I Dont Understand What Companies Want From Riders Nowadays?

[Davetrials]

Again dave to me stands out, hes an idiot and throws himself at owt and anything

lmao

[TomN]

depends what you mean by professionals, i think it means paid to ride, which it is, but i can name a few riders who get paid to ride, so there is more than just ashton

Who can you name? Out of interest

There's Ashton, Hawyes?, Chris A, Hans Rey? etc

[F-Stop Junkie]

Back in the day, many companies like Cannondale had rider support programmes. This would say "Send us your details and CV, and if we think you're good enough then we'll send you some free kit to promote us and give you a discount on bits." This helped out good riders, but did not dilute the pro sponsorship pool.

That's effectively what's happening now in 90% of cases. The 'Gods' - for want of a better term - are still at a different level. They're the ones that get hooked up with good deals, appear in magazines and DVDs and get paid actual money. In some cases it's enough to live off, in others it isn't.

If you want a sponsorship package that includes a team bus, pre-arranged travel and entry, and a free supply of bits, then you won't find one in trials. You'll have to race DH for Cannondale, Trek or Kona.

Ultimately it's all about publicity. If I give you this, then I get publicity. It's then down to how people are willing to sell themselves and show off their sponsors. Some set their worth very low, others very high. If you're willing to sell yourself for a rim, forks or brake pads, then you've set your price. Companies will then look for an appropriate amount of value on their investment.

I think a lot of small companies are very indiscriminate in their sponsorship activities. Taking money out the till for an unmeasured return. Those who are more structured, or more focussed will do better. I think if these small companies took a step back and looked at what they're getting out of this, and what their true marketing aims are, then they would quickly reconsider their actions. I could go on, but I think that those companies have fixed ideas about what they're doing and no intentions to examine their goals or how this is impacting their bottom lines.

For those more open minded companies. PM me.

Looking around the forum, there is an amount of 'fan sponsorship' going on. That is people who say "This company is great." There's no financial incentive to do it, it's done out of pride or respect for that company. The way it's presented makes it look like sponsorship though, which makes the situation look worse than it is.

[Waynio]

look at Ben Savage....................

has been "sponsored/supported" probably since he was a young nipper and look at him now, he is still "sponsored/Supported" by one of the biggest and best companies in the world, its one of those things, i dont know what ben gets but it shows to me, from such a young age ben has been sponsored or supported therefore WAS a prospect for the future he obviosly still is as he is still sponsored/supported. this therefore would clarify how the companies who have sponsored/supported ben have seen/still see him for the future, a bit like i think fred has done with robbie peacock. other riders like myself or james sheridan for example james sheridan when i spoke to fred is a hot prospect for 2006 in winning the 2006 Senior category of the brit championships therefore sees him as a prospect for the future and to do well.

i think some companies over look the side of sponsorship TOO easily. such as shops/online stores, they throw too much away at someone.when instead of a quick few sales over the internet and the "good" rider not getting jack all out of it THEN this is giving yourself away too easily.

i think if people (or chris ratcliffe could possibly put on here the article from section7 about him commentating at the bike show for the first time) would read that article then you would understand what back in the day being sponsored AND meeting or seeing your idols was really all about. cos i read the article about 3/4months ago and it was soooooooooooo inspiring that a young lad had been given his childhood dreams to commentate about HIS favourite and riders he had/has looked upto and it truely is spine tingling!!!!

Waynio.............................

[Tony Harrison]

If you're willing to sell yourself for a rim, forks or brake pads, then you've set your price.

Quite. I would hate to be confined to using a certain product because of 'sponsorship commitments'.

Looking around the forum, there is an amount of 'fan sponsorship' going on. That is people who say "This company is great." There's no financial incentive to do it, it's done out of pride or respect for that company. The way it's presented makes it look like sponsorship though, which makes the situation look worse than it is.

Yeah, it is interesting looking at how many signatures include one of the well-known online trials shops. I suppose people like to associate themselves with popular suppliers and companies. I see manufacturers and suppliers as the people that, well, provide the kit. From that point on, it's best worrying about the riding. But then I suppose it all depends what you're trying to get from trials. Enjoyment is enough for me.

[F-Stop Junkie]

i think if people (or chris ratcliffe could possibly put on here the article from section7 about him commentating at the bike show for the first time) would read that article then you would understand what back in the day being sponsored AND meeting or seeing your idols was really all about. cos i read the article about 3/4months ago and it was soooooooooooo inspiring that a young lad had been given his childhood dreams to commentate about HIS favourite and riders he had/has looked upto and it truely is spine tingling!!!!

Cheers for mention Wayne. The article can be found here.

[Waynio]

ye that article to most young people on here would mean absolutly JACK all, but i know what it was like 4/5 years agon when trials wasnt as big as it is now and JUST to see your idol was like as good as meeting a film/movie star, to me it still is, meeting up and riding with ashton, hawzee, akrigg, Edd t is like so un real yet, the good thing for me is i have grown into trials with chris akrigg and i have/am very lucky in most respects as chris is out with ashton/hawzee/edd etc a bit and i get to join them. but to some young lads they just do not understand what it WOULD have been like to meet their idols back in the REAL world those only few years ago

Waynio..........................

i like how the topic is including many top riders including some of the nower day pro's and pro's from back in the day it shows you how times have changed etc etc

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

now to make an assupmtion , take steve at heatsink for example , now i know he's not as big scale as echo/koxx or whtever but looking at it from an outside perspective it seems he's more about making cheap yet good quality parts rather than making sales. and yet still sponsors some of the best riders in le uk. from where im standing it looks like he is doing the riders a favour by giving them parts to keep them going rather than using them to advertise his products.

[Waynio]

yes charel BUT im still promoting his products arent i?????

im helping him sell his pads, when young lads come upto me and ask my opinion on brake pads and stuff, they can ride my bike and see for themselves how good my pads and my brake is. so in theory its the same, steve cant afford to pay anyone BUT the support of free goods should/is selected to a few riders who are going to help him create sales of his pads. look at the riders again, theres me, porter?tim steadman, aran cook, theres bongo who makes him self seen on the BMX scene making sick and interesting bmx vids its all bout word of mouth aswell as publicity and telling people about it, it would be hard for steve to sell his pads IF only he rode with them? he couldnt afford to pay any of us as he is making a limited amount of products. but we are bought with free pads and boosters as we see that we will gothru alot of them, i for sure like to ride my bike alot and do tend to go through some pads.not like masses but enough to think i could do with them for free. it advertises me on his site aswell as my other sponsors and promotes me as a person and from my perspective in exchange for steve giving me pads and boosters etc etc, i am getting alot more out of it too.

Waynio...........................

[F-Stop Junkie]

i know what it was like 4/5 years agon when trials wasnt as big as it is now and JUST to see your idol was like as good as meeting a film/movie star

If anything, I'd say it was bigger then in the eyes of the world. We had Under Pressure, multiple trials articles per month in MBUK, more riders, and competitions.

Can you imagine queueing for two hours to see the trials at the Bike Show? Crowds full to capacity, and 5 deep around the barriers.

Trials riders were like Rock Stars.

Now we've trimmed the riders who weren't committed for whatever reason, and we've got the hardcore few in it for the long run.

[totaltrials]

Theres not enough money in trials to give full support to all the riders about, i'll give you a run down of our riders:

Lee buchanan - young rider, one rider I have noticed, very good technique and comp riding last year, one to support for the future, and hopefully he will do well.

James POrter - amazingly talented rider, good guy, good videos and good promotion, he gets about a lot too.

Andrei burton and rob poyser - pretty big elite riders, these get good support from us, to help them achieve at world competitions and national events, them showing there faces and advertising the stuff on the bikes clothing and getting on score sheets is good for the company while they get good support for a good bike and spare parts.

Nick Goddard - very good controlled natural rider, 2nd overall Nationals last year elite rider 06, well known rider, does his part with videos and dvds and travels to comps in the uk nationals and even world rounds.

Neil T and CLS - top Uk street riders, amazing videos, great promotion, myself and zoo work together to help out these guys, and Aorta for 06 with CLS.

Myself - I do sod all, i should be kicked off the team

Chris Light - Rider for all kinds of companies, BT also, I import them so it's a joint thing for me and Bt, mainly a 20" rider, should stick with this for 06.

Andy Roscoe - amazing rider, truely overlooked, just because of his talent we support him in a rather different way, hopefully he should do some promotion.

But basically if they want to ride for us and they want to promote us and they do prmote us well, this will get noted and we will offer more to the riders, but if nothing happens on our behalf the support is quite low so we can't afford to support people.

James Porter is possibly the best rider we have for supporting us, so we supported him a lot in 06 and he recieved the most bits when he needed them, and he helped us out a lot, basically we support them and they support us.

You can put stickers on peoples bikes and get them to wear a t-shirt and that is sponsorship, but there is no support, I think the support is better than being"sponsored" as it helps people through riding without worrying when things break or go wrong, as we are here to help them.

It was always obvious that the marts, akrigg tongues cooper where high profile pros, they got paid from big companies and done demos and traveled the world, but now the internet has offered a lot more in the way of advertsing without having to pay money to do demos.

With the scene being a lot bigger, a lot more good riders are about which everybody knows personally, if you don't know an amazing rider personally their profile is a lot higher as they seem more "special" Thats the thing with CLS he's hardly on the forum and not many people know him he has a bigger profile, when do you ever see martyn ashton or akrigg on the forum or going on big rides, it's the way they market their profile that makes you a big rider.

Danny Butler is one of these riders, still quite talked about a lot but starting to become a well known god like rider for UK, Ben savage too is very similar.

Phil.

[SiTrials]

It was always obvious that the marts, akrigg tongues cooper where high profile pros, they got paid from big companies and done demos and traveled the world, but now the internet has offered a lot more in the way of advertsing without having to pay money to do demos.

Phil.

I'm might not be as well paid as those above but i still try to make a living, also traveling the world, paid to ride thats the dream is it not????

i think in many ways though, alot of riders aren't cut out for doing that, the marts as well as riders are ENTERTAINERS! and that is also how i like to think of myself! in a way! to the public!

Take this for example, your at a demo you don't know the place very well your entertaining the public in city centre your quite happy comentating and riding, until guys on trials bikes turn up yes they watch the show and don't hurl abuse, its just their presents you know in the back of your mind you do have to try and prove yourself in a way for having that oportunity to be paid! in my mind i go from an entertainer to rider in that instance. If you ask anyone on the team they will say the same. I HOPE

[Waynio]

to me my deal with koxx and other companies is good enough for me, if i turned around next year and wanted to DO everything, worlds and euros and UCI's etc, i physically couldnot have a full time job i would have to be part time therefore would need money support off a company or sponsor, i have been speaking to my next door neighbour who does alot of promo work for his computing company and he himself can offer me ££££ before any kind of sponsorship. he will pay me to advertise his company. therefore he will have stickers and tee-shirts race jerseys etc made for me to wear and promote his company, its got nothing to do with trials as its "computing" but as the sport is impressive he would over look it as being quite impressive and would see it as good advertising, he can pay out so much a year "AS" sponsorship money therefore he has a budget to throw at people. most companies have this its just some companies wish to put their money into young people who can be seen/noticed and help them to get places for their name to get places.

Waynio.........................

MONEY does not come into it for me though, i do it all for the love of the sport and the fun of it, i like to see young lads progressing more than owt a few of the local keighley lads are so impressive for the amount of time they have been riding and a star for the future in my eyes is "Tom Feeley" who is on here as "Feeley!" or sumit, the thing with my next door neighbour came about as when the neighbours moved in they saw me pissing about in the middle of the road and when they had a welcoming party were asking my mum and dad what i did JUST because i was in the middle of the road DOSSING about it was soooooooo impressive to them they thought that someone doing osmething like that would advertise there company name by being stuck on me or on my bike

[Davetrials]

look at Ben Savage....................

as been "sponsored/supported" probably since he was a young nipper and look at him now, he is still "sponsored/Supported" by one of the biggest and best companies in the world, its one of those things, i dont

Whos that lol.....

[Savage]

Well, it could be me, but I'm not sure............................

Ben.

[Gaz M]

Koxx

[robster]

Koxx

Mr koxx !!!!!!!

[Waynio]

i love you ben!!!!!

you need to be in touch with me at some point about a bit of riding young man.

Waynio........................

im sure if you put your half penny in here about things ben people might listen and understand a bit more............... i perosnally feel you should explain a bit about it. you have had the experience and stuff a young man that has got a big future and a big past too

[robster]

i love you ben!!!!!

you need to be in touch with me at some point about a bit of riding young man.

Waynio........................

im sure if you put your half penny in here about things ben people might listen and understand a bit more............... i perosnally feel you should explain a bit about it. you have had the experience and stuff a young man that has got a big future and a big past too

well said Wayne.

We would love to see you ooooop north when you have done your exams. I am sure you will help robbie to the next level even by him just watching you, Wayne is doing a great job with him so far , and this in my eyes is why older lads become sponsored/helped riders because they promote and give a lot back just like Wayne is doing at the moment. Cheers for the support and help so far Wayne and Fred.

John and Rob