New Parts For Pros - how often?

MacAndCheese

Just wondering if anyone was in the know on how often the pros get new bikes, forks kit etc.

The main reason I was thinking on this was because I've had my new bike for a couple of months now and the forks are only just starting to feel like they've fully bedded in and working at there peak (Pikes). If the pro's get new bikes /forks too often surely they're never fully bedded in? Or do the manufactures have some kind of pneumatic machine that they use to simulate riding on the forks/shocks and bed them artificially? Or are the pro forks so amazing they just don't require it? ( I also own a pair of F100RLCs which are pretty much pro race forks and the same applied to them).

My second reason is for riders like Danny MacAskill who must go through wheels/rims at a rate of knots. How many times can he phone asking for a new rim before the people at DMR say enough is enough for this week/month?

Just wondered if anyone knew.

Yukon Lad

most of the suspension parts and other bits such as frames that the people at the very top such as the athertons, the santa scruz syndicate are normally specially set up or made for them by the company and are not in production (e.g the gold anondised stanchions on the athertons fox 40s, the custom made frames with different lenghts, geometry etc) so it is difficult to have them replaced (i would gess) but components such as forks or shocks don't often need replaced, just TLC and serviced regularly and the company does this and supports the race team with a technician from fox or regular servicing by them but in terms of things like wheels and other bits like that i guess the sponsor jsut gives them it because it costs companys a lot less to make a new rim or something than the price they sell it for (its how they make their money) so the company is very likely just to give them parts as they are needed rather than risk their rider going and lookin for another team or company to sponsor them

Yukon Lad

bomberesque

Yukon Lad wrote:

it costs companys a lot less to make a new rim or something than the price they sell it for (its how they make their money

well ... yeah that's part of it. But they also can write off the cost as a tax loss rather than having to pay tax on profit of sale, plus VAT's not there, no distributer or retailer taking their cut etc etc. This is one reason why manufacturers much prefer to replace warranty items rather than refund, it's a whole load cheaper for them, but that doesn't mean that the difference between manufacturing cost and MSRP is profit. Far from it

as for replacements, I don't honestly know, except to say that I'm sure the top flight don't get arguments. There are a few sponsored racers have popped up on here in the past and I recall one saying he got a new bike each season. Dunno what would happen if he stacked it but at the end of the day, the point of the sponsorship is brand exposure (not, despite what anyone says, "supporting the sport" "nuturing new talent" or any other such tosh) so I suppose that, excepting abuse and fraud, they'd probably just suck it up and drop you at the end of the season if you kept stacking up kit.

as for wearing in seals, there was a really interesting interview in Dirt earlier in the year with some american dude who has spannered for Team GT etc for decades, including being Lopes' personal mechanic and the way he talks, you can be quite sure that for the top guys they get the seals all bedded in before raceday. he as talking about custom drilling out spoke flanges and running wheels without seals because they run smoother that way ... nice if you can replace the bearings every ride...!

MacAndCheese

Thanks for your comments, I hadn't thought that they probably run with no-seals/special seals that are better but wear out too quickly for normal consumers - that would make sense.

Alex

Generally in downhill, they'll start of with a new full build bike with the current season's parts on it, and depending on who's sponsoring them, they might be asked to test various bits and bobs under race conditions as the season progresses.

Come autumn/winter, the bikes will be on SDH/ebay, going for a song. Often, if they're spares, they've barely been ridden at all.

Bedding in wise, you've got pre-season practice, and certainly in terms of forks, folks like TF can grind down the bushings to remove out-of-the-factory stickiness. Something else to bear in mind is that whilst it may take us mere mortals a few weeks of rides to really bed a bike in, if they're out every day, it's going to take much less time.


Obviously, if you're being paid to be seen by a componentry/frames/bikes company, you don't want to be seen riding last year's gear!