Did anyone else buy Cyclesport and want tneir £4.25 back?

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Comments

  • dulldave
    dulldave Posts: 949
    John Stevenson wrote:
    The accusation was that we simply rewrite catalog copy. We don't.

    Put yourself in the position of someone taking an ambulance journey to A&E with a friend and colleague who was out on a test bike, and then tell me my response was a bit out of order. I won't even dignify with a reponse the notion that a rider with a couple of 12-hour time trials under her belt is not competent. Maybe you should just put the spade down now.

    OK, your response was a bit out of order. Fair enough you're a upset that your colleague was taken to A&E. You'll find your not the only one on here who has sat in an ambulance with a friend or loved one on their way to A&E. So many of us know how you feel.

    It's perfectly possible that someone with 12-hour time trials under their belt would ride a bike for a review and then seek a little inspiration from the manufacturer's description. But I should add that I don't read your magazine and have no idea how good the reviews are. So I don't have an opinion on them.

    What I do have an opinion of is your professionalism. I can understand your response but can't really excuse the second one. I would suggest that a more professional second response would be to apologise for your initial response (given the circumstances I'm sure everyone would understand).

    If your readership have honest feedback to give you about reviews then I'd take it on the chin. Using an emotionally charged incident as a retort is unfair and frankly not very professional from someone in your position.

    I hope your colleague isn't too badly hurt and is back on the bike soon.
    Scottish and British...and a bit French
  • EKIMIKE
    EKIMIKE Posts: 2,232
    Firstly, I hope your colleague gets well soon.

    I never said any of your testers or staff/colleagues are incompetent, i just don't like the magazine. However i still stand by my opinion (that's all it is) that i can't find anything in Cycling Plus that i can't find on a manufacturers website.

    I think you'll find no correlation with what i said and what happened to your colleague so I find it needless to put myself in the position of someone in an ambulance being rushed to A&E.

    It's a shame you're clearly so het up at the fact that I don't like your publication. I'm really not that important. There are many needlessly inflammatory things i could put in this space right now but I think i'll let your absurd ramblings speak for themselves.

    If it's any consolation, Procycling is my favourite cycling magazine :wink:
    Canyon Endurace CF 2014 | Canyon Ultimate CF 2010
  • BarryBonds
    BarryBonds Posts: 344
    John Stevenson wrote:
    The accusation was that we simply rewrite catalog copy. We don't.

    Put yourself in the position of someone taking an ambulance journey to A&E with a friend and colleague who was out on a test bike, and then tell me my response was a bit out of order. I won't even dignify with a reponse the notion that a rider with a couple of 12-hour time trials under her belt is not competent. Maybe you should just put the spade down now.

    Hmmmmm timetriallist falls of bike. Was there a corner?
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    BarryBonds wrote:
    John Stevenson wrote:
    The accusation was that we simply rewrite catalog copy. We don't.

    Put yourself in the position of someone taking an ambulance journey to A&E with a friend and colleague who was out on a test bike, and then tell me my response was a bit out of order. I won't even dignify with a reponse the notion that a rider with a couple of 12-hour time trials under her belt is not competent. Maybe you should just put the spade down now.

    Hmmmmm timetriallist falls of bike. Was there a corner?

    No need for that. We'll have Andy Grey and Richard Keys joining in next :lol:
  • itisaboutthebike
    itisaboutthebike Posts: 1,120
    FWIW.........

    I bought CW almost every week(for 30 years !) until recently...........after 30 odd years I know how to ride/train/eat (well at least for the sportives I do these days) and was getting sick of endless 'training/diet' articles.

    And endless 'lets talk to this gineau pig' about thier riding(and or problems) and see if we can improve them. Yes some useful stuff...............but a lof of chaff.

    Maybe ok if you've a novice rider.

    What really inspired me to ride (and cycle tour) when I started cycling was reading about Ian Hibells exploits in CW. And yes those articles were long !

    As for the rest of the current crop of monthlies.....................well I spend 5 mins on a Friday afternoon after work in Smiths reading 'em.

    Although I've been having C+ since its very first issue (which my wife recently chucked out) and have currently got it on subscripotion, its getting a bit tiresome.......................


    PS my wife also made me chuck the 30 years worth of CW that were in the loft - on account they were a fire hazard !
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    To be honest both ProCycling and CycleSport's latest issues are, at best, light reading material.

    In comparison, RIDE Cycling Review has just brought out their biggest issue yet, and arguably their best yet.

    Sure, it could be argued that RIDE are releasing their mag in the summer, but the mag is still light on in race reviews, but jam packed with heaps and heaps of great articles.
  • TheYorkshireMan
    TheYorkshireMan Posts: 92
    John Stevenson wrote:
    EKIMIKE wrote:
    Meh, just think, at least you didn't buy and then have the pain of reading Cycling Plus. Absolutely awful magazine. Mildly creative re-writing of a manufacturers.

    One of our bike testers just put herself in hospital researching a catalogue re-write.

    How clever do you feel now?

    I recently had the misfortune to buy a copy of Cycling Weekly and it was so crap it made me cry.

    So how clever do you feel now? Huh? Huh?
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    John Stevenson wrote:
    EKIMIKE wrote:
    Meh, just think, at least you didn't buy and then have the pain of reading Cycling Plus. Absolutely awful magazine. Mildly creative re-writing of a manufacturers.

    One of our bike testers just put herself in hospital researching a catalogue re-write.

    How clever do you feel now?
    Probably cleverer than you with your righteous indignation, I'd bet. IMHO catty remarks on forums are best left to us full-time unpaid volunteers :wink:

    John, I'm sorry to hear one of your experienced testers hurt themselves and I'm sure everyone would wish her a speedy recovery. However, her current condition is not relevant to whether your mag reads like cut'n'paste ad copy. I recently criticised CW's 'review' of Sram Apex for the same thing. At least they didn't shoot me down in flames for having an opinion!

    I have bought C+ a number of times and would agree with the comments on this thread. Maybe it's repetitive because there's only so much you can write about each new season's £1000 road bikes; or that contemporary bikes and components are all so good that scoring them is a bit pointless. Some of us are aware that publishing is a tough place to be, and it's not unknown for advertisers to use their financial muscle to influence articles. With attitudes like yours I won't be bothering to see if C+ is worth buying in future.

    Returning to the OP's comments, I subscribed to CS last spring when I found it more to my liking than Pro Cycling and the subscription offer meant it was under £3 per issue, delivered to my door. The articles and interviews keep me interested longer than usual and TBH what does anyone expect for £4 these days? A frothy latte and a small pastry if you're lucky. It's glossy, 100-odd(?) well laid out pages and full of words and photos by people who do it for a living. All these things cost money and £4 doesn't go very far. WH Smiths isn't such a bad place to spend 5 minutes evaluating a potential purchase, and there are usually a good range of titles to choose from. If you don't like it don't buy it. If you have ideas for improving the content without costing a fortune then email the editorial team with suggestions.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    I think, in fairness to the magazine, there's probably a lot less difference in a frame than we like to think.

    We want differentiation, as do the sellers, but ultimately, a bike is a bike.
    _
  • andrewjoseph
    andrewjoseph Posts: 2,165
    John Stevenson wrote:
    ...

    One of our bike testers just put herself in hospital researching a catalogue re-write.

    ...

    You seem to be admitting guilty to the accusation.

    while not denigrating your bike tester or her skills, I put myself in hospital while doing a ctc cycle quest on an easy cycle path.

    Falling off a bike has little to do with writing or researching, it is a hazard knowingly undertaken by anyone who gets on a bike.
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    I think he was being sarcastic referring to a 'catalogue re-write'

    His comment does remind me of the episode of The Office where on a course, David Brent has to get a receptionists attention......
  • andrewjoseph
    andrewjoseph Posts: 2,165
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    I think he was being sarcastic referring to a 'catalogue re-write'

    ...

    I sort of guessed that, I just thought an editor would either have:

    not said anything,

    phrased comments more judiciously,

    made it obvious he was not talking for the magazine/website,

    but I also know that passion can kick logic's arse and throw it out the window before you even know passion has woken up, got out of bed, jumped down the stairs and wrecked the kitchen.

    I wouldn't want to live in a world without passion, but logic has a lot going for it too.
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • lemoncurd
    lemoncurd Posts: 1,428
    I'm a bit puzzled by John's comments.

    Am I correct in thinking that they're along the lines of "we risk life and limb to write the articles in C+ and you dare to suggest that they're not very good"?

    Weird.

    Hope your friend and colleague makes a full recovery.
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    Not really sure of the relevance to be honest, I feel that he just got a bit over-emotional with his post.
  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    After CW editors rant about what cyclists should and shouldn't wear I won't be buying another copy again. Self opinionated tosh.

    I'm afraid John's ramblings here come a little to close.

    Industrial accidents happen and have to be dealt with. Hopefully your staff member will make a full recovery and have no lasting affects. As a company hopefully there maybe lessons learned from the accident that can be acted on to prevent a re-occurrence in the future.
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    The CW tech editor sprinted head down into the back of a van on a 'testing' trip and they didn't crow about it. Mind you they didn't have insurance so that might explain it.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    lemoncurd wrote:
    I'm a bit puzzled by John's comments.

    Am I correct in thinking that they're along the lines of "we risk life and limb to write the articles in C+ and you dare to suggest that they're not very good"?

    Weird.

    Hope your friend and colleague makes a full recovery.
    Thanks lemocurd, you said what I was thinking.

    Why oh why can't I be that concise? :cry:
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • TheYorkshireMan
    TheYorkshireMan Posts: 92
    Well, this thread has been something of an eye-opener.

    Personally, I think that John Stevenson's own comments go a long way to explaining just why Future publishing's cycling publications are so rubbish.

    They clearly can't recruit staff of the necessary calibre.

    P.s. And I don't mean the person who fell off the bike they were 'testing'.
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    To be honest the bike reviews in mags all seem a little too politically correct. No bike gets a panning. It's a bit like school these days where everyone is a winner on sports day. Mags are frightened of upsetting manufacturers. As for the injury to the mag tester I'm sorry to hear about it but the editor making out like they are the heroes of Telemark does little to advance sympathy.
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    edited January 2011
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    To be honest the bike reviews in mags all seem a little too politically correct. No bike gets a panning. It's a bit like school these days where everyone is a winner on sports day. Mags are frightened of upsetting manufacturers. As for the injury to the mag tester I'm sorry to hear about it but the editor making out like they are the heroes of Telemark does little to advance sympathy.

    Ooorrr - there aren't any horrific bikes out there.

    Take a look at the "your bike" section. I haven't seen anyone go "bought this bike, it's bloody awful".

    Bike's are pretty similar to one another. Especially from enormous firms with big budgets - they're not going to make a mistake. There's only so much you can do, for example, with an aluminium bike.

    Sure, you could compare the bikes to one another so the worst in its class, though a good bike in its own right gets 1 star, but then the differences between them would be exagerated.
    _
  • lemoncurd
    lemoncurd Posts: 1,428
    Simon E wrote:
    lemoncurd wrote:
    I'm a bit puzzled by John's comments.

    Am I correct in thinking that they're along the lines of "we risk life and limb to write the articles in C+ and you dare to suggest that they're not very good"?

    Weird.

    Hope your friend and colleague makes a full recovery.
    Thanks lemocurd, you said what I was thinking.

    Why oh why can't I be that concise? :cry:

    Your post is concise.

    Relax :)

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