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So long term then...

is the plan to have a magazine like Singletrack for the road?  39

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ourmaninthenorth | 16 years ago
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I'm not sure another cycling magazine is needed, to be honest. That is, unless you are able to offer something that differs from Cycling Plus at one end (boring, derivative) and Rouleur at the other (classy, expensive, infrequent).

I think it would be better for the site to try to establish itself first, and with it form a coherent identity. Simply trying to be the road cycling equivalent of Singletrack is not, in my view, sufficient to justify a paper version at this stage.

What might make a nice alternative, however, would be a quarterly Road.cc supplement sold with ST; it needs only to be short, and would permit an opportunity to develop a flavour without the significant commitment of a full publication.

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Tony Farrelly replied to ourmaninthenorth | 16 years ago
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ourmaninthenorth wrote:

I'm not sure another cycling magazine is needed, to be honest. That is, unless you are able to offer something that differs from Cycling Plus at one end (boring, derivative) and Rouleur at the other (classy, expensive, infrequent). I think it would be better for the site to try to establish itself first, and with it form a coherent identity. Simply trying to be the road cycling equivalent of Singletrack is not, in my view, sufficient to justify a paper version at this stage. What might make a nice alternative, however, would be a quarterly Road.cc supplement sold with ST; it needs only to be short, and would permit an opportunity to develop a flavour without the significant commitment of a full publication.

I think you're spot-on in your assessment, we need to build the website up before we jump into print, and if we were going to do that there would be no point in doing more of the same… 

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ourmaninthenorth replied to Tony Farrelly | 16 years ago
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It's rare that any assessment of mine is spot on!

There is an opportunity out there - especially if one considers road cycling from the widest possible angle (i.e. not just road racing). RCUK is an example of a site that has developed its own identity (albeit as part of the winder Bikemagic brand), but even then it did not translate to print: SHIFT magazine was pitiful, and really failed to capitalise on an opportunity to pitch itself at the market in a slightly different way.

To my mind, there is definitely an opportunity for a print magazine that fills that space between the advertorial of C+, and the reverence of Rouleur.

Where ST mag does well is in its assumption that its readership are not idiots, and the fact that it creates a sense of inclusiveness for those who read it. That's what Road.cc needs to do - it can happen, but as with STW (and Gofar before that), it takes time.

For me, the zeitgeist is on our side: cycling is popular again in a way that it hasn't been since the car took over in the '50s and '60s. If any magazine or website is to be considered a success beyond simply being a carrier for advertising, it needs to become part of and inform that zeitgeist. ST has done that, albeit in a rather English way; Rouleur and The Ride have - in part - transcended normal magazine publishing to become collector's items in their own right. For me, this is where the zeitgeist of print publishing is, and this is what I would like Road.cc to do, both online and in print.

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Denzil Dexter replied to ourmaninthenorth | 16 years ago
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Is a good word…

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Tony Farrelly | 16 years ago
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 There's an idea… would you buy one?

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gandberg replied to Tony Farrelly | 16 years ago
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If I worked for the mag I'd buy, and force others to buy, LOADS.

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Tony Farrelly replied to gandberg | 16 years ago
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That's certainly the sort of "can do" attitude we like around here. We'd obviously prefer it if you persuaded them although we'd leave the exact methods up to you.

If we were going to do a mag though - we'd want to get the website cranked up to the max first.

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James Warrener replied to Tony Farrelly | 16 years ago
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There are so many mags out there doing the same thing, we need an angle...  39

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