James Huang is Heading to Substack

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

As they get established companies start to send them stuff for review; then they pay for them to go on exotic trips to fun locations to test products.

Pretty soon every review is a positive one.

Who would bit the hand that feeds them? Who is going to give a brutally honest review if a company just flew you around the world, put you up in a nice influencer pad and gave you free product? You're sure not to get a repeat invite if you trash the product.

I've never met the guy but he seems pretty straightforward and has been doing this a long time and not all his reviews are super positive.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by kiwisimon

To be honest I haven't missed him at Geek Warning.
The current lineup (mostly Dave and Brad) is good and last week when the phrase "FC-7800C" was being celebrated, I knew I was in the right place. 100% geeked out.
Suvi Loponen is a welcome new voice in the cycling podscape.

Good luck to James.

Opposite here.
I've listened to 2 or 3 full episodes and a couple partial episodes since James left.
I simply don't enjoy them now.

Dave is great...as a second chair or as a co-host. He is personable, entertaining, etc...as a co-host.
The 'mechanic to the stars' was boring fro weeks on end.
And Ronan can be entertaining in a quirky way...but he isn't going to draw me in to listen.




Back in the day when Caley, Rome, James, and Zach Edwards were on nearly every week- that was good listening.

[KonaSS]

There is some interesting cycling media emerging on substack. So far what I have seen is that writers separated from their overloads, are producing very interesting content.

I like Beyond the Peloton https://beyondthepelotonblog.com/ for some moneyball type analysis on racing. Daniel Benson’s substack https://dnlbenson.substack.com/for a little behind the curtain rumors and action. And today James Huang has announced N-1. Should be good for tech content.

I like the direction in that it seems to provide more intimate, and in my view better, more interesting media to consume. My concern is cost. I certainly want to compensate these folks for their work, but I also don’t want to have 4, 5, 6 different substack subscriptions - feels like I will be bled to death at $8 a month or whatever.

[weaponsgrade]

I subscribed to the free Substack. I've followed him for a long time, but I'm already an Escape subscriber. I'm enjoying their jib and the mix of race, tech, and culture coverage. I'm wishing him the best but right now I don't see myself signing up to read more gear reviews.

[FriarQuade]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Going out on his own, IMO makes things a bit tricky.

I follow some folks on youtube/insta, etc who do product reviews, particularly on running stuff.

When they start out, they are unbiased and appear to be very genuine and upfront.

As they get established companies start to send them stuff for review; then they pay for them to go on exotic trips to fun locations to test products.

Pretty soon every review is a positive one.

Who would bit the hand that feeds them? Who is going to give a brutally honest review if a company just flew you around the world, put you up in a nice influencer pad and gave you free product? You're sure not to get a repeat invite if you trash the product.

The influencer culture for products is just wierd. Even with the best intentions and slimy enough disclaimers, I dont see how most can stay true to their credo while getting more successful. That's doubly hard when you are the lone voice of your brand.

Again, IMO.

Of all the people you don't need to worry about being wooed by free stuff and fancy trips, it's James. He's been doing those trips for years and still called it like he saw it.

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Going out on his own, IMO makes things a bit tricky.

I follow some folks on youtube/insta, etc who do product reviews, particularly on running stuff.

When they start out, they are unbiased and appear to be very genuine and upfront.

As they get established companies start to send them stuff for review; then they pay for them to go on exotic trips to fun locations to test products.

Pretty soon every review is a positive one.

Who would bit the hand that feeds them? Who is going to give a brutally honest review if a company just flew you around the world, put you up in a nice influencer pad and gave you free product? You're sure not to get a repeat invite if you trash the product.

The influencer culture for products is just wierd. Even with the best intentions and slimy enough disclaimers, I dont see how most can stay true to their credo while getting more successful. That's doubly hard when you are the lone voice of your brand.

Again, IMO.

This take is exactly why he has started a substack.

With substack it is a gated content platform. To get past the gate you pay and subscribe. I.e the hand that is feeding him is the reader. It's essentially the same business model as Escape Collective but on a micro level with a single writer and on a third party platform, rather than him investing in building his own website out (which he signals he may do later on).

There's no giving away of "the product" for free while scratching around with Youtube advertising revenue or trying to supplement it with merch sales or later on 'brand partnerships'.

So I mean, I take your point, but I wouldn't necessarily suggest that it will happen here.

[herb5998]

I've always found his writing to be very good and objective, whether at Bike Radar, CT or Escape Collective. He's also a really genuine person to deal with, my wife and I had a recent vacation in Boulder, and he sent some great routes to check out which I didn't know from my time living in the area.

When CT ended, I was hoping that Escape would have become substack, given that Wade initially created a mailing list that way. While I appreciate the website, I find a newsletter format is something a little less distracting than some home page designs.

[Xrslug]

Somewhat to my surprise, I haven’t missed him on Geek Warning. I’m really enjoying the new mix with Brad. But I have found some gear that I really like through reading James’ reviews in the past, so I’ll give his new thing a shot.

[Wakatel_Luum]

Originally Posted by kiwisimon

To be honest I haven't missed him at Geek Warning.
The current lineup (mostly Dave and Brad) is good and last week when the phrase "FC-7800C" was being celebrated, I knew I was in the right place. 100% geeked out.
Suvi Loponen is a welcome new voice in the cycling podscape.

Good luck to James.

I agree.

I liked James at EC but Dave and Brad are finding a pretty good groove.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Wakatel_Luum

I liked James at EC but Dave and Brad are finding a pretty good groove.

Agree on that but its taken a while.

[old fat man]

Originally Posted by jimoots

This take is exactly why he has started a substack.

With substack it is a gated content platform. To get past the gate you pay and subscribe. I.e the hand that is feeding him is the reader. It's essentially the same business model as Escape Collective but on a micro level with a single writer and on a third party platform, rather than him investing in building his own website out (which he signals he may do later on).

There's no giving away of "the product" for free while scratching around with Youtube advertising revenue or trying to supplement it with merch sales or later on 'brand partnerships'.

So I mean, I take your point, but I wouldn't necessarily suggest that it will happen here.

I recognize James has shown himself to be an impartial reviewer over the years. But your description implies making money from subscribers will keep the writer impartial? Even if the writers are getting the "gear" for free? True impartiality would include spending their own money at roughly retail cost.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by EB

Substack offerings suffer from a lack of two underrated things that traditional media provides - editors and fact checkers. Many prominent writers have demonstrated via substack that they really are better off with a good editor holding them in check.

That being said, traditional media seems to be on its last legs, so perhaps substack is the future.

"A good editor holding them in check" and "fact checkers". Hmmm. Do you mean censors and the ministry of truth minions?

Traditional media is on its last legs because it's despised by the majority of it's so called audience, and highly distrusted. As the new WAPO editor said to his assembled staff a few months ago, nobody is reading your stuff anymore, they don't trust or like the content.
A lot of excellent writers on various topics have found a home at Substack and can make a decent living there. I fear for its future because of that.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by old fat man

I recognize James has shown himself to be an impartial reviewer over the years. But your description implies making money from subscribers will keep the writer impartial? Even if the writers are getting the "gear" for free? True impartiality would include spending their own money at roughly retail cost.

And then how does he pay for his house? Good grief nothing is good enough for some people.

If you like his stuff and find value in the writing then send him a few bucks, otherwise dont. I pay for a few things that are similar and I think its a great model to get impartial viewpoints and money that goes to the writers and not to an advertising budget.

[alexihnen]

Originally Posted by Wakatel_Luum

I agree.

I liked James at EC but Dave and Brad are finding a pretty good groove.

I agree with this. I never really connected with James' content - not sure why. I know he has a following and that he's earned it with years of hard work. I definitely wish him well. I'm guessing Escape will continue to do well without him.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by Xrslug

Somewhat to my surprise, I haven’t missed him on Geek Warning. I’m really enjoying the new mix with Brad. But I have found some gear that I really like through reading James’ reviews in the past, so I’ll give his new thing a shot.

Originally Posted by Wakatel_Luum

I agree.
I liked James at EC but Dave and Brad are finding a pretty good groove.

Originally Posted by .RJ

Agree on that but its taken a while.

Originally Posted by alexihnen

I agree with this.

Well it looks like its time for me to try and add Geek Warning back into the weekly podcast listening routine.
If multiple PL folk think a groove has been found, that means they saw it wasnt that way at first(like me), so I am all for giving it another go.

It really bummed me out to stop listening to GW 6 or 7 weeks ago because its really the only cycling podcast that I found I consistently liked for years on end. Every other cycling podcast ive listened to has had hit/miss episodes or periods of good and periods of meh, but NerdAlert/GeekWarning was always one I could just press play on every week like clockwork.

Happy to try it out again and experience the groove.