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Cycling Mags

How nice would it be if rather than waiting for each different magazine to come out each month, they were all combined into one. As far as I can tell there are 2 major publishers and a few minor ones that put out all the mags, what if they were to combine everything into one big magazine once a month....I would even pay the same as I do now for individual ones.

I don't care if you think i'm mad

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karlowen | 10 years ago
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http://www.spincyclemag.com/

Blows most of them out the water. Though i guess that has a local bias.

I like Rouleur, at least it takes a few hours to read and has some interesting articles.

Cyclist is ok,

Cycling weekly, plus, anything else filled with more ads than copy, with all of it available online anyway can>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Cycling anthology, may well be a book, but it's amazing

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badback | 10 years ago
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Subscribe to Cyclist and Peloton and occasionally get CycleSport (mainly when we advertise in it).

Can't be doing with Cycling Plus - too much about sportives and I've still got to read May's copy of Rouleur which I was given as it's just a bit too flowery for my liking.

Otherwise I just stick to Road.cc carefully avoiding any articles that look like the comments section will be hijacked by the 'I'm not only a cyclist but everyones out to get me' brigade who seem to lack any sense of humour. (I'll get my flack jacket !)

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Woodface | 10 years ago
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I subscribe to Cycle Sport and think it is generally excellent; all about the sport with a few nice high end bike reviews. The others just end up repeating themselves.

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allez neg | 10 years ago
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Another vote for Cyclist. I like the writing and the general tone, and love the photography and layout. And its a Felix Dennis mag, and he's pretty cool.

I'll give Rouleur a go at some point - I'll try to ebay the kids and prostitute the missus to raise funds.

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Colin Peyresourde replied to allez neg | 10 years ago
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allez neg wrote:

I'll give Rouleur a go at some point - I'll try to ebay the kids and prostitute the missus to raise funds.

Could be the best thing you ever did….

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step-hent | 10 years ago
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I gave up on Pro Cycling - it's very pretty, but the writing is getting steadily worse and the kit 'reviews' are awful. I've now got a subscription to Cycle Sport. The interviews are excellent. It doesn't look as pretty as Pro Cycling but its a much better read.

I almost cancelled my subscription to Cyclist after the first few issues - again, it's pretty, but the writing style was a parody of itself. It's improving though, and is growing on me, so I'll keep getting it for the time being. Particularly like the travel pieces. Something to daydream about over the winter.

My favourite is Rouleur though. Yes, it's ridiculously expensive and yes, it's sometimes a bit pretentious, but they have a lot of genuinely interesting content and, with no reviews, it doesnt feel like it's just there to sell stuff (though obviously, as a commercial magazine, it is). It's nice to read a cycling mag and actually learn things!

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sneakerfrfeak | 10 years ago
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Been reading Pro Cycling for quite a few years now, the wife bought me a subscription and continues to pay for it, otherwise I probably wouldn't buy it myself. Really struggling with Marcel Wurst's reviews, they're turning in to a cut n paste job, Ctrl+F Pinarello, Ctrl+R Colnago, and must he really tell us how easily he dropped other riders he met whilst on his test ride.

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Neil753 | 10 years ago
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If you compare a 25 year old copy of Cycling Weekly, with the latest copy, the big difference is the word count. Lots of extra large pics of products, together with plenty of "white space", doesn't offer the same value for money as publications of yesteryear, where enigmatic accounts of all manner of cycling exploits filled the burgeoning pages, written by reporters who could make even a domestic time trial sound quite exciting.

But with today's "padded out" style that is so common, race reports seem quite often to be written by people who've just watched the telly, product reviews invariably give scores of 8/10, and those endless full page ads for sportives.....

I was one of those kids, way back in the 70s, who eagerly pedalled down to the newsagents for my copy of "the comic", but now I prefer to buy 20-30 cycling related books each year, and surf the net.

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glynr36 | 10 years ago
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ProCycling Rouleur and Peloton.
Purely for the fact they aren't full of constant gear reviews and tests etc.
Have decent articles, interviews with riders/'the industry', well written, brilliant photography and so on.

The rest are just rubbish, full of 'independent' reviews, inane 'how to...' guides, and no real interest in the racing side of the sport.

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Some Fella | 10 years ago
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+1 vote for Pro Cycling
I am not interested in getting my own power rating up (im a fat 40 something with dodgy knees) not interested in what the best gel is or how to prepare for a sportive i am never going to ride.
Im quite happy with the bike I've got and will make up my own mind if i want to buy a new one and can rely on road.cc for reviews of other stuff.
The photography and writing in Pro Cycling is top notch and i admit the reviews are for stuff im never going to buy or will ever be able to afford but they are eye candy if nothing else.
Cycling Weekly is also good in a down-home kind of way. Its the fish and chips to Pro Cycling's posh nosh.

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andrewduffy | 10 years ago
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I read CTC's "Cycle" magazine (members only). It's only bi-monthly and aimed at a large range of cycling types, but some interesting stuff and maybe a bit more 'down to earth' than the more commercial mags.

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Simon E | 10 years ago
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Magazines exist merely to sell you the stuff in the adverts/advertorial (most of which you don't even need).

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ragtimecyclist replied to Simon E | 10 years ago
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Simon E wrote:

Magazines exist merely to sell you the stuff in the adverts/advertorial (most of which you don't even need).

Absolutely, most mags are nothing more than glossy marketing material and airbrushed homoerotic glamour shoots. I'm a Rouleur man myself - and I understand its not everyones cup of tea - but its a good read if you like things a but more obscure (and yes, a bit pretentious at times, but that never harmed anyone). Bit pricey mind.

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William Black | 10 years ago
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I have occasionally bought 'Cyclist' for taking a particularly long dump or train journey...Whilst most of it is self indulgent piffle, I do like to live vicariously via those who can afford to book a winter riding trip to mallorca etc. It does make me giggle that they actually have some writing about "The Rules" as if they weren't a joke.

Cycling weekly I get from time to time and it's probably got the greatest amount of new content and genuine cycling 'news' than any of the others.

Singletrack, Rouler, I can't help but think of those titles without making the hand gesture I would if someone just passed me in an Audi giving me two inches of road.

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jollygoodvelo | 10 years ago
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Don't forget the latest vertically compliant and laterally stiff superbike.  3

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Spooks | 10 years ago
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Kinda agree, I do subscribe to Cyclist and it's very good, but I do get the feeling they all test the same products but you can tell who spends the most on advertising as they are the same manufacturers that have the must buy products ...well ya know what I mean.
Really wanted to like Rouleur being a rapha fanboy and all that but it's a bit up it's own backside IMHO (flame suit well and truely fitted for that comment)

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Colin Peyresourde replied to Spooks | 10 years ago
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Spooks wrote:

Kinda agree, I do subscribe to Cyclist and it's very good, but I do get the feeling they all test the same products but you can tell who spends the most on advertising as they are the same manufacturers that have the must buy products ...well ya know what I mean.
Really wanted to like Rouleur being a rapha fanboy and all that but it's a bit up it's own backside IMHO (flame suit well and truely fitted for that comment)

You can avoid looking like a fireman. I pretty much agree. I subscribe to the Cyclist, it's exactly what you want from a cycling magazine. Reviews of 'exotic climbs/rides', aspirational cycling gear, a nod to the past and a look to the future, with cycling etiquette thrown in for good measure.

Rouleur is either too expensive or too pompous, I'm not sure which yet. I enjoy picking it up and looking at it (like one of those art publications), but it is sometimes hard to read and assumes you are as firmly rooted up your backside as your prostate.

The under-rated magazine here, it seems, is Pro-cycling, which I initially thought sat in with the 'How to ride your first Sportive' magazines, but actually sits more happily in the realms of the sport and is pretty credible.

I would be quite happy to see the 'Day-glo duos clad in lycra' nonsense set on fire by an enraged bike courier each month (I would pay to see that). In fact there is now the 'urban cyclists' magazine which I initially liked the look of but realised it just a hipsters style guide with nothing more to say than what sort of plastic wheels would look good with a tweed jacket.

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Super Domestique | 10 years ago
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Yep Cyclist and Singletrack on sub.

Occasionally dipping into what's available over the pond with Peloton and Switchback.

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tomisitt | 10 years ago
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God, no! At least this way we can safely avoid beardies testing flat-bar hybrids, endless sportive guff, nutrition/fitness advice for the terminally stupid, and "tests" of things we never knew we didn't need or want (see Cycling Active, Cycling Plus, Cycling Weekly passim) and just buy Cyclist and Rouleur.

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farrell | 10 years ago
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"With *insert free gift* worth *insert ridiculous price nobody would ever pay*"

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pdf500 | 10 years ago
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Oh, and do core exercises. That's a gem that never loses its shine.

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pdf500 | 10 years ago
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Most could be done annually on a postage stamp. 1) Eat less. 2) Ride more. 3) Do intervals. 4) Don't do intervals all of the time. 4) Buy more stuff. 5) Particularly carbon stuff.

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