Irvin85

All can realistically still be covered with a GP % of 50%, problem is when the tail gets to heavy for the dog. Someone somewhere is taking us for a ride. Just thinking at Specialized with their concept stores, there should be financial synergies that actually reduces cost and should result in them being able to get the bike to the consumer cheaper. That seems to not be the case.

I bet you they do not give a rats ass about exclusivity, at the end of the day they just want to make money, so the model that they are currently using is based on manufacturing limited quantities and focusing on margins, or they can focus on volumes at a reduced margin. The thing is they need to find the sweet spot, otherwise they price themselves out of the market and end belly up. How much difference price wise is there really between a top end frame and the entry level carbon frame in manufacturing costs. they use the exact same mold but might be a better carbon. so maybe R1000 in manufacturing costs. It does not cost them more than R5-8k to manufacture a carbon frame at the scale that they are doing it. What is the manufacturing price difference between XTR and SLX? XTR might even be cheaper as they try to cut weight on it and take a knock on durability.

And they are still making money on the 50% discount deals. We have been feeding the machine for years, there is still no justification on paying R2000 for a set of road tyres never mind R250k for a top end bike. If you look at the materials used a top end bike should sell for around the R80-R100k mark and they would still make a decent profit.

Is this discussion still available to post on?

Look it was about Time for these Giant to create a Specialized pedal, it Felt like my Trek to the Canyon took forever on the old Pedals.

I know WC is big on cycling and also very big in keeping up with the joneses. so it will be frowned upon to ride anything that is not a Sworks or similar.

Add Max and Brandon into that group. They might not have been serviced by the same doc but they had the same dealer.

"An Epic drug trial"

Visma will have to revert to plan b or C for Le tour

I am no pro in the field but have struggled with severe back pain as well and have seen quite a few physios and biokineticist. what almost all of them told me is the back is not necessarily the cause of the back pain but as mentioned above it is a symptom of supporting muscles. One thing that is quite common in cyclist is the shortening of hamstrings due to the position when cycling. I would suggest getting a proper stretching routine in place and focus on hamstrings and then him flexors, the other issue might be a weak core. If you did not have any serious back injuries in the past this might help a lot.

We might see Kuss as the designated leader for the Bee's then.

Tadej is doing the Giro as well, so he might be a bit tired for the tour. That might be their saving grace to a level playing field. But I doubt Jonas will be at the starting line.

You usually receive the pin early in the morning about 7ish. they also send it VIA SMS. It really only takes about 15 sec to forward a SMS. if you are unable to do that then maybe you are the clown

I have done a couple of Ironman 70.3's and was training to do my first full when I injured my back. I have spoken to a couple of people who has done Comrades and Ironman and all says the same thing. Comrades is harder on the day but the training for Ironman is way harder if you take into account most of the days you have to do 2 training sessions or a brick session.

Just imagine Nino and Beers in the same team. No one will get close to them.

Woman to watch... write down all entrants as there is not really a elite field. the numbers are shocking

Not really, if you are not a factory team you might be able to get the bikes at "cost" to the retailers. So you are still in for a pretty penny to get a team on the best bikes. times that by 4. The fact of the matter is there is really no reason for a Sworks Epic to cost 300k, the tech and electrical components in it is not nearly close to that. but us cyclist pay it with a smile. so we are feeding the machine. There is not many companies in SA that can fund a MTB team with the best equipment, salaries etc. all adding up to a minimum of 4/5bar and have that as a non deductible tax expense. Hence why I am saying that we are killing pro Mtbing in SA. A few years back we had at least 7 pro mtb teams. how many is left?

When people say the own a Sworks... is that the same as people telling you they went to "Affies" or have a MBA or was part of the "rekkies"?

That is crazy, for the guys in the industry, what does it cost to run a MTB team in SA, lets say you have 4 riders? Just the bikes alone will cost you a fortune, Cycling is killing professional cycling. these outrageous costs for a top end bike make it harder and harder to fund a team.

Please enlighten me then with your insider knowledge? Also I am not talking about south African riders, talking about UCI XCO and downhill riders. But what do they then earn if what I could find is badly skewed?

Did a bit of searching on Pro mtbers salary ranges, seems the majority of the field will earn anything between $150K - $300k a year, with your stars like Nino earning in excess of $1mil sponsorships included. I think if there was proper price money to be won at the Epic we might see a much larger elite field. Total price purse of $5mil with the winning teams walking away with $1mil. Surely that would be something the pro's would really consider.

Interesting to see Kulhavy back at the Epic, did he come out of retirement for this?

At R300 000(US$16 000) for the winning team I see why there is not more teams lining up for the TdF of Mtbing. If they are really serious in getting the best of the best to ride there should be much bigger price money. That price money just covers the race entry and they might have some change left for a KFC bucket. Yes they probably do not pay the entry fee as elite racers but after splitting the winnings with the team manager, mechanic, physios, dieticians and doctors there might not be enough left for that KFC bucket.

Apologies, I have to correct, it was assumed that more money is spend on masking agents than to get the cure for AIDS, not cancer. This was also in the early 2000. Unfortunately no data to back this claim up as it is not like they will disclose that type of info.

A friend of mine who played Ausie Rules for South Africa, they had doping seminar in Australia where they discussed it in depth.