Motorcycle Industry News

After eight years of publication, Road Racer X has folded. The magazine, which was dedicated to road-racing motorcycles, was published six times a year. Along with the magazine, the Road Racer X website will also cease to update content.

This is the second major motorcycle publication of 2010 to cease production; Cycle News, a weekly newspaper, also folded in August.

The magazine reported the sour economy was the reason, driving publisher Davey Coombs to cease publication.

For subscribers who have time left on their subscription, a deal was struck between Coombs and John Ulrich, publisher of Roadracing World magazine. Roadracing World has agreed to fulfill the outstanding issues owed to Road Racer X subscribers.

The following is currently on the homepage of Road Racer X's website:

"We wish to announce that effective December 31, Road Racer X magazine will cease publication.

"The current economic situation, along with the rising costs of production and distribution, have made it difficult to continue printing the publication. This was not an easy decision to make. Our editorial standards have always been set quite high in terms of production, photographic quality, and editorial page counts, and in the current climate, we felt that putting out anything less than that would be a disservice to our readers."

"Our loyal subscribers have always been foremost in our minds, and we are happy to announce that Roadracing World magazine has agreed to fulfill the outstanding issues owed to our subscribers. As you probably know, the passion and dedication Roadracing World founder and Editor John Ulrich and his family have shown for the sport for almost four decades is second to none, and we wish them well as they carry the torch here."

"Thank you for reading Road Racer X; here's to future days."

As for Cycle News, it ceased publication on Aug. 31, 2010. Cycle News, which was one of the most respected media sources in the industry, remained in print as a weekly motorcycle newspapers for more than 40 years.

Since it stopped publishing the newspaper, it has covered the motorcycle industry and sport through its website cyclenews.com; the Cycle News brand was bought out by the Motorsports Aftermarket Group.