oldwinger14

While online is the best place to find info on any topic you desire, I still like paging thru a magazine and reading articles and ads that interest me. What cycling magazine do you read? i am mostly interested in new technology, bike reviews, new accessories, etc.. rather than rehashing completed pro races, and other past news.

Cyclist0108

Bicycle Quarterly.

You get what you pay for.

GreatDane84

Road Bike Action magazine. Best magazine focused on bikes and equipment.

veganbikes

I don't really do magazines but I do read Jan Heines stuff and it is always great and I have read some of the BQs and I would subscribe if it made sense for me. Roleur was interesting when I saw it at a shop in Tejas but I didn't actually buy it and haven't looked a copy much since but seemed to have some cool enough stuff along with plenty of lovely hipster fun that makes modern cycling kind of interesting.

I generally check out TheRadavist.com most of the time, always great content and free. Also loads of stories on Lael Wilcox and her partner Rugile going on awesome adventures and such which are super inspiring plus the new readers rides segment they do is always awesome. Some people have some pretty rad bikes.

pdlamb

Tough question. Many specialty magazines have, by their very nature, only a limited pot of topics to cover. After that, it's reruns, sometimes the same plots (like TV episodes) with different writers. Bicycling, the magazine, for instance, has between one and two years' material; after that you'll be reading and suddenly think, "Haven't I read this before?" (Yes, you have.) Go to a newsstand and look at an issue once or twice a year to see what the latest ads are for after you've gone through a subscription.

Bicycle Quarterly has handled that by diversifying into what I think of as "Mountain Dew commercial" types of ride reports. Solo hike-a-bike rides on remote, rocky, mountainous routes, where a serious injury could mean death. No, thank you. I'm only subscribed now because I unwittingly re-up'ed for two years while I still had a year left on my subscription. But there's some good stuff in some of the back issues. Just remember Heine views bicycles through a filter of "the world's best bicycles were built by Rene' Herse between 1945 and 1960."

I'm "subscribed" (through membership) to a couple other periodicals, Adventure Cyclist and American Randonneurs (adventurecycling.org and rusa.org, respectively). Honestly, both seem to be struggling right now. AC has something that I really enjoy about once every three issues -- but then I'm an older white man, so I'm not particularly oppressed, nor am I impressed by stupid things I survived kinds of stories. I've admitted that I'll probably never ride PBP, but some of the randonneur ride reports are interesting and draw me in; but writing skills are uneven and they're suffering from COVID-induced shortages of new group rides for material.

rydabent

I love magazines, and at one time was subscribed to at least a dozen. But over the years sadly they have become little more that picture books with no substance at all.

jrg1244

I subscribe to Peloton magazine, it's honestly a good read most of the time. I find it's a good mix of bikes, gear, travel and generally interesting cycling and racing history. I think you can download a free copy of the current version to try it out on their website.

aplcr0331

None. Just like with all other zines for whatever you're into. It's all too late and mostly crap.

You can get more up to date and better content scouring through comments and forums or on social media.

All the new technology in bike magazines is one long ad. Fine if you're into that. As soon as a new bike comes out (Specialized SL7 recently) you can get more info, more pertinent, and quicker by checking out Twitter (yech), YouTube and Instagram.

Magazines are too slow and need to make money (nothing wrong with that) but they cater to people on the other side of the magazine (hint: the ones paying the bills..i.e the companies that advertise in them...your $11.99 yearly subscription is **** to them).

steve198

Road Bike Action magazine is pretty good.

Koyote

Just bear in mind that most magazines are mostly funded through ad sales -- which means that they exist to sell things.

I-Like-To-Bike

Or in the case of some Internet Sites, they are funded through through ad sales AND selling information about their readers/clickers to the advertisers.

tcs

AC disconnected me when, in answer to members' complaints, the editor retorted that if you didn't like what he chose to put in the magazine you should subscribe to Bicycling.

tcs

Oh, to be sure, magazines sell their subscriber's names and mailing addresses.

Back decades ago when magazines were a thing I would subscribe with a bogus middle initial so I could track who sold my info to whom.

rydabent

I recently joined Adventure Cycling, and get their magazine. It seems to have some pretty good articles in it.

Their content follows the aim of their organization, and even usually has a report on some form of touring bike.

Duo

bicycling mag used to be my go to. anyone think they may return to greatness again?

one4smoke

I like Cycling Weekly and VeloNews.

rydabent

Back in the 80s they were great. But sadly they are one of the magazine that have become mainly a picture book, and vehicle for their advertisers.

friday1970

American Randonnuer is the only mag I read. Only because nothing else comes to my mailbox.

I did like their article about the anime "Long Riders" which did inspire me to do overnight 200k rides

badger1

A quick thread-bump, for anyone with a genuine interest in and fondness for print-based magazines. Sadly, Bike magazine (and its associated website, which doesn't matter to me) is no more, at least "for now": https://www.bikemag.com/news/goodbye-for-now/

As far as mtb was concerned, Bike was the best U.S. magazine out there for a very long time, especially under Brice Minnigh's editorial guidance: superb photography, usually integrated with very, very well-written features, and a strong focus on 'riding' bikes rather than on bike fetishism.

The print mag had been going downhill the last couple of years -- something which coincided with Minnigh's departure and with its going quarterly and increasing reliance on parallel 'web' content.

Fortunately, Minnigh is now editor-in-chief of Freehub, a large-format quarterly that is rapidly improving its editorial content. So there is that.

I-Like-To-Bike

"Bike Fetishism," I like that term.

Is that a condition characterized by drooling over bicycle products with the appropriate labels, paint schemes and eye watering price tags?

badger1

Sadly, I can't take credit for the term. The concept is long-standing -- not unrelated to poseur, for example-- but that particular coinage comes from BSNYC. Weiss may not have been the first to use it, but that's where I first came across the term years ago.

And yes, the affliction could be characterized by drooling over 'objects' as you describe.