Reviews For Bicycling Magazine

I usually thumb through Bicycling mag., but i read the MTB supplimental from front to back.

Bicycling was a good cycling magazine, but the recent redesign has improved it. It's closer to a 5-star magazine at times, and is a great, anticipated read each month.

It's a bit sarcastic at times, but that makes it fun to read, and lets face it, most of us are out there because road and mountain biking are fun! If you are training for the next Tour de France, or don't have a sense of humor then I wouldn't suggest this magazine.

While this is an excellent magazine it is very technical in nature. Anything you would want to know gear wise is here. I would like to see more training tips but over all I am very satisfied.

Publications like BICYCLING practically define narrow-casting. Aimed at a modest population that throbs with interest in their shared pursuit, a magazine like this one has to meet elevated expectations and yet recruit enough advertisers to pay the bottom line and maintain an accessible price.

The result is almost doomed to be something of a hybrid.

In my book, that's just ok. I read BICYCLING as much for the gear as for the articles on new products, new workouts, and exotic rides. Some months, I'm in it for the advertisements, sometimes for the review, sometimes for the workouts, sometimes just for the sheer pleasure of turning the pages and seeing what I can see.

That's what one should expect from a magazine like this one. It's not philosophy, not rocket science, and not a training manual for the Tour. It's just BICYCLING. That's pretty cool.

Having regularly read "Bicycling" for many years (even when it was called "Bicycling!" in a tasteless 1970s way), I find it surprising to see how much the quality of the magazine has declined. In spite of all those people spending huge amounts of money on fancy equipment, "Bicycling" has become thinner and thinner. It has recently improved somewhat, after most of the editorial staff was fired, and a sign is the dropping of the truly horrible marginal comments (Bike Love and so forth) but it is only suitable for real neophytes. Unfortunately, there is no other single magazine that covers racing, bike touring, test reviews, technique and fitness in North America, no matter how poorly. The articles are very short and sometimes, well, just stupid. There is very little on cycling destinations or serious equipment tests. The photography remains decent, but compared to the German magazine "Tour," for example, "Bicycling" is a pretty sad effort. If you can read this, you have access to the Internet, which means you have far better sources of information to draw on. I am letting my subscription lapse and advise you to save your money. A big disappointment, "Bicycling" has not advanced with its readers.

I found this magazine to be pretty disappointing:
-Lots of uninformitive articles: like "15 secrets you can really use," "18 things only insiders know," "Ride like a pro," it sounds more like a fashion or diet magazine. All the articles have titles that imply good information but when you read them they lack substance.
- Bike tips that are impracticle or obvious.
-Lots of product reviews that give no good information: instead they tell you how good the bike looks, what material it's made from, if it's high/low priced, what quality line the drive train is, how your friends will like it... they state the obvious and point out things you can figure out for yourself.
-There is a "style man" section in the back that tells you what biking clothes look good, and what is out of fasion?
-Lots of advertisements.
-Anti-triathlete comments in some articles
I only read about 3 of these before I stopped, sometimes I wondered if the editors were even bikers themselves.

Years ago, I used to be a staunch reader of Bicycling (even when it had that ridiculous exclaimation point in the title). Unfortunately, I have to agree with most of the reviewers here, the content has declined dramatically. Mostly fluff, and reviews that don't have much merit.

Too bad, the cycling market has seen a solid rejuvination in the last few years and the market is primed for a good, USEFUL publication, unfortunately Bicycling isn't it.

This is a pretty sad magazine. It's like Seventeen for cyclists really. I can't believe i used to actually take it seriously. Fortunately i know better now, but sheesh. It's just stupid and worthless info that is only occasionally compensated for by good pictures of new bikes. If you want to see new bikes, go to your local bike shop and actually ride them. Don't buy a magazine. The advice is stupid to the point of almost being gossip. Try Cyclesport if you like to follow racing... i have no suggestions for just all around road biking, however.

A lot of the slams against "BUY-Cycling" come from people who remember it back in the late 70s, when it was part of the Runner's World empire. Not very slick or pretty, but lots of great articles about maintaining your bike and relatively-unbiased product reviews. Oh, and not a lot of ads either. That worked, back in the day. Not anymore. Like nearly all magazines, they're dependent upon advertising revenue, so you're bombarded with slick ads for expensive bikes that you might have no interest in. Big deal, that's what pays the bills to keep it alive. Bicycling remains a source of interesting articles about mainstream cycling, and they do a great job during the Tour de France with their website.

But Bicycling Magazine is weak on advocacy issues, and it should have been them, not an individual user, heading up the Facebook crusade against outrageous bike fees charged by airlines ([...]). Nor did they have a visible presence at the annual DC Bicycle Summit, the big lobbying event put on by the League of American Bicyclists. Lots of room for improvement. Just don't put them down because they're slick & glossy. That's not a crime these days, it's a requirement.