Which magazine?

MancMissile

Which magazine do you guys buy on a regluar basis?

I've been buying Cycling Plus every month and think its a great mag, thinking of subscriping to get a free jersey

What other good cycling magazines are about?

ianbar

cycling active, a pound cheaper and feels a little lighter to read. i like both but cycling plus always feels a bit out of reach and a bit more like for experienced riders whereas i am a newbe

dmont

^ same as Ianbar, cycle active all the way ( I'm a total newbie too, so suits me prefect )

thegibdog

Have tried Cycling Active a couple of times and found the quality of the writing to be pretty poor. Cycling Plus reviews come across as much more knowledgeable and insightful although there does seem to be a tendancy towards high end componentry recently.

Chad_c_Mulligan

I used to subscribe to cycling plus but after 18 months I realised that they just have 12 editions that they endlessly recycle by changing small bits.

Then I realised that there's only so much you can write about cycling before repeating yourself and would now only buy it for the reviews if I was planning on buying something.

Bobbinogs

Cycling Weekly, aka the comic. Timely because it comes out weekly and has a good coverage of a wide range of issues including some retro stuff and club stuff which the spangly mags don't seem to want to touch. It still has the usual nonsense that all mags seem to go for, e.g., "a scientific survey of 2 fat blokes found that the one who ate 2 cherries a week for 4 weeks was 2 seconds quicker cycling over 10 yards, which if extrapolated means that the average cyclist should eat 40 pounds of cherries a day to shave 10 minutes off a 50m TT".

LeicesterLad

Chad_c_Mulligan wrote:

I used to subscribe to cycling plus but after 18 months I realised that they just have 12 editions that they endlessly recycle by changing small bits.

Then I realised that there's only so much you can write about cycling before repeating yourself and would now only buy it for the reviews if I was planning on buying something.

+1 this, used to get it regular, but started getting a little de ja vu.

Get cycling weekly now, which is costly compared to the monthlies, but good domestic and internatial coverage at every level. Like the sportive reviews and write-ups, some of the Fitness is ok, Tech stuff usually banging on about a new shifter that costs £2000000, but thats the same with all the mags.

noiseboyfeetman

Chad_c_Mulligan wrote:

I used to subscribe to cycling plus but after 18 months I realised that they just have 12 editions that they endlessly recycle by changing small bits.

Then I realised that there's only so much you can write about cycling before repeating yourself and would now only buy it for the reviews if I was planning on buying something.

+1 I now look and see if there's anything in it in the newsagents to see if its worth buying or just the same stuff over again. Alternatively I wait until the reviews or articles appear on here instead such as the Ti bikes that are now popping up daily on the front page.

Redhog14

I have subscrived to a variety over the years Road and MTB mags, buy them for a while and see how you get on you can always cancel, i do agree with Chad though after a while you get the feeling that you have read it before. Plus all their reviews appear on here 4-6 weeks afterward. I have satarted buying ProCycling which is a good insight to the sport and not full of "10 ways of sneaking out for a 40miler instead of doing housework" type lists.

ALaPlage

+1 for Cycling Weekly as it gives a good coverage of what is happening out in the sporting side both pro and am and of sportives etc. Mix of technical and health and some humour from he who signs himself Dr Hutch. All in all its a good read.

For Sport, Pro Cycling (although quite expensive at the higher end of monthly mag prices) it is a really good read - well written with real insights into the Pro Cycling World and the lives of riders and teams. Photography is first class and the quality of the magazine is high throughout.

Everyones different so why not treat yourself to a different mag each month as well as a few weekly editions of cycling weekly and make your own mind up.

Secteur

The answer to this question depends entirely on what you want from the mags.

Personally I have subscriptions for;

Cycling Weekly
Cycling Plus
Cycle Sport
ProCycling

I can't stand Cycling Active and the other one (?Cycling Fitness or something similar).

Peloton and the other foreign sounding one are both nice, but I flick before buying.

neilo23

I've subscribed to Procycling for years but, to be honest, have grown tired of it. Pro cyclists don't tend to be very interesting people, or at least very interesting interviewees (what with riding a bike for 6 hours every day, eating and sleeping, recovering, they don't generally have too much time to do many interesting things) and the interviews do tend to be, in my opinion, a bit samey.

Football manager interviews after the big game tend to be full of the same old clichés, and moder day interviews tend to be the same: "I trained hard, but just didn't have the legs on the day"; "I trained on the climb and felt good. The others couldn't stay with me" etc.

I just think, not taking anything away from the feats of the guys today (who I greatly admire and enjoy watching), that the Hinaults, Fignons, Coppis and Bartalis make more interesting reading than todays riders who are spotted when they are young and shielded from the real world.

50 years ago, Anquetil was a character for winning a race, getting drunk in the evening, not sleeping, and winning a race the next day. Today that would be a sacking offence. What chance do the riders have to be interesting characters?

I find the most interesting articles to be the retro articles, but I tend to be nostalgic for a time (before my own) when the riders seemed more "real". With their helmets, sunglasses and the big business surrounding the sport it is harder for the characters to come out. Look at snooker: the young Jimmy White, Kirk Stevens, Alex Higgins were from a different world compared to the majority of modern players.

Nowadays I prefer Cyclesport because Procycling has the top interviews but little about cycling. If the subject matter (the stars) were more interesting the writers would feel little need to resort to trawling the vaults of cycling history to fill their pages.

By the way, Procycling used to have a great feature (my main reason for buying it) about a great climb somewhere in the world, which disappeared. But, as said, it still has great photos and info about new dream components, and it is well written. And that is a good reason to buy it: a stylish magazine for a stylish sport.

neilo23

And I like Cycling Plus and Weekly, too, for the same reasons.

That'll do for now. Have wrist ache from the last post.

sungod

imho pro cycling is the best, although like the others it can get a bit formulaic at times (pre-tour edition, tour edition, looking back at the tour edition, etc.), but the photography and production quality is great, and i do enjoy marcel wüst's monthly bike ride

the comic is ok for the news and events, otherwise content is patchy, seems to have got worse the last year, i find the miniplug of the week for some bar/gel/glop/drink pretending not to be an advert particularly annoying for some reason, maybe i'm just grumpy though

i read cycle sport too, it's ok, but imho it could do with much sharper editing

smithaay

i get cycling weekly pritty often because its very well written and i found cycling plus a bit boring and not worth the extra money.

i get procycling now and again for the reviews and good photos

cycling active seemed a bit of a bore to me to. but just opinion

jonny_trousers

I like Cycling Plus, but completely get the criticisms levelled above. I used to buy Men's Health and that was exactly the same with it's recycling of much the same articles. In fact, I suspect they will be produced by the same company who create magazines to a tried and tested formula. Either way, I like it for being easy to browse bike porn.

Cycling Active is gash.

mikeyboy12345

Me: Cyclign Active, Cycling Plus, Cycling Weekly, Cycle Sport.

Cycling Active has an awful lot of crossover with Cycling Weekly (recent examples being the articles on the Met's fight against bike theft). And you get CA free if you do a Wiggle sportive! I got a half price subscription, but prob won't renew - everything in it's just too simplistic once you progress past the novice stage.

If you have Tesco clubcard vouchers you can get Cycle Sport or MBR for £16 for a year, which is pretty good value.