Greetings from Chongqing lads and lasses,

First of all apologies for the problems reading China Motorcycle news magazine recently, I'm currently trying to fix them. I want to give you some information on the situation here in the industry with bike magazine (English versions)

I started with industry magazines back in 2006 when I became the International Editor of Chinamotor Magazine (then became MegaChinamotor). My split with them was due to 2 reasons, the first was that they moved to Shanghai to partner with The Bicycle Expo and the second was that they insisted on carrying features and articles on Japanese and European bikes (I didn't think this was the point of a Chinese trade magazine but they were not at all interested in their readership, only in advertising revenue).

Due to this I set up China2wheels magazine with an ex employee of Chinamotor magazine here in Chongqing and we were really building up a decent readership until I discovered (after 9 months of working without a salary) that my partner was channeling funds into other projects and basically ripped me off for several thousand dollars.

Finally I thought 'f*** it' I'll start my own magazine and do it all myself with editorial contributions from friends and contacts around the world, which is what China Motorcycle News is now. Since starting on my own I discovered that getting advertising revenue is not about doing a good marketing job but how much of a bribe you can offer. I refuse to work this way and so i receive ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT from the Chinese motorcycle industry. I even set up the Zongshen-Norton engine deal (as well as many others) and received absolutely no consultancy fee from Zongshen (who told me that the deal was not going forward!!!).

And so, I run the magazine mainly to make sure that there is a centralised outlet for Chinese motorcycle trade news and of course to spread my brand globally.

As I am primarily a consultant and writer and not an expert publisher I'm not great at fixing issues with China Motorcycle News but I do try my hardest to get it out every month. I have just bought a cloud which I hope will solve reading issues in the future as I value your readership and pledge to get the Chinese motorcycle trade news out to you as smoothly as possible.

If you have any advice for me, I will heed it! As I have mentioned I do not make money from the magazine and the adverts within it are free for companies that I believe are worthy of promotion due to their professional attitude.

Once again sorry for the problems with the magazine, they will be fixed soon and forever.

love and cuddles (keep the rubber on the road)

Dave xx