I got my start working at Cycle News Central, back in Austin, Texas in the mid seventies. I dropped by their offices, located on the posh, but low-brow, West side of Austin, near infamous Barton Springs.
A era in modern motorcycle journalism has come to an end. The announcement that Cycle News has indeed, discontinued publishing, layed off their remaining employees, and closed the doors, has hit everyone who ever worked at this weekly "Cycle" news paper hard.
The saddest thing is that the people working there were doing, and will continue to do, a great job in this industry. Cycle News was on the forefront of a lot of the changes happening in moto-journalism today. The idea that they were not adapting to the rise of the internet, or the fickle nature of people looking for news, instantly, just doesn't hold water.
They were among the first to make use of the internet and rapid news dissemination. Its founders, Chuck and Sharon Clayton, took a local weeky motorcycle paper and made it into one of the most progressive and loved institutions in our sport. Covering every aspect of motorcycling, including local events, on a National level.
Unfortunately, what took Cycle News down was a dogged refusal to maximize it strengths, and minimize its problems. In these trying financial and economic times, the ability to pull everyone in the same direction is critical and essential to success. That just did not seem to be in the cards for the troubled company, whose problems seem to mount over the last few years. Read More on the demise of Cycle News at Off-Road Illustrated
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