Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!

Bike Biz for Dummys

I finally got to my mailbox at the office to collect everything that was stuffed in there from the last two weeks. This isn't unusual for me - the woman in our office that distributes the mail has actually just brought one of the white totes from the post office into my office with all my mail after a couple of weeks and tells me it wouldn't fit in the box any longer. It's not that I'm a slacker...well, not totally....it's that I get approximately 60 magazines a month. They take up a lot of room. Then there is the other mail....but I digress.

In the mail from last week was a brown envelope from the UK. I opened it and Woa!....a brand spankin' new BikeBiz. As Tim has mentioned, BikeBiz is the UK's bicycle trade publication. It's just been purchased and they are getting an overhaul.

I noticed the website change earlier this week. It's very different than it was before; the logo is big and bold, which is great. The same goes for the cover of the magazine. Also on the cover of the magazine in the top right corner it says, "Dummy Issue". I wasn't sure if Carlton (the editor) was making fun of me or what (like he'd make a magazine just for me...not an ego moment, just a senior one!). So, I flipped it open, without reading the front page and got to Carlton's Editorial.

Turns out this isn't like one of those orange "Topic-of-your-choice- For Dummies" books that is a tutorial on something. This 'Dummy Issue' means that this is just layout and the story is the same throughout the magazine. They just want you to see the format, texture of page, color etc. The very first issue with this layout comes next month for the world to see. This sneak peek is just because, to quote Carlton here, "you're lucky, you're one of the few to have been selected as a key reader and hence you're holding the kind of mag I could never have done on my lonesome."

My first thought was, I feel special....4,000 other people could have this same issue, but this makes me feel like there are only 50 and I'm one of them (do not burst this bubble, people, I like to feel special). Thanks, Carlton!

Flipping through the dummy issue I found that each of the sections were so easy to identify and look at. Carlton mentions that there will be more international items so that means everyone in the cycling industry in the US should take Carlton up on his offer a few weeks ago and get this magazine sent to their shop, office or warehouse.

There is also a section for family cycling. I'm looking forward to seeing how he integrates this into the business side of cycling and think this could be an interesting section.

There's the interview section - hey, Carlton, I think Tim would be a fabulous interview. Just my two cents. Or maybe you should get each Krew member 'in the saddle' in the back of the pub. Just a thought....

I like that there is a section to show what is in the top publications in the UK, too. In the dummy issue he shows snipets from Cycling Plus, Mountain Biking UK and Singletrack. Nice touch. As a side note, did you all know that Chipps and crew are podcasting over at Singletrack? Check out the latest here.

All in all, I really like this new format of BikeBiz. It would appear that it is going to be easy to read. Thanks for adding me to your special list, Carlton. I look forward to getting the 'real' copy and will be looking for it in the mailbox. I might even check the box more frequently in the next couple of weeks.

Posted by Donna Tocci at 5:21 PM