Road Cycling - Looking for good periodicals...

Concerning Road Bikes and Racing.

What's out there? What's worth reading and what's not.

Cycle Sport www.cyclesportmag.com (http://www.cyclesportmag.com) now has an American edition, although it's still about the European races mostly, which I like. Great articles, excellent photos (Graham Watson seems to supply most of them), decent reviews of new bikes (mostly reprinting the companies' brochures, though, no real tests). Unfortunately, it's about $6.95 or $7.95 per issue, unless you get a subcription, which is still higher than normal magazines.

Procycling www.procycling.com (http://www.procycling.com) has a more UK/European slant to it, being based out of the UK, but it's still as high quality as Cycle Sport. I actually prefer the bike reviews from Procycling, as they have usually either Marcel Wust (ex-Coast) or Chris Boardman ride the bikes and review them. They also have a nice article on good rides every month and they seem to go all over the world to find them (much like a travel section). Procycling will also set you back about $7 every month.

If you want more local/American race news, Velonews is decent. The format, photos, paper is nowhere near as nice as the other two, though.

I like the two above, but I'll defend velonews for domestic racing news. It's a good rag. It's put out more as information, hence the newspaper-ish feel to the paper. It's not a perty as the other two, but it will keep you up to date.

I'd say stay away from Bicycle (?Bicycling?) Magazine. Lots of fluff, not much depth. Also, they say you get two "free" issues, then they charge you the full year's sub for just 9 issues:

Promo: 2 free + 9 @ 11.95
Regular: 0 free + 11 @ 11.95

The customer service reps never could explain this...

Originally posted by Alex33
If you want more local/American race news, Velonews is decent. The format, photos, paper is nowhere near as nice as the other two, though.

I will also have to defend Velonews, I really enjoy their domestic articles and their format isn't all that bad IMHO.... but the paper is thinner I think because it is technically a Journal not a mag.

http://www.velonews.com/

I like Procycling, also. It is extremely informative. It is one of the few magazines that Ive read a negative test in as well. There is a rather negative test on a Litespeed in the August issue,,,,,,, a Litespeed!!! The entire back 3rd of the magazine is dedicated to racing and results. Sometimes Ill read an entire issue of Bicycling and not get what you get in 4 pages of Procycling.

I will also have to defend Velonews,


I like the two above, but I'll defend velonews for domestic racing news

I probably didn't explain it right. I wasn't putting down Velonews, I was just pointing out the fact that it's more based around the domestic scene, which is covered very nicely. Also, the paper is different, more like a newspaper. Other than that, a fine magazine...