SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. (BRAIN) — Southern California publishing house Move Press has pulled the plug on Switchback, its mountain bike magazine.
The August/September edition will be the magazine's last printed issue. Move will increase the frequency of its Peloton magazine from 10 print issues this year to 12 issues in 2015, including a Tour de France special, a Gear Guide and a Photo Annual. It will also grow Peloton's online and digital properties, while also investing in its custom-publishing arm, Gift Shop, which produces newspapers, video, film and books.
Move Press currently produces the Cannondale Gazette, a custom publication for CSG.
"Peloton and Gift Shop have been our main sources of revenue and growth for the past four years and we've decided to simplify and put all our efforts and energy into what we do best," said Move Press publisher Brad Roe. "We will put significant investment and creativity toward growing the Peloton brand on all fronts: print, digital, events, video, online and social."
All Switchback subscribers will get a letter and an email offering them Peloton magazine and/or a full refund for their issues yet delivered, Roe said. Switchback editor Philip Booth is no longer with the company.
Roe said website traffic for Peloton's online coverage of the 2014 Tour de France tripled compared with 2013, and its followers on social media sites including Facebook and Twitter are up. Despite the softness in the road market, print advertising is up 19 percent from last year, he added.
