James Huang is Heading to Substack

[Angryasian]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

James, do you feel like you have a special niche that means brands are okay with you being candid?
It seems like other sites definitely sway position such that it seems they choose to say nothing at all rather than say something negative. Their version of integrity is to omit negative reviews rather than speak disingenuously.
Your approach feels akin to the push to publish negative results in science.

Beats the hell out of me.

When I was originally hired at Cyclingnews back in 2006, I received very little guidance aside from "write product reviews" (my direct boss was crazy busy at the time). I was certainly still getting my feet wet, but "write product reviews" certainly seemed to me to include both good stuff and bad stuff, and no one ever told me differently. I think one benefit to me working remote all these years (and almost always for titles that weren't based in the US) was that I was perhaps left alone to my own devices almost by default, and maybe now I have a sufficiently large following that brands still want to hear what I have to say, whether good or bad? No idea.

Regardless, I think I've been pretty lucky in that respect.

[JSL]

I was a paid up member at CT and then EC solely because of James' podcasts. A lot of people really appreciate his work and I hope it pans out for him. He has a wealth of experience, a curious mind, and is an excellent podcast host.

[Carbonita]

+1 on the technical insights, fine prose, and interesting podcasting from James. At its peak, CT (esp. with Dave Rome) was great, but EC has more sports coverage than I want.

Originally Posted by JSL

I was a paid up member at CT and then EC solely because of James' podcasts. A lot of people really appreciate his work and I hope it pans out for him. He has a wealth of experience, a curious mind, and is an excellent podcast host.

[benadrian]

Originally Posted by Carbonita

+1 on the technical insights, fine prose, and interesting podcasting from James. At its peak, CT (esp. with Dave Rome) was great, but EC has more sports coverage than I want.

I enjoy racing as a casual fan. BUt my favorite part of the cycling media landscape is more adventure based, and maybe "clever" tech rather than racing tech.

The Cycling Podcast used to have some "Explore" episodes, as well as "Service Course", and those were my favorite things. After the passing of Richard Moore, they slowly stripped back, lost Lionel, and it's not pretty much a racing news show.

I feel like there were some other adventure-y podcasts and such, but they all dried up. I think I must be in a minority. I love bikes, I love gear, I enjoy pushing myself a bit, and I love the explorations and shenanigans I can get into when on the bike... usually with friends.

This is why I enjoy Bicycle Quarterly, though I get it about it being a tire and accessory sales catalog. It seems like, at it's core, it's still a whole lot of people doing adventures with great photography and good travelogues.

Anyway, I'm glad James has a thing and I hope to see some cool stuff.