Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark McM
Well, for one thing, they know what side their bread is buttered on. Pros ride what the sponsors tell them to*, and the sponsors tell them to use the equipment they want to sell. When you see a pro using particular equipment, about the only thing you can be sure of is that somebody wants to sell it to the general public. And given the prices on electronic shifting systems, its understandable why the sponsors want people to buy it.
*Most sponsor contracts contain non-disparagement clauses, which means that riders (who are essentially paid representatives) can never say anything bad about the supplied equipment - not just during the sponsorship period, but ever. And here's the irony of sponsored professionals: Sponsors pay professionals to use their products because they want to associate their products with the performance of the professional (e.g. "The professionals are experts and they want to get the best performance, so if they use a particular product it must be best."). But if you look at it from another angle, you have to wonder: How good could a particular product be if you have to actually pay people to use it? Furthermore, paying a lot of high profile professionals to use a product costs a lot of money, which must be passed on to the customers, which may reduce the relative performance-to-price ratio of a sponsored product.
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These folks are a kinetic advertising dream!
This is done in many sports. Pros don't ride the bikes they ride because
they like them the best, they ride the bikes they ride because their job
depends on it. It is a condition of their employment.
It follows that anyone who buys such-and-such a bike because so-and-so team or rider uses them has believed a rather large lie.