Originally Posted by
steelbikeguy
well, Chuck must have reconsidered the claim, because my old copies of his literature refer to it as the Ultra-Light mirror. Of course, he also called his business the Ultra-Light Touring Shop.
As far as the ratio between actual content and advertising... I'd say that the early to mid 80's might have been the transition point for Bicycling. My issues from the mid 70's have about 100 pages, with not too many ads. The March 1982 issue has an editorial from James McCullagh which welcomes the reader to the new Bicycling magazine. This issue has about 170 pages, and these include quite a lot of ads! Not sure how much it matters, unless you were the mail carrier who had to lug these hefty magazines around.
Some of the ads were ones I enjoyed, such as some of the mail order houses. I've owned more than a few of the items shown in this Bikecology advertisement..
I still own the Belt Beacon light, some SunTour Superbe quill pedals, and Zefal HP pump.the edgeall three edges
Amazing to think that this one place could also sell me a Colnago, De Rosa, Guerciotti, Bob Jackson, Mercian, or Jack Taylor frame!
Steve in Peoria
I clearly remember ordering many items from Bikecology and Bike Warehouse (later became Bike Nashbar) in the late 70s and early 80s. Not many quality bike shops in central Illinois at that time. Vitesse in Normal was new, sold Stellas and Fujis and was to become one of Trek's first dealers. One of my first "dream bikes" was a Bob Jackson frame, red with white panels, that I outfitted with black anodized Shimano Dura Ace (first generation) components, mostly all purchased from Bikecology.
As a side note, I subscribed to Bicycling in 1975 and anxiously awaited every new issue. One of the first things I did each month was to turn to the full page ad from Bike Warehouse. Their trick was to have a bold dotted border running around all outer three edges of the magazine, bleeding off all three edges of the sheet so their page stood out like a sore thumb.
Genious!