Cycling Magazines
- Thread starter mizzmjm
- Start date
It's debatable how good magazine advice is. Certainly it depends on the magazine and the person reading it. I tend to read Peloton, Paved, Road Bike Action (poor editing, sometime bad prints, and questionable statements about technical issues.....but still pretty good), and sometimes Velo.
The only good things about Bicycling Magazine are The Bike Snob, Bob Mionske's articles, and the cycling related stories (fictional or otherwise). Their advice and tech reviews are pretty much bottom of the barrel stuff. They're great at recycling such things from year to year.
The only good things about Bicycling Magazine are The Bike Snob, Bob Mionske's articles, and the cycling related stories (fictional or otherwise). Their advice and tech reviews are pretty much bottom of the barrel stuff. They're great at recycling such things from year to year.
My mom bought be a subscription to Bicycling. Thanks, Mom. It's kind of fun to read of an idea in Bicycling and have it show up in the group ride a week later. I do like the articles about core fitness and stretching, but that's about it. And Road Bike Action, while in some way working at a more advanced level, is way too much about the bikes for me.
Velo News for competition. Bicycling has been around forever and is pretty good quality. I used to love MBA (Mountain Bike Action) when Zapata Espinoza was editor, he was hilarious and they always has good bike reviews. I think he's an editor for Road BIke Action now.
I love the above mentioned mags but I'm wondering how long they will be around? Seems like cycling has not been affected as much as others in the decline of magazines. But like everything else we will probably get iPad versions to switch to.
That's a great point. A lot of these mags have websites now and survive on advertisers. Great sites, and really the idea of getting a monthly "magazine" is a bit nostalgic and not terribly friendly to the environment. All it saves you is the gamma rays from you monitor and some wear on your behind if you can sit in a better seat while reading the paper edition.
I don't know that electronic magazines are any better for the environment. Computers have quite a few toxic and potentially toxic materials in them (lead and lead compounds, dioxins, mercury, PCB's, and others). Frankly, I've found online editions of magazines to be lacking in functionality and appearance.
Sure, computers are not environmentally friendly. But like it or not they're here to stay and so is the internet. So what's the point in promoting paper printing with its chlorides, sulfer, hydrogen silfide, ammonia, mercury, benzene and so on polluting the earth in addition to afore mentioned hazards of the computer industry's waste.
For the same reason to have computers: there's a demand. Claims about the nostalgia and how pedantic the desire for print magazines is are a bit, well, one sided and pedantic. The reality is that just like with frame materials, both print and 'net media have their place and their fans. Neither is intrinsically better. Both will be around for a long time.
'Velo News' and 'Road' magazines are my favs. Road has great articles on training and looks lovely on a coffee table - it's an oversize gorgeous magazine with beautiful prints. Velo News because for the most part they print good, unbiased reviews that actually convey useful info, and feature independant product tests as well - The aero wheel test, and the carbon clincher reviews being some of my favorites.
Bicycling used to be a great rag, back in the 80's their road tests were brutally honest, not so much anymore. I remember to this day a 1983 review of a particular DeRosa... "about as stiff as a wet noodle". Could you imagine any rag printing that today? In fact if anyone reads anything other than the respective companies marketing blurb in such an instance I would be very surprised. Decent info on nutrition and the like tho. Not really a road bikers mag.
Bicycling used to be a great rag, back in the 80's their road tests were brutally honest, not so much anymore. I remember to this day a 1983 review of a particular DeRosa... "about as stiff as a wet noodle". Could you imagine any rag printing that today? In fact if anyone reads anything other than the respective companies marketing blurb in such an instance I would be very surprised. Decent info on nutrition and the like tho. Not really a road bikers mag.
I tend to buy Cycle Sport to keep up to date with news and stories in the professional game.
Lately I've started to buy magazines concerned with touring/audax stuff. Bicycling magazine is rather good in that respect.
Lately I've started to buy magazines concerned with touring/audax stuff. Bicycling magazine is rather good in that respect.
Bicycling mag is great for very well off beginner riders! Ever notice they advertise mostly expensive gear instead of mostly average gear? I use to read them a lot but sometime around 1992 they started to shrink their stories and reports down to now just useless summary's so they could make room for zillion ads. Then since they advertise for every bike related company on the planet, they can no longer give a negative review on anything.
But now that I'm older and want to do more touring then I decided to get a subscription to Bicycle Times, a down to earth everyday type of cyclist with a slant towards commuters and tourer's. It's a great mag, but only comes out once every other month.
When I use to race I also got the Velo News, and found that to be quite informative, but since I haven't raced since 87 and stopped Velo shortly after that I can't say how good they are now.
But now that I'm older and want to do more touring then I decided to get a subscription to Bicycle Times, a down to earth everyday type of cyclist with a slant towards commuters and tourer's. It's a great mag, but only comes out once every other month.
When I use to race I also got the Velo News, and found that to be quite informative, but since I haven't raced since 87 and stopped Velo shortly after that I can't say how good they are now.
I like Bicycling Times but I ended up subscribing to Bicycling because of the promotional rate AND because it wasn't solely geared toward racing. A wide variety of articles so I always find stuff that appeals to me.
