I doubt Velo/Outside’s reputation has been significantly affected. The people who care about this stuff probably didn’t have them in high regard, so I doubt many of their readers will care.
In other words, if someone still reads Velo is probably because they don’t care or pay attention to this kind of drama since it’s not hard to find out about their background.
Kid’s right
She’s a good kid for sure 
My bad James, I don’t know all the details of the demise of Cyclingtips and the birth of Escape. Good on you for walking. What Outside has done to the entire outdoor writing segment is so deplorable and depressing. I’m now glad to be an N-1 subscriber not only for the excellent content, but as a small middle finger to the whole Outside bullsh!t conglomeration.
My one wish for 2026 would be a rapprochement between you and Escape. Where you do your work is your business and I’m happy to support both N-1 and EC with my subscription dollars, but I sincerely think both you and EC were stronger together. Wade has been talking about including more freelance pieces, and Lord knows the EC audience would love to hear from you; maybe some kind of EC x N-1 collab could strengthen both platforms.
No worries! That’s all inside-baseball stuff, and I certainly don’t expect folks on the outside (no pun intended) to pay close attention. Either way, the important bit is I used to be there, and now I’m not
Unfortunately, I can say there is virtually zero chance you’ll see me back at EC in any capacity. I sincerely believe in the editorial model (reader/subscriber based), but there are good reasons why I left. I absolutely didn’t make that decision lightly, and I considered many of my coworkers to almost be like a second family. I will refrain from providing details.
Disclosure: I’m an EC member and I’m a major Robin Thurston hater. Every time Outside Inc does something wacky, I post on the Discord that “I blame Robin Thurston™️”. So the following assessment could be biased.
It has been reported that earlier this year, a bunch of Outside Magazine staff had been laid off, and the rest of them quit, accusing Outside Inc of telling them to back off investigative journalism. Caley Fretz reported that at the time, there may have been only 4 full-time staff at the magazine.
Outside Inc. said, to various media, that more than 60 “full-time content creators and contributors” were still working on the Outside Magazine team. Caley thought this wasn’t likely, and that 60 might have been the number of full-time staff across all Outside Inc’s titles.
So, not to exonerate the journalist, but there was very likely pressure to produce and possibly a skeleton crew at Velo. I would not be surprised if there were other organizational factors. I don’t wish the staff ill, but given the parent company’s … unclear corporate strategy and lots of cuts, I have to wonder if this is a sign that the organization in general is in distress.
I’ve no doubt any staff at Velo/Outside is under immense pressure to produce. Robin is still hoping to take the company public sooner than later, and you know he wants the numbers to look good before doing so, which means more work from fewer people.
That said, Alvin wasn’t the only staffer at Velo. As far as written editors are concerned, Will Tracy is there, Josh Ross is there. They’d presumably be under similar pressures, but as far as I’m aware, they haven’t made similar decisions.
Sure, there’s very likely a systemic component to this. But Alvin’s still the one who made his own bed and now has to lay in it.
Just catching up on this thread but also after seeing a follow-up post on Velo/Outside. Wow, sorry to see/hear this James. Definitely not acceptable and a disgrace by Alvin. Don’t think he’ll be finding a job in media anytime soon.
Anyways, looks like Will from Velo/Outside posted this. My bad if its already mentioned or linked…
To be fair, both of these reviews are pretty industry typical and anodyne. Can we get any original copy anymore? When reviewing Ti frames, it’s always “stiff under power yet compliant over rough surfaces,” or some variation of that same idea. I’m sure it’s hard to review a fairly generic frame from Slate, but I couldn’t get through either review without laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
I think the alternate vibes you may be looking for can be found in Dustin Klein, but he kinda reviews whatever he reviews.
Really? My review comes off to you as shilling for State?
They recently updated the article:
deleted. my apologies
Ti frames do not have damping characteristics and to read reviews like this is always rough. You can make a tuning fork from titanium for example. Ill even make you a steel ti and aluminum tuning fork for comparison if you think the ti one will stop ringing first. you are saying it damps because others before you have said it damps and yet it doesnt damp.
No need to apologize, or to delete your original comment! I didn’t find it at all offensive; just a little surprising.
I totally understand where you coming from, if the new Factor is truly 22% faster than an SL8 the races next year could be interesting !!
James’ journalism is at the apex in my view.
If I want truth and knowledge, James is one of a very few cycling journalists I rely on. Jedi level cycling journalism.
Outside, whatever. Just more confirmation about who they are. James, just more confirmation about how quality he is.
Love my ti Spurcycle bell
Wait, since when did Spurcycle make a titanium bell???!!!
I’m sure it was one of those millenials, board of old tech things where he just wanted to move onto the next carbon thing. Honestly always supprised when Velo covers a boring ass bikes like that. Yea its titanium and thats about it. They (Velo) was probably trying to court them for advertising dollars which is fair. Its so easy to get asiain made Ti these days i can see State trying to make it their own but it was a completely vanila attempt. Alvin as a younger tech savy guy should have realized that you can’t hide from AI that probably scanned that thing an raised a red-flag in a nono second, school teachers use these tools all time. But i’m sure he was under a per-peice/word preassure that was high. I interned and worked there back in the day when they were indi, had a real deal office in Boulder and was crazy how large the staff was compared to the claimed 4-6 which is probably accurate. I feel for both James and Alvin and hope that Alvin can bounce back from this. He will probaly move on from the cycling iduistry and living in SF (i think?) he’ll find something else i’m sure. All this being said by me and others here, there are 2 sides to every story and would like to here Alvin’s take as well, Velo and James had their voices heard, would be worthy to here his as well.