motorcycle magazines are certainly not unique, even the largest circulation newspapers and magazines are trying to figure out how to adjust, and if the adjustment takes too long, the doors close.
Shutting down the presses could be an opportunity for the folks at Cycle News who have lost their jobs, although I'm sure they don't feel that way right now. If those same individuals decide to transfer their talents to the online world, without the overhead of the print publication, they might be able to make a go of it. Easy? No. Hard work? Absolutely, but definitely possible.
I wish all of those affected by this closure the very best going forward.
