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Let down by this months 220 magazine

trudgertrudger Posts: 61
in General Chat
In last months 220 the preview for this month read



' Our biggest-ever bike test, from the £500 Raleigh Airlite to the sleek Ceepo Viper and load in-between '



At this i thought great, for 2 reason.

1. I have a Raleigh Airlite, so would be interested to read review.

2. This would be a usefull guide for my next step-up.



So imagine my complete deflation when I turn to this months eagerly awaited article to discover the comprehensive guide contains a total of 7 bikes. Also I am unable to find any reference to Raleigh.



What a con aimed at ensuring we all rushed out to get the latest edition.





Feel robbed !!!!





Comments

  • BlinkybazBlinkybaz Posts: 1,144
    I have no idea why I keep buying it actually! The more I read it the more its the same. I know we have been down this road before, but Traithlon plus seems a better read and so is triathletes world.



    Lets hope someone from the mag reads this and tries to change it!
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    i've only bought a few issues but one thing that seems to be a constant is the priceyness of the bikes. from my point of view reviewing 3 £3k bikes in depth is a bit meaningless, it's talking to such a tiny percentage of the tri community to almost be irrelevant.



    i know this is expensive pursuit but there are ways to make it seem relevant and accessible -i don't think that extensive reviews of (admittedly beautiful and a little inspiring) expensive kit is the way.

  • GHarvGHarv Posts: 456
    Thought Traithletes world was garbage this month (other than printing Coneheads letter) really was nothing hardly worth reading.



    Was expecting more from 220 on the bike reviews in terms of number.



    Like the reviews of the expensive kit - bit like page 3, you'll never get one but....
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    ris wrote:


    i've only bought a few issues but one thing that seems to be a constant is the priceyness of the bikes. from my point of view reviewing 3 £3k bikes in depth is a bit meaningless, it's talking to such a tiny percentage of the tri community to almost be irrelevant.



    Absolutely - regular readers will already know that this area is one of my favourite bleats about 220!



    3K bikes? Glopping material for the vast majority at best surely?



    didds

  • stratoTomstratoTom Posts: 36
    Like the reviews of the expensive kit - bit like page 3, you'll never get one but....


    Very true, but to pay to see them when you could visit the manufacturer's website for pictures seems a bit off.



    Admittedly, sometimes it's entertaining to read about just how good a top end bike really is, and to hear how it feels to ride etc. rather than just looking at images. But as we all know triathletes have major gear cravings, and for a magazine not to feature something that the reader can (either soon or realistically 'one day in the future') buy would make it like those, I find, rather pointless fashion magazines showing pictures of models in clothes that aren't even for sale.
  • thebouythebouy Posts: 61
    Conehead, I for one would be very interested in a top 10 sub £1000 bikes, doing my first tri in 2 weeks on a hybrid, and the Wat inspector has confirmed that if I like it then I can get a new bike, and she didn't blanch too much when i ventured circa £800 bikes! Game on!!
  • willieverfinishwillieverfinish Posts: 1,381
    68 pages of adverts too.... 68!!!



    I got a free subscription for Xmas so I'm still happy but I agree with al of the above.



    Can someone print Coneheads letter ?

  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Just this month?
  • MintyMatMintyMat Posts: 98
    I guess "Triathlon" is such a broad sport. From Sprint to Iron Man and beyond it will attract different athletes. Too much discussion around sprint and Olympic is going to annoy the hard core iron men and the more elite end of the market. It would be like F1 drivers having to sit through endless reviews of Vauxhall Corsas.



    I'm just playing devil's advocate as I'm just starting out and need info on cheap bikes, not drowning and sprint/Olympic training regimes. I guess there's room for 2-3 mags focusing on the different intensities of the sport.



    Mat
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595

    Interesting comment from MintyMat on the diversity within the sport. I used to be into athletics and wouldn't have wasted a moment of my time reading Runnners' World or suchlike because there's so much focus on 10k, Marathon etc. and nothing for track runners.

    I doubt there's a market for a sprint tri mag, an OD mag, and an Ironman mag!
  • PC_67PC_67 Posts: 196
    I think Triathlete's Torld is garbage, Triathlon Plus isn't that good either.



    I think 220 is best of a bad lot.



    In fairness to them, there's only so much one can actually write about the sport. I always like the day it arrives yet I'm usually disappointed by the content - a 2 pager on how to choose goggles! - and feel very poor because I can't afford half the kit advertised.



    I'd like more real life stories, maybe some features on tri holidays / training camps. I'd also like to see more diaries like Nik Cooke's but for athletes of varying abilities.



    Apologies to rookies, but in TW the features on the rookies "ooh, I've never worn a wetsuit before" are too prominent. Some focus is warranted obviously but not all of it.



    I'd like to see an age grouper year long coaching diary & commentary: one guy who does OD say in 3 hours, 1 who does 2:45, one who does 2:30 and so on and see how they are encouraged to knock 10+ mins off their times.



    Something similar for 70.3 and IM too. How the races differ, how to step up from one to the other etc.



    More proper interviews with the Elites too.



    Maybe a monthly club focus?
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    MintyMat wrote:


    I guess "Triathlon" is such a broad sport. From Sprint to Iron Man and beyond it will attract different athletes. Too much discussion around sprint and Olympic is going to annoy the hard core iron men and the more elite end of the market. It would be like F1 drivers having to sit through endless reviews of Vauxhall Corsas.



    that's very valid Matt, of course. But in the (admittedly small) time I've been reading 220 I do not recall a SINGLE review of bikes under (say) £700 ie the bottom end of the market. So you could thus say that 220 appear to cater for the elite end - the equivalent of vauxhall Corsa driver glopping over top end ferraris. Allied with the "race reports" which seem to offer nothing more than the individual race websites do for those that are REALLY interested to see if Jake Thackerwhack beat Fred Frurgle in the Gobsmacker Flapjack triathlon and what bike split Nadja Friendlich managed. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. This sort of race report is just a space filler, providing enougg pages to put adverts on the back of.



    didds

  • willieverfinishwillieverfinish Posts: 1,381
    PC-67 - what about a regular article about an absolute novice training for a Middle distance event in 11 months ?



    Would that make good reading ?



    I think I know a bloke ?

  • Cheryl6162Cheryl6162 Posts: 356
    At the moment I favour Triathletes World but as Conehead correctly states, thats because it is aimed at novices. I like their 'lighter side of life' stories too and the race reviews.



    It's a shame some of them don't take more notice of the forums to pick up good material for expanding on, and a bit more fun from time to time!
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    Cheryl6162 wrote:






    It's a shame some of them don't take more notice of the forums to pick up good material for expanding on, and a bit more fun from time to time!



    Quite right.As there is a wealth of experience and different viewpoints out here in cyber land,the forum is a virtual magazine anyway,and is capable of providing a multitude of different views in a short period of time.I appreciate that it does take time and some of us are not as eloquant in the written approach as others,but that shouldn't dissuade anyone from posting what they feel for fear of reproach.A short comparrison between regular contributors and number of members of the forum shows that there could be a larger number of contributors to the debate about what people want.So come on peeps,don't be scared it is your chance to create articles that you want to see.I would but I just cannot download any of my sodding photos...bugger.
  • gdh250467gdh250467 Posts: 237
    Well the choise gets even wide, as just picked up on this on Tri247's site http://www.tri247.com/article_5319_Another+new+triathlon+magazine....html?region_id=&category=
  • not much further...not much further... Posts: 59
    and to make it worse, in the feature about bike boxes, the bike in the "bike box alan" box the wrong way round (unless I am much mistaken). we have this box and pack it according to alan's instructions which has the derailer going bottom (hinge side) left to with handlebars top right. thats how the straps are designed to hold the bike and it fits much better than the pictures show. save me....
  • han382han382 Posts: 80
    I thought it was just me-I couldn't believe the hype around the "biggest tri bike review", and couldn't hide how underwhelemed I was whilst reading the reveiw. Unless I'm mistaken the reviews weren't even new-they had re-hatched old ones and used them again. I had recently bought the Cycle Plus magazine that road tested 37 different bikes priced £1200-£2000 over different terrains and over several days. I've read this artricle over 10 times now whilst using it to help me decide on a new bike-compared to 220 Tri item that I didn't even finish. I feel uterly let down and will not be re-newing my subscription.



    Also-am I the only one to notice that the Aqua Sphere goggles they were giving away with subscriptions were the best thing in the world 2 months ago-but didn't even get a mention in the goggles fitting section now they are giving away Blue Seventy goggles?
  • RockieRockie Posts: 40
    I think this is a problem with most specialist print journals. I took a one-year subscription to PC World a while ago. Even with so much to write about (hardware, software, peripherals, internet, all of it changing almost daily) after a few month the lab tests on which printer gives the most pages for you dollar got a bit repetitive.



    I think these magazines are good for someone to get to know the sport, not for a lifetime subscription. You learn a lot more, and a lot faster, from others on forums like this, your favorite websites, or just trying things out yourself.
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    Look its simple buy the most expensive bike its the best now build a bridge and get over it
  • andyb99andyb99 Posts: 229
    i like triathletes world, dont like 220 (though i like this forum)..i'm new to all this having signed up to get fit and focus me a little bit and TW so far has given me some great tips...although i'm thinking nothing will beat experience.

    i missed coneheads letter last month, just read it now and it was about how tri organisers seem to lack sorting out novice waves....i totally agree, i'm really struggling myself to find a race after the liverpool tri.....i would prefer an open water swim race so i can gain experience in novice races before i move to sprint races and i hope OD races next year...i see myself taking part in big races, london, windsor etc. that have a massive field but i would not be confident to do this at this stage.



    anyway...sorry to go off subject there...TW is good for now...lol
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