Not cycling related but I work for a company concerned with another sport.
I’ve been tasked to look at our sponsor packages.
So it’s got me thinking about sponsorship within cycling as it’s another sport I can relate to and so make a comparison with our packages.

So if your a sponsored cyclist what level do you compete at? And what do you get as part of your sponsorship package? Free products, discounts etc.

So many different levels of “sponsorship” especially in cycling, depending on discipline, sub sector etc.

Funnily enough one of the parts of my job involves sponsorship type stuff and I keep well ahead of developments in all sports as TBH cycling as a sport is backwards in all areas of commercialisation.

I’ve got some good stuff I can send you if you like? Email in profile 🙂

Andyrm YGM

When I was ‘good’ at XC racing I was winning Sport level races, I got a (S-Works Epic) bike at trade price and didn’t have to pay for it until the end of the year, I got helmets, gloves, shoes, glasses given by Spesh, and got some entry fees paid. Also negotiated various other deals, usually cheap/free stuff in exchange for a bit of promotion.

There are all manner of deals out there, from people being paid a wage (very few) to have all expenses and equipment covered (more) to deals like the above – usually a shop affiliation with a brand tie in. Spesh were very generous, less so now.

I’d say most people in expert and everyone in elite is on some sort of deal like that in XC racing.

When I was ‘good’ at XC racing I was winning Sport level races, I got a (S-Works Epic) bike at trade price and didn’t have to pay for it until the end of the year, I got helmets, gloves, shoes, glasses given by Spesh, and got some entry fees paid.

I had a similar sort of deal – Specialized frame donated by the shop which sponsored/supported our cycle club. The deal was basically that the shop supplied 8 frames to the “best” racers within the club each year (as voted for by the club, you had to apply), we were obliged to build them up with parts bought from said shop at significant discount and the club paid some entry fees.

End of the year you either gave the frame back or bought it at trade.

Back then it was way before Twitter and stuff so “promotion” was limited to race reports and photos rather than the immediate engagement of Instagram or Facebook that you have now.

Most Expert MTB XC riders and 2nd Cat upwards roadies are on some sort of semi-sponsorship deal although a lot of them tend to make it out to be better than it actually is. The word “sponsorship” covers a wide area and you often get riders claiming to be “sponsored” cos a shop gave them some wheels at 15% off RRP… 🙄

TBH cycling as a sport is backwards in all areas of commercialisation.

Very much this ^^. Professional cycling is a real house of cards type business model, living on the brink the entire time. One deal goes and an entire team can fold overnight.

Back then it was way before Twitter and stuff so “promotion” was limited to race reports and photos rather than the immediate engagement of Instagram or Facebook that you have now.

I get really wound up by people who got some free kit in return for spamming Facebook/Twitter/Instagram with photos of said jersey, shoes, etc and hashtags every time they go for a ride.

It’s probably a great return on investment for the company, but it’s the same business model as CandyCrush!

Yep, sounds like exactly the same deal as Crazy-Legs. Was good, but I worked at the LBS at the time, so got stuff trade anyway. Still nice though, basically why I still have nice bikes – from selling at a profit at the end of the year. Until that became unsustainable – the market for £3k second hand bikes is limited!

Always amused by mediocre riders with a list of 50 brands hashtagged at the end of every social media post!

I was a dinghy sailor for many years at National, European and World championship levels. Most “sponsorship” was stuff at a discount.

That said, for a short time I got paid and flown/driven around to race other people’s yachts.

At one point I tested
/developed cycling stuff too. You use the stuff for free but it breaks and goes wrong a lot more than commercial release stuff.

Elbry’s not has a mention on here for a while. So time to mention Elbry.

He was a brand ambassador for Rocky Mountain, last time I saw?

A lot of sponsorship is moving away from racers & results as not really a high percentage of normal cyclists actually race or care about racing.
A big following on social media is all important these days and real world riding, adventures etc gets much more exposure via shares.
Not many of these get free stuff though, heavily discounted yes. All my sponsors have helped me out due to my social media presence and how i promote their products. I’ve always contacted them because i like their product, how they conduct business or have used & thought their stuff was good in the past. I’d never try to get stuff just for the sake of it. I give R&D feedback and honest reviews even if some parts of the review are negative.
Email in profile if you want to know more

At the basic level getting a discount, response by thanking etc. got chucked T shirts, jersey, and some other stuff by my mate/local shop and repaid by telling people what the bike was like and generally being very sociable at events.
Next up is a bit more and the social media part is important – apparently there are quicker ways to do the @thebikeindustry #lovefreestuff part on instagram 🙂
After the local shop giving you a decent discount the importer/manufacturer may choose to look after you and let you into another tier of discounts (know 2 who did this with Rocky)
After that your really being employed to ride and the free stuff comes in

. Professional cycling is a real house of cards type business model, living on the brink the entire time. One deal goes and an entire team can fold overnight.

is that not true of most sports?