Buzz Kanter announces suspension of American Iron Magazine

[exeric]

Sour grapes. And that's Bruce Palmer III.

[T. Cotten]

... he did more for old bikes than anyone else I can think of.

Not even Bruce Palmer III, Eric?

Think harder. There's many others.

And don't think Buzz didn't profit from every click on his link. THAT's how commercial sites work.

If nothing else, Buzz is still a businessman.

....Cotten

[exeric]

If CAIMAG is gone, the old bike hobby has suffered an enormous loss. If Buzz did pull the plug, I would bear him non animus as he did more for old bikes than anyone else I can think of. He put his money where his mouth was and I don't see anyone here taking his place. I would encourage everyone who haunted CAIMAG, to come here and make the AMCA forum what it had been, and should be. The AMCA goes back to 1954 and was the only thing out there for those (few) crazy old bastards that loved, and preserved our American motorcycle heritage. The people I have known, and respected on CAIMAG are some of the finest, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable old bike lovers on planet earth. They need to be here, and bring this forum back to the premier status it had years ago. I hope this is all moot and CAIMAG will be back, but if not; my CAIMAG friends need to make the AMCA their new home.

[T. Cotten]

It's upsetting he did not mention the forum when closing magazine!

You don't know Buzz.

....Cotten

[tomfiii]

It's upsetting he did not mention the forum when closing magazine!

[droptopford]

...error 522.

Correction: Yes... error 522 is what I show too.

I don't want to assume the worst but I sure would hate to see that site go away. I think the potential is there for this site to take up the slack, but it's going to require everyone over there coming here. Probably not going to happen. And somebody is going to have to figure out how to relocate all 900+ pages of the 'Vintage Pics of the Day' thread.

[KNUCK]

I am not able to log on either, error 522.

[droptopford]

Has Buzz said he is ending the CAIMAG Forum? It seems like there might be good business reasons for keeping it going for future endeavors, and promotions. The end of the CAIMAG Forum would be a major blow to vintage motorcycles as it is far and away better than this forum.

I hope this is an unrelated temporary anomaly, but I've been unable to access the CAIMAG website since this morning. Just getting the 404 error page.

[BoschZEV]

I almost threw out a letter yesterday without opening it because it was obviously an ad for something. Good that I didn't, because inside was a check for the remaining issues of my subscription to a magazine that stopped publishing a few months ago. The name of company that sent it had nothing to do with the magazine. I've also had the other experience when magazines go belly up, where some odd magazine I have no interest in whatever starts showing up for the remainder of my subscription.

[T. Cotten]

Is he here to clue us in?

....Cotten
PS: He's only made 539 posts,.. .. .

[brettxlch]

Yup that happened to me with the Buzz Rag......

[T. Cotten]

Since I JUST renewed for 2 yrs, (after being a subscriber for the last 20) I wonder if Buzz had ANY idea that publication would cease in the very near future and might have given a heads up. Just sayin.....

I only know from my experience, Smitty,..

When Indian Illustrated folded, a pitiful replacement arrived for a while.

You may not be that lucky.

....Cotten

[HDSmitty]

Since I JUST renewed for 2 yrs, (after being a subscriber for the last 20) I wonder if Buzz had ANY idea that publication would cease in the very near future and might have given a heads up. Just sayin.....

[exeric]

Has Buzz said he is ending the CAIMAG Forum? It seems like there might be good business reasons for keeping it going for future endeavors, and promotions. The end of the CAIMAG Forum would be a major blow to vintage motorcycles as it is far and away better than this forum.

[T. Cotten]

I last spoke with Buzz at the Las Vegas auctions in January, but obviously much has changed since then. He cites changes in both the motorcycle as well as the publishing industries. These changes already did in 'Motorcyclist' and turned 'Cycle World' into a four or five times a year publication supported by relatively little advertising.

Numbers tell the story: Cycle World's circulation in 2005 was 338.9k; last year it was 106.2k. U.S. motorcycle sales peaked just before the recession of ~15 years ago, and now are only half that number. Well, that was the pre-covid 2019 number; 2020 sales certainly will be worse.

Magazines devoted to classic motorcycles seem to be doing better, but their customers are aging out of the market for those magazines as well as for motorcycles of any vintage (a problem that is hitting Harley-Davidson hard), and new customers aren't aging into either market. Sneaking coverage of post-1960 Japanese bikes into classic magazines, including AMCA's own, helps with circulation (and membership) without upsetting existing customers too much, but someone who got a Japanese bike when they turned 16 in 1970 is now 66 so classic Japanese bikes aren't immune from the aging problem.

For what it's worth, for a variety of reasons, I expect the post-covid motorcycle world to rapidly become post-internal-combustion. Hey, don't shoot the messenger...

There's no doubt, BoschZev!

You've got a better handle on it... .. . .

...Cotten