Lewis Buchanan’s Only Fans Sponsorship Deal – what do you think?

it seems most of us are on the same page about there being enough free grot on the internet already.

I’m not sure, which page is saved in your Favourites tab?

There’s a bit of me that’s with convert, I’m a 75 year old, now pretty much ex classic (Steel is real, still on 26″ wheels hardtail) MTB rider. OnlyFans and Lewis weren’t on my radar either…
So, I’d never heard of Lewis or Only Fans either, I think the only competing riders I can mention are Peaty…and Peaty, and sponsors are Red Bull.
However as is often the case the issue here is the tip of an iceberg. I’m a father of daughters who gave up work in the 1970’s to look after my children whilst my wife went out to work. She had a better earning potential than me, and as I type this from our eldest daughter’s NSW holiday home after a day watching surfers, and playing in the sea I was thinking how lucky I have been.. but in the same internet session I’ve come across some stuff about some guy called Andrew Tate..
The old maxim “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance” has never been truer, we all (particularly fathers of daughters) need to take a stand against pornography..anything that makes it (the objectification of women) more ‘acceptable’ needs to be challenged, vigorously, and linking it to downhill racing or any kind of MTB riding is a no no in my book.
I suppose my rant will smack of “Oh another ‘boomer’ running of at the mouth, now that he’s too old….” but the porno issue is not that dissimilar to the alcohol sponsorship and linking that Hannah discussed in a previous Singletrack editorial letter we really do have to be careful what we are prepared to let into what is after all less of a spectator sport, and more of a participation exercise..

That’s intriguing.

If it is the case, I wonder whether Norco are genuinely outraged (maybe they’ve been getting complaints?) or just want to take advantage of a disrepute clause (or whatever) to cancel his contract?

If he’s really lost Norco then that risk has become an issue. I believe Onlyfans are paying him, but the being cut off from support at races* is going to have an effect

*did I see somewhere that he isn’t racing, and its just social media stuff now?

how long did you stay on the page to make sure it wasn’t what you were looking for?

I managed to be redirected to it yesterday, searching for some obscure book I clicked on a result in Google which was a spoof page (lots of random tags and then auto redirects) to Only Fans with a young lady removing her pants right in front of me…

how much did that cost you?

Plus had the wife walked in, I’d never be able to explain that as a spoof redirection!

To explain, you’d go back to the original search and click on the same link, surely?

There’s a certain irony that he’s had to post a YouTube video to let people know

Good grief, he really does drone on, doesn’t he? I also think several people predicted potential problems coming up for him due to this sponsorship…unsure why this is a surprise really.

whilst i think the ‘only fans’ thing is a bit of a poor choice, i am actually more interested in Lewis’ videos now most sponsors wont touch him with a barge pole.

He is buying bikes and frames with his own money and in return can give honest opinions etc. Having broken both a NP giga and a Evil thus far, its interesting to see and hear about. Albeit it appears his actual knowledge of bikes, manufacturing, defects and damage seems pretty limited, but hopefully that will develop with time and he can give more concise feedback.

whilst i think the ‘only fans’ thing is a bit of a poor choice

Compared to what though..?
I don’t remember the UCI having any issues with Arms manufacturers sponsoring riders…

Compared to what though..?

i guess compared to something perceived to be more ‘wholesome’ by the general public. Despite Only fans etc being a great source of revenue for so many and that ‘pron’ is far more accepted these days, its still deemed to be undesirable by many.

So i would assume the UCI worry it might taint their great reputation if its associated with them. I can only imagine they would do the same if the Santa Cruz Syndicate became the Santa Cruz 3rd Reich Race Team?! 😛

Fair play for being the devil’s advocate. Maybe they didn’t set it up with the intention of streaming porn, but take a look at the career path of the majority shareholder and the primary activity of Onlyfans since his financial involvement began. Coincidence?

Having looked it up I don’t think it’s co-incidence but I don’t necessarily think its a chosen path?
As it happens I stumbled into Lewis’s YT late and though my first thought was “Hmm isn’t that a pron site” listening to him about getting Sport and other things than pron into it at least makes me think they want to do other stuff?

I guess in part its where they are trying to take it … I don’t get an idea Bell and Camelback are meant to take over sales of arms rather than supplement and diversify whereas I think onlyfans might actually be trying to make non pron content its mainstay? (I say might … not is)

Yeah, obviously they’re trying to steer the company’s profile to one a bit less sordid. I can see why the UCI wouldn’t accept them as a sponsor for the foreseeable future, they’ve got a long way to go before they’ve cleaned up their act. The fact that they still have the over 18 paywall suggests that they aren’t yet willing to give up their primary revenue sources.

TBH, so what if he’s sponsored by a porn site?

Why is that a bad thing?

Particularly one that on the face of it is going to have a whole lot less exploitation with the creators working for themselves rather than the “mainstream” porn business model.

This makes me reconsider my sponsorship application to Pornhub.

Yes @mert. The precedent had already been set, so Lewis would be very naive, uninformed or “uneducated” to think that the rule would be applied differently for a website that wasn’t quite 100% porn content.

Unless he is planning on actually racing any uci events this year then why does it matter what the uci say. Surely it’s just clickbait for the anti uci mob

Until there is a Second-hand-Citroen-Berlingo-world-series where all teams must use 11 speed deore gears they won’t be happy.

Now that, I would watch while hunched over my Trangia, melting my Putoline and combing my beard.

For someone who is very good at riding bikes he just seems like a complete charisma vacuum.

The two very often go together.

Or they try to be edgy and cool and trash welsh mansions to show everyone how edgy and cool they are.