I'm basically just a transportational cyclist. I didn't get into it for recreation, and although I enjoy using the bike to get around and being down one car, I still don't use it for recreation beyond short rides with the family. (Kids are 6 and 8, so the rides are not very long yet.)
I was thinking recently that it would be nice to have a subscription to a magazine about bicycling, but my impression, based on the few that I've seen, is that most are aimed primary at the recreational and racing market, both being much larger and more lucrative than the transportational market. My guess is that we're too non-acquisitive and do-it-yourself to be the kind of consumers their advertisers are looking for, and the products don't have the profit margin. This article (http://www.bicyclinglife.com/NewsAndViews/TowardTheFold.htm) at the Bicycling Life site reflects that same kind of criticism.
Of course, seeing that site brings up a point you may already be thinking: Why a magazine when you've got the Internet? (Or "Internets", if you are George Bush.) Well, I don't know. You can carry a magazine around with you. To the bathroom. To bed. To work and other places to show people without having to print it out first. And, to me anyway, getting real mail in the "snailmail" box remains one of life's rare joys, and I do mean rare.
Certainly, if you know of web sites with interesting articles aimed at the transportational cyclist, do tell. (But I don't mean relatively static sites with specific information, we've got plenty of those already. What seems less available is an online magazine with interesting cycling-specific articles that are added to frequently and fun to just browse.)
But how about a paper magazine? Who'll be the first? (I tell you, it'll be all the rage when gas hits $5 a gallon. You'll be rich! Hmm, maybe I'll do it myself... Well, of course, with gas at $5 a gallon, the distribution costs skyrocket, so maybe there's a flaw in this scheme...)
I think just summarizing advocacy going on in different parts of the countly (I'm thinking mostly U.S. here) would make for a lot of content, as well as more general interest things, and of course ads for trailers and xtracycles, lights, etc.
donnamb
09-28-06, 11:06 PM
It's not North America centric, but there's Velo Vision (http://www.velovision.co.uk/).
JohnBrooking
09-29-06, 09:41 AM
Cool! That's exactly what I was envisioning. We need something like that in North America. But maybe I'll subscribe to that for the time being, if I can convince my wife to spend the money... :)
Roody
09-29-06, 10:53 AM
It's not technically a magazine, but the website linked in the OP (Bicycling Life) (http://www.bicyclinglife.com/index.html) is pretty good. If you want ads, go to Surly, Clever Chimp, Xtracycle, etc.
I feel weird defending Bicyling magazine, but I'll do it again. They do sponsor Biketown, a program to promote utility riding that gives away bikes to people in different towns across north America and Africa. I know, I know--the Biketown articles also promote the corporate sponsors like Trek and Giant. But Rodale Press in general has walked the line between "alternative" content and commercial success in most of their magazines, and they're not total sellouts. They started out as the "Organic Gardening" people, after all, when organic was seen as lunatic fringe stuff. In fact, they probably did more to promote the organic concept than just about anybody else. I don't subscribe to Bicycling, I read it free at the library. Almost every issue has at least one article relevant to utility cycling.
swwhite
09-29-06, 01:16 PM
I have thought of that also, Bicycle Commuting magazine, or Utility Cycling magazine. I have no idea of how one goes about doing that. It absolutely would have to have a do-it-youself column, and a commuter of the month.
There is an internet magazine called TUX magazine, about GNU/Linux. It is emailed to paying subscribers (yes, it's free now, but $9.95 a year next year). It arrives as a PDF file attached to an email message. The PDF is configured in some way so that when you open it, it is in full-screen mode, and the pages are sized so that there is one page on a full monitor screen. The pages are really nice, nice color, etc. You page through it with the page-up/down key, one keystroke per screen/page. It's very well done.
It seems to me that it wouldn't be terribly hard to make a prototype, either electronically or on paper. But how would one keep it going, with the relentless schedule of finding articles, getting advertising, and so on, month after month?
Of course there always are alternatives. There once was a newsletter (so I hear) called Tightwad Gazette, about how to save money. Someone started it as a small black-and-white newletter, it grew a bit, they started charging a small subscription fee, and eventually were making a six-figure income. If a person could start out right away mailing a small newsletter only to subscribers, and could charge enough per issue to cover the production cost of one issue, then one could start with a subscriber base of one and let the thing grow just by word of mouth.
The internet is another low-cost possibility. If one could harvest a steady supply of articles from sources all over the world, one could assemble some of them each month into a monthly magazine. Open Office (free of charge) can make PDF files, or something like Pagemaker can make them also with a little more control over formatting. One could subscribe by email, send a small fee by Paypal, and the mailing of the electronic magazine could be automated on someone's home computer. When the subscriber base got big enough, one could solicit ads from bike stores by email; if a bike store could send an ad ready for publication, then the magazine could publish it with a link to the web site of the advertiser. That way, the magazine could have ads from all over the world, to match its electronic distribution all over the world.
In summary, there are things that could be done, but someone (with no kids in school) would have to have the time to do them.
-=Łem in Pa=-
09-29-06, 01:22 PM
I used to get this when it first came out and I
was near a store that sold it, but I havent seen it
since moving to VT. Covers a lot of North Eastern stuff....
http://www.bikeculture.com/index2.htm
Roody
09-30-06, 11:48 AM
I kinda wish these bike magazines wouldn't publish it every time a rider gets killed in a traffic crash. Car magazines don't write up all the car crashes, and running magazines don't tell readers every time a runner is killed. People have a misperception that cycling is a dangerous activity, and a lot of times us riders feed right into it.
likeakidagain
10-12-06, 07:19 PM
got the free issue..nice if you live in the norhteast..
tfahrner
10-12-06, 09:32 PM
It's not technically a magazine, but the website linked in the OP (Bicycling Life) (http://www.bicyclinglife.com/index.html) is pretty good. If you want ads, go to Surly, Clever Chimp, Xtracycle, etc.
Ouch! No, not magazines, but ads?
Velo Vision and AtoB (http://www.atob.org.uk/) are good. The Rivendell Reader is too.
carssuck666
10-27-06, 11:23 AM
Check this out, http://www.microcosmpublishing.com , they have tons of stuff on bikes, most arent bike based, but most of the zine riders are car-free. They have lots of usefull little advice things. I like making stuff and doing things, its a great book.
folder fanatic
10-27-06, 11:52 AM
Anyone who is in business seriously knows that what people say does not really reflect what they do (or lay down the money). I have seen many good businesses go belly up because even if they take several surveys and find that people say they are interested in bikes beyond just a high price toy or competition riding or publications that dicuss utility riding or oddball bikes, in reality they would eventually go broke in North America since most people ride cheap department store bikes and are not into accessories as a serious commuter or utility cyclist might use.
That is why-for now-I will stick with maintaining my 2 simple little websites and educate everyone as time along with need goes by and plan to keep my day job for the forseeable future.
gear
10-28-06, 12:30 PM
There's a British magazine called Cycling Plus you might like. Their web site is: wwwcyclingplus.co.uk
2manybikes
10-28-06, 02:01 PM
For the kind of thing you are interested in, the best one is Cycling plus. There are a lot more commuter type articles and equipment reviews. It addresses all types of cycling but had more transportational cyclist coverage than anything else. The offices must be in London there are lots of things pertaining to commuting in London and the suburbs. The fact that it is in the UK is not a problem, in fact many things there are new before they get here. If you want a few to see, P.M. me a mailng address. My local Barnes and Nobel has them. Also some periodical stores have it.
mike
10-29-06, 05:46 AM
I know what you mean about the published rags being all about extremes. The same goes for ski magazines. It is all about jumping and falling farther than anybody else, crashing through extreme conditions. I'm not going to do that stuff and I never will. I have a scar on my lip from crashing my bicycle into curb. I don't need to be going 100 miles an hour down a mountain dodging trees and jumping off cliffs. I worry if my insurance would cover that kind of activity and you if start thinking about that kind of stuff, you don't belong there in the first place.
The rest of the magazine is filled with ads for extreme use equipment or debates so technical and about some item so benign that you would rather stare at your own navel than read it.
It would be nice to have a magazine about bicycle lifestyle - you know, how someone has a lovely life of which bicycle riding plays a big part. Like how they put their kid on the back of their bicycle and ride him to school in the morning. -Or how an executive got his company to put in a state-of-the-art bicycle storage facility and $350 per year bonus for employees who bicycle and don't use company parking space.
I would like a magazine with articles about folks who have been bicycle commuting for 10 plus years - the REAL heroes. How did they do it? How can I do it? To me, that would be more interesting than reading about some new face in the extreme mountain bike scene talking about how he or she got sponsored by blah blah blah company and is back to racing after recovering from ACL surgery after the Swiss Alps race zzzzzzz.... and in next month's issue, same story different face.
I would like a magazine with advertising for a comfortable saddle instead of saddles that looks like they were designed by makers of adult toys. I would like an article to give me suggestions to help avoid my fingers going numb when I bicycle or how to keep my glasses from fogging up when I bicycle to work. I would like to hear stories about how some guy organized a bicycle ride in his community to raise money for a local kid who needs help.
Ya, I used to subscribe to the extreme bicycle and ski magazines because that was all there was. Then I figured, if that is all there is, I don't need it and cancelled all my subscriptions.
I would sure be interested, however, if there was a more rounded publication that pertained more to my own type of bicycling rather than cliff jumping and alligator hopping or whatever the new extreme sport of the day happens to become.
2manybikes
10-29-06, 05:53 AM
I know what you mean about the published rags being all about extremes. The same goes for ski magazines. It is all about jumping and falling farther than anybody else, crashing through extreme conditions. I'm not going to do that stuff and I never will. I have a scar on my lip from crashing my bicycle into curb. I don't need to be going 100 miles an hour down a mountain dodging trees and jumping off cliffs. I worry if my insurance would cover that kind of activity and you if start thinking about that kind of stuff, you don't belong there in the first place.
The rest of the magazine is filled with ads for extreme use equipment or debates so technical and about some item so benign that you would rather stare at your own navel than read it.
It would be nice to have a magazine about bicycle lifestyle - you know, how someone has a lovely life of which bicycle riding plays a big part. Like how they put their kid on the back of their bicycle and ride him to school in the morning. -Or how an executive got his company to put in a state-of-the-art bicycle storage facility and $350 per year bonus for employees who bicycle and don't use company parking space.
I would like a magazine with articles about folks who have been bicycle commuting for 10 plus years - the REAL heroes. How did they do it? How can I do it? To me, that would be more interesting than reading about some new face in the extreme mountain bike scene talking about how he or she got sponsored by blah blah blah company and is back to racing after recovering from ACL surgery after the Swiss Alps race zzzzzzz.... and in next month's issue, same story different face.
I would like a magazine with advertising for a comfortable saddle instead of saddles that looks like they were designed by makers of adult toys. I would like an article to give me suggestions to help avoid my fingers going numb when I bicycle or how to keep my glasses from fogging up when I bicycle to work. I would like to hear stories about how some guy organized a bicycle ride in his community to raise money for a local kid who needs help.
Ya, I used to subscribe to the extreme bicycle and ski magazines because that was all there was. Then I figured, if that is all there is, I don't need it and cancelled all my subscriptions.
I would sure be interested, however, if there was a more rounded publication that pertained more to my own type of bicycling rather than cliff jumping and alligator hopping or whatever the new extreme sport of the day happens to become.
Find a copy of Cycling Plus magazine.
Roody
10-31-06, 12:13 PM
I know what you mean about the published rags being all about extremes. The same goes for ski magazines. It is all about jumping and falling farther than anybody else, crashing through extreme conditions. I'm not going to do that stuff and I never will. I have a scar on my lip from crashing my bicycle into curb. I don't need to be going 100 miles an hour down a mountain dodging trees and jumping off cliffs. I worry if my insurance would cover that kind of activity and you if start thinking about that kind of stuff, you don't belong there in the first place.
The rest of the magazine is filled with ads for extreme use equipment or debates so technical and about some item so benign that you would rather stare at your own navel than read it.
It would be nice to have a magazine about bicycle lifestyle - you know, how someone has a lovely life of which bicycle riding plays a big part. Like how they put their kid on the back of their bicycle and ride him to school in the morning. -Or how an executive got his company to put in a state-of-the-art bicycle storage facility and $350 per year bonus for employees who bicycle and don't use company parking space.
I would like a magazine with articles about folks who have been bicycle commuting for 10 plus years - the REAL heroes. How did they do it? How can I do it? To me, that would be more interesting than reading about some new face in the extreme mountain bike scene talking about how he or she got sponsored by blah blah blah company and is back to racing after recovering from ACL surgery after the Swiss Alps race zzzzzzz.... and in next month's issue, same story different face.
I would like a magazine with advertising for a comfortable saddle instead of saddles that looks like they were designed by makers of adult toys. I would like an article to give me suggestions to help avoid my fingers going numb when I bicycle or how to keep my glasses from fogging up when I bicycle to work. I would like to hear stories about how some guy organized a bicycle ride in his community to raise money for a local kid who needs help.
Ya, I used to subscribe to the extreme bicycle and ski magazines because that was all there was. Then I figured, if that is all there is, I don't need it and cancelled all my subscriptions.
I would sure be interested, however, if there was a more rounded publication that pertained more to my own type of bicycling rather than cliff jumping and alligator hopping or whatever the new extreme sport of the day happens to become.
I know a great source for useful info on every topic you mentioned: Right here on Bikeforums.
Seriously, are you familiar with the other subforums--especially Commuting and Winter cycling? And this Carfree subforum is gradually building a pretty useful data base too.
thomj513
10-31-06, 01:04 PM
I "2nd" the Rivendell Reader and Cycling Plus. Another one is Bicycle Quarterly, formerely known as Vintage Bicycle Quarterly. It's more into the older cyclo-tourist type of bikes but some of the info could be adapted to today's utility cyclist.
BikeNinjagirl
11-01-06, 08:34 AM
Has anyone seen Alternative Transportation ? it is NYC specific but it's a great example. I also cruise the mag racks hoping & wishing - then i come here - its a comfortable place :o) ALWAYS has good articles - and i KNOW i'n with the likeminded