4 wheels good, 2 wheels better (Two Wheels Only Magazine)

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	Two Wheels Only Magazine
Date:	13/02/09 (425 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Includes readers letters, Jamie Whitham's column, bike selecta and much more

Disadvantages: Too many adverts to trawl through plus every issue is full of junk fliers

Two Wheels is a bike magazine aimed at real bike enthusiasts. It is a monthly magazine that is part of the visordown.com group. The Editor in Chief is Grant Leonard and columnists include ex racer Niall Mackenzie, ex racer Jamie Whitham and the Pitbull.

The main features and articles of this magazine are as follows:

****Road tests****

A lot of this magazine is articles on specific bikes and testing them to their limits. The handling is tested, the comfort is tested, the acceleration is tested, the top speed is tested and, most importantly, what they are like to live with on a daily basis is tested.

To keep it all legal and above board the bikes are tested on the track (for the speed and handling tests), on the drag strip (for the acceleration and top end test) and on the road (for handling and the 'real life' test).

The extensive testing means that every aspect of the bikes is scrutinised and nothing is left out.

I have heard a lot of sceptics state that these magazines have their 'favourite' manufacturers that will grease their palm so a bad review is not given. I have read reports that Jeremy Clarkson gets his palm greased by Aston Martin and Lotus so he never slates them.

I am unsure if this practice does happen but I have noticed that Two Wheels tests bikes from all manufacturers and they have stated the bad points (as well as the good) about bikes from all manufacturers.

****Letters****

As its name suggests the letters section is a selection of letters from the magazine's readers. The stories range from the stupid ( a recent example is a story of a new trainee mechanic sent to a parts supplier to look for a "power band") to the inspiring (a recent example involves a married couple who spent their honey moon biking across India to raise charity) to the down right dangerous (a recent example is where a rider claims to have been doing a stunt show at a biking event and ended up trashing the bike) and everything in between.

I really enjoy reading about people's experiences, the stories they have to tell and what they are intending to do. I appreciate that many of these stories and experiences are exaggerated but they still make for good reading, and it is for this reason that the letters section is one of my favourite sections of the magazine.

Two Wheels rewards the "Star Letter" with a bit of biking apparel, which usually consists of a few hundred pounds worth of leathers, helmet or boots.

****The Whitham Diaries****

Jamie Whitham is an ex bike racer. He had his hey day during the late eighties and early nineties. He was my favourite racer and I used to love watching him race at Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park and Donnington. He had so much flair and made it look so easy. In my opinion he also had the best bike at the time, the Yamaha YZF750 all liveried up in the Fast Orange colours. It was Whitham who started off the rolling stoppie in the superbike paddock.

Whitham was really friendly off the bike and always had time for the fans. Whilst charismatic he acts like a 'normal' bloke and is not pretentious.

Unfortunately Whitham's racing career was cut short when he was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. This was a major blow since he was riding for a great team and was a real world superbike contender. Whilst Whitham managed to fight the disease he never rode in a championship again.

The Whitham Diaries consists of a column written by Jamie. Historic articles include stories of when he was a racer, test ride and article shoot calamities and track day debacles amongst many other things.

Whitham's writing style is great and he captures mood, atmosphere and the comedy aspect. His articles are a great read and always capture my attention. These are stories that I read in depth and don't just skim over.

****Sport****

The sport section is written by the 'Pitbull' and covers all aspects of bike racing from MotoGp, British Superbike and World Superbike.

This section will include in depth interviews with top racers, pit lane gossip, what happened at historic championship rounds, what is happening in each team and what rules are changing.

Any thing to do with racing will be covered in this section.

****Competitions****

As with all magazines Two Wheels contains several competitions each issue. By answering a stupidly easy question that is kind of related to the prize, readers must select the correct answer from a choice of three and then write in, text or enter online.

The prize includes a top of the range bike, that in the past has included a GSXR-1000 and a KTM950.

As well as the 'win a bike' competitions there are other competitions for smaller prizes such as leathers, helmets and the like.

Entering the competitions is not that expensive. It can cost nothing (via online), the price of a first or second class stamp (if the post is used) or 50p plus the cost of a standard text (if entering by mobile).

****Adverts****

All magazines generate significant income from advertising and this magazine is no different. There are loads of adverts all throughout the magazine and include adverts for everything bike including bikes, helmets, leathers, insurance, dealers, breakers, performance products etc. etc.

In my opinion there are far too many adverts and since they are distributed throughout the magazine it does result in a lot of page flicking and sifting through them to find the stories and articles.

Whilst the above is frustrating this is the same of all magazines regardless of the topic that they cover.

****Bike selecta****

The bike selecta section is basically a bike buying guide near the back of the magazine. Each month there will be a sample of bikes, across all genres (sport, touring, learner legal, trail, super moto etc) and all ages. As well as technical information (and insurance groupings and prices) there will be opinions and comments from actual owners that state what goes wrong, how much it costs to rectify and what the good points are.

****Ask Whitham****

This section allows the readers to ask Whitham a question. Such questions usually include things like "How do I get my knee down?", "What are the best tyres for my ......?" etc.

****My opinion****

Two Wheels looks attractive and really does stand out from the crowd. It is easily identifiable amongst other bike magazines on the shelf. The photography is brilliant and there are always excellent pictures, large and in your face writing and slogans and bright, vivid backgrounds.

When it comes to new model road tests you usually find that all the magazines test exactly the same new bikes during the same month, therefore if you want to read about a GSXR for example, it will be in all the bike magazines.

In my opinion it is the other aspects that make a bike magazine different. It is the stories, the buying guides, the sport section etc that make a bike magazine worth buying, and in my opinion Two Wheels is the best in this area.

I admit that a lot of this is down to Jamie Whitham and the Pitbull (both of whom write exclusively for Two Wheels). In fact, Jamie Whitham has quite a large hand in this magazine as he not only writes the diaries but he also writes the bike buyers guide and answers the reader's questions. Jamie's writing style is fantastic and I would buy it just for his stories.

Two Wheels is aimed at a different audience than other bike magazines. There are no half naked women draped over bikes (and whilst some people may like this I prefer to see the bike - if you want nakedness then go buy a porn magazine), there is no daredevil and stupid riding (such as reaching three figure speeds on the public roads and with photo evidence) and there is no discrimination about bike genres (some magazines only deal with sports bikes). It is a great all round magazine for the bike enthusiast.

The only downside to this magazine is the amount of adverts. There are loads of them. However, I appreciate that all magazines are like this and there is nothing that you can do about it so it is a case of 'put up and shut up'.

Two Wheels is not cheap, at £3.80, per issue but then no bike magazine is. All bike magazines are around the £4 mark so it is competitively priced. In order to reduce the cost of the magazine you have to subscribe for 12 or 18 months. Doing this will not only result in a significant saving (you can get up to 50% off buying 12 or 18 issues separately) but you will get a free gift such as a tool kit, battery charger, a pair of boots or some other biking apparel. The exact gift you get will depend upon the deal at the time and the deals change frequently.

If you are someone that purely likes sports bikes and wants to see three figure speeds on public roads, look at photos of crashed bikes and see half naked women draped over the bikes then this magazine is not for you. I would suggest Youtube.com and a porno magazine. However, if you are a real bike enthusiast that likes bikes of all genres, likes to know accurate information about bikes, likes to read about ex racers, likes to read about real biking experiences etc. then I think that you would enjoy this magazine and I cannot rate it highly enough, or recommend it more.

Summary: A bike magazine for enthusiasts written by enthusiasts