The death of print media may have been vastly overstated, but today, multinational media conglomerate Bonnier Corporation announced the closing of popular V-Twin magazine Hot Bike. I remember reading issues of this glossy chopper and custom magazine back in high school during the 1980s, where it provided custom motorcycle fans with a welcome and more intelligently rendered alternative to the often racist, sexist outlaw biker offerings of “Easyriders.” “Hot Bike” always took a more technical approach to the chopper market and the magazine was written with a certain intelligence that was desperately missing in the field. Bonnier bought just about every large-circulation motorcycle magazine in the country a couple of years back and under the guidance of editorial director Andy Leisner, has focused on clearing the newsstands of print media faster than you can say Instagram.
For those of us who prefer to read well-researched, professionally written motorcycle information in print form, this is another unfortunate development. We can only hope that, in years to come, motorcycle magazines- and print media in general- continues to thrive.