Reviews For Bicycling Magazine

sadly I found myself in agreement with those who note the declining quality of this magazine. This used to be the first point of call for cycling enthusiasts but somehow they have now identified an imaginary readership who are both willing to buy super-expensivee components and yet who have no knowledge of the sport. Someone must have persuaded them that this was an advancing demographic.

This is an OK magazine for beginner cyclists. Experienced or competitive cyclists will probably find the articles to be very shallow, repetitive, or obsolete. CyclingPlus is a much better magazine, but also much more expensive.

This magazine is ok. I didn't get too much out of it that I didn't already know about riding bikes. I think that this would be great for someone just getting into it or back into it.

You will think this is a good magazine the first couple of times you read t and then it will start to occur to you that you are reading the same thing over and over. The articles are repackaged but it is just the same stuff. This is quite common with Rodale magazines.

For what it is, this magazine is OK -- a short digest of info for dilettantes. It has been "dumbed down" (please don't take that term too perjoratively) recently to attract a wider spectrum of readers, it would seem. It still has some useful info and is in my opinion worth the inexpensive subscription price.
But hard-core cyclists may want to try a different magazine.
I would prefer more (and more detailed) product reviews, maintenance tips, advice/tips.

During the 1970s, Bicycling was a great magazine with lots of in-depth articles about bike tours, bike racing, and bicycle technology. The magazine zoomed downhill through the 1990s into the worthless rag that it is now. The articles in the current version of the magazine are very superficial and lifeless. Many are thinly veiled press releases from various advertisers. If you really want to learn about road bicycles and bicycling, a much better magazineis *CyclingPlus*. For mountain biking, try *Bike* or *Dirt Rag*.

Used to subscribe and still do pick one up on occasion but it ain't what it used to be. Started reading this in the 70's and it wasn't bad--then. It would actually take sides orstate an opinion. Now it is a slave to advertising--lots of fluff, no real stuff and vanishing little real information. The cyclists that used to run the magazine rode off into the sunset. Rodale Press--who gives us that nearly useless Organic Gardening--took over and it'll take an ownership change to bring it back. I buy one or two a year to see if anything has changed--it hasn't. A waste of paper more often than not. One star because of the rare nugget in the waste--otherwise "0" stars.

Leading on what? Innovation, quality articles, coverage, reader satisfaction? No sir.
Profit from advertising, volume sales, high percentual of biased articles? Most likely.

Unfortunately, to boost profits Rodale press is up to anything, like rerun of old articles to save money and misleading "special advertising" sections. If you are into Mt. Biking, there are better magazines out there (Mountain Biking Magazine is not one of them, of course). If your thing is road biking, sorry, there is nothing else except racing magazines. As we know, America is about vehicles that waste energy, like high-powered cars, motorcycles and boats (just count the number of magazines about them next time you stop at your favorite bookstore).

I recently re-subscribed to "Bicycling" hoping that they'd changed their ways but unfortunately over the years (as some have already eluded to) the magazine is still a waste of valuable trees. It has lost it's edge and integrity as a genuine cycling magazine only to be filled with fluff and more fluff. The writing has mostly been replaced by repetitive eye candy for weight weenies, Lance wannabees and the summer fred and does little to bridge the gap in the variety of bicycles, cyclists, and cycling styles and needs.

Maybe it has to do with the market's share going to mountain bike mags (5 out of 6 in my local market) or maybe the same cookie cutter bikes it features every month are just fast money, a sure thing marketed to the before mention riders. I don't know. What I do know is that I will let my subscription run out and continue to enjoy "Bicycle Quarterly..." I just wish it was monthly.

Multi page story on asphalt? WHO THE F@#K CARES!!!
Skimpy and unfocused editorially. The only thing they're consistent about is the use of short punchy blurbs in different fonts and sizes. For example, they had Mari Holden on the cover of a recent issue promising pro secrets. What was her secret? My parents told me to use a helmet... And similar advice from other pros.
Read CyclePlus magazine from the UK for an in depth, systematic approach to product review, ride routes(almost all in the UK) and a variety of short relevant articles that inform without dumbing down the issue. (OK. The two pages on yoga every month is a bit too much but they can get away with that becaause the magazine is so much fatter that Bicycling.)