Hi, all!
The library I work at has decided to add a bicycling magazine to the collection....

I remember hearing everyone complain about Bicycling Mag, besides which, there are already several libraries in our system who carry it.

Anyone want to recommend me a good overall biking magazine?

(An MTB magazine recommendation would be a good alternative, too...)

BIKE, is good if your readers are interested in a lot of nice photos.
MBA (Mountain Bike Action) is good (o.k.) for reviews and tech info, and what's the latest and greatest.
Mountain Bike, is currently horrible IMO.
Dirt Rag, is very culture and lifestyle oriented, my personal fav.

That's it for Mountain bike mags.

I don't read any road mags with the exception of VeloNews. Very race result oriented.

L8R

Mountain Bike and Mountain Bike Action are two of my favorites.

Forget the US ones; get Cycling Plus from the UK, can be subscribed to at (I think) www.futurepub.net.

get "Cycle Sport" and "pro Cycling"
these two cycling mags. are great, lots of information about cycling stuffs

I'm pretty impressed with Asphalt
(new magazine), not a general bike rag but
looks to be exclusively Road.
they can be found at
Asphalt Magazine

Marty

Adventure Cycling is my favorite mag and they have a special deal for libraries. I don't remember for sure but I think it is half price? And they will send you a free issue for evaluation.

https://www.adventurecycling.org

Dirt Rag hands down.

I would like to recommend "Cycling Plus", a Brittish magazine which relates to common people, not sport fanatics

No, seriously it´s a great magazine and cover a lot of bicycling, the best I´ve found. I even had my city library add it to theire magazine section.

Anders K

My vote for BIKE and Mountain Bike Action for an MTB alternative.

certainly my experience of both uk and us magazines would be to go for cycling plus, its aimed for people who enjoy riding, they cover commuting stuff as well as keeping you informed of racing stuff, they test a lot of gear too. It's my favourite, a lot of the US road ones seem to be mostly talk about which pro is changing team, or bicycling which i generally don't rate very much.

I haven't checked out asphalt yet, but i've heard good things, i don't know much about mtb mags or bmx tho, sorry

Thanks everyone for the advice!

We're a very small-town library (population about 3000) so Cycling Plus wasn't really an option. (Cost was $61 for a year...a bit too much for us.) The director fell in love with the name 'Dirt Rag' and felt the magazine's title and looks would help attract younger readers, so we've sent for the free issue.

If we don't like what we see, I'll be back looking again....I'm tempted by Adventure Cycling, myself....

I'm going to go against the grain on this one. Bicycling underwent a facelift several months ago, and has improved somewhat, and it really is pretty useful info for new riders (who haven't discovered BikeForums). And it's really inexpensive. Are you really limited to only one magazine? For more experienced roadies, ProCycling and Cycle Sport (both British) are good). VeloNews, a bi-weekly in sort of a newspaper format, is good and covers racing and current events well.

Bicycling would be best for a library because it has both mountain and road stuff.

Yep, Roadbuzz, we can only get one. And chances are it won't get checked out much. We try to put in a variety of magazines, but the only ones that get checked out regularly are things like People, Business Week, and the recipe/crafts/womens magazines. Libraries are rated by a comparison of how many items they have versus how many check-outs they have....so unless our first bike subscription is more popular than our other niche/hobby mags, not much chance of adding a second one.

Yeah, I agree, Shokhead, it'd be nice to cover both....but then, there's also always a bit of pride in adding something to the library system that none of the other libraries are carrying. And several have Bicycling, so people who want it can ask for it on interloan.

I wish the Howard branch would get in the spirit and add a bike magazine too. Otherwise, I might just have to ride my bike out to the big city and read yours!

Better wait till they build that Green Bay-to New London rail trail....Highway 54 between Howard and Seymour doesn't look very bike-friendly to me.

borders has all the good ones mentioned here. i go to lunch there and scan them all.

if you are looking for fitness, gear, racing etc..........go for velo news(road) or mountain bike(mtb obviously) or bicycling in the middle. If you want stories about riding check out www.iheartbikes.com or www.singletrackworld.com for mtb. both are way higher quality, less ads and way more stories.

why is it called iHeartBikes? Was iLoveBikes already taken? Surely they can come up with a more marketable name.

I'm not sure if this would fit the bill, since it's not *really* a cycling magazine. I like National Geographic's Adventure. Nine times out of ten there is at least one mention of cycling (road, mtb, touring) in the issue. It covers ALL adventure sports (paddling, climbing, skiing etc) and so it might have a broader audience. It will also appeal to people looking for travel/vacation ideas. Of course it has beautiful photography. Just a thought.

i think that mountain bike and mountain bike action would be a good choice.