BMC, 'Shack equipment for '13

[drhule33]

Two early season observations:
1) BMC seems to have dropped Easton wheels and cockpits for '13. They're now on Shimano wheels and 3T cockpit.
2) RadioShack is no longer using Northwave shoes and have replaced them with Gaerne's new top-of-the-line Carbon G Chrono (which looks like it was stolen directly from Specialized S-works design)

Any other interesting equipment changes?

[LegendRider]

Lampre has switched to Merida bikes from Wilier, and they've managed to have the ugliest bike in the peloton IMO.

[MattTuck]

I heard that several teams switched from Terumo to Becton Dickinson for their syringes.

[ultraman6970]

Lol

[slidey]

I heard Lance will be serving as consulting nutritionist for all the pro teams.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by drhule33

Two early season observations:
1) BMC seems to have dropped Easton wheels and cockpits for '13. They're now on Shimano wheels and 3T cockpit.
2) RadioShack is no longer using Northwave shoes and have replaced them with Gaerne's new top-of-the-line Carbon G Chrono (which looks like it was stolen directly from Specialized S-works design)

Any other interesting equipment changes?

This is a nice summary

http://inrng.com/2013/01/2013-pro-team-bikes

[MattTuck]

That is a good summary. Wonder why HED doesn't sponsor a team?

If I recall, in Paris Roubaix, many teams use Nemesis rims, with decals of their sponsors on them. Not sure how common that is during other races? L'enfor du Nord is kind of hard on equipment.

[FlashUNC]

BMC did dump Hincapie for clothing.

[ultraman6970]

Well, makes sense IMO, the darn team one way or another had been linked to doping since back in the phonak times. Just insane, every year some crap is going on with bmc.

Dont even know how is that the Owner of the brand has not pulled the plug to pro cycling yet.

[christian]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

If I recall, in Paris Roubaix, many teams use Nemesis rims, with decals of their sponsors on them.

That's not really true any more; was true until 2010/2011. Now they mostly run carbon there, too.

My 2008 Colnago Extreme Power is being built up as a "Roubaix-replica" of sorts. Even though Rabobank and Milram were both Shimano teams and I'm using Campagnolo, I'm building it out with Nemesis and Paves.

[gavingould]

a couple things - SRAM seemed to pull back from sponsoring so many teams, and at the same time Shimano is pushing even harder for teams to use their full lineup (wheels, PRO bars/stems/posts, maybe even saddles?) and it seems Di2 is pretty well-liked.

it's always interesting to see what kinds of mechanical mishaps happen throughout the season, and if it changes the outcome of a race, that can be a big deal for sponsor perception...

[drhule33]

Originally Posted by LegendRider

Lampre has switched to Merida bikes from Wilier, and they've managed to have the ugliest bike in the peloton IMO.

This may, indeed, take first prize for all-time ugliest team bike. Cunego's skin must be crawling every time he mounts up.

[MadRocketSci]

what happened with Time? zip zilch zero nada niente bupkiss???

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by MadRocketSci

what happened with Time? zip zilch zero nada niente bupkiss???

No Colnago either..gotta remember a normal sized team, about 150-200 bikes, it's expensive.

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by gavingould

... Shimano is pushing even harder for teams to use their full lineup (wheels, PRO bars/stems/posts, maybe even saddles?) and it seems Di2 is pretty well-liked.

I don't know how Shimano works now but in the old(er) days a team got a "credit" of sorts, like, say, 1000 points (making numbers up out of thin air). An Ultegra group would be 10 points, a DA group 25 points, pedals 2 points, Ult crank 2 points, DA crank 4.5 points, etc (again, points are totally made up, I wasn't privy to that level of detail). The team would decide what to get and that would be that.

This led to training bikes getting Ultegra or 105, some unusual parts downgrades on the race bikes, and other interesting things.

It would be interesting to see the team side of things as far as sponsorship goes, parts, money, etc.

I remember seeing a sponsorship agreement between a big cycling parts company "BCPC" and a ProTour team. I was surprised at what the BCPC had to provide - it wasn't just their parts, it was vehicles, leases, lots of stuff BCPC didn't make, the things that you associate with Service Course garages and such. On two continents no less. Plus a lot of cash.

And here I was thinking that they just give them a whole lotta parts, some money, and a bunch of polo shirts with their logo on them. The agreement was very eye opening.