We’ve published hundreds of in-depth mountain bike product reviews here on the blog and from time to time we get valid questions about how the review process works. Readers are right to be skeptical about what they read online and to consider the writer’s motivation in publishing a review. So here’s the deal.
Do companies pay you to review products?
Absolutely not. Unfortunately it is becoming more common for blogs to accept payment for articles but we never have and never will. In fact, we happen to know several competing mountain bike blogs offer “editorial coverage” as part of their online ad packages which to us, isn’t cool. We’ve undoubtedly lost out on some ad deals because of our position.
Do your advertisers get more positive reviews than non-advertisers?
Nope. Our ad sales and editorial teams are completely separate (mudhunny manages our ad sales rep while I manage the blog team). This even extends to our Facebook feed – we do not publish “paid” posts there.
If everything is separate, why does it seem like you never publish negative reviews?
Several reasons. First: most of the MTB gear being sold today is high quality. Clearly we don’t review entry-level items which helps, but the fact is, it’s in all companies’ best interest to put out good products (shocking, we know). Ask anyone how they like the mountain bike they’re riding and 90% of the time the response is “I’m really happy with it.” Go figure.
Now, we do come across bad products every now and then and in those cases we communicate this with the manufacturer to get a better understanding of the issues. Sometimes it’s bad luck (something breaks) other times we’re not using the product as it was intended. In a few cases, the product just plain sucks. Rather than publishing a negative review, we simply return the product and let the manufacturer know we can’t review it for quality reasons.
So – if you haven’t seen an in-depth review of a product on singletracks (or anywhere else for that matter) – it might just be because it isn’t worth reviewing.
But don’t positive reviews help you sell more stuff?
Many mountain bike blogs include affiliate purchase links in their review articles so if their readers end up clicking a link and buying the product, the writer gets a cut – but we don’t do this. Again, it’s hard to be objective in a review if you stand to make more money if the review is positive. Our revenue is based on ad impressions so we (basically) get paid based on the number of people who read the article – positive or negative.
Do you get to keep the stuff you review?
Sometimes. For many products like clothing and hydration, companies aren’t able to re-use samples for hygiene reasons. Other products, like forks and handlebars, need to be modified (cut) to fit our rigs. Things like tires and grips tend to get worn so they aren’t easily returnable. Also, many of the reviews we publish are for items we’ve purchased using our own money.
Test bikes are always loaners while things like electronics and wheels are often sent back after a review is published. In cases where we get to keep an item it is our policy not to sell the used item – ever. We still use many review items and give others away to folks we know.
How long do you typically test products before you review them?
It depends on the item and the reviewer. We try our best to put items through their paces but we are constrained by time (a review of a 2011 fork isn’t helpful when it’s 2012 and you can’t even buy the ’11 anymore). This is one area we’re working on; fortunately most of us ride A LOT and are able to get enough mileage on parts before we review ‘em. Still, a regular “wear update” on products we’ve reviewed in the past would be helpful in the future…
We want to make sure our product review process is transparent and we suggest you ask these same questions of the other websites you visit (even the non-MTB ones). Our mission is to provide mountain bikers with the best information available – about trails, gear, how-tos, events, and more – and we hope you can appreciate the difference that makes. Happy trails!
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This is good to know. I’m really glad to be a member at Singletracks. It’s a real quality operation and thanks for the good work.
Great article. There are many sites to get reviews. It is up to the individual to get as much information as they can. The site may say one thing but the members will let you know what the truth is.
Keeping it real!
A full honest review is best as what one person might consider a negative, might be considered a positive to another. I consider this part of the site very important as I don’t have the time, or money to try out everything my self.
Have to agree on the quality of mountain bike stuff these days. Once you go past midrange $ It’s all good. All the extra bucks usually get you is a few less grams, or features/ adjustment that might or might not be useful to you.
Glad that you don’t bother reviewing items that are bad/ don’t work.
@ mtgreg!, dgaddis, trek7k…….. you are my bestest friends keep this in mind when you are giving stuff away
In my incredibly humble opinion, choosing to not tell someone when you come across something “that sucks” is quite a disservice. Reviews exist to let the reader know where to spend their money. Neglecting to tell them about a product they should steer clear of seems to be much more helpful to the company that created the sucky product than the reader of your reviews.
You’re right schwim – negative reviews can be helpful too. A couple things:
1. Of the products we’ve had to send back, I honestly can’t think of any that came from a major manufacturer so these aren’t usually products most riders would come across anyway. Think upstarts that don’t have the funds or design experience to make a good product or stuff that’s not quite ready for the mass market. One exception I recall is the original GoPro helmet camera – that thing was pretty buggy and we decided not to review it.
2. We want to be a positive information source for the MTB community. This is just a part of our culture that flows from the founders but our focus is on uplifting the sport, not posting rants or being negative. We’d rather focus on telling everyone about the good stuff than harping on what sucks. That’s not to say we don’t tell you the good and bad about every product we review – we’re just selective in what we review so we can keep the tone positive.
If you like I can just send you a PM whenever I come across something that we won’t be reviewing so you don’t accidentally buy it.
One more note: as a rule we don’t post press releases on the blog. In fact, we rarely post about gear we haven’t had a chance to get hands-on with.