2015 'PRO' cycling discussion

[AGW]

There was an Inrng article about AG2R riders buying SRMs for themselves, albeit at a discount. It happens.

[maquisard]

Why would any pro buy an SRM now unless they have drunk the SRM Kool-aid and believe that SRM are that much better, simple truth is they aren't. One only had to see the buzz around Power2Max and Quarq at this year's Eurobike to see the way the pwoermeter industry is going. Unless they drastically change their business model I doubt SRM will be in business the five years time.

[Rob81]

I doubt if actual riders are paying for them out of their own pockets either.

they do when the team is not officially sponsored by a PM producer.

[davidalone]

Why would any pro buy an SRM now unless they have drunk the SRM Kool-aid and believe that SRM are that much better, simple truth is they aren't. One only had to see the buzz around Power2Max and Quarq at this year's Eurobike to see the way the pwoermeter industry is going. Unless they drastically change their business model I doubt SRM will be in business the five years time.

They would if SRM offers them a good price, no?

[ghostinthemachine]

SRM was just becoming popular and more readily available when i hung up my wheels, and even a relatively poor pro wouldn't be paying anything like retail. You'd be more like 50% or more. Dependng on how good you relationship was with the local cycling scene/importers.
I no in the years i rode i rarely paid the same as a normal customer did for anything.
Unfortunately, its so long since i last even owned a bike i'm going to have to pay retail for everything now. Which is a shock to the bank.

[KWalker]

Why would any pro buy an SRM now unless they have drunk the SRM Kool-aid and believe that SRM are that much better, simple truth is they aren't. One only had to see the buzz around Power2Max and Quarq at this year's Eurobike to see the way the pwoermeter industry is going. Unless they drastically change their business model I doubt SRM will be in business the five years time.

Bro deals man. Same reason why many cycling publications whose authors live near an SRM service center keep referring to them as the gold standard even when they're not.

Even the lowest paid pro can afford a PM if your average amateur cat 4 can.

[Calnago]

Amateur cat 4's probably make more from their day jobs than the lowest paid pros.

[ghostinthemachine]

I'd have to agree. As a not very good pro my salary halfed the day i left my job. I've been back working for over 15 years now and except for a few months with no work, i've never been as badly paid as i was then. My last year i was paid the eqivalent of about 10000 euros (but in francs).

[nathanong87]

lol dang...

[lrdunc]

^^ That's gonna hurt...

[ave]

It depends on the pace, doesn't it? If there're no serious moves to control, maybe it will be a long day with the usual last few kms action. I hope not.

[lrdunc]

^^ Very true.

Tom Dumoulin shouldn’t be sitting at Giant-Alpecin’s rest-day press conference with the Vuelta a España’s red jersey on his shoulders, staring down the barrel at one of the most difficult grand tour stages in the last decade, with a half dozen of the world’s best grand tour riders nipping at his heels.

But here he is, resplendent in red.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/09/news/can-tom-dumoulin-hang-on_383450

Gonna be great if it's anything like the other day

[5DII]

Anyone know how many sunglasses and shoes the pros get from their sponsors? Seems like Froome almost has a different set of Oakley's for each stage so far in the vuelta

[tk2306]

Some of the big riders sponsored by Sidi such as Froome, Uran, Purito and Porte get around 20 pairs of shoes per season. I've heard first hand from a few sidi sponsored riders at the top level that they replace the shoes every month as they feel the sole becomes flexy. Riders sponsored by Bont tend to get up to 10 pairs a season depending on when new models come out/crashes etc etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[davidalone]

some of the continental riders I know got shoes at dirt cheap prices from shimano ( think 60-70% discounts off retail) so you can definitely afford to get quite a few pairs of decent shoes at that price. most of them bought 2-3 pairs a season, but they wouldn't get the top end, usually the second or third tier shoe ( R200 and R170 series were favourites) obviously they weren't on big sponsorships like the protour guys.
for sunglasses they'd easily get a new pair free of charge per season from rudy, shimano, or oakley, and if these were damaged they'd be replaced. sometimes rudy would comission special pieces for them for major races.