Transworld on hold

mx_563
Posts
2058
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
CA US
2/3/2019 9:05am
I wonder what the premier issue is worth now.
2/3/2019 9:09am
newmann wrote:
Considering how many times the magazine has been sold it appears as if none of the "owners" really think of it as more than just another...
Considering how many times the magazine has been sold it appears as if none of the "owners" really think of it as more than just another page in the portfolio. Means nothing to them, probably don't know the first thing about motocross nor did they care. Sucks for Swap and crew, sounds like he needs to own it all. If it was as profitable as they make it sound, should be easy to swing???
would you advertise in this sport at any level?
One step further - if you had an outside the industry product to sell (not your time/services) same question

Team

privateer

Magazine

TV ad (discount tire)

in stadium/series sponsor etc..


What type/level would make the most sense from your perspective?
Sierra Ranger
Posts
841
Joined
12/30/2018
Location
Sacramento, CA US
2/3/2019 9:58am
I never found anything in TWMX that I couldn't find in other pubs- other than the "cooler-than-thou" attitude. I found that hard to swallow (I remember when Maeda posted a photo of what he thought was a random rider, to embarrass and make fun of him, but oops, it turned out to be Damon Bradshaw). Not to kick them when they are down, I just never found much of value in the pub, and never read it.
3
1
sparker245
Posts
343
Joined
10/11/2011
Location
NorCal, CA US
2/3/2019 11:21am
I sincerely hope TWMX can survive in some fashion. Would really miss the tests from Pat Foster and Rich Taylor especially. They're my go to guys when researching a new bike.

The Shop

swap
Posts
280
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Tustin, CA US
2/4/2019 2:38pm Edited Date/Time 2/4/2019 2:41pm
Wow. I just read every entry in this thread.
It's been a hell of a week, guys! When I got my first job at Cycle News back in 1990, I had no idea the adventure that lied ahead. My Editor, Jack Mangus, was the gnarliest boss I've ever had, but he instilled a work ethic in me that has stayed with me throughout my adult life. Seven years after I started with Cycle News, I got the call to be the test editor at Dirt Rider. I was scared shitless to leave the CN family, but I took a chance and had a heck of a good time and learned even more. After a couple of years, I was offered the chance to start up MXracer with guidance from Ken Faught and Tom Webb, and that was a huge learning curve. With my art director Mitch Ikemoto, the two of us pretty much put that thing out as a two-man show until I was able to hire my buddy Corey Neuer to help.
In February of 2000, I was at the Fox Racing go kart night during the Indy Trade show, and there was a guy going so slow in front of me that I just started ramming him! After the session was over, he took his helmet off and introduced himself to me as Brad McDonald, founder of Ride BMX and SNAP (and now-owner of all things Vital). He said that they wanted to start a motocross magazine and I was the person they wanted to do it. Now that was terrifying! I felt nice and cozy at MXracer, but since it was the red-headed sibling of Dirt Rider, I never really felt a ton of job security there. So I took the leap, and I was terrified. Brad was one of the smartest guys I ever worked for, though, and I learned a ton from him as we built the magazine up into the best selling in the world. It was a blast starting TransWorld Motocross with Garth Milan...we did everything together for many years.
It's been a hell of a journey, these past 19 years of trying to adapt to new trends and technology. (I remember when Garth and I swore we'd never give up slide film cameras!) I've worked with some truly talented individuals, many whom have become my best friends. I've gotten to see the world, witness amazing races and ridden in some places I would have never dreamt of. I always used to joke that when I got too old to enjoy riding dirt bikes I would transition into the sales side of the magazine, but at 50 I am having more fun than ever riding and racing.
Last week, the rug got pulled out from under us and I was shocked at the news. I felt like my life's work was stripped from me, and that I had nothing to show for it. Believe it or not, I felt like a complete failure when I walked into my home that night. When my wife and daughters hugged me, I sobbed the way I did when my parents passed away. My eldest daughter Sam graduated college last year, a semester early, and to my delight moved home as she transitioned straight into her career. "Don't worry dad, I've got the groceries and whatever bills you choose," she said. "I got you." While providing for my family was certainly a concern of mine, most of the grief I was feeling at the time revolved around my loss of purpose. At that moment, I realized that while my accomplishment of creating and building the TransWorld Motocross is certainly something to be proud of, it is my role as DAD that is why I am truly on this Earth. It is my biggest and more important accomplishment.
With the help of both my daughters this weekend, I put together swapmotolive.com "The space between places, where content will live." Read in between the lines of that motto and guess for yourself. Fingers crossed, though! My career thus far has been a wild adventure, and it could get even wilder if all goes right!

Answers to questions I read...
- If you just subscribed, you will either get a refund from AMI, or you will continue to get mags in the mail if things go right.
- The TWMX Race Series is also on hold. If things go right it will be back and better than ever.
- I never intentionally tried to give the mag a "cooler than thou" flavor. I made fun of myself more than anyone else!

Thanks for reading! And please check out swapmotolive.com As GuyB would say, "There's some nuggets on there." How about Mookie ripping on an Alta?

- swap
2
slipdog
Posts
10043
Joined
7/25/2009
Location
Nor Cal, CA US
2/4/2019 3:47pm
Cool story, Swap. Seriously!
2
tobz
Posts
3900
Joined
3/5/2007
Location
Adelaide AU
2/4/2019 4:54pm
Fwiw I've always liked the magazine, the matte style cover with the cool cover photo always made me pick it up at the newsagency.

I stopped going to their website when they moved away from the old Orange look and tried to implement flash or something way too soon, it was a horrible experience and have never really warmed to any of their redesign attempts since.
2
KDXGarage
Posts
2562
Joined
12/16/2010
Location
AL US
2/4/2019 5:19pm Edited Date/Time 2/4/2019 5:20pm
My biggest complaint is the space spec approved glue on the address labels. What the hell?!

Good luck to all of you, including whoever made the call on glue type to be used.
swtwtwtw
Posts
1287
Joined
4/16/2008
Location
Apple Valley, CA US
2/4/2019 5:28pm
Thumbs up Swap!
2
mb60
Posts
4709
Joined
3/7/2010
Location
GRAPEVINE, TX US
2/4/2019 6:58pm
Good luck swap whatever you end up doing. Love the site and the interviews. Always enjoyed the goofy interviews and how riders opened up around your crew.
Stanuc
Posts
26
Joined
10/8/2013
Location
Allen, TX US
2/8/2019 7:41am
I see the March 2019 Issue was just made available on magzter.com and zinio.com

Hopefully that is some good news.
sparker245
Posts
343
Joined
10/11/2011
Location
NorCal, CA US
2/8/2019 8:56am
Great to hear that! Where ever ya go please take Pat Foster and Rich Taylor. Best test riders (plus Ping) out there, and great communicators. Feel like I'm sitting in the pits swapping stories with them during their ride videos.
KennyT
Posts
4161
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Location
Vista, CA US
Fantasy
479th
2/8/2019 5:00pm
Magazines are a dying breed. I’ve been to several stores that have completely eliminated their magazine racks. When I do find a store with Mags the selection is pitiful. I subscribe to MXA and RacerX and they are both online. As much as I like holding onto a mag it is a archaic method of getting our moto fix. Most everything I read is on my tablet/phone
2/8/2019 5:05pm
Thank you for sharing that, Swap. Whatever new adventures you get going, I’ll be a fan.
1
JAFO92
Posts
4245
Joined
3/21/2016
Location
BFE, TX US
2/8/2019 6:34pm
I miss Mullet Hunter................ Wink
4
SBD
Posts
136
Joined
5/18/2018
Location
San Diego, CA US
2/11/2019 1:38pm
Thanks for the reply Swap !
Is there any way you would continue running the TWMX series under a different name if the mag deal dosent work out ?

Its a great race series that everyone in so cal is worried about losing.

Good luck to you , and thanks for all you have done !!
Sierra Ranger
Posts
841
Joined
12/30/2018
Location
Sacramento, CA US
2/11/2019 1:46pm
KennyT wrote:
Magazines are a dying breed. I’ve been to several stores that have completely eliminated their magazine racks. When I do find a store with Mags the...
Magazines are a dying breed. I’ve been to several stores that have completely eliminated their magazine racks. When I do find a store with Mags the selection is pitiful. I subscribe to MXA and RacerX and they are both online. As much as I like holding onto a mag it is a archaic method of getting our moto fix. Most everything I read is on my tablet/phone
Is there anybody out there that moves the screen around, and zooms in and actually reads the content of articles in digital mags/ That is their big weakness IMO- they suck to actually read (great for looking at pictures). Might as well just put it in browser form.
2/12/2019 5:14am
i miss monday kickstart (which i read on a tuesday in the UK lol)
Graybeard
Posts
1068
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Location
Athens, TX US
Fantasy
2478th
2/12/2019 5:47am
Just got my issue over the weekend! Good luck Swap, your races series efforts are huge hits with my boys who still live in CA.
1
Coach529
Posts
296
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
ID US
2/12/2019 5:55am
I have not had a magazine in my hands in years, but there are three websites that hit regularly. Transworld, Racer X and Vital.

Good Luck with your future endeavors Swap.........without a doubt you will come out of this better than before!!
faceoff
Posts
5
Joined
7/5/2018
Location
Poughkeepsie, NY US
2/12/2019 4:12pm
swap wrote:
Wow. I just read every entry in this thread. It's been a hell of a week, guys! When I got my first job at Cycle News...
Wow. I just read every entry in this thread.
It's been a hell of a week, guys! When I got my first job at Cycle News back in 1990, I had no idea the adventure that lied ahead. My Editor, Jack Mangus, was the gnarliest boss I've ever had, but he instilled a work ethic in me that has stayed with me throughout my adult life. Seven years after I started with Cycle News, I got the call to be the test editor at Dirt Rider. I was scared shitless to leave the CN family, but I took a chance and had a heck of a good time and learned even more. After a couple of years, I was offered the chance to start up MXracer with guidance from Ken Faught and Tom Webb, and that was a huge learning curve. With my art director Mitch Ikemoto, the two of us pretty much put that thing out as a two-man show until I was able to hire my buddy Corey Neuer to help.
In February of 2000, I was at the Fox Racing go kart night during the Indy Trade show, and there was a guy going so slow in front of me that I just started ramming him! After the session was over, he took his helmet off and introduced himself to me as Brad McDonald, founder of Ride BMX and SNAP (and now-owner of all things Vital). He said that they wanted to start a motocross magazine and I was the person they wanted to do it. Now that was terrifying! I felt nice and cozy at MXracer, but since it was the red-headed sibling of Dirt Rider, I never really felt a ton of job security there. So I took the leap, and I was terrified. Brad was one of the smartest guys I ever worked for, though, and I learned a ton from him as we built the magazine up into the best selling in the world. It was a blast starting TransWorld Motocross with Garth Milan...we did everything together for many years.
It's been a hell of a journey, these past 19 years of trying to adapt to new trends and technology. (I remember when Garth and I swore we'd never give up slide film cameras!) I've worked with some truly talented individuals, many whom have become my best friends. I've gotten to see the world, witness amazing races and ridden in some places I would have never dreamt of. I always used to joke that when I got too old to enjoy riding dirt bikes I would transition into the sales side of the magazine, but at 50 I am having more fun than ever riding and racing.
Last week, the rug got pulled out from under us and I was shocked at the news. I felt like my life's work was stripped from me, and that I had nothing to show for it. Believe it or not, I felt like a complete failure when I walked into my home that night. When my wife and daughters hugged me, I sobbed the way I did when my parents passed away. My eldest daughter Sam graduated college last year, a semester early, and to my delight moved home as she transitioned straight into her career. "Don't worry dad, I've got the groceries and whatever bills you choose," she said. "I got you." While providing for my family was certainly a concern of mine, most of the grief I was feeling at the time revolved around my loss of purpose. At that moment, I realized that while my accomplishment of creating and building the TransWorld Motocross is certainly something to be proud of, it is my role as DAD that is why I am truly on this Earth. It is my biggest and more important accomplishment.
With the help of both my daughters this weekend, I put together swapmotolive.com "The space between places, where content will live." Read in between the lines of that motto and guess for yourself. Fingers crossed, though! My career thus far has been a wild adventure, and it could get even wilder if all goes right!

Answers to questions I read...
- If you just subscribed, you will either get a refund from AMI, or you will continue to get mags in the mail if things go right.
- The TWMX Race Series is also on hold. If things go right it will be back and better than ever.
- I never intentionally tried to give the mag a "cooler than thou" flavor. I made fun of myself more than anyone else!

Thanks for reading! And please check out swapmotolive.com As GuyB would say, "There's some nuggets on there." How about Mookie ripping on an Alta?

- swap
Swap I'm pulling for you and my buddy fofo.
You guys can make it happen.
One door closes another opens WIDE
SLAPPIE
diz330
Posts
302
Joined
7/7/2014
Location
CA
2/12/2019 6:14pm Edited Date/Time 2/12/2019 6:18pm
What was the dungey / Maeda controversial article that they were talking about on pulp show Monday night ? Dungey was mad about him releasing info from his mechanic or something ? I never got full story

Edit never mind. Just got explanation later in show .
BobbyLight
Posts
278
Joined
10/25/2016
Location
Lamp, NC US
2/12/2019 8:35pm
I've been enjoying donn's interviews from riders in the pits and after the races that he has been posting on his youtube.
jathey
Posts
329
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
MD US
2/12/2019 9:08pm

I vividly remember Donn running around the pit area at Binghamton in 2000, handing out his new magazine (I was a cub reporter for Cycle News, covering the Nationals). It was very nicely done and everyone I showed it to was very impressed.

19 years is a pretty damn good run, if you ask me. Congratulations.

Best of luck in the future. I just added www.swapmotolive.com to my list of favorites.


731chopper
Posts
4076
Joined
1/2/2015
Location
DFW, TX US
Fantasy
390th
2/12/2019 9:18pm
swap wrote:
Wow. I just read every entry in this thread. It's been a hell of a week, guys! When I got my first job at Cycle News...
Wow. I just read every entry in this thread.
It's been a hell of a week, guys! When I got my first job at Cycle News back in 1990, I had no idea the adventure that lied ahead. My Editor, Jack Mangus, was the gnarliest boss I've ever had, but he instilled a work ethic in me that has stayed with me throughout my adult life. Seven years after I started with Cycle News, I got the call to be the test editor at Dirt Rider. I was scared shitless to leave the CN family, but I took a chance and had a heck of a good time and learned even more. After a couple of years, I was offered the chance to start up MXracer with guidance from Ken Faught and Tom Webb, and that was a huge learning curve. With my art director Mitch Ikemoto, the two of us pretty much put that thing out as a two-man show until I was able to hire my buddy Corey Neuer to help.
In February of 2000, I was at the Fox Racing go kart night during the Indy Trade show, and there was a guy going so slow in front of me that I just started ramming him! After the session was over, he took his helmet off and introduced himself to me as Brad McDonald, founder of Ride BMX and SNAP (and now-owner of all things Vital). He said that they wanted to start a motocross magazine and I was the person they wanted to do it. Now that was terrifying! I felt nice and cozy at MXracer, but since it was the red-headed sibling of Dirt Rider, I never really felt a ton of job security there. So I took the leap, and I was terrified. Brad was one of the smartest guys I ever worked for, though, and I learned a ton from him as we built the magazine up into the best selling in the world. It was a blast starting TransWorld Motocross with Garth Milan...we did everything together for many years.
It's been a hell of a journey, these past 19 years of trying to adapt to new trends and technology. (I remember when Garth and I swore we'd never give up slide film cameras!) I've worked with some truly talented individuals, many whom have become my best friends. I've gotten to see the world, witness amazing races and ridden in some places I would have never dreamt of. I always used to joke that when I got too old to enjoy riding dirt bikes I would transition into the sales side of the magazine, but at 50 I am having more fun than ever riding and racing.
Last week, the rug got pulled out from under us and I was shocked at the news. I felt like my life's work was stripped from me, and that I had nothing to show for it. Believe it or not, I felt like a complete failure when I walked into my home that night. When my wife and daughters hugged me, I sobbed the way I did when my parents passed away. My eldest daughter Sam graduated college last year, a semester early, and to my delight moved home as she transitioned straight into her career. "Don't worry dad, I've got the groceries and whatever bills you choose," she said. "I got you." While providing for my family was certainly a concern of mine, most of the grief I was feeling at the time revolved around my loss of purpose. At that moment, I realized that while my accomplishment of creating and building the TransWorld Motocross is certainly something to be proud of, it is my role as DAD that is why I am truly on this Earth. It is my biggest and more important accomplishment.
With the help of both my daughters this weekend, I put together swapmotolive.com "The space between places, where content will live." Read in between the lines of that motto and guess for yourself. Fingers crossed, though! My career thus far has been a wild adventure, and it could get even wilder if all goes right!

Answers to questions I read...
- If you just subscribed, you will either get a refund from AMI, or you will continue to get mags in the mail if things go right.
- The TWMX Race Series is also on hold. If things go right it will be back and better than ever.
- I never intentionally tried to give the mag a "cooler than thou" flavor. I made fun of myself more than anyone else!

Thanks for reading! And please check out swapmotolive.com As GuyB would say, "There's some nuggets on there." How about Mookie ripping on an Alta?

- swap
Donn, you knocked it out of the park with this post.

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