Superbike Magazine Centerfolds

I am really hacked off with Superbike Magazine's centerfolds. They used to be nicely done, but for the last year, they've shown principal errors. The Superbike Mag's art director obviously has NO clue as to the function and spirit of bike magazine centerfolds.

Posted here is this month's centerfold which is a good illustration of what I mean. Now traditionally bike magazine centerfolds are double-sided and removable. On the one side you have the girl on top of the bike or in front of the bike. On the other side you have the girl next to the bike or behind the bike.

The point being that on the one side the girl is in focus and the bike the backdrop. On that side you'd expect a side-bar giving the model's name, vital statistics, list of hobbies, the modelling agency and the name of the stylist and so on. Like the girl on the pic above is Charlotte Marshall (or so they claim) and in the sidebar I want to read things like she loves reading Sartre and is a part-time law student. You get the idea.

On the other side the bike is in focus. In this case the new Aprillia RSV1000R - the most awesome V-Twin superbike on the road and this is the RR (race replica) Factory version (read limited edition with lots of carbon and upgraded suspension). On that side there should be a side-bar giving the specifications of the machine: weight, brake horse power, maximum torque, 0-100mph acceleration, fuel consumption, etc...

Nowadays Superbike magazine only offers a single side - with the babe in front of the bike. The reverse of the picture is covered in advertisements and articles. Which means firstly that you cannot remove the centerfold from the magazine without losing part of the reading material anymore. And secondly, it means that you do not get a good look at the bikes anymore.

Take another look at the centerfold pasted above. She is COMPLETELY in front of the bike! I might as well have parked a pasola behind her, because one cannot even identify the bike (in the extreme background) as the RSV1000R. You can only read the last "...ia" of "Aprillia" between her legs underneath her belly. That goes totally against the spirit of bike centerfolds - reducing it to the level of normal soft porn anywhere.

And then on that point - another change. I have not seen a single nipple on any of the Superbike Mag centerfolds for the last year. I suppose that once they show nipple they have to sell the mag in a sealed cover - so there might be distribution issues coming into play here. BUT the principle is that if you cannot see nipple it is not really a nudie, now is it??? I mean Charlotte even kept her wonderbra on! It is not even respectable soft-porn! And it speaks of a lack of understanding concerning the function and significance of a bike magazine centerfold on the part of their art director! I am very close to cancelling my subscription!