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.