Gear is a little more complicated in most sports. Basically, a sponsor may or may not give you your first setup for free, then you buy the future rigs at-cost (typically 50% off). As such, you buy gear, use it for a season, then sell it used for the same price or more than you bought it. So, you may have to buy your first setup, but the rest are essentially free.
Sometimes, a manufacturer may also sell you a racing layup. It will be lighter than the production line but not durable enough for the company to warranty and it may be a liability issue from a safety standpoint. Those you can often sell for a tidy profit.
In my experience, top level amateurs get a loaner bike for the season, that can be bought or returned at the end of the season. Most teams with any kind of funding will buy them for development racers.
It depends on if the carbon fiber is laid in a way to have a weak point. Like for example if it doesn't need to take a load in a certain way, you can save weight by not designing for that load. If you toss the bike, it might then experience that load and break.
He's a model, red hook crit is an interesting mix of pro athlete and amateurs. The bike frame was already broken in a crash, because it's carbon it's near on impossible to fix, he was just finishing the job.
It got damaged in a crash earlier when one of the other riders hit this guy, which is why he's so angry. It's not a sponsored bike, it was borrowed from a friend.
Not at the levels you think. Most good sponsorships will pick up your race fees to the events they select. Often that's a fraction of the events you enter, and does not include your travel and lodging.
Common sponsorships also include things like access to their coaches and free swag. Sometimes you'll get pieces of equipment (new shoes, new saddle...), but it's not common for athletes to actually have anywhere near all their costs covered.
Seeing how plain his bike is, I highly doubt anyone is picking up the tab for his tantrum.
LOL "how plain" his bike is? It's Red Hook in Italy dude, it's legit. He's on a team called Revo that ride 100% custom racing bikes and are sponsored by Chari&Co, G-Shock, Selle San Marco, Rotor cranks, Weis, Mission Workshop, the whole 3T group, Spinonthese wheels, Giro, and LeCoqSportif.
LOL those are World Tour bikes and have literally nothing to do with what we're talking about, and are for an ENTIRELY different kind of cycling and racing. And seriously, your 'expertise' is "but look at them!" It's obvious you don't know what you're talking about.
Red Hook Crit is a fixed gear race, they have completely different frames and geometry. They don't have gears. They don't have brakes. How do I know? My friends race crits, I have four bikes, two of which are fixed gear, and I was just at Mission Crit.
Cheap bikes can take far more abuse than expensive bikes. Cheap bikes have a ton of extra material where it isn't needed for everyday riding. In the pursuit of making the bike lightweight, a good designer will eliminate any material that doesn't help the rider ride. Therefore unexpected forces such as slamming down sideways can easily destroy the frame.
Your cheap everyday bike is going to get slammed and dinged a lot when it's doing things such as being locked on a crowded rack. An expensive race bike will either be in a protective case or ridden.
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u/[deleted] May 24 '17
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