General Cycling Discussion - What cycling-related magazine do you think best fills my wants?

A relative wants to get me a subscription to a bike-related magazine as an Easter gift (?)... anyway, I'm happy to take it, but they said I should decide which one to get a subscription to. What would be the best bike-related magazine for me to get? I would like to focus mainly on commuting and utility cycling, but stuff on racing and cyclocross wouldn't be bad. I just don't want a magazine that is just like: "Anything besides Dura-Ace is total crap. You need all you components to be carbon, especially the chain." I also don't want something all about fixies and hipster bull**** (take Urban Velo. Some of their articles are interesting, but all the bikes in there are fixies).
Do you subscribe to any? What would you recommend?

Bicycle times

I read them off the rack, then put them back, Myself..

Heres a few websites : from http://www.bikeschool.com/resources/bike-industry-links


* BMXAir.com
* Bent Rider Online
* Bicycle Retailer
* Bicycling Magazine
* Bike Cycling Reviews
* Bike Europe Journal
* Bike Forums
* Bike Highway
* Bike Magazine
* Bike Reviews
* Bike Trader Online
* Bike.com
* Bikenews
* Bikerod Webzine
* Biketrailer
* Bmx Action
* Bmxinvasion
* Canadian Cyclist Mag
* Competitor Magazine
* Costa Rica Freeride And Downhill
* Cranked Magazine
* Crankfire.com
* Crazy Clown Cartel
* Crazyguyonabike
* Cycle California!
* Cyclelicious
* Cycling News
* Cyclingforums.com
* Daily Peloton
* Dirt Rag
* Dirt World
* Dirty Pages
* Fietskar
* Gearhead
* Hungarian Bike Magazine-bikemag
* Inside Triathlon
* Irish Cycling Pages
* Jim Langley/bicycle Aficionado
* Local Bicycle Trader
* MTB Star
* Momentum Magazine
* Mountain Bike Action
* Mountain Bike Zone.com
* Mountain Bikers Uk
* Mountain Bike
* Mtb Resource
* Mtbstar
* North Shore Mountain Bike
* Oregon Cycling Magazine
* Outside Magazine
* Pedaling.com
* Recumbent Cyclist News
* Roadie.ca
* Silent Sports magazine
* Tandem Magazine
* The Fixed Gear Gallery
* The Ride Magazine
* Trailcentral.com
* Training4cyclists.com
* TriSite.com
* Triathlete
* Twospoke.com
* Velo Girls
* VeloNews
* Velotravels
* Vttfanatik
* Webtt
* Yourmtb.com

Bicycle Times

http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/

I really like it, not a race magazine, but a magazine for the other riders.

Why ask us what you want?
And why read a magazine, when it's only going to tell you what to want?

(Score one for Don Draper, I guess.)

Bicycle Times

Aaron :)

I gave up on bicycle magazines. The same recurring themes kept popping up:

You need a new bike. $3,000 is cheap for a new bike. $6,000 is entry level

Here's an exotic riding local that an average human can't afford to visit. If you don't ride here, you're a weenie.

Racers are the gods we should worship. You are not worthy.

Next year, you have to get another new bike.

I have love affair with bicycles that goes back 45 years. Reading about bikes is duller than poop.

Bicycle Times

I gave up on bicycle magazines. The same recurring themes kept popping up:

You need a new bike. $3,000 is cheap for a new bike. $6,000 is entry level

Here's an exotic riding local that an average human can't afford to visit. If you don't ride here, you're a weenie.

Racers are the gods we should worship. You are not worthy.

Next year, you have to get another new bike.

I have love affair with bicycles that goes back 45 years. Reading about bikes is duller than poop.

I suggest you seek professional help.

Head over to Borders or Barnes & Noble and read thru ALL the bike magazines on the shelf. Then pick the one YOU like.

http://www.bikeforums.net/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Flying Merkel http://www.bikeforums.net/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=12530770#post12530770)
I gave up on bicycle magazines. The same recurring themes kept popping up:

You need a new bike. $3,000 is cheap for a new bike. $6,000 is entry level

Here's an exotic riding local that an average human can't afford to visit. If you don't ride here, you're a weenie.

Racers are the gods we should worship. You are not worthy.

Next year, you have to get another new bike.

I have love affair with bicycles that goes back 45 years. Reading about bikes is duller than poop.



I suggest you seek professional help.

Magazines are about pleasing advertisers first, readers second. That's a sad fact of the publishing field. Though I exaggerate a bit, after trying several bike mags I stand by the statement.

ask for a subscription to Ready Made.
http://www.readymade.com/
it has nothing to do with bicycles, so you don't have to worry about being told what bike you need, but it is a really cool magazine.

Bicycle Times..

Seems to be a recurring theme.. :)

How about American Bicyclist magazine. You get a membership to League of American Bicyclists with it or vice versa.

I read the current issue of Bicycling with horror. No, not at Lance's problems, but rather a product that I owned was among the featured products. LOL. My poor Bikes at Work trailer. How could Bicycling do that to me?

Bicycle Times

I gave up on bicycle magazines. The same recurring themes kept popping up:

You need a new bike. $3,000 is cheap for a new bike. $6,000 is entry level

Here's an exotic riding local that an average human can't afford to visit. If you don't ride here, you're a weenie.

Racers are the gods we should worship. You are not worthy.

Next year, you have to get another new bike.

I have love affair with bicycles that goes back 45 years. Reading about bikes is duller than poop.

I'm of the same opinion, although to complete your list, you should make mention of the same "training" article that {insert magazine name here** has been running periodically since 1983. I recall a quote from an editor of one of these magazines admitting this and saying it was largely because the average subscriber hangs around for about two years before moving on to other things, hence the need to repeat articles.

Besides, virtually all the information you can find in cycling magazines is available for free on the Internet with a 30-second search on Google. I think the only reason magazines survive at all is because people have this weird idea that a particular piece of information contains more validity if they've actually paid for it.