Pro Private Bike Purchase Choice

daviesee
daviesee Posts: 6,386
edited October 2009 in Pro race
A slight diversion from the Bbox to Colnago thread;

Some pros at the end of their careers must have bought a bike or two as I doubt manufacturer's loyalty will last a lifetime (well, the top few maybe).

So, does anyone know who has bought what?

Not a serious debate, just out of curiosity.
None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.

Comments

  • Daan Hammond
    Daan Hammond Posts: 38
    It doesn't quite answer the question but I seem to remember that when Miguel Indurain retired he found himself without a bike (Pinarello presumably not feeling generous enough to give a 5 time TDF winner a retirement gift) so he went to his local bike shop and, gobsmacked with the cost of bikes, left empty handed. It make me chuckle at the time.

    I think he went on to buy a Cannondale but don't quote me on that.

    Would be interested to know what Chris Boardman rides given his wide spread of team issue stuff and custom techno bikes. I think he was riding rebranded (as Look and Mercx) Cougars and Burrows/ Lotus bikes when a pro so interesting to know if he rides one of his own or something custom made and UK sourced.
  • zippypablo
    zippypablo Posts: 398
    have a look at the Robert Millar c40 review on http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/
    for a take on this.
    Wouild fit into the Bbox colnago thread too :wink:
    If suffer we must, let's suffer on the heights. (Victor Hugo).
  • will3
    will3 Posts: 2,173
    http://www.eddymerckx.be/
  • intothe12
    intothe12 Posts: 190
    Zabel has an entire house of bikes he used to ride.
    a real fanatic..
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    Daan Hammond wrote:
    It doesn't quite answer the question but I seem to remember that when Miguel Indurain retired he found himself without a bike (Pinarello presumably not feeling generous enough to give a 5 time TDF winner a retirement gift) so he went to his local bike shop and, gobsmacked with the cost of bikes, left empty handed. It make me chuckle at the time.

    I think he went on to buy a Cannondale but don't quote me on that.

    Would be interested to know what Chris Boardman rides given his wide spread of team issue stuff and custom techno bikes. I think he was riding rebranded (as Look and Mercx) Cougars and Burrows/ Lotus bikes when a pro so interesting to know if he rides one of his own or something custom made and UK sourced.

    If he has half a clue about promotion, I imagine he will be pottering about on a Boardman.
    Likewise, I imagine Eddie got about nicely on a Mercx.

    So, back to the ones that have to buy............

    I like the Big Mig story :lol:
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    I remember this time last year Gerolstenier sold off all of their old stuff, and I thought there were some (ex) pros hanging around there.
  • sward29
    sward29 Posts: 205
    TakeTheHighRoad wrote:
    I remember this time last year Gerolstenier sold off all of their old stuff, and I thought there were some (ex) pros hanging around there.

    Yeah, but they were hoping to buy centrifuges and fridges.
  • bikerZA
    bikerZA Posts: 314
    intothe12 wrote:
    Zabel has an entire house of bikes he used to ride.
    a real fanatic..
    Yea I remember seeing something about that, think it was in procycling. He had one of every of the Pinarello's he road to Telekom, and a few besides.
    cyclecomparison.com
  • sudholz
    sudholz Posts: 69
    Apparently Roberto Heras rides a Brompton :shock:
    Well. Certaintly...
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Does Boardman even ride a bike these days? He always professed to hating cycling and only did it as he was good at it!
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    sudholz wrote:
    Apparently Roberto Heras rides a Brompton :shock:

    Heras is winning WC races on a Brommie.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • giropaul
    giropaul Posts: 414
    intothe12 wrote:
    Zabel has an entire house of bikes he used to ride.
    a real fanatic..

    I believe he had to buy them though.

    Most ex-pros of my aquaintance will ride whatever they can get hold of free/cheap!
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    intothe12 wrote:
    Zabel has an entire house of bikes he used to ride.
    a real fanatic..
    That's because Frau Zabel refuses to have them in her home, so he had to get a second apartment. A bit like having a 'kept' mistress.
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • Slow1972
    Slow1972 Posts: 362
    Pross wrote:
    Does Boardman even ride a bike these days? He always professed to hating cycling and only did it as he was good at it!

    He rode the Etape this year as part of the BC contingent that went over, I even had a wave from him as I went past him in my starting pen

    Photo of him recently propmoting the new bike to work scheme, sensibly (promotion wise at least) astride a Boardman.

    On the hour record documentary he was riding a custom made Dolan frame rebadged as a Look in all the preparation. Look then insisted on him using one of their's for the record attempt (apparently!)
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    Pross wrote:
    Does Boardman even ride a bike these days? He always professed to hating cycling and only did it as he was good at it!

    He did the Etape this year. I'm not sure what bike he rode though.
  • flanners1
    flanners1 Posts: 916
    zippypablo wrote:
    have a look at the Robert Millar c40 review on http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/
    for a take on this.
    Wouild fit into the Bbox colnago thread too :wink:

    I am bias but it's a great review of a great bike frame and forks!
    Colnago C60 SRAM eTap, Colnago C40, Milani 107E, BMC Pro Machine, Trek Madone, Viner Gladius,
    Bizango 29er
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Daan Hammond wrote:
    It doesn't quite answer the question but I seem to remember that when Miguel Indurain retired he found himself without a bike (Pinarello presumably not feeling generous enough to give a 5 time TDF winner a retirement gift) so he went to his local bike shop and, gobsmacked with the cost of bikes, left empty handed. It make me chuckle at the time.

    I think he went on to buy a Cannondale but don't quote me on that.

    Would be interested to know what Chris Boardman rides given his wide spread of team issue stuff and custom techno bikes. I think he was riding rebranded (as Look and Mercx) Cougars and Burrows/ Lotus bikes when a pro so interesting to know if he rides one of his own or something custom made and UK sourced.

    Boardman rides his own MTBs now. His dad still rides some of his ex race bikes. And yeah at least a couple of his bikes were Terry Dolans but resprayed. Probably harder to get away with this nowadays with Carbon bikes.

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