# Rouleur magazine



## Noodley (5 Apr 2013)

I bought a couple of copies of Rouleur a few years ago, and they were a very good read - the edition featuring Robert Millar's account of a tough TdeF stage being of particular note - but, at the time, it was only available online or "down sarf in Lahndahn town" outlets so I never read too many editions, mostly due to my prejudices of it maybe being "up itself" despite me thinking it had been a good read.

Last month I had time to kill between meetings and discovered that it was stocked by WH Smith and decided to buy a copy, and enjoyed it. Some of the articles were enjoyable, some educational, some challenging.

Today I found myself "between meetings" again and ventured into WH Smith to seek out Rouleur. 

The latest edition is great, almost 200 pages (admittedly there is advertising but it blends in well rather than interupts). The features on Paris-Roubaix are magnificent. Racing brought to life. The history. The now. 

I think I may have to subscribe. And I still have loads of the latest edition yet to read.


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## Lee_M (5 Apr 2013)

must give it a try

i enjoy cyclist too.

its not cheap but has a significantly higher quality factor than the normal comics ( although i buy those too!)


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## dan_bo (5 Apr 2013)

I had a go of 'privateer'- the MTB version of roleur- the other week in't airport. Some good stuff in there. Got a good subs offer on at the mo so I might give it a further go.

NINE friggin quid normally though. Nine. As in more than a paperback money. 

Nine quid. 

Nine.


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## Noodley (5 Apr 2013)

Aye, Rouleur was £10. Ten, yep that is ten. One more than NINE. I reckon the price was partly the reason why I did not order online after the few editions I bought a few years ago as I thought "£x for a feckin' magazine!!??" 

I am no better off now, but may have matured


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## dan_bo (5 Apr 2013)

Noodley said:


> I am no better off now, but may have matured



Now you are being daft.


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## Noodley (5 Apr 2013)

I also saw the latest (Giro d'Italia) copy of *Procycling *and bought that as well (£4.99 since you asked) as I had purchased the previous version the month before...both editions are much improved from my last experiences of it a few years ago. Maybe they are feeling compelled to pick their game up a bit.


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## Noodley (5 Apr 2013)

And on the subject of the Procycling magazine I particularly liked the "etched graphics" back cover pics. Very nice.


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## thom (6 Apr 2013)

I have it from edition 15. Perhaps I'll try to obtain the earlier editions some time too. I think it is aimed at poncy nobbers. Such is life...


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## raindog (6 Apr 2013)

thom said:


> I think it is aimed at poncy nobbers.


poncy _rich_ nobbers


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## tigger (6 Apr 2013)

I'm fairly lucky in that I work for IPC Media so I get Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport for free. Rouleur is nice but no magazine is worth £10 in my view. As the OP has said, Cyclist is well worth a try and you can get 3 issues for just £5 at the moment, it's a little like Rouleur but not quite so up its arse


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## Noodley (6 Apr 2013)

tigger said:


> I'm fairly lucky in that I work for IPC Media so I get Cycling Weekly for free.


 
You'd have to pay me a lot more than that to read Cycling Weekly


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## zizou (6 Apr 2013)

It is expensive compared to other magazines however the quality of the writing, photographs ( even just the paper!) mean i dont really consider it a rip off i just compare it to the price of a book which is what it is closer too IMO.


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## Herzog (6 Apr 2013)

I'm a subscriber, as Zizou writes, it's more like a book!


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## Spartak (6 Apr 2013)

tigger said:


> I'm fairly lucky in that I work for IPC Media so I get Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport for free. Rouleur is nice but no magazine is worth £10 in my view. As the OP has said, Cyclist is well worth a try and you can get 3 issues for just £5 at the moment, it's a little like Rouleur but not quite so up its arse


 
Recently subscribed to Cyclist, seems a decent magazine at the moment !


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## Angus444 (7 Apr 2013)

If you buy it from Wiggle, it only costs £8.80 which includes the postage........

I'm no 'poncy nobber' , I just like the articles which a lot of the time tend to deal with the history of the sport, as opposed to yet another Team Sky feature...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Looking at some ProCycling issues from 2008, I think it was a better mag back then.....


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## kedab (7 Apr 2013)

i too have recently sub'd to Cyclist after buying the first few editions off the rack and then struggling to find it in the same place. l like the articles, i like the style, i particularly like the non glossy cover and pages. it's rather smart imho.


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## threebikesmcginty (8 Apr 2013)

I was looking at a copy in a poncy London bookshop yesterday but couldn't quite bring myself to fork out £10 for a mag, then I went and blew £15 on coffee and cake!


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## Flying_Monkey (8 Apr 2013)

tigger said:


> I'm fairly lucky in that I work for IPC Media so I get Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport for free. Rouleur is nice but no magazine is worth £10 in my view. As the OP has said, Cyclist is well worth a try and you can get 3 issues for just £5 at the moment, it's a little like Rouleur but not quite so up its arse


 
I completely disagree. Most average magazines are essentially disposable vehicles for advertising. As Zizou has said, Rouleur's aesthetic and depth of content is more like a book - it is something you keep and go back to - it is the cycling world's McSweeney's. There are no other cycling magazines I know of that have anything like that aesthetic or quality of content, so it's well worth the £10. It's the £5 monthly magazines that are a false economy - you are basically paying to be advertised to - and spread over the year, Rouleur is actually not much more anyway (£80 vs. £60).


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## thom (8 Apr 2013)

Rouleur's usp in the realm of cycling periodicals is that it is primarily good quality photo-journalism, so longer well researched articles supplemented by professional photography. They don't chase news events or do road-testing of equipment like other magazines but look for more substantial stories and get above average cycle journalists to write for them. Still, around 20% of it is explicit advertising and I bet the manufacturers don't mind having 10 page articles written about them.
If you are looking for the best cycling magazine with writing, this is probably it but the writing in general isn't in my opinion strong enough to stand up on its own outside of a cycling magazine. The best written article about Lance Armstrong I saw was published in the London review of books I think. It didn't come from within the cycling press. Despite the allusions to literature and history which suffuse the average Rouleur article, there is a stylistic vanity and frequent reliance on nostalgia that I fear makes it akin to the Rapha clothing marketing strategy. You do feel good about your purchase but you feel you're joining a smug club of ponces too. 
I continue to subscribe despite this suspicion of guilt.


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## Flying_Monkey (8 Apr 2013)

thom - also true. The writing I most enjoy on cycling in a regular basis is actually The Inner Ring.


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## Crackle (8 Apr 2013)

ten quid, pfffttt. No chance.


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## threebikesmcginty (8 Apr 2013)

thom said:


> You do feel good about your purchase but you feel you're joining a *smug club of ponces* too.


 
Seriously considering a subscription now!


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## threebikesmcginty (7 Jun 2014)

Just picked up the Tour edition, good stuff and still only a tenner!


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## rich p (7 Jun 2014)

threebikesmcginty said:


> Just picked up the Tour edition, good stuff and still only a tenner!


Send it on to me when you've read it, a tenner!!!!!!


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## threebikesmcginty (7 Jun 2014)

rich p said:


> Send it on to me when you've read it, a tenner!!!!!!



You could afford your own copy if you didn't go on holiday every other week.


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## rich p (7 Jun 2014)

threebikesmcginty said:


> You could afford your own copy if you didn't go on holiday every other week.


This is an out of country reply - Please leave a message and I will contact you on my return.
In case of emergencies - just bugger off.


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## Smokin Joe (7 Jun 2014)

Flying_Monkey said:


> I completely disagree. Most average magazines are essentially disposable vehicles for advertising. As Zizou has said, Rouleur's aesthetic and depth of content is more like a book - it is something you keep and go back to - it is the cycling world's McSweeney's. There are no other cycling magazines I know of that have anything like that aesthetic or quality of content, so it's well worth the £10. It's the £5 monthly magazines that are a false economy - you are basically paying to be advertised to - and spread over the year, Rouleur is actually not much more anyway (£80 vs. £60).


Agree.

Every other magazine has a life of eighteen months to two years max as the just become repetitive after that. "How to ride a sportive," "Which entry level race bike", "What pedals," etc etc regularly wheeled out every year.

Cycling Weekly is just a shadow of the essential read it once was.


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## Monsieur Remings (7 Jun 2014)

Flying_Monkey said:


> thom - also true. The writing I most enjoy on cycling in a regular basis is actually The Inner Ring.



What a great link FM, nice one. I hadn't come across this before.


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## threebikesmcginty (8 Jun 2014)

Monsieur Remings said:


> What a great link FM, nice one. I hadn't come across this before.



Did you see this pic from the review for The Climb, apologies if it's been shown before but it's fantastic and worth repeating anyway.


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## Smokin Joe (8 Jun 2014)

What a fantastic advert for Powerbar. The guy can levitate!


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## simon briggs (10 Jun 2014)

tigger said:


> I'm fairly lucky in that I work for IPC Media so I get Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport for free. Rouleur is nice but no magazine is worth £10 in my view. As the OP has said, Cyclist is well worth a try and you can get 3 issues for just £5 at the moment, it's a little like Rouleur but not quite so up its arse



cyclist for me - agreed on comments about Rouleur


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## SWSteve (10 Jun 2014)

FM, great shout for Inrng this has been my 'go to' news source for the last 6 months. Other than this I but ProCycling every month, which I preferred to another cycling publication as it reminded me of F1 Racing (another magazine close to my heart)


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## John the Monkey (11 Jun 2014)

Pff. Surely everyone is reading this now?





(from the Road.cc Tumblr)

Joking aside, I like "The Ride", and "Boneshaker", when they appear.


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## Angus444 (13 Jun 2014)

John the Monkey said:


> Pff. Surely everyone is reading this now?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Like it, JtM.....The Strava comment in particular..........


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## dellzeqq (13 Jun 2014)

Lee_M said:


> must give it a try
> 
> i enjoy cyclist too.
> 
> its not cheap but has a significantly higher quality factor than the normal comics ( although i buy those too!)


Rouleur- no thanks. I'd rather wear Rapha. These days it's all about http://www.simpsonmagazine.cc/


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## Louch (13 Jun 2014)

I bought a copy last week, still working my way through it. Definitely feels 10 quids worth, when I can work my way through cycling weekly in about half an hour the now if I skip all the sportive adverts for3 quid.


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## montage (13 Jun 2014)

Why buy any magazine at all with the invention of the smart phone?


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## Louch (13 Jun 2014)

montage said:


> Why buy any magazine at all with the invention of the smart phone?


Much easier to read a mag than on a phone. Phone for work poo's, magazine to read when at home


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## montage (13 Jun 2014)

Louch said:


> Much easier to read a mag than on a phone. Phone for work poo's, magazine to read when at home


Remember to flush!


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## Louch (13 Jun 2014)

too flush if im buying 10 quid magazines!


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## Rob3rt (13 Jun 2014)

They gave me a free compy of Rouleur when I raced the National Hill Climb last year, 1st time I'd had a copy, tbh, I thought it was pretty shoot, like most magazines!


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## Angus444 (8 Jul 2014)

simon briggs said:


> cyclist for me - agreed on comments about Rouleur


 At the moment, you can get a free copy of Cyclist, then 3 copies for £1.01..........will post the phone number and code tomorrow......


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## John the Monkey (8 Jul 2014)

The whole fetishism around "suffering" grates on me (to be fair, that's not just Rouleur).

I want to pop an arm over their shoulders and tell them to lighten up, have a cake or two.


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## threebikesmcginty (27 Apr 2015)

Seen this copy on ebay...


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## SomethingLikeThat (28 Apr 2015)

montage said:


> Why buy any magazine at all with the invention of the smart phone?


It makes a nice change to not be looking at a screen. We already spend enough time with them.


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## robertob (10 May 2015)

SomethingLikeThat said:


> It makes a nice change to not be looking at a screen. We already spend enough time with them.


Totally agree. Sitting the whole day in front of a laptop for work, it's a nice to pick up a book or magazine for a change in the evening. It just is a different feel and I enjoy reading much more having something 'real' in hand than doing it in front of a screen.


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## SWSteve (13 Oct 2016)

Do any subscribers have the most recent code for a gift attached to the subscription (i.e. cap).

Thanks in advance


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