SAN CLEMENTE, CA (BRAIN)—The publisher of Bike magazine is launching a sister publication directed at the road cycling market. Paved hit newsstands today and is planned as a quarterly, said Joe Parkin, the magazine’s editor.
When Parkin took over as editor of Bike magazine earlier this year, publisher Source Interlink Media gave him marching orders to produce a single-issue magazine. He considered BMX or dirt jumping as a topic, but given his background as a former competitive road racer, Paved seemed the best fit.
“I felt like I couldn’t do one of those quickly enough and with enough authority to really feel good about,” Parkin said during an interview at the Eurobike trade show last week.
Paved has a similar feel to Bike with feature stories, essays, destination pieces and personality profiles. It’s light on the gear and product testing and heavy on captivating photography.
The 98-page inaugural issue is anchored by a story written by Parkin on the Tour of Flanders. The assignment took him back to his home in Belgium where he lived with a local family during his European racing days two decades ago, and hadn’t visited since.
The audience for Paved is a fan of road cycling and the culture associated with it, not the racer who wants to get faster or read reviews on the latest lightweight, whiz-bang technology, Parkin said.
The first issue was produced by Bike’s existing staff, but Parkin said plans are in place to add more resources for the project.
Norb Garrett, the new group publisher for Action Sports Group, the division of Source Interlink that manages Bike and Paved, has been very supportive of adding another title.
“The mission is still print titles. We want to expand with a multimedia platform, however print is still where we’re out,” Parkin said.
Given today’s difficult publishing climate, Parkin said he believes Paved will be at an advantage due to Source Interlink’s existing newsstand presence—the media company owns 70 titles in the automotive, action sports, marine, home technology and television industries.
Paved is complemented by a blog-style Web site at www.pavedmag.com (click on link).
—Nicole Formosa
nformosa@bicycleretailer.com
