How long has the comic got to go?

[monk]

[Richard]

I cancelled my subscription just before the Tour and haven't missed it one jot. I've bought every issue from just after the Barcelona 1992 Olympics to end of June 2005 and I'm afraid that pages and pages on cyclo-sportive riding doesn't interest me when compared to the lack of coverage for Premier Calendars or National Champs.
The readership HAS been declining over the past decade and although I enjoy riding the cyclo-sportive events and believe that it's the way forward for cycling to gain new recruits I don't think it's what the comic should devote pages and pages to.
I've voted with my wallet about the coverage of wall-to-wall Lance and the final straw for me came when they cut and pasted a Cyclingnews article written by Tim Maloney into the mag and filled it out with unseen photos. I'd already read this 3 weeks previously and thought "why am I paying to read this again when I've already seen it on the net?"

Sorry Cycling Weekly (I know you're reading this) but you've got it all wrong.

A dissatified customer
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The internet is possibly the greatest bitch fest on earth. Expect anything than relentless ridicule for no good reason and your expectations are set way too high

[Chr!s B.]

Cycling weekly is now just a more regular (which works out more expensive way of buying) Cycling Plus...

I remember someone on here saying that they were reading old copies of the comic...
I have every edition (except the 1 when LeMond won the first Tour TT in 1989) up in the loft... Read through any of them and you will see that domestic events / news covered at least 50% of the mag..

It was at the heart of any racing in the UK... any discipline...
Peter Buckleys and Star Trophies got 4 pages each... Track meets at Leicester etc.
Maybe this stuff doesnt sell copies any more... So thats why they all have holidays testing complete bikes for novices and high earning peoples...
For most of us - we all build our own bikes from parts from different shops?? When was the last time you actually bought a complete bike??

And this is the reason most people on here dont buy it any more? We are active cyclists, not touring guys and armchair cyclists...

Sad really.
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73

[Chr!s B.]

Cycling Weekly and Ribble Cycles..
hand in hand in saying b0ll0cks to how they treat the people who have supported them for years..

but thats another thread.
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73

[tracksprinterbabe]

Track events please - lets see `em
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My butt is shaking at ya! Come and catch me!

[Chr!s B.]

I think tomorrow, Im gonna work out how much Ive spent on the comic in the last 17 years, then put that figure at the top of my letter, then 'air my views' to them.. rough guess £1248.
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[De Rosa]

Cycling Plus:



2001 18,618
2002 21,839
2003 23,338
2004 25,980

Cycle Sport:

2001 20,667
2002 20,027
2003 20,270
2004 21,447

Cycling Weekly

2001 30,657
2002 28,204
2003 27,034
2004 26,462

Cycling Plus appears to be overtaking Cycling Weekly.

Not sure where ProCycling fits in the circulation figures

[journo]

Having spoken to a few journos and editors over the years...here is how i see it...forgive me if i go on a bit

75% of CW sales are over the counter in places like Tesco and Smith...only 25% are die hard readers like us.

By changing the front cover...CW can immediately see increase or decrease in sales on a week by week basis....i.e. most copies are bought by people who actually look at the top story first and then probably the index to make sure it is what they want...then buy or not buy a copy

so i guess over the years they can tell what people are interested in and change the content to appeal to as many readers as possible

The internet has left us already knowing the results of weekend races before the mag comes out...so results and 'news' of UK events are squeezed to the back and CW seem to focusing on features where they know they can bring us something new or more in depth than the web boys

IPC media is a business and like all businesses, they seek to keep sales high and costs down...not the staff so much who are mostly in it cos they love cycling first and money second (really)

lets no slag it off too much if, with their changes, they are getting more sales and maybe more people into cycling

i suppose what will happen to the 25% die hards is that they may end up in Tesco on Thursday lunchtime checking out the content first before deciding if it is worth buying
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She told me to come but I was already there

[mk81]

I can't see it packing up but I must say I have been hacked off with it at least since the 're-vamp'/excuse for a price hike.

The most laughable edition was at week 3 of the Giro d'Italia with the British 10 champs having just taken place. Do we get a picture of the 10 winner or Savoldelli? No, we get our weekly picture of the most un-cool cyclist they could find (i feel embarrased carrying a copy of the magazine with these guys on the front) and a headline about the 'Ultimate Cyclist's Survival Guide'. I remember the overwhelming excitement as I "CENSORED" through the comic to see how to survive on the bike. When I got to that article, I found revelations such as "GRIT IN THE EYE"... symptoms are "scratchy feeling making it (eye) watery and red"..."Possible cause? grit". This was the main article the comic that week?!!

My main grievances are:

1) The cost. It keeps getting bumped up. Bring back the days of £1.50, which was a fair price for what it is. Also, what really annoys me is the 'special' editions that are put up to twice the price just for the reader to see the same stuff as the sister magazine Cycle Sport publishes. eg rider by rider, stage by stage information on the Tour de France. Or, better yet, a review of the tour de France at twice the normal price as if we had been away on a space mission and missed the tour. The mother of all insults is the bike of the year edition at twice the price - as if we care about a slight speed wobble some random bike test guy had on a Cervelo during a descent in the Appenines, or the smooth transition from his puny legs to the cranks.

2) The performance stuff. I'm sorry but there are far too many pages dedicated to this, just for us to learn is complicated jargon like "cadence", "interval training", "drink plenty of water" and "write a training plan for the spring". This stuff belongs to Cycling Plus, which is bought by wannabe racers and tourers.

3) The bike tests. I'd love to know how much of our £2.20 goes towards sending the cycling weekly staff to sunny islands to pose around on bikes. I'd be willing to throw in an extra thirty bob if they got a one way ticket and didn't come back.

From what I gather, most people want to read

the weeks news...

- General news
- Pro cycling news
- Domestic racing news
- Track news, when applicable
- Race reports from the UCI calendar, with pictures
- Race report from the Premier Calendar/ top domestic race, with pictures

A letters page (if there has to be one)

- Fine the way it is

New Product releases

- a couple of pages at the most, minus CW staff posing in the sun, looking highly un-cool.

Domestic local race reports

- Improved snowdon reports...
- Not all the local race results are being published
- More short race write ups with the results to tell how the race was won

It has gone too far beyond what should be expected from a weekly. Someone above is correct in saying the writers are trying to pad out the magazine with material that should be in Cycling Plus or in the monthly magazines.

[Matt Clinton]

I agree totally with what you've just said.
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[Steve D-T]

This weeks is the last one ever.

[stretch armstrong]

[journo]

[De Rosa]

[Rafiki]

I actually enjoy reading it! Think that too many are self interested in our own restricted areas of interest in the sport... I think it does a good job, especially with the difficulty of facing the fact that half the readership can find news on the Internet: it presents many things well.

[Pierre Head]

[Lucho]

Some of Cycling Weekly's content is bleeding chunks cut and pasted off cyclingnews.com . Does the Editor realise how many people can read lots off the www. Pro Cycling and Cycle Sport are also hooked on cut and paste off www cycling websites. Adapt or die is what print media must do. Expert analysis, interviews, anything that is not released on www media..

[Coggy]

I subscribe to CW, but every couple of weeks or so I read it and think, 'what a waste of money'. I found an old copy from the 1980s with circulation figures of 33,000. So whatever they are doing, they are doing it wrong. Who are these 'new' readers CW is tring to appeal to ? The only real growth in cycling in the past 20 years has been mountain biking, and even that has tailed off. Apart from the track, bike racing is dying and on its knees in this country. With it's traditional market getting older and few young riders coming into the sport, I give CW 1 year before the accountants decide the money isn't being made from the title. They would probably try and sell it as a going concern, but I doubt any publisher would want to buy it.

[sdp]

i remember when 6day racing used to get a mention

i am hoping it may improve now lance has "retired"

this weeks comic just arrived & apart from "essential health check( check your cleats or your foot may pull out of the pedal)" & "lance saddles up with dubya" it aint too bad....

i am starting to wonder if it is worth the subscription tho....
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little fluffy clouds......

[Tony Bell]