50 MORE rules?

I mysteriously started getting Bicycling in the mail…I think my in-laws may have done it for my birthday, but they never said anything about it. It’s really more of an 80 page advert than a magazine. Even the bike reviews, which should be a huge draw for such a publication, are freaking terrible. Even car mags do a better job and they are, to a degree, just shills for manufacturers.

My standard for a good magazine is one that I can read through several times, whether it’s because I’m bored or because I want to read an article more closely. I can’t say I’ve ever done that with an issue of Bicycling. I’ve picked up a couple issues of Bicycle Times, and I found it to be a much better read.

They forgot one –

Rule #51. HAVE FUN.

@TwoWheelsDC 36113 wrote:

I mysteriously started getting Bicycling in the mail.

It comes as a “perk” of membership with various organizations. League of American Bicyclists, for example. So you might be getting it that way. I’ve never directly subscribed but I’ve gotten it for years. It’s not always awful, but it’s rarely good. There’s lots that I routinely skip over without a glance (e.g., Chris Carmichael).

I kind of like bicycling magazine. It is quite absorbent.

@consularrider 36131 wrote:

Is it better than the Sears catalog, or are you using it for bird cages?

Oh Bicycling is MUCH better for bird cages… Sears Catalog is better for rhodent cages. I think they like chewing on it… it is good for their teeth. It doesn’t have to prevent liquids from leaking through and dripping the way a bird cage liner does.

That said, I should be fair and balanced with Bicycling… It really isn’t designed to be an enthusiasts magazine. It serves a very good roll… to help people into the sport. I know TONS of people who started out cycling with Bicycling magazine as a good source of info and ridestoke (myself included). At some point many folks have been reading and asked themselves the question, “Why am I still reading this?”. That signals that the renewal card will NOT be sent.

There’s a reason why Bicycling has survived for DECADES, when much more enthusiast-oriented and (in my view) much more interesting publications have come and gone. It isn’t that the magazine is new and fresh. It is that the readers are.

So my extremely derogatory comments are sincerely tempered with quite a bit of respect.

Rock and roll.

Dirt

@Mark Blacknell 36141 wrote:

Just you wait til you see Rule 34.

Noise: Rattling over bumps
Common Culprit: Loose bottle-cage bolts or quick-release skewers
Solution: Tighten them

How can they afford to just give this type of invaluable info away?!?

I still get it. It’s cheap and I mostly read it in the bathroom or on flights. I find about 2/3rds of the magazine is interesting and/or useful, but it’s very easy to read. It’s better than watching tv in most cases.

wait, your quick release skewers are loose enough to rattle, but don’t cause enough of a problem to notice until reading the magazine?