Gwinn leaves $pecialized. Where too now?

And he’s gone. Apparently couldn’t agree on $$$.
Rumours of a German move. Strong rumours that he’s off to YT.

With Peaty retiring, possibly Santa Cruz? GT will have a few quid without the Athertons there.

German also heard ktm…

Interesting.

GT have already announced a strong team.

Syndicate still with Peaty, Greg & Bryceland this year.

If it’s not YT then have Canyon announced their DH team yet?

They’d have the biggest pockets and money to spend now Barel has retired. They already sponsor at the highest level of road racing too.

We don’t know where Bruni is going yet either, do we?

Bruni and the rest of the old Lapierre team are on Canyon aren’t they? Which doesn’t leave much cash left for million dollar Gwin

Gt have got brook and Sam dale so not them. Leaves only YT really, which could be interesting as I’m not sure he’d get the support from them that he does from Specialized

Reading between the lines in the Gwinn interview on PB, it seems that Spesh decided to allocate the funds elsewhere which means Enduro (Graves). Hardly surprising; I’d bet they sell a lot more enduros than they do demos.

There is a interview with him on pinkbike which is quite interesting and refreshingly honest . I reckon bruni on spesh and gwin ? Well I’m not sure who could pay more than specialized that haven’t announced there team already . Be interesting to know what graves is getting compared to what gwin asked for

Bruni and the rest of the old Lapierre team are on Canyon aren’t they? Which doesn’t leave much cash left for million dollar Gwin

Nothing has been announced, and they have been spotted as a team testing the Demo in the last few weeks.

I’d be amazed if Gwin was on YT. I can’t see them having the budget to pay him if Specialized arn’t. They only make 2 bikes & sell fraction of the numbers Specialized do.

I heard it was gonna be YT a while back, but sure if they’ve announced a 2016 team yet this ?

Bruni and the rest of the old Lapierre team are on Canyon aren’t they

I know there had been some chat about it, was it confirmed? Good fit if Barel’s hanging around anyway.

Be great to see Troy Brosnan as the top guy on Specialized too, he’s potentially the biggest threat to Gwin’s dominance IMO.

I think your right about brosnan , he was pretty close to a couple of wins last year if it wasn’t for crashes and he still got top ten .
Don’t get me wrong gwin is amazing and to see him in full flow is mind blowing but if you look at his results it does seem to be feast or famine , so you could pay him a ton of cash worrying he would not start paying it back till year 3 of his contract .

Pretty sure someone like Giant would have enough to buy him, Not sure how many companies could afford him.

I agree, Giant or back to Trek. Yt won’t have the budget, GT are already settled. Ktm would be interesting but have they got the bike?

EDIT. Wonder if he’ll sign up to multiple sponsors and setup his own team? (strokes chin)

Hardly surprising. I’d bet they sell a lot more enduros than they do demos.

We all watch the DH but then buy Enduro bikes. My view is the DH will always (?) be where the viewing interest will lie.

Canyon? Along side Berecloth?

Pretty sure someone like Giant would have enough to buy him, Not sure how many companies could afford him.

I’m sure a good few could. Spesh certainly can, it’s just that the value equation isn’t attractive to them. For others looking to make a name and get their bikes on podiums, it might well do. With the USA market now open to YT and Canyon, Gwinn could be a very shrewd signing even if he costs them a few dollar.

All of Gwin’s mates are pro MX and SX racers. He probably feels a little hard done by in comparison. As the worlds most dominant downhiller he probably makes a fraction of someone running mid pack in the AMA.

That interview is horribly passionless and business like. Multiple uses of the phrase ‘moving forward’. He sounds like a politician. I know it needs to be done but maybe it should be left it in the office and out of sight.

Gwin had everything going for him at SBC and I bet he was already the most expensive rider in the world. Hard to imagine jumping ship to an unproven set up.

Canyon available in the USA this year too, would tie in

Giant is an intriguing idea, it would certainly make the most sense financially.

They have a new carbon Glory and a full range of MTBs, they’ve got a great global presence to leverage sales – and they’re finally shaking off their dowdy image a bit.

I would think YT would have the money, plus they need a Dh rider as they have the bike. The USA connection would open up the us market nicely. It will be interesting to see how this works out!

Wonder if YT would be able to make bikes quick enough?

They seem to sell out their current production runs no problem.

Canyon’s DH bike looks like it’s there to fill a gap in the range and hasn’t really developed for years. Their focus is obviously elsewhere.

YT appear to be on the march. Their bike is also excellent. They also can’t make the things fast enough.

He already has a relationship with KTM as they supply his MX and Enduro bikes. But they don’t even have a DH bike on show and seem to be pushing e-bikes. I doubt they’d be looking to make such a grand entrance on the WC.

Canyon’s DH bike looks like it’s there to fill a gap in the range and hasn’t really developed for years. Their focus is obviously elsewhere.

They’re heavily rumoured to be going bigger on DH though.

Possibly a carbon bike in the wings too. Obvious gap in their line-up.

Athertons on Trek so he won’t be going there. My understanding is the bloke who owns YT is a bit of a trustafarian hence money isn’t in short supply. So he could go there but again is the bike good enough for Gwin?

I think whatever he does he’ll do it as a privateer style ride similar to what Peaty used to do before Santa Cruz. Team Gwin which then means the bike supplier is irrelevant. A lot of the AMA guys do this I think, makes sense as you’re then the one and only rider in a team rather than having to share resources with team mates.

I quite like his attitude to racing, it’s clearly not the most important thing in his life which as he says means he can do it for enjoyment as well as a career. Must be nice to be in that position. He reminds me quite a bit of Stoner but without the whinging

I don’t think YT will do it, they’re perhaps not as big as we might think and they don’t have a WC team do they do not only would they have to pay the biggest salary in WC DH (by all accounts) but also build a team and it’s probably not cost effect to run a whole WC team for one rider.

I seem to recall Warner dropped a bollock interviewing Minnaar and mentioned Gwin’s name? I know they’re all meant to be very different characters in the Syndicate, I’m not sure the super serious, devout Christian Gwin will fit in with their vibe – but who knows eh? Anyway SC could do with a big name with Peaty starting his farewell tour and rumors of Minnaar going elsewhere- has Ratboy signed for ’16 yet?

I don’t think trek will be wanting him back after he left them in the lurch to move spesh

YT would probably be a good investment they’ve got a great DH bike and just started selling in the USA, could they afford him tho? dunno but theyve sold a lot of Capras !

Surely not the Syndicate. They already have two of the very best male racers and Ratboy should only get better.

I guess they’ll bring in some new talent next year when Peaty’s retired – hopefully a woman.

Trek already revealed the Athertons.

it’s not a negotiation unless you’re prepared to walk away from the deal if you don’t get the compromise you were looking for so that’s a good bit of hard headed business. I think the statement has been carefully worded so as to be as dispassionate and respectful to all parties as possible. Don’t burn any bridges at this stage.

Who knows who it will be but the YT thing has been rumoured for a while. It’d be great if it were true but I’m not sure YT need him giving the amount of bikes they currently shift on their value vs performance. Having said that, If they added $100 to each bike they sold to pay for him, would anyone really notice? It’s oft been said they need a WC presence, why not start at the top?

I dont believe he will go to YT, they are all party hard & neck tattoos, Gwin is all business so IMO he’ll be on a small or solo team with someone supplying a proven frame or even buying them in. My guess is Troy Lee stumps up the majority of the cash.

YT makes sense to me -they have most to gain from paying him big bucks – it instantly moves them from being perceived s a cheap direct sales outfit to making them a legitimate player in the DH world. Gwin is as close to guaranteed success as exists in the game

And YT are flogging their DH bikes at 600 off right now- they’ll announce Gwin and a new bike at the same time for the ne season.

My money is on small / solo team with independent sponsors too, possibly even a non trade team too ie the troy lee monster dh team or something like that.

If no one company is willing to pay what he’s asking then maybe a few have clubbed together

There is a interview with him on pinkbike which is quite interesting and refreshingly honest .

I found it a bit odd that Gwinn wanted to get in first with an interview all about telling the world Spec couldn’t pay him what he thought he was worth. It doesn’t come across well to me. The move to Spec wasn’t exactly smooth PR-wise and it just adds to the negative view some have of Gwinn

Flippin’ quick rider though!

YT makes sense to me -they have most to gain from paying him big bucks – it instantly moves them from being perceived s a cheap direct sales outfit to making them a legitimate player in the DH world. Gwin is as close to guaranteed success as exists in the game

YT is the best fit as I see it too. Gwinn doesn’t need a team and neither do YT. Gwinn seems to want big bucks and has more than enough experience to know what it takes to win while YT want instant race credibility.

I don’t think YT will do it, they’re perhaps not as big as we might think and they don’t have a WC team do they do not only would they have to pay the biggest salary in WC DH (by all accounts) but also build a team and it’s probably not cost effect to run a whole WC team for one rider.

They seem to have gotten hold of a some of the top slope and DJ guys without any trouble and seemed to sponsor every other thing this year at Rampage. I don’t think of Polygon making much money either but they seem to have a lot of big names on the freeride side too.

After all this I’d laugh if he turned up as a privateer on a Demo 8.

In a Dirt interview a few years ago the owners of YT explained why they hadn’t entered the WC yet. They basically said that everyone judges the performance of a DH bike on its race results regardless of who’s riding it. So if the Tues couldn’t win races on the world cup everyone would think it was a crap bike. All of which is true if a little unjustified. They said they’d only play if they could win. They’ve obviously been thinking about it for years and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d been saving up to make a move just like this.

Plus, it might have a positive effect on the market price of my own Tues if I decide to sell up 😉

EDIT:

I don’t think of Polygon making much money either but they seem to have a lot of big names on the freeride side too

Polygon is one of those enormous, corporate owned entities that sell tonnes of bikes of every type at every price point. They’re like the GT or Mongoose of Asia.

I think Team Red Bull Troy Lee Design downhill team riding whatever bike he wants.

If no one company is willing to pay what he’s asking then maybe a few have clubbed together

It’s certainly a possibility, but I don’t see what extra benefit TLD or Red Bull (as suggested by others) would get compared to their existing deals with Gwin.

YT looks like the most-popular rumour but it was previously claimed that he’d talked to them and it hadn’t worked out – so that could be a red herring.

Canyon or Giant would make most sense to me. Giant probably the best fit TBH – but they tend to sponsor less-expensive riders rather than the top dogs in DH, Enduro and road, so it’d be a change in approach.

I was just over at Vital to see if ‘team rumors’ had drawn something about Gwinn – nothing as yet, but the posters over there are thinking a bit more ‘leftfield’ and are talking about Audi???? Or perhaps KTM, but not KTM Bicyles, mostly because they don’t currently offer anything like a DH bike and partly because they don’t have much money? Anyway they’re talking about KTM or Audi building a non-production special like Honda did 10 years ago – I don’t think so myself.

I still think he’ll end up at SC, maybe a year earlier than planned but perhaps the new owners will want a bigger team than they run now and Gwin will almost certainly be at the sharp end with Minnaar and Ratboy (and fingers crossed a Podium-fast fairytail send-off for Peaty).

Anyway, these things usually run to calendar years don’t they – announcements in early Jan.

They basically said that everyone judges the performance of a DH bike on its race results regardless of who’s riding it. So if the Tues couldn’t win races on the world cup everyone would think it was a crap bike

That’s why I can’t see Yt signing him. They’re doing pretty well at the moment and if the best rider around at the moment suddenly started getting some dodgy results/didn’t win any races people are going to start pointing the finger at the bike so it could do them more harm than good.

KTM pedal bikes just licence the name from KTM motor bikes, they aren’t the same company so can’t see the motorbike lot making a pedal bike or it’d likely infringe and cause all sorts of cross marketing.

If someone like troy lee and red bull were title sponsors they get far more coverage than being a third or fourth tier sponsor.

Gwin put some pics on instagram when he did a photo shoot with audi but with his business brain I’d be surprised if he was giving away clues at all.

Gwin’s been filming commercials for Audi for a while in the off season. I reckon he’ll structure a deal similar to Cedric Gracia – his personal brand is strong enough to support it and thanks to tyreless and chain less exploits, he has achieved mass market recognition outside of MTB. That in turn makes it easier to get non bike industry sponsors and build his own programme.

Fair play to him – his global audience is huge, his potential career lifespan is quite short and fraught with risk, so it makes commercial sense to make hay while the sun shines. Pretty much all MTB racers are grossly underpaid relative to roadies of similar positional status, and even more so against other sports. Hopefully this is the start of a more professional approach to sponsorship and athlete marketing 🙂

I reckon there’s room for him at GT. One of his team mates has gone there too (though I’m not sure if that’d make much difference).