pro team bikes, where do they go?

[schmuzzy]

i understand that pro teams go through bicycles every year or two. new bikes are issued and last years model usually becomes a beater.

as the years progress or teams fold- where do these frames/bikes go? ive heard of some bikes occassionally popping up on ebay-- but is there a more reliable avenue to get to one these?

do they get destroyed like GP motorcycles?

do they get handed back to the sponsoring company for stress analysis?

or simply end up at area 51?

[nath1]

I have seen a few on Ebay, last year there was a Phonak bike. So keep an eye out:) i understand that pro teams go through bicycles every year or two. new bikes are issued and last years model usually becomes a beater.

as the years progress or teams fold- where do these frames/bikes go? ive heard of some bikes occassionally popping up on ebay-- but is there a more reliable avenue to get to one these?

do they get destroyed like GP motorcycles?

do they get handed back to the sponsoring company for stress analysis?

or simply end up at area 51?

[ScienceIsCool]

A lot of them get handed back to the team at the end of the year. I imagine that the sponsor usually wants them back for various reasons such as you suggested. A few usually get held back to train on though - especially if next year's bikes aren't ready. For example, every winter a certain rider for 7-Eleven/Motorola would have a small garage sale at his home here in Vancouver. One year he had one of his Dura Ace equipped Merckx for sale. I wish I hadn't been a poor student at the time...

John Swanson
www.bikephysics.com (http://www.bikephysics.com)

[capwater]

My garage......... (2002 Klein Q Pro and 2004 Litespeed Siena)

I have worked with DIII pro teams for the past 3 seasons. Some of the top riders usually have it written into their contracts that they keep the bikes which usually get eBayed (remember these are D3 guys making maybe 25k/season). Some go back to the sponsor to be given away as executive swag and some get kept by the team management to pay off debts to folks like me who do their web work for no cash.

[JTE83]

I've seen Robbie McEwens TDF Litespeed with an autographed jersey on ebay. No one bought it.

[Powerful Pete]

Here in Italy people 'connected' to the bike sponsor line up to purchase the used pro bikes at bargain basement prices.

[fauxpas]

I've seen Robbie McEwens TDF Litespeed with an autographed jersey on ebay. No one bought it.
Pitty that, I spotted that too... Sad, because nothing can be absolutely verified as the real thing anymore... All those shops at the markets with signed autographed prints of Ali and Tom Cruise etc etc...

Same as guitars that get auctioned supposedly strummed by legends such as Jimi Hendrix... Are they really what they are promoted as being?

As hyper-expensive as pro tour bikes are, and hyper-exclusive... There's only a few I like the actual aesthetics of... CSC Cervello, Milram Colnago, Liquigas Bianchi and Lampre Fondital's Wilier are the ones I like... The Pinarello (forks look yukky) and the Specialized S Works look aweful... imo...

[capwater]

Yeah those wavy Pinarello forks are like tripping though a Jimi Hendrix acid flashback.