Bicycling

[Jaco-fiets]

Statement: The April 2009 Bicycling issue is the worst sports mag issue i have ever purchased. I must state that i am a big bicycling fan in general. From the moment i opened the mag the first thing i noticed is the bad qualitity paper. There is absolutely nothing to read in it. I went through the mag in less than 5min and tossed it.

 

Am i being overly critical here. I know a few people who shares this sentment. I truely hope that this is not what we can expect from this mag in future issues

[keith]

I have noticed the mag has slendered down. I read 'What Mountain Bike' and 'Pro Cycling' in the shops as they are AWESOME mags. Why can't we in SA produce mags of this quality? They do great reveiws and have up to date cycling news.

[whitesox]

I agree! Waste of paper!!!

[Dirtbreath]

Waiting to see what Tread delivers.

[jugheaddave]

I agree, the April issue was a little rubbish.

Bicycling is usually a really good publication. Maybe they are having some  issue of some kind, and will be back up to scratch next month??

[Paddy]

I was getting frustrated at their continued copying of articles from their overseas  editions and did not renew my subscription.  seems it was a good idea!

[wesf]

Real junk, dont think I will waste my money again.

[martelpypie]

Its going to take a while for Bicycling to become what it was a few years ago.

I think the problem is that they need to do market research and try and find out what people want in a magazine.

Many  years ago a few American organisations tried to introduce a Healthcare concep here in SA that was very succesful in the USA. It flopped totally as they did not understand the healthcare market in SA then.

This is where Ride scores points as they are more of a "local" magazine.

[Evan Andreou]

Will not be renewing my subscription unfortunately

[Johan Bornman]

I don't think you're overly critical. I bought my last one in 1999 and haven't missed it since. Every so often I find one somewhere and I give it a try, only to realise that I've still missed nothing.

During a recent trip to Cape Town I had that magazine and a Bark Essay in my room and I found the Bark Essay hugely entertaining. It was full of pictures of strange people. I recall one picture of a naked oke on a big motorbike inside the kiddies pool at some or other local resort. He was doing doughnuts inside the pool, shooting the water out of the pool with a surprisingly strong stream of water coming off his back wheel.

I found that far, far more entertaining than Bicycling's lineup of:

 

1) Get Monster Abs in only 3 minutes a day.

2) Eat your way to a 10kg weight loss.

3) Ride your best Argus ever.

4) 10 places to shed weight on your bike.

5) 15 poofter wheels on review and

6) Insider tips and tricks on changing gears.

7) Get more sex today still.

 

I stand corrected on some of the headlines, I may have confused them with those in Men's Health.

 

In Bark Essay, there wasn't a single weight weenie shaving grams off his motorbike, it was all about guys and gals enjoying the hell out of life and pushing their machines to the limit in one way or the other - even if it was burning circles in the main street of Sannieshof.

 

It was full of pictures of people who actually ride their bikes and then party.

 

I think we need a good old bicycle rally where people can bring out their old bikes and ride places - even gravel - in gear that doesn't advertise some or other laser hair removal company or European flooring company.

 

 But I digress....Bicycling is hugely improved by using bad quality paper, at least it doesn't scratch so much when use use it sheet by sheet.

 

 

 

[singletrackmind]

tread is awesome!!!!

[Dr Drey]

At least I'm not alone!

I thought I was being a little harsh when I tossed it on the pile of disused mags ready to be shredded for school projects.

[jagwil]

I have noticed the mag has slendered down. I read 'What Mountain Bike' and 'Pro Cycling' in the shops as they are AWESOME mags. Why can't we in SA produce mags of this quality? They do great reveiws and have up to date cycling news.

 

Mountain Bike Rider(MBR) and Mountain Biking UK (MBUK) are both UK magazines which are a bit pricey but well worth the read.

[Malkie]

Jip got to agree very poor quality this month as stated in previous posts,from paper quality to content. 

[Oldschool]

I thought of starting a thread on this, but held back, I dont like some of the complaining that sometimes start on the hub, but this time. I know they use syndicated material from the US, but no effort on any of the local races, results, etc. I know you can get that in Ride, but Ride doesn not come through a reduced sub on Discovery.

 

The wasted paper on chasing Mat Damon, terrible. I still thinks the R100 per year I pay is worth it, I am sure I am getting my moneys worth, but I wont pay anymore.

 

Some nice pics on the slopes of Chappies though

 

They do nothing for the cycling brand in SA. As Johan B said, the articles are like Mens Health, but for cyclist.  Suppose that is what you get when you put a runner in charge of a bike mag

[Harryn]

yah, this month's issue absolute sh!t. I swear there was an article in there about Lance which I recall reading before - I think it in Mens Health a month or 2 ago.

I also won't be renewing - even at the reduced vitality price, its still not worth it. re-hashed ***!