A Million Bucks? What a Crock*
This is a bike that Koga has developed for Dutch Olympic hopeful Theo Bos. Koga claims they have spent a million US dollars developing this special one off bike.
I’m sorry I don’t buy it, all I see is just another carbon fiber bike. If this was new technology I might be convinced, but CF bikes have been around for twenty years or more, they were built for the Olympics in the 1980s.
It’s a bicycle fer Cri-sakes, not a Formula One race car; where do you get a million bucks. Give us a breakdown of where the million dollars went.
What about truth in advertising? Because this is what it is. You build a one off bike, and then you think of a number. Okay, a million dollars is a nice round figure.
Next, put out a press release saying you’ve spent a million developing this special bike that is so light a fart would blow it away.
The press and the general media, knowing sod all about bikes goes with the story.
When it comes to bicycle racing it is the strongest rider that will win every time. If Theo Bos is the best rider he would still win on a stock bike that anyone can buy.
Can’t Koga see that? If Bos were to win on one of their stock bikes, it would in the end sell more bikes. Because what they are saying is, our stock bikes are not good enough for the Olympics we have to spend a million dollars.
The smart thing to do would be to pay Theo Bos a million dollars if he wins the gold on a stock bike.
* UK translation: What a Crock = What a Load of Bollocks!
Footnote from Dave: Ooops! Koga not Kona, mistake edited. See first comment. Thanks Darren
Reader Comments (22)
1. Molds for cf frames cost $100,000 or more, that is why Boonen and Diluca rode aluminum frames from their sponsors until the fit could be just right.
2. Wind tunnel testing can cost $10,000 per day or more.
3. The Euro (Koga's presumed natural currency) is spanking the dollar right now.
So, if Koga had to go through several iterations of the frame, if Bos spent many, many hours in the wind tunnel testing each frame, and if the PR consultant is a very good (read: expensive) one, total development cost could feasibly reach one million dollars.
Of course, what's the use if he doesn't win his gold medals.
And Theo Bos can kill it on a steel lugged frame. See his many videos on youtube racing Keirin in Japan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enjo0NnPnpk
I guess that underlines Dave's point quite efficiently.
That is what manufacturers do to sell their products, what gurus do to sell their “knowledge”, and where athletes’ superstitions and routines come from (don’t step on the white baselines, don’t shave during the Stanley Cup).
Sure if you add up all the contributing costs to reach this final product you can come up with any dollar figure (how far back in history do you want to go?). But then, why not consider all the factors contributing to an athletes’ win (from pedigree to life’s experiences)?
Because you can't package and sell that.
Those wheels must run $10,000 each, and maybe the tires were handcrafted by elves.
Just two questions: Do track bikes have a weight limit as road bikes do?.. and... Is the bike laterally stiff and vertically compliant??
(whatever that means)
A special one-off bike doesn’t even allow someone to win. That is why winning competitions will never be scientific, reduced to facts and figures that can be replicated. There can never be a double-blind study done. Winning on a Koga doesn’t mean they won because they were on a Koga, yet the winner was on a Koga, thus the perception that it had something to do with winning. And that’s what sells brands and lighter components and keeps the markets going.
Sometimes our intuition is wrong.
You would think lighter bikes climb or sprint faster, but that has never been proven. It’s manufacturers’ hype.
It has and never will been proven lighter equals a win, or it would have to be stated that only lighter wins. That is an assumption made by gullible riders and racers, and they go to great lengths and expense to reinforce that, as Dave was bringing out.
Sport is driven more by marketing than science. And manufacturers will use science to support their products.
That doesn't make them any more essential to winning.
And the public buys it! At least the cycling public. I know lots of riders who will think nothing of spending $200 for a carbon fiber water bottle cage (those 15grams will really help my climbing) but in the meantime they are 30 lb overwieght and their drivetrain (dura ace 10) looks like it got run thru the cat sandbox.
What the industry needs is to get more people on bikes, removing the barriers to entry. Most bike shops are now so over-focused on ultra high end geekery that the average person coming in off the street is totally intimidated.
Design exercises like the Koga are interesting, but have as much relevance to anything related to REAL cycling as the Bugatti Veyron has to driving.
/rant
Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA
Sorry, but that is a load of crock. Acceleration is a function of force and mass. Increase mass and the acceleration achieved with given force is reduced.
Sorry, but that is a load of crock. Acceleration is a function of force and mass. Increase mass and the acceleration achieved with given force is reduced.
This is an accepted scientific principle. It is an assumption based on mathematics and observation. Name one accepted study that shows conclusively a racer on a lighter bike climbs faster, or a sprinter on a lighter track bike sprints faster. And it has to be a scientific study, not an assumption based on scientific principles.
My point is that you can’t name one scientific contribution that is absolutely essential to winning. What is the one thing a competitor has to have to win, thanks to the advancements of science?
And you can’t name drugs.
My conclusion being, it is the illusions created by capitalism that influences athletes more than anything real.
...the scientific aspects certainly add to the equation but even august gentlemen like anquatil & coppi made statements that cycling is 98% mental when bodies are similarly well trained...(why do you think anquatil was such a dick to his greatest rival, poulidor)
...i.d love to know theo bos's real thoughts on the matter...not 'made for the press' sound bites but his honest feelings...does the supposed extra technology really give him a physical 'leg up' or does that extra bit of publicity actually add a psychological edge ???...
...now that would be interesting to know...
Should have spent more - Theo Bos got 7th in the sprint and 5th in team sprint.
LOL