Sky and Specialized

LeicesterLad

Sky will be riding Specilized bikes next year according to Inner Ring and L'Equipe.

Suits Cavendish, not sure Wiggo will be happy about changing his TT set-up though!

rick_chasey

Makes sense.

Always thought it was odd they were on pinarellos.

LeicesterLad

Rick Chasey wrote:

Makes sense.

Always thought it was odd they were on pinarellos.

Is it a direct result of Cavendish moving to Sky? Could it have been contracted in to his deal?

rick_chasey

LeicesterLad wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Makes sense.

Always thought it was odd they were on pinarellos.

Is it a direct result of Cavendish moving to Sky? Could it have been contracted in to his deal?

Not sure about the second bit, but you'd think the first would have a lot to do with it.

Spesh have a habbit of chasing the big names.

Not sure Boonen quite gets the same traction in the markets they want.

Yellow Peril

LeicesterLad wrote:

Sky will be riding Specilized bikes next year according to Inner Ring and L'Equipe.

Suits Cavendish, not sure Wiggo will be happy about changing his TT set-up though!

If push comes to shove (or should that be shiv?) it's only the matter of a paint job and a few frame decals to cure the problem

cougie

Looking at the TT yesterday I thought the BMC tt set up seemed to be the 'cleanest' - the Pinarello just doesnt look as slick ?

That said - its 99% about the engine.

mroli

Its money. Pure and simple. Sky are pretty happy with the relationship with Pinarello and Pinarello have shifted a lot of bikes on the back of it, but they just can't compete with Spesh's budget. It was one of the sticking points with Cav's contract negoatiations last year, but so was the Addidas/Nike thing - I would expect to see Sky swapping to Nike next year too.

LeicesterLad

mroli wrote:

Its money. Pure and simple. Sky are pretty happy with the relationship with Pinarello and Pinarello have shifted a lot of bikes on the back of it, but they just can't compete with Spesh's budget. It was one of the sticking points with Cav's contract negoatiations last year, but so was the Addidas/Nike thing - I would expect to see Sky swapping to Nike next year too.

That would upset me, Sky wouldn't be the same without the stripes!

symo

Boo spesh suck. I thought they looked better on a Pinarello's and their bikes are distinctive, moving to Spesh means they become another samey frame team.
Loss of uniqueness.

ddraver

Hmm, I might guess that the Shiv is "faster" than the Pinerello TT frame so Bradley may even be pleased. It's not like he's had to switch bike brands before either - plus with Spesh's budget they can pretty much do anything they want to make the bike fit...

BelgianBeerGeek

Does it really matter? I thought there was always a bit of a mercenary approach to this anyway. Regardless of the manufacturer, as a top pro you're going to get a pretty good bike, right? Can't see anyone leaving Sky because they can't ride a Pinarello.

rebs

Think it'll be a shame. Pinarello have been apart of Britishing cycling for awhile now. Wonder if it'll mean spesh maybe looking to take over supply/partnership with British Cycling as well?

If it happens.

andyp

symo wrote:

Boo spesh suck. I thought they looked better on a Pinarello's and their bikes are distinctive, moving to Spesh means they become another samey frame team.
Loss of uniqueness.

A uniqueness shared with Movistar isn't that unique.

symo

As opposed to bikes that appear under, Astana, Saxowank, Lamepre, Omega Pharma Lotto, etc

Oh yeah much less unique.

andy_wrx

rebs wrote:

Think it'll be a shame. Pinarello have been apart of Britishing cycling for awhile now. Wonder if it'll mean spesh maybe looking to take over supply/partnership with British Cycling as well?

If it happens.

How long ?
Not very long ago they were all on Treks, I don't think they're that bothered about centuries of Italian cycling heritage.

Meself, I always think of Pinarello as a bit MAMIL-aspirational anyway...

rick_chasey

symo wrote:

As opposed to bikes that appear under, Astana, Saxowank, Lamepre, Omega Pharma Lotto, etc

Oh yeah much less unique.

I know it's difficult to sort the marketing guff from the real opinion, but I've never quite heard so many riders at OPQS go on about how much they like the new bikes, and how they're such an improvement when they last have them - often off the cuff when they don't have to.

Even Terpstra held up the S for Spesh when he won Dwars Door Vlaanderen - when asked he said (to paraphrase) "I just love the bike so much, need to show it some love". < he didn't need to do that.

I think they genuinely produce very good bikes for the pro-peloton - and they have the cash to sponsor too - so why wouldn't go you spesh?

timoid.

symo wrote:

As opposed to bikes that appear under, Astana, Saxowank, Lamepre, Omega Pharma Lotto, etc

Oh yeah much less unique.

Lampre ride Williers and Saxobank will probably be gone next year (43 UCI points so far! in 2012)

So probably one of 3 teams as opposed to one of 2. Not much of a change really.

inkyfingers

I ride a Spesh and am very slow, ergo Spesh bikes must be rubbish

symo

Point I was trying to make is that the peloton needs a wider range of manufacturers represented (IMHO only), and I like the wavy forks.

Does that make me a Mamil? Hang on 37 in Lycra but really wants a Scott Foil hmmm, I must be some sort of infiltrator. I'll get me coat :P

OffTheBackAdam

In the era of steel frames, it wasn't too rare, that what the stickers on the frame said, didn't necessarily indicate the manufacturer of that frame.
In these days of carbon fibre, a top rider's wiahes to have a frame exactly so, might be quite expensive to satisfy, but ceratinly doable without the need of a respray & new transfers!

thegreatdivide

Heard about this when I was helping a friend film an interview with ‘someone’ a few months ago. We were told that it is a direct result of Cavendish moving to Sky and the bespoke/customised Dogma that he rides at the moment was to tide him over until the Pinarello contract ran out a year later.

The Pigarello doesn’t seem to have many fans at Sky anymore so they’re quite keen to see it go.

Ebay will be flooded with fan boy Dogmas come October...

Neil Buckley

I'd quite happy be a fan boy and have a Sky Dogma!! Wanted a ex team one, they were selling them off, but I lost the link

Gazzetta67

Specialised,Trek,Cervelo will NEVER beat the looks of a DeRosa,Colnago.....How boring would it look if all the teams are going to be on these bikes...Specialised with that Sram shyte look effin awful.

LeicesterLad

Timoid. wrote:

symo wrote:

As opposed to bikes that appear under, Astana, Saxowank, Lamepre, Omega Pharma Lotto, etc

Oh yeah much less unique.

Lampre ride Williers and Saxobank will probably be gone next year (43 UCI points so far! in 2012)

So probably one of 3 teams as opposed to one of 2. Not much of a change really.

Except Contador has just signed a 3 year deal with Saxo.

prawny

LeicesterLad wrote:

Timoid. wrote:

symo wrote:

As opposed to bikes that appear under, Astana, Saxowank, Lamepre, Omega Pharma Lotto, etc

Oh yeah much less unique.

Lampre ride Williers and Saxobank will probably be gone next year (43 UCI points so far! in 2012)

So probably one of 3 teams as opposed to one of 2. Not much of a change really.

Except Contador has just signed a 3 year deal with Saxo.

He cant score points for 2 years though. Maybe they'll be back in 2014. Saxo surely wont hang around much longer, they wanted out 2 years ago.

On topic, I liked specialized until the Volagi incident, now I think they're w4nkers. However, I couldn't give a toss what frames the pros ride. None of them will ever be racing on something I would want/afford.

bompington

Gazzetta67 wrote:

Specialised,Trek,Cervelo will NEVER beat the looks of a DeRosa,Colnago.....How boring would it look if all the teams are going to be on these bikes...Specialised with that Sram shyte look effin awful.

I'm sure these are exactly the sort of considerations that went into Sky making the decision :roll:

Gazzetta67

bompington wrote:

Gazzetta67 wrote:

Specialised,Trek,Cervelo will NEVER beat the looks of a DeRosa,Colnago.....How boring would it look if all the teams are going to be on these bikes...Specialised with that Sram shyte look effin awful.

I'm sure these are exactly the sort of considerations that went into Sky making the decision :roll:

Did i mention that this would be part of their decsion ? No so belt up.

ddraver

Need a hug Gaz?

frenchfighter

A bit of variance would be nice. Not just all boring US bikes, although some of the Specialized are not awful.

Some Euro design (regardless of whether it comes from Asia) would be nice.

Those Pinarellos are pretty attractive. Up close, in person they are too.

frenchfighter

Gazzetta67 wrote:

Specialised,Trek,Cervelo will NEVER beat the looks of a DeRosa,Colnago.....How boring would it look if all the teams are going to be on these bikes...Specialised with that Sram shyte look effin awful.

I miss Campag. To much sram and shimano and battery packs.

TMR

frenchfighter wrote:

I miss Campag. To much sram and shimano and battery packs.

Movistar use Campag on their Dogmas.