Same old c+ cover shot, yawn!

torrens

Just got cycling plus 238. Cover photo is of a young, depressing fit young lad out of saddle giving it some berries YET AGAIN! Why oh why can't we have some cover shots featuring sporty young ladies, radiant in Lycra, acres of exposed skin glistening under the camera's flash, hair streaming back in their slipstream etc etc etc et cetera!

Just a thought...

Aggieboy

You need the top shelf.

shockedsoshocked

Some racing shots wouldn't go amiss either.

fast as fupp

isnt it a magazine about shopping bikes?

simon johnson

and it's usually photoshopped...terribly

DIESELDOG

Oooooohhh the temptation to put myself forward for a shoot.




Hmmm, bet there are no photographers out there with wide angle lenses...

Anonymous

I think they should use forum members on the cover.

Scrumple

the mag is the same every month, with nothing of consequence - well, not much.

even the reviews miss major brand leaders.

i can read it in 2 minutes these days.

The covers are DIRE

oscarbudgie

I'd nearly read it all before I realised it wasn't a brochure for Bikeradar Live. Total yawn fest

ynyswen24

At least Paul Vincent isn't on every cover these days. He was very "aerodynamic"...

Lucky Luke

Yep , the issue that dropped through my letterbox yesterday was dire. These days it's content it seems is mainly based on equipment reviews of one type or other with a big spread about Bikeradar 2010. And what's this padding with pages and pages of bike prices that seems now to be the norm. Considering the Tour starts in a few weeks and we've got a new British team in it where's the coverage ? Oh we've got a wallchart map of the Tour route. Yawnnnnn. Cancelled my subsciption today. Never even got asked why.

BMX Bear

Must admit to not having bought a copy in the last six months or so, I found it was getting predictable and boring.

kingrollo

I found after 12 months the same sort of articles kept cropping up - I could never make up my mind whether the mag was getting worse - or just repetitive......

Mind you brought cycling weekly a couple of weeks back - that was even worse

olddgreg

I'm probably going to cancel my subscription. Same old rubbish yet again this month, crappy bike review, loads of rubbish about bikeradar live and no interesting features.

verylonglegs

I think all hobby mags end up with a repetitive feel after a while whether its photography or fishing, there are only so many ways you can re-hash the same advice.

I was looking at all the TdF guides and monthly specials yesterday and for the first time in probably a decade I haven't bothered buying one. At least 3 had an 'exclusive' interview with Contador and other various contenders where the same old cliches are trotted out. If I need a route guide then it's all available on the web.

hells

As a woman most of the mags are largely irrelevant as they hardly ever review any womens kit or equipment and if they do it will be just one pair of shorts in a review of 10 mens shorts. Nor do they write anything about professional womens racing unless someone wins something really big. I know we are a minority within a minority but it would be nice to be more included especially as all the mags were saying why dont women cycle more fairly recently, not hard to see why when we cant get any info about races we could enter, not given any info on how pro women are doing and never read anything about any kit we could use. I do like cycling plus more than cycling weekly. Some routes with MBR style pull out maps would be nice.

Lucky Luke

John Stevenson wrote:

What would you like to read articles about?

Considering the Tour's just around the corner you would hardly know it from the latest issue. Regards articles you could have included a decent preview about the race itself maybe with a focus on one or two key stages. A day in the life of a typical tour rider / domestique for example. Something about French cycling culture . A bit of history about some of the town's en route. Something about Dutch cycling culture seeing as the depart is there. Good insight into what Sky is all about, interviews with a couple of their riders, basically more proactive journalism please than a review based brochure which is what the magazine's rapidly becoming.

Really though it's your writers that should be coming up with the ideas not the readership.

fast as fupp

hells wrote:

As a woman most of the mags are largely irrelevant as they hardly ever review any womens kit or equipment and if they do it will be just one pair of shorts in a review of 10 mens shorts. Nor do they write anything about professional womens racing unless someone wins something really big. I know we are a minority within a minority but it would be nice to be more included especially as all the mags were saying why dont women cycle more fairly recently, not hard to see why when we cant get any info about races we could enter, not given any info on how pro women are doing and never read anything about any kit we could use. I do like cycling plus more than cycling weekly. Some routes with MBR style pull out maps would be nice.

a woman?

on a bicycle?

no?

:shock:

de_sisti

torrens wrote:

Just got cycling plus 238. Cover photo is of a young, depressing fit young lad out of saddle giving it some berries YET AGAIN! Why oh why can't we have some cover shots featuring sporty young ladies, radiant in Lycra, acres of exposed skin glistening under the camera's flash, hair streaming back in their slipstream etc etc etc et cetera!

Just a thought...

I made a similar comment here a few months ago. The editorial staff have ignored my comments
and that of others. I cancelled my subscription by the way.

slimreaper

Hi
I cancelled my subscription a couple of months back. Same reasons as the rest of you really, same old reviews, too much Bikeradar Live, nothing new or interesting.
Wonder what their sales figures have done over the last year with the reported increase in numbers of people cycling?
Cheers
Andy

petejuk

I still have some of the issues from last year kicking around the house and, compared to this year, they have a far more polished appearance to them both in terms of the range of articles and the standard of journalism. This year has been complete toss on the whole. I've stopped buying it. Lazy.

nmcgann

I haven't seen the very latest edition, but the previous two have had almost identical cover photos and quite similar content. I remember thinking "have I already bought this?".

Gazzaputt

slimreaper wrote:

Hi
I cancelled my subscription a couple of months back. Same reasons as the rest of you really, same old reviews, too much Bikeradar Live, nothing new or interesting.
Wonder what their sales figures have done over the last year with the reported increase in numbers of people cycling?
Cheers
Andy

Love to know how you cancelled. Emails and phone calls over months and still the bloody thing drops thorough the letterbox every month.

It needs a major overhaul. Far to stale.

Bobbinogs

I don't mind a mag having the odd advert (in fact I do read them) but I have been very disappointed by the blinking Bike Live/Show thing. It seems to have been going on for months and each issue gets loads of pages devoted to it. I am not saying "I object to it because I ain't interested", but the chaps at the mag need some kind of perspective, like when TV presenters seem to assume that everyone lives in London whereas as more people don't than do.

I am not sure about the massive bike review section at the back either. The first one the other month was interesting...but that does not mean I want to be buying the same pages every month for the rest of the year yet it looks like that is going to be the case.

Anyway, back to the OP, yepp the photos on the front just blur into one boring mass of young athletic lads standing up whilst on the drops of fast bikes with the background in soft focus. I cannot even remember the one from the mag I read two days ago.

slimreaper

Gazzaputt wrote:

slimreaper wrote:

Hi
I cancelled my subscription a couple of months back. Same reasons as the rest of you really, same old reviews, too much Bikeradar Live, nothing new or interesting.
Wonder what their sales figures have done over the last year with the reported increase in numbers of people cycling?
Cheers
Andy

Love to know how you cancelled. Emails and phone calls over months and still the bloody thing drops thorough the letterbox every month.

It needs a major overhaul. Far to stale.

I actually switched to different magazine, so they are still getting my money, but not for the dross that is C+
Andy

Gazzaputt

The Bikeradar Cycle fest is one big money spinner. £15 to enter. £20 for the sportive. £5 to ride a 'hot lap' of Brands. Seems to be a charge on everything.

I was going to do the sportive but £35 is excessive.

windbreaker

Yes it is Dire. What don’t I cancel my subscription as well?

Inertia really. I hope they read this post. I don’t even trust the product reviews anymore as they seem to promote their advertisers too much.

simonaspinall

"This month!!!! Sub-£1000 Sportive bikes tested!!!!"

Again

I know that this is where the growth market is but jesus it's predictable. Probably best not to go down the top gear test route of only showing ridiculously expensive models but there has to be a happy medium

de_sisti

windbreaker wrote:

Yes it is Dire. What don’t I cancel my subscription as well?

Inertia really. I hope they read this post. I don’t even trust the product reviews anymore as they seem to promote their advertisers too much.

They gave Villiers top marks for customer service, iirc, 2 weeks turnaround for a bike build.
However, my mate and his wife had to wait months for their order (two complete bikes)
which turned out to be just two frames (nice ones though). Apparantly Villiers' customer service
was abysmal (but their workmanship was good), C+ didn't experience the above though.

Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke wrote:

John Stevenson wrote:

What would you like to read articles about?

Considering the Tour's just around the corner you would hardly know it from the latest issue. Regards articles you could have included a decent preview about the race itself maybe with a focus on one or two key stages. A day in the life of a typical tour rider / domestique for example. Something about French cycling culture . A bit of history about some of the town's en route. Something about Dutch cycling culture seeing as the depart is there. Good insight into what Sky is all about, interviews with a couple of their riders, basically more proactive journalism please than a review based brochure which is what the magazine's rapidly becoming.

Really though it's your writers that should be coming up with the ideas not the readership.

This was in response to a post by a John Stevenson, Editor in Chief who asked "what would you like to read articles about?" . Forum member Hells also responded to this question 20-06-10 at 15:27 with suggestions of more women specific articles. Very valid in my opinion .

This question from the Editor in Chief subsequently disappeared as if never asked.

It's up to the magazine to come up with the ideas not the readership John. You don't get Tescos asking you what you want to buy it's up to them to keep the customers coming back not vice versa. Customers vote with their feet as I have done. This latest issue was the final straw after many months giving you the benefit of the doubt.


Don't suppose I stand much chance of winning the recent Scott competition now do I ?

dag_on_a_bike

Shouldn't this thread have been in Cycling Plus Office? Some of the editorial staff do frequent that one.