Cycling Magazines - recommendations? - Page 2

Well, there's the Rivendell Reader, which is only quarterly, and
doesn't have a lot of articles, but usually has one or two that are
pretty interesting. They have a number of articles posted on line, so
you can get the idea before subscribing.
http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/html/reader.html

Subscribing also means that they will charge you $5.00 less per item if you order stuff from them.
Granted, some of their prices are fairly high anyway. I've bought a Carradice saddle bag and a few
other small items from them, but they don't have much more that I want. I do like the "Reader", but
haven't decided yet if it's worth continuing the subscription.

MP

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 00:13:11 -0500, "Roger Zoul" <rogerzoul2@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hunrobe wrote:
>::: reenie@mailandnews.com
>::
>:: wrote:
>::
>::: Do any of you subscribe to any cycling magazines, and, if so, which ones are particularly good.
>::: I'm thinking of getting a subscription for my husband... any specific thoughts in regard to 'Pro-
>::: Cycling' magazine?
>::
>:: If he's interested in europro racing, CycleSport is very good. Velo News has a bit more coverage
>:: of racing here in the US. I can't comment on Pro-Cycling. I've never seen it around here.
>
>Is there any cycling mag that doesn't deal with pro-cycling and/or racing, or anything pro? I'm not
>a pro, I want something for the average joe who uses bicylcing for enjoyment and improving health.
>Looking at super expensive gear don't cut it, either.

In article <vv22ba7437pb77@corp.supernews.com>, "Roger Zoul"
<rogerzoul2@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hunrobe wrote:
> ::: reenie@mailandnews.com
> ::
> :: wrote:
> ::
> ::: Do any of you subscribe to any cycling magazines, and, if so, which ones are particularly
> ::: good. I'm thinking of getting a subscription for my husband... any specific thoughts in regard
> ::: to 'Pro-Cycling' magazine?
> ::
> :: If he's interested in europro racing, CycleSport is very good. Velo News has a bit more
> :: coverage of racing here in the US. I can't comment on Pro-Cycling. I've never seen it around
> :: here.
>
> Is there any cycling mag that doesn't deal with pro-cycling and/or racing, or anything pro? I'm
> not a pro, I want something for the average joe who uses bicylcing for enjoyment and improving
> health. Looking at super expensive gear don't cut it, either.

I like Cycle Sport and Procycling, but the only one we subscribe to is Velonews. ALso, sometimes we
pick up some of the French Magazines, like Velo. They're very good.

In article <0c42vv8fb51raha775hromtfbntdn22cqo@4ax.com>,
MP <Schlabotnik@DELETESPAMmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 05:20:24 GMT, "Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> wrote:
>
> >"Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote in message
> >news:lqu1vvgic78mafh9mgc5jla4sksbb3g9gb@4ax.com...
> >> On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 03:48:31 GMT, "Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> from Road Runner
> >High
> >> Speed Online http://www.rr.com wrote:
> >>
> >> >"Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote
> >> >
> >> >> Stay away from Bicycling magazine published by Rodale. It blows.
> >> >
> >> >That's what my kids got me for xmas. I gritted my teeth, smiled, and said 'thanks, dudes'.

> >Although it DID have a nice one pager on a 4 wheel couch bike.
> >
> >Pete

> I got an included subscription to Bicycling when I joined the L.A.B. (I know, that's likely to
> start another argument). I used to read it years ago, and was quite surprised at how bad it is
> now. I'm not sure what bothers me more, the fact that it has so little real content, or it's
> assumption that all it's readers are rich yuppies who can blow thousands on bikes and equipment.
>
> MP

I like making fun of Bicycling as much as anyone, and indeed briefly considered doing a regular
report on the most-recently claimed ratios of the effect of weight on the bike or the wheels versus
the body (the typical formulation is some pseudoscientific tossed-off comment in an article like "a
gram on the wheels is worth three on the bike"). It turns out they don't do this quite often enough
to make tracking it interesting.

Now to the good stuff. First off, a newbie could do worse than to read Bicycling. Most of the advice
is credible, and their reader tips routinely impress me as being worth trying. Their exercise advice
seems pretty mainstream (do intervals to go faster, build base miles, etc.) if a bit repetitive. The
only really dreadful bit is their road-test analyses of the qualities of frame materials (Though I
remember reading back issues in high school, and thought at that time they were putting frames on a
fairly impressive-sounding jig that tested frame flex at various points. What happened?)

But in the last six months or so, I have read (I don't subscribe, but I mooch at the supermarket
magazine rack like crazy) several very, very good feature articles in their pages. They had an
amazing article on Graeme Obree, the ill-starred one-time hour record holder and monster TTer. They
did a very nice report on the world's biggest road race, held in South Africa. They did an
interesting, though somewhat flawed article on an idea they came up with and followed through on:
they gave 50 people in Portland, ME a half-decent Trek hybrid, and then followed up on them
periodically to see what happened. The stories were fascinating. As you might expect, many of the 50
seemed to just have excuses for why they weren't riding their nice new bike, and some just ended up
toodling around the block once in a while (but isn't that enough for some?), but one rider basically
started a block bike ride because of his new bike. One rider lost a bunch of weight in time for her
wedding. One family got a couple of the bikes, and rode all over the place. They did article-size
profiles of a great number of the riders, and had sidebar capsules on almost everyone.

I gave them credit just for trying such a mad idea, even if I thought it was a bit silly.

Bicycling has a lot of dorky features, starting with Style Man (though I think he's just Fabrizio
Mazzoleni's day job) and ending with the goofy back-page grid thingy, and at its worst the whole rag
comes off as Cosmo on two wheels and with fewer ads, but the feature articles I have checked out
lately have been surprisingly good.

--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Reenie" <reenie@mailandnews.com> wrote in message
news:370709e.0312291157.b41aeda@posting.google.com...
> Do any of you subscribe to any cycling magazines, and, if so, which ones are particularly good.
> I'm thinking of getting a subscription for my husband... any specific thoughts in regard to 'Pro-
> Cycling' magazine?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Reennie

What is good depends on his area of interest. There are racers tourists, and recreational riders.
Which is he?

This is coming from someone who would rather join the rednecks at a NASCAR race or sleep through an
opera than watch a bike race: Adventure Cycling puts out a very good magazine for club members ($30
dues) http://www.adventurecycling.org I subscribed to Cycling Plus for a year and loved it. It costs
over $60 though. I get the Rivendell Reader and enjoy that. Bicycling Mag. isn't what it used to be,
but I would rather have it than nothing.

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 00:12:04 -0800, Zoot Katz
<zootkatz@operamail.com> wrote:
>"Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> wrote:
>>"Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote
>>> Stay away from Bicycling magazine published by Rodale. It blows.
>>That's what my kids got me for xmas. I gritted my teeth, smiled, and said 'thanks, dudes'.
>>
>Ouch. No wonder we learn to hate Xmas.

Sheesh...that's pretty harsh. Well-intended but mis-informed gifts should be a reminder that people
love you and support your interests -- even if they don't understand said interests themselves.
--
Rick Onanian

Frank Knox wrote:

> Bicycling Mag. isn't what it used to be, but I would rather have it than nothing.

We could propose that as a motto for Bicycling's masthead: "It's better than nothing."

Hmm... if we send that in as a letter to the editor, do you think they'll pull one of the gushing
letters of praise to print it? ;-)

I like Rivendell's publications. The current "Hiawathan" version of their catalog is such a neat
thing. <sigh> Too bad about the prices, though.

If sophisticated touring bikes from 1930s - 1950s sound interesting, you might like Vintage Bicycle
Quarterly. Lots of neat Daniel Rebour sketches showing elegant, practical details.

Cycling Plus is very good, I think. <sigh> Too bad about the prices, though.

I guess, when I want to read about bikes, I tend to read books and the internet.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

"MP" <Schlabotnik@DELETESPAMmail.com> wrote in message
news:tkb3vvs9naq4c4kbjtj95bv57pnm27f9rt@4ax.com...
> Well, there's the Rivendell Reader, which is only quarterly, and doesn't have a lot of
> articles, but usually has one or two that are pretty interesting. They have a number of
> articles posted on line,
so
> you can get the idea before subscribing. http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/html/reader.html
>
> Subscribing also means that they will charge you $5.00 less per item if you order stuff from them.
> Granted, some of their prices are fairly high anyway. I've bought a Carradice saddle bag and a few
> other small items from them, but they don't have much more that I want. I do like the "Reader",
> but haven't decided yet if it's worth continuing the subscription.

More importantly, the Reader is written by real bicyclists. Grant is a pretty good guy and most of
the articles are decent even if they aren't in my interests.

"Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> wrote in message
news:sW7Ib.38754$ms2.25248@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
> "Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote in message
> news:lqu1vvgic78mafh9mgc5jla4sksbb3g9gb@4ax.com...
> > On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 03:48:31 GMT, "Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> from Road
Runner
> > High Speed Online http://www.rr.com wrote:
> > >"Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote
> > >
> > >> Stay away from Bicycling magazine published by Rodale. It
blows.
> > >
> > >That's what my kids got me for xmas. I gritted my teeth, smiled,
and said
> > >'thanks, dudes'.
> >
> > Well, at least you'll have lots of nice pictures of expensive gear
to look
> > at.
>
> And cars. 7 pages of car ads, out of 91.
>
> Although it DID have a nice one pager on a 4 wheel couch bike.

And it has such journalists they can get up to 20 words to the article before running out
of ability.

"Ryan Cousineau" <rcousine@sfu.ca> wrote in message
news:rcousine-B21DE2.10484630122003@morgoth.sfu.ca...
> In article <0c42vv8fb51raha775hromtfbntdn22cqo@4ax.com>, MP
> <Schlabotnik@DELETESPAMmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 05:20:24 GMT, "Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> wrote:
> >
> > >"Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote in message
> > >news:lqu1vvgic78mafh9mgc5jla4sksbb3g9gb@4ax.com...
> > >> On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 03:48:31 GMT, "Pete" <ptr@usaf.com> from
Road Runner
> > >High
> > >> Speed Online http://www.rr.com wrote:
> > >>
> > >> >"Kevan Smith" <Kevan@mouse-potato.com> wrote
> > >> >
> > >> >> Stay away from Bicycling magazine published by Rodale. It
blows.
> > >> >
> > >> >That's what my kids got me for xmas. I gritted my teeth,
smiled, and said
> > >> >'thanks, dudes'.
>
> > >Although it DID have a nice one pager on a 4 wheel couch bike.
> > >
> > >Pete
>
> > I got an included subscription to Bicycling when I joined the
L.A.B.
> > (I know, that's likely to start another argument). I used to read
it
> > years ago, and was quite surprised at how bad it is now. I'm not
sure
> > what bothers me more, the fact that it has so little real content,
or
> > it's assumption that all it's readers are rich yuppies who can
blow
> > thousands on bikes and equipment.
> >
> > MP
>
> I like making fun of Bicycling as much as anyone, and indeed briefly considered doing a regular
> report on the most-recently claimed
ratios of
> the effect of weight on the bike or the wheels versus the body (the typical formulation is some
> pseudoscientific tossed-off comment in
an
> article like "a gram on the wheels is worth three on the bike"). It turns out they don't do this
> quite often enough to make tracking it interesting.
>
> Now to the good stuff. First off, a newbie could do worse than to
read
> Bicycling. Most of the advice is credible, and their reader tips routinely impress me as being
> worth trying. Their exercise advice
seems
> pretty mainstream (do intervals to go faster, build base miles,
etc.) if
> a bit repetitive. The only really dreadful bit is their road-test analyses of the qualities of
> frame materials (Though I remember
reading
> back issues in high school, and thought at that time they were
putting
> frames on a fairly impressive-sounding jig that tested frame flex at various points. What
> happened?)
>
> But in the last six months or so, I have read (I don't subscribe,
but I
> mooch at the supermarket magazine rack like crazy) several very,
very
> good feature articles in their pages. They had an amazing article on Graeme Obree, the ill-starred
> one-time hour record holder and
monster
> TTer. They did a very nice report on the world's biggest road race,
held
> in South Africa. They did an interesting, though somewhat flawed
article
> on an idea they came up with and followed through on: they gave 50 people in Portland, ME a half-
> decent Trek hybrid, and then followed
up
> on them periodically to see what happened. The stories were
fascinating.
> As you might expect, many of the 50 seemed to just have excuses for
why
> they weren't riding their nice new bike, and some just ended up
toodling
> around the block once in a while (but isn't that enough for some?),
but
> one rider basically started a block bike ride because of his new
bike.
> One rider lost a bunch of weight in time for her wedding. One family
got
> a couple of the bikes, and rode all over the place. They did article-size profiles of a great
> number of the riders, and had
sidebar
> capsules on almost everyone.
>
> I gave them credit just for trying such a mad idea, even if I
thought it
> was a bit silly.
>
> Bicycling has a lot of dorky features, starting with Style Man
(though I
> think he's just Fabrizio Mazzoleni's day job) and ending with the
goofy
> back-page grid thingy, and at its worst the whole rag comes off as
Cosmo
> on two wheels and with fewer ads, but the feature articles I have checked out lately have been
> surprisingly good.

I have the October, November and December issues which were given to me and I sure don't see many
"good" articles. I'll have to go back through them but for sure the old days with 10 long articles
in a magazine are long gone.

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:07:38 -0500, "frkrygow"
<"frkrygow"@omitcc.ysu.edu> wrote:

>We could propose that as a motto for Bicycling's masthead: "It's better than nothing."
>
>Hmm... if we send that in as a letter to the editor, do you think they'll pull one of the gushing
>letters of praise to print it? ;-)

No. They'd probably make it the "Letter of the Month" and give you a prize. Probably some BioPace
chainrings and one of those nice saddles -- waddayacallem -- you know, with one platform for each
buttock, and hinges.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 00:54:20 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, "Frank
Knox" <jmkfmk@removeearthlink.net> wrote:

> Bicycling Mag. isn't what it used to be, but I would rather have it than nothing.

Not me! Rodale makes far more money from selling their subscriber lists than they do from
subscriptions or advertising. They are one of the best known list vendors to the direct mail
industry, and were pioneers in the field.

You'd think that a direct mail pioneer company like that would honor a subscriber's repeated
requests to NOT share my name and address with anyone, but noooooo... same old Rodale that publishes
"Organic Gardening", generating tones of junk mail by selling their list.

Not only did they sell my name to unlimited numbers of junk mailers, they started dunning me with
renewal offers *before* the first issue of a one year subscription arrived! i'll never subscribe to
a rodale anything again. if i buy their books, it won't be from them, either.

"Roger Zoul" <rogerzoul2@hotmail.com> wrote in message >
> I'm not a pro, I want something for the average joe

Sometimes I think we will never weed out those 'types' from our sport!

"Fabrizio Mazzoleni" <chipomarc@yahoo.com>
> "Roger Zoul" <rogerzoul2@hotmail.com> wrote in message >
> > I'm not a pro, I want something for the average joe
>
> Sometimes I think we will never weed out those 'types' from our sport!

Your sport. The Gay Olympics.

Regards,

30 Dec 2003 22:14:10 -0800,
<70944b7b.0312302214.2018fa1@posting.google.com>, chipomarc@yahoo.com
The perennial (Fabrizio Mazzoleni) wrote:

>"Roger Zoul" <rogerzoul2@hotmail.com> wrote in message >
>> I'm not a pro, I want something for the average joe
>
>Sometimes I think we will never weed out those 'types' from our sport!

Lots of pictures and not too many big words!

http://www.velovision.co.uk/mag/downloads.html
--
zk

Dennis P. Harris wrote:
>
> Not only did they sell my name to unlimited numbers of junk mailers, they started dunning me with
> renewal offers *before* the first issue of a one year subscription arrived!

They treated me worse than that. I got the first renewal notice at _least_ six months before my
subscription was up. I decided to check "yes" on the first renewal request and send it back in, to
save them postage on the usual 15 "Your subscription is almost over!!!!" notices.

Well, despite my subscription having six months remaining, they immediately began sending me bills,
with each one containing a more insistent letter, demanding I pay. This got me mad. I thought
"Forget it. I'll pay when my subscription is actually expired."

By the time that occurred, they were threatening to turn my account over to a collection agency
and ruin my credit rating. This was over payment for a subscription renewal that hadn't started
yet! It was ugly.

That's when I started reading the rag in the library.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]