Faceoff: Cycling Magazines

In the cycling world, there seems to be Lance Armstrong (seeking his sixth, record-breaking consecutive Tour de France win next month) and a trailing pack of everybody else. In the magazines that cover the sport, the situation is much the same. There is the undisputed champ - Bicyling - and a couple of guys huffing behind. Cycling is an appealing subject for advertisers: enthusiasts are mostly male, mostly college-educated, in their 30s, affluent and ready to spend money on their bikes, related products and all sorts of other trinkets, including cameras and luxury autos. - Mark J. Miller

Bicycling (Rodale Inc..)

Subscriptions: 362,654

Single Copy: 42,259

Total Paid: 404,913

Ad Pages Through April.: 108.64 (+48%)

New Advertiser: Land Rover

The behemoth of bike publishing, 41-year-old Bicycling serves the widest of cycling communities: fans and active enthusiasts. "Our readers care about the Tour de France if there's an American in it," says publisher Nicholas Freedman, "but they care more about their own bikes."

Three years ago, Rodale reinvested in the title, upgrading the design and editorial and targeting more nonendemic advertising.. The pay-off: In 2003, the endemic/nonendemic ratio shifted from 70/30 to 49/51.

Published 11 times a year, the title was nominated for a National Magazine Award in general excellence this year and named one of Capell's top 10 performers of 2003. Editors will go to 1,600 events this year, mostly rides and races, to help boost circ. Its annual sub price is $24.98, $4.99 per issue.

On the competition: "Bike is not a good magazine," says Freedman. "You look at the pictures for three or four minutes and then you say, 'I'm a busy man.' Velonews on the other hand does a good job serving its readers."

VeloNews (Inside Communications Inc.)

Subscriptions: 32,610

Single Copy: 6,990

Total Paid: 39,600

Ad Pages Through April.: 233

New Advertiser: Adidas Cycling

Published 20 times a year, VeloNews serves a very specific audience: bikers interested in competitive racing. "If we were in Europe, we'd be a pretty big magazine," says advertising director Steve Brawley. Still, U.S. readers present a better demographic: While cycling is a blue-collar sport in Europe, 90 percent of VeloNews's readers are college-educated with an average age of 39 and household income of $93,000. "Bicycle racing is not a cheap sport, and this group is very devoted and ready to spend," says Brawley.

With 40,000 readers, there are no plans to raise circ. "There may be another 10,000 or 20,000," he says. "But we can't increase too rapidly for fear of outpacing our advertisers." The current cost per thousand readers is $121 for mostly endemic advertisers. Since 90 percent of the circ is subscription, VeloNews can give advertisers precise info about readers, who pay some $40 for 20 issues a year.

On the competition: "There's no comparison," says Brawley. "They both are huge next to us, but neither can give advertisers such a prime, affluent, ready-to-spend, targeted audience."

Bike (Primedia Consumer Magazine & Media Group)

Subscribers: 65,133

Newsstand: 20,050

Total Paid: 85,188

Ad Pages Through Apr.: 180

New Advertiser: Panasonic

This 10-year-old title focuses mainly on mountain-biking. Its readers are 94 percent male and 77 percent college-educated. Although audited, in 2002, Bike stopped guaranteeing its rate base, which had eroded in a rate war with Mountain Bike, to its current 85,000. "At the time we were in a circulation war with Rodale's Mountain Bike," says Editor Ron Ige. "We cut back on circulation. We sell advertisers on the quality of our readership rather than a pointless number."

Published nine times a year, a sub is $19.97, and the cover price is $3.99. To build circ, "we're trying to increase our newsstand penetration in the key markets that have already shown some success," such as the Rocky Mountains, says Ige.

Bike is putting on its first solo event this year - the Bike Reader Poll and Video Awards Show, its first Monster Park slope-style contest, and a number of off-road races. It's 90 percent endemic advertising.

On the competition: "VeloNews is extremely specific, and Bicycling is way too open-ended," says Ige. "We're much more about the positive feeling of biking than either of them."

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