BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The latest issue of Cyclingmobility magazine is the fourth and last. The magazine was launched in March last year and rapidly won plaudits for its sharp design and intelligent take on bicycle advocacy issues around the world.
However, not enough people paid the £79 annual subscription fee to enable the German publishing house to meet expenses. Editor Ross Ringham, based in the UK, said:
"The publishers launched the magazine with the radical aim of financing the venture through subscriptions alone. However, though the number of subscribers has risen steadily, the take-up has not been as great as hoped for. Following this, we looked to secure sponsors from the international cycling community to offset our costs, but the bike industry has been backwards in coming forwards.
"Voices in every quarter of the cycling world tell us that this is the right time to be sharing innovation and best practice via an international media platform. Perhaps we have been ahead of our time.
"Meanwhile, the car industry continues to spend billions on advertising. Car adverts attract buyers, certainly, but the advertising revenue does much more — it finances all those shiny car magazines on the newsagents’ shelves, the glitzy international motor shows and the car-centric TV programmes. This spending finances a way of thinking, not just a push for products. It acts as a lobby in and of itself.
"The bike industry could — and should — follow suit. It should support all bike-friendly media channels without shortsightedly insisting that every penny relates directly to sales or specific infrastructure projects. Changing culture is more long term and less clear cut than that."
