I wonder who is the most valuable rider to the brand? No doubt Gwin is the winningestest but he seems to me, at best, barely marketable compared to Sam??
2012 team rumour and speculation
- Thread starter Straya
- Start date
Why should a guy (which seems to be a very nice guy) that consistently detroys the WC field with a motocross riding style be not marketable? Plus Red Bull only sponsors rider, where they see a benefit from a marketing point of view. It is more the case that TWR did not market him properly......
Ugly.
There is that, I reckon I'd probably be moar inclined to give Sam a reach around than Gwin.
mortal sin number 2: greed
Jesus won't be amused.
That looks somewhat unprofessional for a "nice and oh so professional" racer like Gwin is.
Jesus won't be amused.
That looks somewhat unprofessional for a "nice and oh so professional" racer like Gwin is.
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Unless Jesus told him to do it, then he's covered
Ok, but what will Kevin Spacey do?
Trek/Whitely sound bummed... Like to hear Gwin's side of it, hopefully more to it than money... Otherwise, eww.
is his manager still one of the housmans? they know what they are doing don't they? they manage a few riders.
Some a-hole wrote on pb "glad to see that there's finally money getting tossed around in our sport" or something along those lines. F-you a-hole. This is why production moved to china and bikes now cost ME $8,000.
Just re-read the TWR statement. A signed Letter of Intent is all they have, not a contract, so they can bitch and whine all they want but there shouldn't be anything they can do about it.
Didn't they do exactly the same to Yeti to get Gwinn in the first place anyway?
Didn't they do exactly the same to Yeti to get Gwinn in the first place anyway?
Only a few years ago riders were struggling just to get contracts and now this.
money definitely isn't the only reason production moved to china...
So I guess Whitely isn't representing him anymore huh? Wonder if he had a contract with his company as well
True, but there are two sides here. Trek just happened to send the first jab.
However, I must say, it doesn't look that great on Gwin at the moment.
Someone made a good point that Trek may have done the same thing with Yeti, but who knows the details of that? And does that make this right?
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I'd like definitely to know, what went down behind the curtains. If it was only the money, Gwinny wouldn't have left the company in that way.
I wonder whose idea the LOI was in the first place. Do you think Gwin correctly predicted that Specialized was gonna have a disappointing season with Sam and would be willing to pay a lot for someone that could win?
It seems like the perfect storm for him making a lot of money, even if there was more involved. Specialized has a new $10k bike they need to convince people to buy, Sam isn't winning and is off to another team, and Gwin's commitment with TWR is (apparently) non-binding.
It seems like the perfect storm for him making a lot of money, even if there was more involved. Specialized has a new $10k bike they need to convince people to buy, Sam isn't winning and is off to another team, and Gwin's commitment with TWR is (apparently) non-binding.
One would like to think that- and we've heard one possibility is lack of promotion- but I'm assuming there was more discontent behind the scenes, as you alluded to.
I'm not a legal guy, but is a legally binding LOI a real thing, or are they just hurt and trying to make Gwin look bad?
My interpretation of the interviews that came with the Sam press release was that it was Sams own decision to move (I think it was mentioned that he hade hinted it for a while?), so I would be more inclined to think that Spec suddenly needed a top racer to help pitch the new shiny plastic.
I think Specialized could have done with Sam and Troy for marketing the carbon Demo, it was obviously all the hype last year and I would say that Sam Hill is the ONLY reason the (new) Demo became popular as a race bike. Don't take the fanboys lightly!
I don't really feel that the carbon Session has gotten nearly as much hype as the carbon Demo, even though it has more world cup wins. Mark it down to the marketability of Gwin or a lousy PR department at Trek, I don't know...
In moto, contracts are broken all the time. Riders let go for poor performance, injury. In the end, it's a value proposition for the teams. Not surprised dh is following suit. Podiums = visibility. Which in turn drives branding and indirectly, sales.
Not to be cold but no matter how family friendly, supportive, wholesome a team appears, the aforementioned mantra is still king. Rider unfortunately view as a comodity. I cant say i can wholly fault Gwin for maximizing his earning potential given the short spans of action sports athletes
Not to be cold but no matter how family friendly, supportive, wholesome a team appears, the aforementioned mantra is still king. Rider unfortunately view as a comodity. I cant say i can wholly fault Gwin for maximizing his earning potential given the short spans of action sports athletes
Wait so he signed saying yeah I THINK I will ride for you for 3 years. That exactly like buying a house you can bounce out of the mortgage within 24Hours of move in. Sounds like someone made a bike mistake on the TWR side or am I missing something?
a legally binding "yeah I THINK I will ride for you for 3 years" hahaha. I'm inclined to agree somebody at TWR ****ed up and didn't get a contract inked and gwin saw a team he would rather be on (eg one that would actually advertise his wins and make a big deal about how he's a great rider)
I want to know if TLD is going to paint the team frames too?
They will be riding the new clothing line from James Stewart
Shsshhhhh...don't remind them!
This this this. At the end of the day its just business for the teams/companies/racers.
I think what's most interesting about this whole situation is that it would seem as if there's enough money in downhill for these kinds of changes to be happening, even if only for the fastest racers.
Still cheaper than drugs for the roadies
Looking forward to the rest of the news (hopefully today). Stik already hinted at it.
Post of the day
don't forget, we still have this going on : https://twitter.com/Brook_Macdonald/status/288569318621474816
Gwin may be was getting ZERO$$$ out of the TWR clothing sponsorship.....?.....then Stik steps in a starts waving TLD moneys in his face....?.....just random thoughts.....
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So who's the 3rd rider that was alluded to in the press release?
We know Mitch is still with Specialized this year but is he full factory? Could there be another rider joining the Specialized Factory team? Specialized hasn't released anything regarding their factory program or a roster so their may be some more announcements on the way. Their was an image of a "brook" in that @teamrumors image that included the Gwin stick figure and Whitely....
vital put out A release that included mitch.
http://www.vitalmtb.com/interstitial?page=/news/press-release/Aaron-Gwin-Mitch-Ropelato-and-Troy-Brosnan-Team-Up-With-Specialized-in-2013,705
http://www.vitalmtb.com/interstitial?page=/news/press-release/Aaron-Gwin-Mitch-Ropelato-and-Troy-Brosnan-Team-Up-With-Specialized-in-2013,705
More Lulz from the PB classifieds
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1252937/
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1252937/
It depends on the particular document of course but a Letter of Intent is typically little more than a non-binding term sheet combined with a few binding provisions such as an exclusive negotiating period, confidentiality, and an obligation to work together in good faith to finish the deal. If that is true here, it sounds like Trek dropped the ball in failing to get the actual contract signed (or they just couldn't come to terms). My guess is that Specialized took a look at the LOI and agreed to defend Gwin from any resulting claims and offered more cash and incentives than Trek.
If this is generally accurate it's kind of a dick move from Gwin. But hey, it's business and loyalty doesn't mean squat. I'm sure he'll have some justification, faith-based or otherwise.
If this is generally accurate it's kind of a dick move from Gwin. But hey, it's business and loyalty doesn't mean squat. I'm sure he'll have some justification, faith-based or otherwise.