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The future of titles that were once some of the biggest and most successful motorcycle magazines in U.S. history, such as Cycle World and Motorcyclist, is in doubt as owner Octane Media has laid off staff, multiple sources have told Common Tread.
While Octane has not issued any statement, employees have been told that operations are winding down on the web sites that are all that remain of what were once huge, monthly print magazines. Cycle World Executive Editor Justin Dawes posted the news on his Instagram account.
Octane Media includes Cycle World, Motorcyclist, Dirt Rider, UTV Driver, ATV Rider, Cruiser, and Cycle Volta. The latter was a site devoted to electric vehicles that hadn't been updated since 2023. Common Tread readers are most likely to remember Cycle World and Motorcyclist, which were glossy, monthly magazines with broad circulation in the 1990s. Motorcyclist was the oldest continuously published motorcycle magazine in the United States. It went to a bi-monthly cadence in 2017 and the print edition was ended in 2019. Cycle World was reimagined as a quarterly publication in 2018 but when Octane bought the titles from Bonnier Motorcycle Group in 2020, the last print edition ended and the titles carried on as websites only.
Motorcyclist's history dates back to 1912, when the publication was called Pacific Motorcycling. Its name and ownership changed several times and it survived the Great Depression and World War II rationing, but it did not survive the internet age. Cycle World was founded in 1962 by Joe Parkhurst and he later sold the magazine to CBS. It changed hands a few more times over the years, owned by publishing companies, before being bought by Octane Lending, which is in the primary business of providing financing for powersports purchases.
In recent years, the Cycle World and Motorcyclist websites were increasingly heavily loaded with ads, which affected user experience. Octane Media claimed the sites had 1.3 million unique monthly visitors but that information is contained in a media kit that apparently hasn't been updated since 2023.
