Sponsored riders. What do you actually get from your sponsor ?

A friend of mine rode for her LBS’s fun team of 10 at MM last year and got a free jersey with the shop’s name on it.

At the other end of the scale, another friend does quite well in women’s road racing, track and cyclocross, has recently started MTB racing and is supported by a couple of teams or companies.
She’s got a manufacturers test bike on long term loan
She was supposed to get a years supply of energy gels from one sponsor, but the team manager is a roady and didn’t realise how much she would eat in a 12 hour race, so he’s moaning about her using a month’s worth in one day.
She wore arm warmers in one race with a rival companies name on to one she was sponsored by, so they moaned about that, but didn’t offer to supply a pair with their logo.
The way she describes it, it hardly seems worth the bother.

I’ve noticed some riders never miss an opportunity to plug their kit on Facebook “Went for a ride today on my new xxxx bike wearing my xxxx jacket and eating xxxx gels” etc.
I take it they’re getting all this stuff for free in return.

So, what’s the deal with being sponsored ?

It varies by brand and by person.

I get some free stuff and some cheap stuff. All done informally, wouldn’t race in someone else’s jersey, but am free to use what equipment I want, a lot of my stuff is just paid for with my own cash because I like it anyway, even if I can get a cheaper option.

Those who get everything paid for are relatively few and far between and being tied to certain products (as your friend found) isn’t always desirable.

I once suggested to a magazine that they should do a “secret rider” column in the same way as The Guardian have a secret footballer.

Said magazine didn’t seem interested, but I think it would be good.

Dunno but ………..

Some years ago we were racing in a 24hr motorbike race in France
A few days before the actual race we were approached to carry a big logo from a local supermarket on the fairing in return for free supplies for the team for the whole time we were there

Anyway, deal done we went with the fella down to the supermarket and [TBH] filled our boots 🙂
Long story, short – come Sunday evening the supermarket manager came to our camp in the paddock with the bill. We had to pay it as race control held a deposit to make sure local suppliers got paid

Bloody sponsors !!

We never did get to the bottom of what happened – but we ate and drank well 🙂

My brother used to get downhill bikes at trade price, plus jerseys, tyres for free etc.

They usually give a donation to a nominated charity once I have completed a designated ride. £1 a mile seems to be the norm.

Last year as part of the team I was in we had a deal with a parts manufacturer, and through help with the main sponsor got pretty much everything at trade. The problem with trade prices is that unless you’re CRC then trade price is pretty high in comparison to online shops, or deals. (Except inner cables, they’re bonkers cheap at trade)

We also had some excellent support through LoCo Tuning, who aside from tuning and servicing gave excellent advice on setup and maintenance – and even though unattached to LoCo now, I still give him a bell and ask him for advice on a all too regular basis as he’s a lovely chap and a good mate.

On a personal note, I don’t have the time to put into training to get good enough to sponsor, with work and life commitments – but I prefer being unattached, as it puts you under pressure to do well, and to have to put in the hours – which I’m sure some really benefit from, but for me it made me actually not enjoy riding; I was just riding to do the hours and do the events.

This year I’ve just been messing around, ditched the HRM and the racey bikes and just have one bike, and go for a ride. I appear to be faster this year and spent the whole time at Bikefest messing around, smiling and having a laugh with people – I was the chap goading people to chase me on climbs, and telling you how good you were at carving 😉

In summary, I think the idea of sponsorship can be a blessing or a curse, depending on who you are and what you want from your riding 🙂

Personally, I’d like to see you, Graham, sponsored by Quorn or something vegany…

I have a fairly loose arrangement with my LBS – in exchange for good deals, access to their workshop – I have their company logo/name on the bikes whenever I do some racing (few and far between this year unfortunately).

I guess you could call it a ‘sponsorship arrangement’ of sorts…

Oh and I take in any photos from events which shows their logos/etc which they can use for whatever (with permission from the photographer obviously)

20 year ago I used to ride for a shop, got free servicing before races and a big discount on kit,
small shops tend to do this when they start out, but soon realise the roi is minimal, bigger shops appear to be more structured

i prefer to race representing the area I ride and grew up in, so ride for my local cycling club, which very few people seem to do these days,

i prefer to race representing the area I ride and grew up in, so ride for my local cycling club, which very few people seem to do these days,

Nope, like yours that’s exactly what I do, they have an affiliation with my local shop, and it’s through them that I get the cheap/free (occasionally!) stuff. I’m happy!

It’s been said but even when I was loosely supported by a shop who gave me 25% off some stuff, it often wasn’t comparable to what can be bought from CRC or Bike.de etc
I get trade + vat on some nice british kit which is about as good as it gets for me.
Also my club http://www.rutrainingtoday.co.uk has an elite road team and we often get trickle down discount codes etc 40% off CNP products for example

I got bits at trade price and get to contribute to their blog.
Just ride the frame and helmet. The rest is down to me. Love it!

I’m sponsored by “DrP industries”. I, I mean They pay for everything I use, but the catch is that sometimes the wife managing director needs persuading to allow certain ‘sponsored rider’ privileges. There’s often a way around this though.

DrP

I’m not a sponsored rider but on a race squad. As part of this I get my entry fee for priority races paid for, contribution for travel, some energy gels, free bike service for priority races and up to £90 worth of team kit. Plus i also get free coaching so i’m a pretty happy bunny 🙂

All I need now is a carbon wheel manufacturer to give me some bling tubs to race on 😉

Know someone who is sponsored by LeisureLakes…..free servicing after every race and free riding tops (logo’d of course!) and any bike maintenance carried out free of charge.

i prefer to race representing the area I ride and grew up in, so ride for my local cycling club, which very few people seem to do these days,

Made sense while I was at uni, sponosred by a pub I actauly drank in and the jersey was nice (black, club shield on left chest, sponsor on the upperarm, jersy maker on the right chest, big club logo on back, all embroiderd).

But jebus wept have you seen most cycling club jersey’s? Is there a national agreement that they should be designed by the local branch of the RNIB? Most of them are such a clash of colours and shapes that it’s impossible to tell them appart from a distance! Wouldn’t be so bad if they picked a jersey manufacturer and had them made in X and Y colours for the pannels, club ‘crest’ on one brest, jersy manufaturer on the other, sponsors logo on the arm. But they’re just zig zags, polygons and every square inch has logos’s on it. I’d rather race in my boxxer shorts.

If club jerseys looked more like the stuff people actualy buy from the shops I might actualy buy one. If it was socialy acceptable to wear team kit the only one I’d even look at would the the Rapha (if it wasn’t silly money).

Got some offers this year for racing, trade price bikes and kit and the like, but unfortunately even at trade price, a good sale on CRC or a Canyon bike full price is still better value, and you don’t have anybody on your shoulders! IMO it’s not worth it at all until you’re paying 40% or getting free stuff.
Green oil give me free stuff though, go check them out if you don’t know of them already, their lubes and bike cleaner smell awesome and wash out of clothes! 😉

thisisnotaspoon, that’s why I copied the Vegan Runers kit for Vegan Cyclists.
Two plain colours with a two word slogan in plain text.
It’s like being the one bloke on a building site not wearing hi-viz, it stands out a mile.

Varied wildly over the years from sod all now (I’m fat and old) and at the beginning when no one had heard of me to my best year year when I had free bikes, kit, race entries and day-to-day use of the team car (Saab 95) which was all badged up and mildly embarrassing to take to normal places. Membership of a David Lloyd club. I also weirdly had access to trade price flooring and carpeting and free meals at a local indian. Never used the lino offer but probably took too much advantage of the curry house!

It’s like being the one bloke on a building site not wearing hi-viz, it stands out a mile.

That as well, it might not work so well if everyone wore plain gear, but most local clubs must have different enough colours not to get mixed up localy.

Our uni ones worked out cheeper than most printed club ones as well, presumably someone just bulk bought a load of last season jerseys in the right colours and had them embroidered at the same time as the hoodies (which were near identical).

Ohh, and on the original question I was once offered a slopestyle bike at cost by the importer, this despite the fact I can’t ride drops for toffee!

In my experience of working on the bike trade supply side – the expectations and demands of a ‘sponsored’ rider are normally inversley proportional to their performance and brand exposure 😉

I was on sponsored teams for a few years (not for cycling – though cycling was part of what we did). The main benefit was free race entries to most events – not something to sniff at when the cheapest event I did was £100 a head. I’m kind of disappointed that those before me on this thread have missed the obvious opportunity, but I’ll be the first to make amends: over the years I was on teams with The North Face, Howies, Montane and Inov-8 as sponsors, so had free kit and shoes from those. Never had a bike sponsor, though looked into the idea a couple of times – as mentioned above it was only trade price on offer, which I wasn’t really interested in (not from the companies offering it).

Green oil give me free stuff though, go check them out if you don’t know of them already, their lubes and bike cleaner smell awesome and wash out of clothes!

That’s the criteria I use for buying my lube and bike cleaner, not how well it lubes or cleans my bike 😉

They do sound like a nice bunch of chaps though, and eco-friendly stuff is a very good idea.

It depends on the level you are at or event you do…….
Most Sponsorships are very small slices of marketing budgets, so for smaller companys at grass roots level,ie most of the ones in the UK who sponsor people, they give out own product and logo’ed clothing, no cash….eg on-one, hi5, buff, etc this is much the same as shop teams.
Next level companys do the same but add little cash rewards to riders getting mag coverage or big results… but its not much really when a rider has to mostly self fund themself, travel, food, accom, entrys etc each weekend..
The money is in pro deals, but in the real world, a UK pro roadie racing part UK and part smaller UCI stage races will earn less than 20k.
Having said that, they don’t spend much money other than on coffee’s and pool table change, for most of the year,

…given Z11s post, it’s worth pointing out the other end of the deal – we used to get coverage on TV and in magazines for our sponsors.

My Mrs has been ‘sponsored’ by a few different bigger, more promenant shops over the last few years & I was asked not long ago if I would, but like most it seems more hassle than it’s worth.

I’m not at a level to warrant free bikes, so it’s discounted/trade stuff & team kit, but it’s still no what I would call cheap.

I am in the somewhat fortunate position of knowing a few guys who work for the 2 biggest UK distributors, and through them, the prices are substantially better than anything I could be offered, so I don’t have to worry about upsetting someone over something that is trivial in my eyes.

I ride and race DH with a few people who get given a bike for the season, and give it back after the last race so the shop can sell it, which is great, but means they only have a bike for 6 months of a year, unless they have a spare in the shed to ride over winter.Plus they get it in the ear if they arn’t head to toe in the team kit pretty much all race weekend.

Sponsored to me, at a minimum means all your bikes, kit, entries & spares. Anything else is a bit of a deal/arrangement setup.

Depends on what level you are at of course, but if it’s just sponsorship rather than ‘pro’, then in my experience:
Free kit (mostly clothing), cost price expensive stuff, race entry fees.

In terms of most riders in the UK look for who arent full-time, to be sponsored up to the point where it becomes free to race, everything is paid for and you can keep any cash you win or ebay any products you win 😉 is the main goal

reminded me of these lifestyle sponsorship requests :

To: Target Corporate Offices

Hello,

Please put me in touch with someone from the Market Pantry brand of goods.

As an endurance and board sport athlete and lifestyle artist, I make heavy use of Market Pantry Peanut Butter on Toasted Crackers Sandwich Crackers. Whether I’m on my snowboard in the backcountry or surfing a remote shore, they are my ‘go to’ source for energy and protein.

I would like to offer you the opportunity to sponsor me as an athlete and lifestyle artist. I’m sure we could arrive at agreeable terms because, frankly, I would accept payment in Market Pantry Peanut Butter on Toasted Crackers Sandwich Crackers. Did I mention that I lo-o-ove Market Pantry Peanut Butter on Toasted Crackers Sandwich Crackers?

In addition to traveling the United States and indeed the world as a goodwill ambassador for Market Pantry Peanut Butter on Toasted Crackers Sandwich Crackers, I would feature them prominently on my website, storn.com. Storn.com touches over 25,000 unique visitors per year, and our research indicates that the demographic largely favors those inclined to enjoy Market Pantry Peanut Butter on Toasted Crackers Sandwich Crackers.

Please contact me soon to discuss the terms and benefits of this lifestyle sponsorship opportunity.

Yrs, Storn

To: ecco

Dear Ecco Representative,

Please put me in touch with whomever handles your althletic/lifestyle sponsorships. I am a boardsport and endurance athlete, as well as a lifestyle artist.

I am seeking an athletic sponsorship because it would be funny and because I could lord it over my friends. I know nothing about the ecco brand of goods, but I am willing to whore myself out to your brand for the humor value. I am saddened today because my offer for sponsorship was rejected by Market Pantry Brand Peanut Butter on Tosted Cracker Snack Crackers, which is a brand I actually believe in.

http://www.storn.com/Stuff/Peanut_Butter_Crackers/home.html

So please make my day and stoke me with an athletic/lifestyle sponsorship.

In addition to traveling the United States and indeed the world as a goodwill ambassador for ecco, I would feature the brand prominently on my website, storn.com. Storn.com touches over 25,000 unique visitors per year, and our research indicates that the demographic largely favors those inclined to enjoy ecco products.

Thanks, Storn

http://www.storn.com

I got a £3k bike for £1.6k. Happy with that. Just have to do the training to justify having it.

My mate got us a box of flapjacks once.

Still paying the price

Brought to you by Mobberly Eggs – the flapjack of choice for the half-ar*ed 24hr racing ‘athlete’

…given Z11s post, it’s worth pointing out the other end of the deal – we used to get coverage on TV and in magazines for our sponsors.

Which is why I very carefully used and italisiced the words expectations and demands

ie – The ones with the best reults and exposure never actually seem to expect or ask for anything – and the ones that are always giving you a long list of needs and jump up and down a lot that get none.

Salsa/Ison have been good to me over the past 4 years. I get a free race bike, free replacement/spare parts such as Schwalbe tyres/Hope pads/spare spokes/wheels, new transmission when it needs it, BC license fees and big race entry fees paid. They also send me proto stuff to test every now and again and sell me stuff for my non-race bike at trade, which means I now own a few Salsas… The race bike frame gets replaced when something significantly new comes out. I’m currently racing a 26″ titanium Ala Carte with 650b wheels wedged in that is now in its 3rd season of racing. Being ti it still looks new, so it works out quite cheap compared to my fellow racer’s sponsors who have to pay out for a new bike every season! I also get energy stuff cheaply from Torq.

The “standard” bike shop deal tends to be a loan of a race bike for the season, give it back at the end for the shop to sell on.

I think that my deal is pretty much as good as I could reasonably expect. Beyond this, you are into wages, paying for European races/World Cups etc, which I’m just not good enough to do. Also, I have a normal job…

I don’t try to artificially promote the stuff I use on Facebook as it just sounds daft in my experience. It’s just pretty good stuff that promotes itself, really. I hang out on here and try to field Salsa/Halo etc queries and always try to be visible at big events, chatting to people and being polite on the course – wearing bright Salsa kit it’s not exactly good advertising to behave like an idiot. I’m pretty fussy about using certain products to race on and luckily Ison get this and are happy for me to have certain things on my bike they don’t sell, like King headsets which I buy off here usually. I always insisted on King hubs as well, again buying them from the forum, but having used the Halo XCD ones for 3 years on another bike with no problems other than bearings dying from time to time, I am now happy to race on them so built them into my 650b wheels. I also run Specialized saddles that I buy myself.

So all in all, it’s pretty chilled. I ride their stuff, try to promote it, email them when I need new stuff.. It just sort of works. I don’t take liberties with free stuff and so it rolls on…

GB

I was talking to a French guy on Saturday who was given a carbon nomad with marzocchi rc3 ti’s and full shimano xtr. Apparently all the riders on his team, Orcieres/Mia, get free bikes and kit even the young ones.

If club jerseys looked more like the stuff people actualy buy from the shops I might actualy buy one.

My club’s jersey is the nicest there is. And somewhat loaded with cycling history….

Not sponsored (no talent), but I am a little teapot. 🙂

But jebus wept have you seen most cycling club jersey’s? Is there a national agreement that they should be designed by the local branch of the RNIB?

lol, club kit is a very contentious issue, i don’t think I have been to a club meeting where our kit is not brought up and nothing moves forward, the kit guy is constantly tearing his hair out,

if you want it changed, get involved in your local club, anything is possible,

i have been looked after for many years by my lbs. its a 2 way thing

nothing is ever free 😉

mixture of free stuff and cheap stuff.

MTG

Ask not what your sponsor can do for you, but what you can do for your sponsor… You’ve got to look at it from their point of view… Are you “worth” the cost/time/effort to them?

In the case of the person you’re talking about, as I know her too, I do think it a bit off she’s got such odd treatment a couple of times. Think she’s done really well to get the use of the bike for the race season, but getting shirty about wearing arm warmers with a different logo on when none are provided for isn’t really fair game IMO. Nor is saying you’ll provide someone with enough energy gels for a 24hr race, then calling you greedy when they didn’t realise how much you’d consume.

But consistent results, and being a good brand representitive, will forge any relationship. Sounds like gee has got the formula spot on…