[I]OUTSIDE[/I] Mag: Doesn't get it

[CNY rider]

I think I am on their subscriber list because I buy things from Performance bike. I sure ain't paying for it.

I love hating the rag: It's aimed a total poseurs sitting in their massive SUV's in fancy North Face climbing gear for their commute on the LIE.

Every so often though, one of the authors writes a great feature article, like the current one on Russell Brice.

Then a few pages later you find this doozy, in a feature about cycling. They're talking frame materials and throw this one in there:

"Steel: Cheap and buttery smooth on the road but also heavy and prone to rust"

***? Do they just write what comes to them in a fog? Have they actually looked at what's coming from modern craftsmen using modern tubing and technique?

[Birddog]

Actually, I think you probably get because of some Nashbar purchases, Bicycling comes from Performance.

I agree, it's really for posers. I get outraged at something in every issue. I long for the days when there were regular pieces from Big Tim Cahill, whatever happened to him? Way too many stories about surfers and rock climbers/mountaineers for my taste.

Birddog

[MRB]

That rag has been on my sh*t list for quite a while now. They lost me when they hosted a "tell us your favorite ... " article. The next summer my favorite hike in Glacier got bombarded by people.

[JohnS]

They used to be good. Now they cater to the "rich and lazy" crowd who go to highpriced resorts and get spoiled while "roughing it". The last straw for me was when Mark Jenkins left. He wrote an article back in 2001 about screwing up his shoulder in a crash just a month after it happened to me. I relived the whole crash reading his piece.

[chuckroast]

So that's why they've been showing up in my mailbox! Thanks guys, it was a mystery around here. Now I can be guilt free in not reading them.

[shinomaster]

"Steel: Cheap and buttery smooth on the road but also heavy and prone to rust"

***? Do they just write what comes to them in a fog? Have they actually looked at what's coming from modern craftsmen using modern tubing and technique?



Ummm...My custom steel Serotta's seat post immediatly froze in the frame (rust). Steel rusts. It's a fact.
It's heavier than a carbon frame.

[whitecda]

I picked up my first Outside when it had just merged/taken over/re-named from "Mariah". In the fall of '78 I bought a copy of "Mariah/Outside". It was awesome. I remember that it was a Montana edition. "Mariah" was dropped within a few months, and Outside was still good for a few years. By the late 80's it had become a shadow of its former self (IMHO), and I did not renew again after probably 10 years of being a subscriber.

Today I'd consider it about 50/50, and it only shows up because of a Nashbar order. I just gave the last issue to my son tonight because I thought he might be interested in a few articles. But I doubt it has the impact on him that MY first exposure to Outside did for me 30 years ago. And that's a shame.

[roman meal]

That's why I get that mag. I'd be nice if Nashbar told me it ws coming.

[whitecda]

That's why I get that mag. I'd be nice if Nashbar told me it ws coming.

I agree. I thanked/accused everyone around here of getting it for me for Christmas! Then I saw the blurb on the Nashbar site one day. Or I thought maybe I had one too many one night and sent off one of those subscription card thingies that fall on the floor from every mag!

[roman meal]

There was this security breach of the Hannaford grocery store's debit/credit payment data over a period of three months, and I went there twice during that time.

I was convinced that someone had my numbers, and was running a test, before they bought something huge.

[Fixed]

it not for the bros it for cats thinking about gettin into cycling
imho cheers

[CNY rider]

Ummm...My custom steel Serotta's seat post immediatly froze in the frame (rust). Steel rusts. It's a fact.
It's heavier than a carbon frame.

I hear ya.
But there's so much more going on with steel these days.
It sounds like they just recycled some old line they heard some time in the past. Could they have come up with something insightful to say?

There's nary a mention that by "heavier" they mean the weight of an extra water bottle, at most, for a frame and fork.

[ericspin]

Then a few pages later you find this doozy, in a feature about cycling. They're talking frame materials and throw this one in there:

"Steel: Cheap and buttery smooth on the road but also heavy and prone to rust"

?


They should interview Mr. Brunk

[mtflycaster]

I subscribe. But I ask myself "why?".

I don't read it except when I am on an airplane with nothing better to do.

[rcflyboy]

I have also been wondering why Outside has been showing up on my door step.
Now that I know my wife can quit hounding me about getting a subscription and not ever reading it. Thanks Nashbar.

[Blue Jays]

Just drop it off in the waiting room during your next doctor/dentist visit. Those places always need fresh magazines! :D

[Tobias]

"Steel: Cheap and buttery smooth on the road but also heavy and prone to rust"Heavier -- True
Rust -- True
Cheap -- Maybe
Buttery smooth -- I don't get the butter being smooth connection. :confused:

Or the implication that all steel frames are smooth.

[palincss]

Ummm...My custom steel Serotta's seat post immediatly froze in the frame (rust). Steel rusts. It's a fact.
It's heavier than a carbon frame.

Wow. Immediately? Really? You think maybe it might have had something to do with your not greasing the post?

Earlier this year, I decided to put my old Raleigh DL-1 rod-brake 3-speed back in service for short trips around the neighborhood. I got it in 1980, used it for a daily commute thru 1985, then hung it up in my basement and eventually moved it out to my shed. So it's been sitting there for at least the last 23 years, untouched. When I decided to put in a new seatpost & saddle, the old one just came right out. The hardest part of the whole thing was finding a wrench that fit the bolt.

You suppose that old 1020 carbon hi-ten steel might be better than the fancy stuff Serotta uses?

Nah...