Every year, the Vélo Mag publishes its popular Buying Guide (road edition in March; mountain and urban in April), which lists over 2,600 models to help you find the bike of your dreams. This spring classic has come a long way since its early days.
Starting in 1973, Vélo Québec (then known as the Fédération québécoise de cyclotourisme) publishes the Cyclo-nouvelles newsletter, 8 issues a year.
In the fall of 1977, Vélo Québec also published the first edition of its Buyer's Guide, designed to help people «know the quality criteria for a good bicycle». Despite its title, this is not the Buyer's Guide as we know it today, but rather an information tool covering the choice of dealer, the choice of bicycle type, the choice of accessories and cyclocamping equipment, and measures to protect against theft.
In the wake of the 1973-1974 oil crisis, North America experienced a veritable bike-boom. For the first time, more bicycles were sold than cars, and adults started pedaling again... without really knowing which bike to buy. The quality of bicycles available in Quebec at the time left much to be desired: we rode 10-speed bikes at 79.95 $, and the freewheels offered 14-24-tooth cassettes matched to two 48- and 52-tooth chainrings at the front... imagine the effort required to climb hills! And the saddles are as hard as brick.
It was against this backdrop that Michel Labrecque's first market study appeared in the April 1978 issue of Cyclo-nouvelles. A modest 1 1/3 pages, it proposed three categories of bikes: 3 speeds, 10 speeds between 150 $ and 200 $, and 10 speeds between 200 $ and 275 $. The winning bikes were Raleigh, Raleigh Record and Motobecane Sprintour. The study had a real impact: it forced manufacturers, importers and bike shops to offer better products, which they did from the early 1980s onwards.
Cyclo-nouvelles became Vélo Québec magazine in 1981, first in black and white with two colors on the front page, then in full color from 1984. The publication adopted the name Vélo Mag in 1989, and continued to publish its popular Buying Guide.
