Road Cycling - Best Cycling Magazine

Just wondered what you guys found to be the best cycling magazine for training info/tips as well as tips for bike maintenance.

Just wondered what you guys found to be the best cycling magazine for training info/tips as well as tips for bike maintenance.

tough question. the "big" (Bicycling, for example) US bike mags don't bring much content to the table. they have a monthly maintenance column, and a monthly training tip or so. but for me, they're simply not worth the money, because there are no articles of substance, and they seem to consist mostly of ads. for my money, velonews is good, cycle sport is better. loads of content, good articles (reviews, interviews, race coverage, etc) in addition to training tips. if you just need maintenance or training advice with nothing more, save your hard-earned money and just read here, velonews.com or the like.

(edited because i type like a 2 year old wearing oven mitts)

tough question. the "big" (Bicycling, for example) US bike mags don't bring much content to the table. they have a monthly maintenance column, and a monthly training tip or so. but for me, they're simply not worth the money, because there are no articles of substance, and they seem to consist mostly of ads. for my money, velonews is good, cycle sport is better. loads of content, good articles (reviews, interviews, race coverage, etc) in addition to training tips. if you just need maintenance or training advice with nothing more, save your hard-earned money and just read here, velonews.com or the like.

(edited because i type like a 2 year old wearing oven mitts)

Yeah, I was pretty dissapointed with Bicycling's recent 2004 Buyer's guide issue. Of the "101 Bikes Tested and Reviewed" there were all of four performance road bikes, with the lowest priced being $2650. The bulk of their reviews were mountain bikes and city bikes. They did review some recreational road bikes, but the price range of $1000 to $2500 was nearly non-existant.

I can't complain too much... the subscription was free (some kind of web deal, I can't remember) but I would love to find a cycling magazine that takes more than 10 minutes to flip through. I seem to remember seeing some UK based mags that seemed pretty good at Border's, but they cost a lot more.

The best tips for training I have found on the internet as well as maintenance tricks and tips. These and other forums are pretty dang helpful. The magazines are nice for the other stuff. The ads are informative the feature articles are usually worth a read through. The race coverage is old news with magazines. I usually read all the bike mags each month but prefer to scan that at Barnes and Nobles. I couldn't really pin down one mag but Velonews is a decent one as are most of the European ones.

I take Bicycling.Often bland,but ocassional writings of interest.Special interest stories. Recall the story about disadvantaged kids in Brooklyn...Being motivated in life due to a local bike club for the disadvantaged. Thought the story in the current issue about mountain biking in Copper Canyon, Mexico a good one. Some months though just seems like a advertising medium.
I am interested in the big pro races. Just subscribed to "Velo News." So far I like it...Best news from race scene, I have found.

Bicycling is the only magazine I anticipate receiving every month that I am disapointed with every single issue. Yet, I am excited again to see it in the mail the next time.

I think it's because there is just enough good bits and pieces in that magazine to demonstrate the potential of what it could be, yet it falls far short of ever reaching it.

The "buyers guide" was a joke for the reasons UplateinOH stated - there were pages devoted to womens road bikes and almost nothing to mens. A huge range of bike were simply overlooked to cover other areas. It was one big ad.

55/Rad

Velonews is turning into bicycling with a bent (no pun intended) towards racing results.
As someone else said (and wrote to VN) Articles that look like Ads, Ads that look like
Articles.
Bicycling is written for the MTV generation (not that there is anything wrong there)
not a whole lot of substance.
Cycling Plus gets good marks but is expensive in states.
Asphalt is great, not too tech tho, does reviews, touring articles, framebuilders but
not much on maintenance tips.
I've let Bicycling lapse, and renewed Asphalt.

Marty

I subscribe to roadbikerider.com, they have a weekly newsletter via email, that is always pretty interesting....

I just picked up Procycling. I like it.... nice tribute to Pantani there.

Koffee

Ditto the recommendation for roadbikerider.com (http://www.roadbikerider.com). It's free (though they have recently introduced a paid membership option). It comes out weekly, and is filled with good tips. You can sign up for the newsletter here (http://www.roadbikerider.com/newsletter.htm#RoadBikeRider%20Newsletter).

My son went to UK for his vacation in the fall and he brought me several bike mags. Most were very pro competition oriented, but I really liked Cycling Plus as it seemed to have in depth articles on various aspects of cycling.

cycling plus is my favorite. it is one of the few that has "real" reviews. not just glowing reports about their advertisers products. it combines pro racing along with recreational riding topics. it is a british magazine and some stuff is not relevant to north american readers

cycle sport america is my favorite one that features the pro circuit. slickly produced with some good commentary. procycling is also nice but does not feature the same picture and paper quality that cycle sport does.

i picked up a new magazine called "road" at the grocery store. so-so. it is OVERSIZED which i find annoying...just like velonews

bicycling is the readers digest of bike magazines. not a lot of depth for the serious enthusiast

I also have Cyle Sport, and I really do enjoy reading that magazine also.

Koffee

I just picked up Procycling. I like it.... nice tribute to Pantani there.

I was just about to mention Procycling actually. Quite an expensive magazine though but much better caliber than the others I've seen out there. However, I don't subscribe to magazines. I only buy them if I'm going to end up being disconnected from the network for long periods (such as on a plane) of time since I usually catch all my cycling news from websites. That said, I'll soon be running off to the bookstore to stock up because in about a week and a half, I get to spend 27 hours on planes and in airports on my way to India.

I used to buy Cycling + until I went onto their forums and found a definate anti-American bent there. Nothing like the forum here where the mods actually do their jobs. Needless to say I have not given Cycling + another penny of my money.
Beyond that I agree with most everyone else, Velonews, Cycle Sport and Pro Cycling are the best that I have found. I really like the "test rides where Chris Boardman tests new bikes in Pro Cycling.

I think Bicycling is OK but like someone above said, it can be read in about ten minutes. I get really irked when they devote time to mountain biking when the same publishers print an entire magazine to it. Nothing against mountain biking, I just think that it is filler to an otherwise thin magazine that should be devoted in its entireity to road biking. I agree that the recent bike review was weak; left out a lot of nice bikes.

Anybody seen this? Asphalt Magazine (http://www.asphaltmag.com/index.htm) Their motto is all road all the time. I've heard good things but never seen one at a news stand.

I get Velonews.....and i use cyclingnews.com

Anybody seen this? Asphalt Magazine (http://www.asphaltmag.com/index.htm) Their motto is all road all the time. I've heard good things but never seen one at a news stand.

I've seen it. Kinda pricey though. I did like that the very first issue had a nice review of my bike. ;)

How could I not mention Adventure Cyclist. A great source of information about potential tour sites. I trust their reviews.Been receiving this for a couple years..This issue deals with some favorite cycling sites...Quebec and Napa.
I have started receiving the Procycling email newsletter. Come almost daily.. Keeps me abreast of pro cycling evetns as soon as they happen..I recommend this site.

I think Bicycling is OK but like someone above said, it can be read in about ten minutes. I get really irked when they devote time to mountain biking when the same publishers print an entire magazine to it. Nothing against mountain biking, I just think that it is filler to an otherwise thin magazine that should be devoted in its entireity to road biking. I agree that the recent bike review was weak; left out a lot of nice bikes.


I remember when I first started reading Bicycling- it got me all stirred up for road biking. I also remember the month it first got kind of mountain-bikey too. I was thinking "huh?", then thought that it was just one issue. As the months passed and it became more and more about mountain biking, I got pretty disappointed with it and never renewed my subscription, even when they continued to drop the renewal price for the subscription. It wasn't even worth my pocket change.

Cycling Sport, Procycling and Velonews are my poisons now. Long may they live! :D

Koffee

Anybody seen this? Asphalt Magazine (http://www.asphaltmag.com/index.htm) Their motto is all road all the time. I've heard good things but never seen one at a news stand.

I was in the bike shop the other day and picked up a copy to look at. Very nice looking, I was going to buy it but I had a limited amount of cash and it was expensive. On the cover it said it was a quarterly puplication, which may explain the thickness and price of the issue.

I remember when I first started reading Bicycling- it got me all stirred up for road biking. I also remember the month it first got kind of mountain-bikey too. I was thinking "huh?", then thought that it was just one issue. As the months passed and it became more and more about mountain biking, I got pretty disappointed with it and never renewed my subscription, even when they continued to drop the renewal price for the subscription. It wasn't even worth my pocket change.

Years ago (read: 15), I used to not even consider Bicycling because they didn't have anything on mountain biking. Now I don't read them because they have so very little of anything be it mountain biking, road biking, touring, commuting, race coverage, etc... Five bucks an issue for what amounts to about a dozen pages of actual printed text? No thanks. And most of what they say in there has already been hashed and rehashed on several websites. Too little too late. Since my cycling tastes have branched out, I wouldn't mind if they were focused on mountain biking or road biking or any biking at all for that matter just as long as they actually provide some material.

i saw a new one the other day in Penn Station it was called Road Journal. It was overpriced for what it offered and had way to many advertisments, the articles were decent. It was an April-May issue.

In Australia 'Ride Cycling Review' would be the best I've come across.

Procycling is my favourite. The quality of the photography is outstanding and the whole magazine just seems to have that nice, glossy feel about it. And it has that crazy Plastic Peloton People Cartoon. Genius!

I miss Bicycle Guide. :(

I miss Bicycle Guide. :(

Indeed. Bicycle Guide in the 80s was a great magazine.

Steve

Bicycle Guide changed it's name to Bicyclist sometime in the 90's. Then about a year or two later the parent company, Petersen Publishing, purchased Bike magazine and shut down Bicyclist. They should have dumped Bike instead.

Bicycle Guide changed it's name to Bicyclist sometime in the 90's. Then about a year or two later the parent company, Petersen Publishing, purchased Bike magazine and shut down Bicyclist. They should have dumped Bike instead.


Asphalt is now the bomb. It's not cheap and right now it's only quarterly...but some of the same people that produced Bicycle Guide are writing and editing. Back issues are available too...I just ordered mine :)

http://www.asphaltmag.com/index.htm

Steve