Which magazines?

littledove44

I am interested in road riding, but not racing, or professional competition.

Are there any decent magazines?
Which websites are worth visiting?

Thanks.

izza

I subscribe to Cyclist.

They do seem to have good trial offers for 3 months subscriptions.

elderone

cycling plus is best one I have found.Covers most of the roady basics.

Toe knee

Cycling active.

evs78

I subscribe to both Cycling Plus and the Cyclist and really enjoy both. I would say that Cycling Plus is more generalist and has good reviews across the board of bikes and gear, with some bits on UK rides and routes and some good general columns. I found it good as a newcomer to cycling as it constantly gave me the incentive and info to (a) get out on my bike and (b) upgrade almost every bit of it!

The Cyclist is aimed at the very rich or the dreamers (I unfortunately fall into the latter category) who want the best of everything for their bike. Generally bike reviews will be of top end bikes (£5k+), ride reviews will be of overseas routes around the alps, Mallorca, Morocco, etc and the accessories reviewed will generally be pricey too. The writing is generally good, although there can be a little too much focus on articles about top end brands and their heritage and on the science of cycling (neither of which ever get my attention). The best bit about the Cyclist mag is the photography, which is superb and makes it the only mag which is allowed to be left around the living room by the other half!

arran77

I'm a fan of Cyclist but agree that it is a bit more 'coffee table' than some of the other mags, still has some useful stuff in though and the photography is excellent.

If you're after proper 'coffee table' though check out Rouleur magazine :shock:

richard_farrant

I'm finding that Cycling+ is getting a bit too focused on sportive training plans and getting all scientific about diet and how to ride, for that reason, I am reading more of Cyclist, which has a bit of that element, but more on features of great places to go riding. And while their bike reviews might be out of reach, at least it isnt another 'whats the best sportive bike for £xxx'

g00se

Being flippant:

Cycling Active: "What's the best commuting hybrid for £500"?
Cycling Plus: "What's the best sportive bike for £1500"?
Cycling Weekly: "Froome or Wiggins"?
Cyclist: "Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites or Tyrol"?
Rouleur: "Espresso or Ristretto"?

noiseboyfeetman

Cycling Plus is good for a newbie for a year or so until they keep repeating the same articles and reviews, its seems to be quite aimed at sportive riders. Most of the reviews though do appear on Bikeradar a couple of weeks after they appear in C+.

Cycling Active is a bit more focused for commuters imo.

Cyclist seems to be getting quite a few people that have got a bit bored of C+ and I for one am going to give it a go, although I do like the reviews in C+.

tomhowells

What g00se said. I myself subscribe to Cycling Plus & buy Cyclist when I remember.

Ben6899

It depends what you're looking for, but Rouleur is excellent for race reviews/previews and interviews with Pros etc

littledove44

Thanks all. I shall give a few a try and see where I end up.

Websites?

g00se

Website:

here
road.cc and
velonews.competitor.com for the Lennard Zinn tech articles and postbag.

arran77

littledove44 wrote:

Thanks all. I shall give a few a try and see where I end up.

Websites?

This is the only website available, all others get blocked by the management

izza

Adding to Goose's comments:

Cycling Active: "What's the best commuting hybrid for £500"? Read on a train; quite quick unless you are into diets
Cycling Plus: "What's the best sportive bike for £1500"? Read on a plane; as it has more articles
Cycling Weekly: "Froome or Wiggins"? Read in WH Smith; done in 3 minutes
Cyclist: "Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites or Tyrol"? Read on toilet/in bed; helps with escapism
Rouleur: "Espresso or Ristretto"? Read in Cycling shop; only suckers pay that much!

simon_e

izza wrote:

Adding to Goose's comments:

Cycling Active: "What's the best commuting hybrid for £500"? Read on a train; quite quick unless you are into diets
Cycling Plus: "What's the best sportive bike for £1500"? Read on a plane; as it has more articles
Cycling Weekly: "Froome or Wiggins"? Read in WH Smith; done in 3 minutes
Cyclist: "Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites or Tyrol"? Read on toilet/in bed; helps with escapism
Rouleur: "Espresso or Ristretto"? Read in Cycling shop; only suckers pay that much!

Good summary!

Most mags get repetitive. C+ was OK when I was getting back into cycling but I quickly grew bored of it. Cycling Weekly should be renamed Sportive Weekly, that's all they ever talk about.

Websites:
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/
http://rouleur.cc/
http://road.cc/
http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/

pcaley

I subscribed to C+ for 10 years but gave it up last year and now but Cyclist as it is more about riding than what you ride.

supermurph09

Started with Cycling Active but that seems to be aimed at older riders so I packed that in about 5 months ago. Cycling Plus is a reasonable mix but Cyclist wins it hands down for me. Longer articles and ride write ups and great photographs.

pete_s

Boneshaker.

richard_farrant

izza wrote:

Adding to Goose's comments:

Cycling Active: "What's the best commuting hybrid for £500"? Read on a train; quite quick unless you are into diets
Cycling Plus: "What's the best sportive bike for £1500"? Read on a plane; as it has more articles
Cycling Weekly: "Froome or Wiggins"? Read in WH Smith; done in 3 minutes
Cyclist: "Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites or Tyrol"? Read on toilet/in bed; helps with escapism
Rouleur: "Espresso or Ristretto"? Read in Cycling shop; only suckers pay that much!

My lbs sells back issues of rouleur for £4, doesn't really matter if it is out of date with that type of mag

cattytown

I find cyclist a little too coffee table and light on real content. as an example I think they had an article on pedals. I was disappointed as I was hoping for an objective comparison between brands/types. It was a little too much into history rather than current products. Similarly on saddles - lots of interesting info about the companies but little to help make a choice.

P.

Guanajuato

That's probably the one criticism I'd have of Cyclist is that they never come to a conclusion in the comparisons. The photography is great though. And I do enjoy reading the magazine. I'm in the dreamer category.

I alos subscribe to Cycling Active (but not for much longer) and to be honest, their reviews might come out with a 'winner' but everything will get 4, 4.5 or 5 stars so really their usual conclusion is 'We preferred this one, but all are good and it'll be down to personal preference'.

SpinCycle is an online magazine that's like a really down to earth version of Cyclist & Rouleur. It has to be - its fundamentally a North-west UK centric thing. So Cross O' Greet rather than Croix de Fer.

simon_e

Guanajuato wrote:

That's probably the one criticism I'd have of Cyclist is that they never come to a conclusion in the comparisons. The photography is great though. And I do enjoy reading the magazine. I'm in the dreamer category.

I alos subscribe to Cycling Active (but not for much longer) and to be honest, their reviews might come out with a 'winner' but everything will get 4, 4.5 or 5 stars so really their usual conclusion is 'We preferred this one, but all are good and it'll be down to personal preference'.

SpinCycle is an online magazine that's like a really down to earth version of Cyclist & Rouleur. It has to be - its fundamentally a North-west UK centric thing. So Cross O' Greet rather than Croix de Fer.

It may be that Cyclist is trying to do something different with reviews. Some people like that approach.

Most products get 4 or 4.5 out of 5 because they're all very good now and yes, it's often personal preference or with clothing just whether the fit and colours are your bag. Perhaps that's why I found C+ style reviews often left me no wiser. I have found UK cycling forums a better source of 'real world' reviews; while people have very varied experiences, the cream usually rises to the top - consistently good products and brands get lots of favourable mentions.

Steve236

I find it hard not to pick up a magazine most months for a train journey or something. Ok to pass a bit of time but I nearly always think I should have saved my £5. Currently going for Cyclist. I don't agree that the writing is good in any of them. Too repetitive and too many cliches. Also, every article, even the so called theory/scientific ones are just marketing for whatever brand is mentioned in that article. Magazines are just glorified catalogues really. If you like buying stuff, magazines a great for feeding the spender in you!

I've found the huge number of cycling books to be far better if I want some cycling related reading. Richard Moore and Ned bolting to name a couple who seem to write well. If you like reading about equipment there are books on that too. If you have a kindle you don't even need to fill your house and the price is hardly much more than a magazine.

thegibdog

Guanajuato wrote:

That's probably the one criticism I'd have of Cyclist is that they never come to a conclusion in the comparisons. The photography is great though. And I do enjoy reading the magazine. I'm in the dreamer category.

I alos subscribe to Cycling Active (but not for much longer) and to be honest, their reviews might come out with a 'winner' but everything will get 4, 4.5 or 5 stars so really their usual conclusion is 'We preferred this one, but all are good and it'll be down to personal preference'.

SpinCycle is an online magazine that's like a really down to earth version of Cyclist & Rouleur. It has to be - its fundamentally a North-west UK centric thing. So Cross O' Greet rather than Croix de Fer.

Just got a subscription to Cyclist for a change from Cycling Plus. I don't think the lack of conclusions in their reviews is an issue, one of the reasons I was getting tired of Cycling Plus was the triviality of their reviews - they'd be coming to conclusions based on things like the gear range or whether the bike had a tapered head tube! Or comparing bib shorts and marking products down on how warm/cold they were!

I think Cyclist is good for a bit of escapism and it is very nicely done. Some of the articles are a bit random, like the feature on how sunglasses work, and I'd like a mag based more on the uk cycling and racing scene. Spin Cycle Mag is good, surely there must be a gap in the market for something like this on a national basis? Or maybe not given the direction that Cycling Weekly has gone in.