Do you believe this...?

switchback18

The bit about the cost of each one of Chris Hoy's track bkes that is

BBC article

Can't see why myself, you'd have to try really hard to find anywhere to chuck that much money at, surely. Just a feeling, wondered what anyone else thinks.

Is it a case of journalists exagerating/being vague with figures etc? Surely not!

graeme_s-2

The British track team build their own bikes. When they talk about the cost of a bike they're including the R&D cost as well, which includes consulting with various non-cycling engineering firms, including BAE Systems, and some companies that usually manufacture for F1 teams. It will also include a huge number of wind tunnel hours.

Basically when they talk about the cost of a single bike they're talking about the manufacturing costs for that particular bike, plus the total R&D cost divided by the number of bikes the make.

andrew_s

No, I don't believe they cost £1m each, unless you charge stuff they've been getting free or cheap (eg consulting, wind tunnel time) at full commercial rate.
The budget for the whole team (~£4m pa) isn't enough to have paid that sort of price, considering that other riders will have had similar bikes.

switchback18

Sounds like common sense to me, andrew_s

redvee

If they cost that much they won't be leaving them in the Olympic village without an armed guard come 2012.

Horton

Not quite sure where £1,000,000 was plucked from even if you did factor in full commercial pricing for the R&D. I heard from someone on the TV - forget who now - that £50,000 was a more realistic figure per bike but was seen as a good investment as the frame, at least, was designed to last up to eight years or the "life of the rider" and at the end of the day, a frame can only get so stiff and so slippy through the air whilst still meeting UCI regs. I guess the if you factor in cost per rider including bike, you could get to that figure when you factor in clothing R&D, training facilities etc. over the last 4 years. Only Mr Brailsford (or his accountant ) can answer that one...

Monty Dog

I think you're confusing 'sunk' costs including R&D, consulting and tooling as opposed to 'unit' cost. The £1m figure is proably a guesstimate based on how much it would cost to buy-in the total package at contracted rates, rather than the amount of free research 'cost' price charges from academia and industry.

Pokerface

And the bikes cost about £10K each.

Any other figure probably includes R&D time and costs. But if we order a new one for any rider - the price is £10K.


Don't believe the hype.