This story is part of our special 2009 National Bike Summit coverage (sponsored by Planet Bike). For more coverage, follow BikePortland on Twitter and browse the latest photos in our Bike Summit photo gallery.
(Photos © J. Maus)
I ran into Dirt Rag magazine publisher Maurice Tierney a few minutes ago and was excited to see one of the first copies of his latest endeavor — Bicycle Times magazine.
I have a lot of respect for Tierney and have been a fan (and contributor a few times) of Dirt Rag for many years. Tierney and his team in Pittsburgh built Dirt Rag from a small, regionally-focused newsprint magazine into one of the industry’s most respected publications.
As its name suggests, Dirt Rag started out as a magazine and forum for mountain bikers. But over the years, Dirt Rag’s articles, product reviews, and how-tos began to cover a much wider scope that included advocacy issues and city/utility bikes. It was a natural progression, but it became clear to Tierney that he needed to launch a new title.
Tierney said Bicycle Times will cover a wide swath of bikes and biking issues: “Everything except mountain bikes and the high-end competitive stuff…think of it as Bicycling, but without trying to help you lose weight,” he said with a laugh.
One publisher that is sure to notice the launch of Bicycle Times is Amy Walker of Momentum. I ran into her a few minutes after talking with Tierney and she was excited about the news. “It’s growing!” she said with a smile (the “it” being the bike movement and the energy in the industry toward city biking).
When someone like Tierney jumps into the ring, it’s a positive sign for the health of urban biking — and it’s a very positive sign for people who love good magazines.