Race support is there a market?

[merc-blue]

Hi guys.
Now I'm not much of a rider I enjoy it but really I spend more time stripping bikes to clean/service every little bit possible than I do riding, and this got me thinking
I work in the motorsport industry, for a company that provides track/race support for various cars in various levels of competition.
We provide various levels of support, from having parts on hand to sell to anyone who needs them through to full arrive and drive packages, and more technical development and car builds, at a very high level of professionalism without pissing money away for the sake of it

So I was thinking is there a market for this in the downhill community?
a service providing race support. carrying parts and spares, also more keeping track of the bike, settings and setup and ensuring it is how it needs to be. making sure small things are correct before races and carrying a database of your times and setups etc,
Obviously this is more a concept than a ready to be launched product but it would operate at a few levels.

also development programs designed to improve both rider and bikes performance including data logging sessions (I do a fair bit of data acquisition and analysis at my current job and feel its under utilized in other sports) and custom suspension tuning as well as fitness programs from qualified trainers..

At this stage Im just toying with ideas but what do people think, anyone sitting at home wishing this style of thing existed? or is there not enough money/riders/commitment around to justify this?

 

[0psi]

Personally I don't think there is enough of a market to make it your full time job but you'd certainly get a bit of cash on the side. Olny major hurdle I see is that there are often bike shops that are contracted to support certain series or have an agreement with an organiser to support their events. Said bike shops are usually a sponsor of the event/series as well.

I'd say the better way to go would be to offer a full support service for stage races like the croc trophy, simpson desert classic etc. Basically offer a package that allows the riders to just focus on riding. If camping is involved you set up camp, cook meals, service bikes, drag riders out of bed, slap them in the face when they start being whingy little girls and so on, all they have to worry about then is riding their bike, sleeping and talking smack. Given the cost of racing multi day stage races I'd say you'd probably make a little money as those that can afford to enter wouldn't have too much trouble springing for the convenience of having everything catered for.

 

[I-AM-TEH-FASTEST-11]

There is definately a theoretical market for this sort of thing. But there's a few factors involved that may become important.

I haven't been to a DH race in a while, so things may have changed, but these sorts of things rarely ever do.

1. Sponsors. Races tend to have a bike store sponsor somewhere involved and they may object to someone else selling parts and services to their "customers"

2. Setting up at races. If you can get on board with the clubs, because they would see the need for this sort of thing, and it really does benifit the riders you also have to get past the fact that MTBA or whoever is organsising an event might want to charge you a whole pile of cash to actually set up. These fee's, last I looked were pushing out smaller companies from setting up, leaving on large distribution companies at events. This is mainly at national series and oceania, but maybe someone like Squidly could tell you the whole deal. But it's important to know.

3.Time and cost. Your staffing would have to be able to handle fast turnover at low cost to keep in with what people want on race weekend. Which is usually something done ASAP at little to no cost.

That's a few things I'd be thinking about.

That being said there's plenty of reasons you could kick ass at it too. I mean you could inspect all the tracks, log data on it and when compared to your clients data you could make reccomendations for tyres, suspension and gearing set ups.
You could also offer services like tyres swapping. Many times riders are forced to change tyres at the last minute at a race, or buy them just before leaving, and they can offen be tyres you wouldn't normally use. If someone offered a service, say if you were already in your comapnies "set up program" you can swap tyres around for the event, and swap back after. Like you could have a van full of slightly used tyres that your paying customers can use at events. It may sound strange, and unprofitable, but I know as when I was racing it would be an integral part of set up. Something a bike store doesn't, and probably can't offer also.

I spent a pretty long time on the race scene, and in bike stores as a mechanic, and I've also done sevicing at races, so I know what you're up agaisnt. It definately sounds like a good idea, and the set-up and data collection is something totally lacking in the industry, at least from what I know. I've been out for about 2 years from racing, so I'm a little rusty.

Anyway I hope that was helpful

Dave

 

[merc-blue]

Thanks for the input guys.
Just thought i should add, I'm more looking to provide a service in the data collection area than try and make profit selling parts. and really I'm more interested in developing a good product/process to map the workings of the bike and effectively and concisely make changes to improve the bike, I do it regularly with cars, do a testing day and each session gain time by looking at what works and what doesn't for the situation, something as dynamic as a DH bike has got to gain from this level of scrutiny.

 

[Brasco_Designs]

Don't know about races......

But if you could offer a package that included a bike fit with the data collection you are talking about to quantify the changes in terms of performance I would certainly be interested.

I have always been keen to see how changes made to a bikes setup affects the overall performance. Would this be possible for you to offer? I for one would love to see how each change affected not only comfort but also performance in various settings, for instance a change in bar height may put you in a more aerodynamic position but it may also sap a little of your legs ability to put down power. Does the aerodynamic change make a big enough difference to offset the loss in power output? Even seeing the change in suspension set up to times would be valuable. You could also go as far as to map data changes for various types of bars, stems, wheels etc. If you could get enough people on board you could come out with some very valuable data.

I know I could do it with a lot of trial and error myself but if there was a professional outfit that could make it a smooth and worthwhile proposition and be able to have this data in my hands to use again I would be down for sure.

 

[ajay]

...Waiting for S. to chime in