About Trail Rider Magazine
Trail Rider is off road riding and racing only, no MX. Trail Rider has always had the very best coverage of the ISDE and now Trial Rider is THE magazine for Endurocross. Trail Rider also boasts the very finest writers in the industry. Joining Paul Clipper are legends Ed Hertfelder, and Rick Sieman aka Super Hunky. Charlie Williams, Jerry Bernardo and a cast of dozens make Trail Rider the funniest magazine on the bath room floor.
If you like riding, racing or adventure riding, Trail Rider is the magazine for you. Along with humor TR has bike test and gear reviews, it’s better than you’d expect….
–(With Excerpts from Rick Sieman of Offroad.com)
“Based in New Hampshire, TRAIL RIDER MAGAZINE is run by Paul Clipper, a graduate of the Hi-Torque/Dirt Bike group. TR is unabashedly written for the Eastern fun/play/trail/enduro/hare scrambles rider. If you ride in trees, rocks and mud, you’ll find a home here.
Tests in TRAIL RIDER are done with the emphasis on how the bike works in the woods. Here, a soft, supple suspension is welcomed; coping with 75-foot triple jumps is, thankfully, ignored. Paul is patient with a test bike. Just because an ATK 250 is not the fastest bike available, or the trickest, Clipper will not write it off. He’ll go to great pains to tell you how to make the thing work in the woods. TR will tell you what gearing works, what jetting to use, and how to set the suspension up without spending a fortune on after marketparts. They’re especially knowledgeable on KTMs and Huskys.
Clipper has his own certified mad-man writing for TR: Charlie Williams, listed as National Affairs Editor. Paul gives Charlie lots of leeway in his stories, and the result is a loose, weird, gonzo-journalism that is a joy to read. Following Williams through an enduro or hare scrambles in print, is almost like being there with him. Everybody knows someone like Charlie Williams, and Paul is smart enough to exploit this. Often, Williams forgets to take photos when he covers an event, and makes up for this with crude (and intensely funny) stick drawings.
Paul writes a column (Last Over) every month, and nine out of ten times, it’s good stuff. His column in the March ‘97 issue “Knowing the Language,” is a pure gem.
Photography in TR is excellent, in general, with crisp photos; layout and graphics are clean and simple, with no wasted space.
Ed Hertfelder, who was cut off at the kneecaps at DIRT RIDER, found a new home at TRAIL RIDER.
All things considered, TRAIL RIDER is certainly readable; it’s not a pretentious magazine. Paul Clipper knows where he is, what his people want, and delivers it.”
Super Hunky
5 responses so far ↓
1 dadspurg // Nov 26, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Hello. I would like to see TRM do more articles on recreational trail type riding. Specifically interesting places to ride off road. An example would be the Michigan State/Fed park system trails. THanks/Ron
2 stinkywheels // Dec 3, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Love the Endurocross articles. I don’t agree that trials bikes should be banned from competition but embraced. Should the trials tires on Knights bike be banned? No mention was made of them or on the rear of Charlie Williams bike. I’m a trials, trail, MX and street rider so it’s not like I have a bias, but I have learned more from riding trials than all other disciplines combined.
3 davet916 // Dec 4, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I have to admit my guilt of not visiting the website since last November when I used it to renew my subscription. Wow, what a difference a year makes. I love the new site, so far. I’m still finding out where everything is. I subscribed to TRM four or five years ago and after the first year I emailed Paul regarding the lack of trail riding articles. He sent me a great email back and thanked me for reminding him of why he started riding in the first place. It wasn’t long after that that Charlie Williams articles on his Mexico trip appeared. I mentioned ride reports on different trails to Paul and he said it was a great idea but that some of the trails being ridden could not be reported on because they’re probably illegal (Super Secret Spots). Others won’t be reported on because you don’t want the world finding out about where you ride and the next time you go it’s like a freeway.
I’m here in Northern California and, though I don’t ride enduros myself, a lot of guys I’ve ridden with do. We have a bunch of them here but, unlike yours, ours are pretty dry, dusty and rocky. Some have been called on account of an early or late snow. I think we’re District 36 or 37 here. Maybe some of our guys would like to contribute to the mag on our enduros.
Reading the above article, I just found out that the magazine is regional. I’m not new to the idea as we have NorCal and SoCal rivalries all the time and mostly in good sport. I wonder if Paul has put any thought into a left coast, on-line issue?
Dave
4 trailridercharlie // Feb 12, 2008 at 7:21 am
Hey Stinky: The trials tire issues is a simple one, I’ll explain: It is the Maxxis Endurocross. Mazzis does not make a trials tier…. Soooo that’s where it comes from.
The trials tires work awesome and better yet, they wont tear up trails as badly as a spinning knobbie, run them!
Hey Dave :916
Thanks for the nice letter, I agree with Clipper about not wanting to give away some one’s secret stash of trails in a national magazine or web site. But, I think you could make friends with another reader here on this web site and they could show you their stash of trails.
When ever I go on a trip, I hustle up a friend of the magazine and find a guide to the area I want to ride.
Seek out local clubs and make new friends, besides thats half the fun is making new friends and contacts. Then when it is your turn, you can weed out the kooks and share your trails with like minded riders.
Be cool
Charlie
5 HTR1 // Apr 1, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Hey Charlie thanks for the interesting articles.
You give us guys something to think about.
Check out my link to the vintage iron. I posted my websites and will be getting geared up for another season of riding.
Valley Branch postponed due to bad weather . gee go figure. So we kept peddling to Judha.
We rode the ABATE Property in Indiana and had made fun in 5 hours of rain. We had a good time despite the weather. This week we will be at Redbird SRA doing a season opener.
April 5th 2008. Need Motorcyclist to show up.
New Trail sections for single track. Cheers w Beers
You must log in to post a comment.