I like reading and looking at all the expensive shiny new stuff....
+1. And I buy some of it. Some of it new, some of it secondhand. None of the cycling mags are perfect (some of the posters seem to be looking for Audaxing Tightwad Curmudgeon Monthly...
). Of the mass-market ones...The comic is worth little more than a quick flick through most weeks (apart from the price!!), though I have bought a few issues when they actually test something I'm looking to buy. And the health, fitness and training stuff seems to my mind to consist of promoting the use of complicated training regimes and bought energy products rather than riding your bike and eating normal food. It should be Sportive Rider Weekly. Procycling and CycloSport are racing-oriented and as such exclusively test high-end kit (and Marcel Wüst's reviews in the former seem to recommend buying every single bike he rides- though I can't say he's wrong either!!). Neither are really my thing, but I might get PC for its interview with Herr Voigt this month. Cycling Active? Some seem to think it's 'better' than C+ and somehow more 'normal cyclist friendly'. Don't get me wrong, it's usually a good read (bought it a few times and got a few free copies) but IMHO it covers much the same ground as C+. I mean, in the September issue they test such reasonably priced runabouts as the Sabbath Nirvana (£3k frame and fork), Comtat Aristo (complete bike £3.1k)...along with a £750 Forme and a £999 Dawes. Along with many of the same advertisers. Assos, Colnago, Pinarello....And they tested Ultegra Di2 in the last issue. But C+ seems to get all the flak for some reason, even though they cover all kinds of bikes (MTBs, trikes and 'bents excepted) at all kinds of budgets. Along with an equally wide range of other kit. C+ is my favourite for that reason. There's always something worth reading for me in every issue, be it tests, features, how-tos, or all of the above.
You don't want to buy these mags? Fine. But please remember that plenty of people do buy all this kit you're decrying. Including the likes of me, who have to work bloody hard to pay for it. Regardless of income, we'd all like a decent idea of whether said kit is any good before splashing the cash. And, here's a shock for some of you, the mag reviews are often highly accurate regardless of any alleged advertising influence . I bought Campagnolo Athena because C+, the comic, testrider.com, various other sites, and multiple rider reviews on various fora all told me it was really good and great value, along with my liking for the Veloce kit I already had. Not because of Campagnolo's (very nice) advertising or (very nice) website. And guess what, they were right.
