General Cycling Discussion - Best Magazine

I recently got into road biking this summer. I have become an addict so to speak since July and with the holiday season coming up I want some reading material as a gift from someone. With that being said I was wondering what magazine would be the best and I would get the most out of. I do only road cycling right now and am in the beginner stages looking to develop further. I do not know too much about bike nutrition on the road, maintance, etc. So I am looking for a magazine that would cater to all those needs. Please give me your reviews of the major mags and what they offer with prices etc. Thanks

Moving this to General Cycling from Manufacturer etc. Feedback.

--Juha, a Forum Mod

Cycling Plus from the UK is a well regarded magazine. It has much less fluff and ads posing as articles than Bicycling.

Cycling Plus from the UK is a well regarded magazine. It has much less fluff and ads posing as articles than Bicycling.


I love that rag. Exchange rates mean I won't re-new, however. it's about $10USD per copy with subscriber discount. :eek:

Cycling +: This one is the bench mark other are trying to reach. Well written reviews, good nurtritional info and route reviews that will make ya wish you lived in the UK. Their reviews are the shining star in the Cycling + crown. Last month there were 96 actual product reviews (by that I mean someone actually went out and used the product and then reported on it.) Targeted at road riders which in their view encompasses computers, recreational urban, touring, etc. which makes it a nicely rounded magazine.

Road Bike Action: A new comer to the field and its done a pretty good job. Their reviews aren't bad and they've made an effort to put some depth into the magazine. Targeted at the carbon rding lycra covered set though, they limit their appeal to the broader road audience.

Bicycling: This magazine is a wonder! Its a wonder its still around since its proof that if you give enough monkeys enough enemas, they will eventually **** out a bike magazine. Look at that shiney cover! Now turn to anyone of the attention getting articles on that cover and you'll find a one or two page multi graphic blurb with all the depth of Paris Hilton. Their reviews? They aren't really reviews - they are spec reports. Does anyone at Bicycling even ride a bike? Anyone there ever ridden a bad one? Apparently not since their "reviews" always seem glowling. Oh yeah, some where in there will be an article on keeping your chain clean or how to rewrap your handle bars. I got my subscription for $3 for 2 years on ebay and keep each fresh new issue perched next to the toilet.

I'm a fan of Cycling Plus also, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for a new cyclist in the U.S. The routes, while well-written and neat to read, are irrelevant for those living here in the States. The reviews, while informative and honest, are often of products not available in the U.S. And the listed prices make it difficult to tell what's a good buy or within one's budget since they're not listed in U.S. currency and even if converted may not sell for the same price on this side of the Atlantic.

That being said, Cycling Plus is a great magazine, and it's a shame we don't have anything comparable here. Bicycling Magazine is a nice time-killer but falls short in many areas, especially its "reviews." Road Bike Action is too geared toward racing for me, though not quite as much as some of the other high end road cycling mags I see at the local Borders.

To be honest, my favorite cycling magazine is Dirt Rag, but it's geared mostly toward mountain bikers.

The company that publishes Cycling Plus has a US branch. I've had this vague idea for a while about asking them for a US edition of Cycling Plus, but have yet to do anything about it.

Bicycling is actually a pretty sorry publication, way too concerned about advertisers and crammed with fluff disguised as hard-hitting consumer stories. For all that, though, I think it's not a bad choice for a beginner: It does cover the basics fairly well, and you can learn from a one-year subscription. Beyond that, you start running into repeats of "Fix a Flat In Four Minutes" and "Your Best Body Ever In 10 Minutes A Day!" stuff.

I made a mistake a couple of months ago and bought a US magazine and it was Bicycling. The content was poor and I was not happy with it. It seemed to me that the Bike tests were came staright from the bikes manufacturers and there was no real testing done. I now get Cycling weekly for the race side of Cycling and occasionally Cycling +. Seem to be unbiased mags that give me the real facts- but still hanker after the for the real reports that used to be written about bad products- No matter how big the Manufacturer.

^^ stapfam, for the life of me I don't see what appeal just about any bit of U.S. journalism would have for you. When it comes to newsprint in just about any flavor, you Brits have it damn good.

The new one "Road Bike Action" from Hi-Torque publications (same as MB Action) is pretty good. It only comes out 6x/year too which is more my speed. I find monthlies to be a little too much. I'm anticipating the next issue. A year is only $10 too. Check it out.

The new one "Road Bike Action" from Hi-Torque publications (same as MB Action) is pretty good. It only comes out 6x/year too which is more my speed. I find monthlies to be a little too much. I'm anticipating the next issue. A year is only $10 too. Check it out.


A BIG +++++1 on this one!

Cheers,

Brian

Y'know, I still like Playboy (the thread title doesn't say what kind of magazine...)

Hundred percent agree on Cycling +, just wish it had a US edition, but I still buy it. Bicycling is ok for a beginner's first 6 months, then it repeats itself. Only reason I read it at all is the free subscription with Performance Club membership.

Personally I like VeloNews, Cycle Sport and ProCycling. The latter two cover a lot of the same ground and are more geared for the Euro scene, where VN has more of a slant to the US scene, in road, cross, mtb and sometimes track. Velonews also has a pretty good website for cycling news.

Road is a glossy, expensive rag with good pictures, but amateurish articles, almost exclusively US racing and high-end bikes.

Y'know, I still like Playboy (the thread title doesn't say what kind of magazine...)

I dumped my subscription to that rag and now they have sent a bill collector after me!

I dumped my subscription to that rag and now they have sent a bill collector after me!

I was just being a wise@$$; I haven't seen one of those in a while.

Not surprised about the bill collectors, though; gotta keep the $$ coming in to pay for Hef's Viagra & Depends! :D

Bicycling magazine is a former poor shadow of itself! Was pretty good until the mid-1980s.
Now it's full of car ads, Styleman (does he really ride a bicycle?) and 'conclusive' tests: yup, it's good; yup, they advertise. Catch a look at it at the library once a year, but don't waste your $$!

Quite frankly, I don't think you need a subscription to any bike magazine. Your needs: nutrition, maintenance, beginner stage of road bike rider.

What you need is a lot of content, not a lot of advertisement. Bicycling is not rocket science and substantial technology is not changing every 6 months. Bike magazines are mostly advertisement. The content portion has already been written about many times over in many different ways. There are exceptions but few with your needs in mind.

Sheldon Brown's web site is excellent. Slowtwitch.com is also excellent. I also like Bikesport!

Buycycling is a great magazine. I enjoy reading reviews of four hundred dollar jerseys. I enjoy reading the bimonthly review of the Pinarello Prince. A reasonably priced bicycle, costing little more than the average condominium. I enjoy Styleman's monthly insults which spare us the wit, and insight of Bikesnob.com. If Don Rickles rode a bike without a helmet long enough, I'm sure he could write it. An added bonus is Chris Carmichael's training advice, which will remind us that intervals really work, they really do. A page or two later is a subtle ad for his real training program. This man is the Steven R. Covey of the bicycling world and I mean that as a true whatever.

I love the lack of attention paid to commuting, maintenance, old bikes, touring, cyclocross, fixies, or anything else that might detract from buying a new Trek Madone.

There are only two kinds of bicycles when you get down to it. There are monococque carbon whatevers, and the sort we are using to save the world by sending to third world nations. There is nothing in between.

Honestly. If it wasn't for the occasional story by Mike Magnusson, and the fact that it was a gift subscription, I would never open the thing.

oh. And ....

+10 Sheldon Brown.

I got a copy of Bicycling. Some great articles, but I'm wondering if there is a magazine geared towards bikers who aren't looking to spend as much on a bike as they would a used car.

Two things:

It takes money to advertise in those things. That's the money they want. Little profit from subscribers.

Second, a bike is a much better purchase than a used car.

VeloVision digital version - try it, you'll like it.

For some reason, I recieved a subscription to Bicycling. Riding bikes has been a passion for 42 of my 47 years. Reading about bikes is deadly dull. Used to get a mountain bike mag, name unremembered. It was geared toward the "Yo dude radical and X-treem" type of guy. Still dull. I did learn my bike was a cheap outmoded piece of (stuff) that needed to be replaced by at least 5-6 different bikes.

I've stopped reading & started riding more. I love the print media, but online is better for bikes.

Two things:

It takes money to advertise in those things. That's the money they want. Little profit from subscribers.

Second, a bike is a much better purchase than a used car.


Which is probably why online's the way to go.

As for the second, yes that is true. But you're going to get few takers on a 45-degree uphill climb at the start no matter how good the ride is on the other end.

My Bicycling just came in the mail. I'm looking forward to reading it. :o