However, it´s nice to see her on a Cube. I wonder if Cube is planning something bigger (new bike or new big team or anything) of it just a normal sponsor swap...

The new bike is bound to be the fastest bike EVER.
Even if it isn't.
All marketing BS.

Who's going to say 'yeah... new bike sponsor... I'm on the 7th slowest bike on the market, but hey they slid me more £££ so I'll accept the trade off.'

What's interesting is that Lionel's bike is the fastest ever ever.

And Sebi + Ali's bikes are the fastest ever ever too.

Meh is my reaction to any athlete talking about a new sponsor as being the now "best equipment" bullshit.

---

Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

The last person you should ever listen to for information like this, is a sponsored athlete.
Seriously, why would we listen to a sponsored athlete with a conflict of interest for information on bike performance? It's (almost) exactly like asking a salesman if their product is any good.
I mean there might be the occasional case where an athlete has to choose between taking the blame for a poor performance themselves or deflecting to their equipment, but in general they are acting as a saleperson and their public endorsements should be seen as such.

So, that's my thoughts on that. If you're being sponsored to use something, your publicly volunteered subjective opinion becomes pretty worthless. Objective data on the other hand, are welcome.

Agreed

I mean I get it. Your damn right if your getting paid a huge amount of money, your new thing is the best ever. I just take zero from athletes other then it's simply them hustling. I totally get it and understand they have to do it in this sport especially where that likely is the most money making move for them. My only issue w/ the hustle is I think there's a way to do it without going all infomercial on us every single time. You do that and I'll justly quietly turn it off my feed.

---

Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

The part I find a little interesting; I have heard that the US is the biggest market for Tri bikes (Though I am not sure how it compares to Europe as a whole) LCB is probably the biggest brand in Tri (thus I would assume one of the most expensive to sponsor) and yet, Cube bikes are not really available in the US.
Seems like you are paying all of the price but possibly getting only part of the return.

(and I say this REALLY wanting to test ride an AMS 100 29er)

I was thinking this; Cube have likely invested big here, aiming for a piece of the UK market with canyon for example as a company that has just withdrawn from this market temporarily. (not getting political here, take that to the lavender room! just saying what's happened)

But surely this investment won't be worth it without a new product... We've all seen a cube tri bike in a pro long course race, e.g. Florian Angert. Would LCB simply riding one get them a good foothold in the UK market, likely not.
What is different is in the UK they are seen as a 'cheap' bike brand due to their range of mountain bikes being often used as a to and from school bike for example, compared to being used by wanty-group gobert (or whatever there name is now) on the continent for example. This is changing in recent years with more high end stuff coming from them, but a new Tri bike (even if it's just minor tweaks) ridden by LCB and with a marketing push could uniquely capitalise on a period (of unknown duration as of yet) where one of the main players in the UK Tri market is unavailable.

It also could not be the case and may be entirely different rationale... I'm not an economics of marketing expert by any means

just my perusing's

I agree.
Each athlete will/should tell you that their sponsor makes the best equipment.
it just sounded a bit different since she made it look like she swapped to Cube because the Shiv was just too slow.

But well, marketing is marketing :)

They do already have a discbrake version of their C:68 TT, but it's pretty much the exact same except for the brakes and higher seat stays, so no reason to choose that over the rim brake, at least for triathletes. I've heard that the bike tests very fast, and the looks are still up there with any other double diamond (actually probably my favorite double diamond bike on the market). For most people who follow her, I'm guessing this will literally be their first exposure to the bike.

Of course, that doesn't matter for sh*t among the US followers when you can't actually buy one here.

---

Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

I agree Cube is perceived as a cheap-to-middleing bike brand in the UK.
To be fair, Canyon was sort of in that camp 10 years ago too in Mountain biking. Not these days tho - successive quality bikes have removed that image.

What they need to do however is provide viably priced / specced bikes. If I'm being asked to drop £6-10k on a bike, it's not going to be on a Cube - because the resale value will be feck all. Not when can get a Canyon with Reynolds wheels for £4k. That's where brands like Cervelo have got it right. They are seen as being 'with it' and not a flash in the pan, here today gone tomorrow company.

What market do they think they have for Tri / TT bikes in the price range ? Or do they think Lucy's image will help sell other bikes ?

For info, Canyon are back selling to the UK now (I did a little window shopping earlier today and the web site said back selling to the UK).

With "peak" aero, I'm sure that Cube bike is fast enough for all of us. There are a number of these brands that likely make super value bikes that are just as fast as Trek, Cervelo, Spesh, etc..If you are in the UK, you know that Canyon took years to come of age and now well-respected.

George Goodwin got 3rd at PTO on a Ribble (relatively affordable UK brand). I believe Joe Skipper did very well at a race year's ago on a Ribble. Matt Hanson kills it on a QR.

If you want a bike for resell value, then stick with the bigger brands, but I doubt you'll get 50% of retail at £10k price tag.

I will ask here too. Is there any structural things that does not allow them to add storage in that giant BB area?
Really seems like a missed opportunity for integration not have spare storage there now that the area is so giant?

I would say that Cube is probably the best German bike brand at the moment. Storck is not bad neither and Canyon not considered to be a bike builder since it is only a marketing company.

But i totally agree that the Cube is probably not any slower than it competitor since we reached the peak of aero

Ask HUUB!

I wonder if she'll finally lower her seat height.

out of interest why did you click on the thread if you dont care what a pro rides ?

i had a lot of back and forth on this with both CUBE and with lucy's team. you can read the fruit of some of that in what we wrote on our front page. first, you, Polo_1271, and Mdiaz got it right last week, in that thread speculating about what brand she was moving to. i asked you all to keep it quiet, you all did, and thank you. some folks don't take well to the stragetic-leak launch wind-up, i get that, and i'm sort of caught in the middle (as i always am), understanding the difficult job of being a manufacturer in this market along with the understandable interests and reasonable requests of spectators and consumers (which i also am).

as to CUBE, and why they chose to invest in lucy, i think CUBE is seen as a value brand, and they want to be seen as a premium brand. lucy will help in this. i also think - and this is just my sense, my private takeaway, based on little knowledge - that CUBE has been the prototypical teutonic brand. it is sold in germany and in places that are just very german: austria, switzerland, and italy. you might not think italy is very german, but if you visit northeastern germany, the dolomite region, german is the first language. CUBE is sort of the brand of the german/hapsburg central europe region. canyon is in the western part of germany, in rheinland pfalz, CUBE is bavarian, quite close to where challenge roth is contested, and it's different, just like the US is different, or england is different, north to south, or east to west. (i hope i didn't step in it with ignorant observations on brand culture and regionalism - it's just what seems to me to have been the case as an observer.)

both brands have been very careful not to expand beyond their base of strength, and both brands have endeavored to upscale their brands from value-oriented to premium-brand status, and it's hard to remember this but trek and specialized had to go through that same brand-upscaling process. cannondale too. so, you sponsor elite teams. grand tour teams. elite triathletes. i think canyon has done all this ahead of CUBE, and i get the sense CUBE feels that it's time to now do that in triathlon. strategically, it's interesting, because you see certain brands ebbing and flowing in triathlon, specialized flowing out (just according to what my observation and instincts tell me) and CUBE flowing in.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

However, it´s nice to see her on a Cube. I wonder if Cube is planning something bigger (new bike or new big team or anything) of it just a normal sponsor swap...


Dan Empfield already commented on this in the comments section in the main article on the front page of ST and so have I.

This is a move for Cube in the European Market and that market only! It's will do very little if anything for them outside of that market. For Charles-Barclay herself, in some ways it's a bit of a step down - after being with one of the very short list of A-List Brands in Cycling for a few years - Nothing against Cube or it's product - it's about the prestige of working with and being partnered with a brand such as the Big-S.

As has been discussed elsewhere here - the most interesting discussion is Specialized's step away from Triathlon at this level, if that's what this can be construed as?

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

That depends, for me.

If an athlete has more money than God and wants nothing more than to win, I trust them completely that their equipment is the best equipment for them.

I don't believe that Roger Federer would use an inferior racket for money. Or that a top, top golfer would use an inferior ball for money. That does not make it the best racket or ball for me and my game though.

but i think its a very smart move for cube lol and iam pretty sure financially very good for lucy.
and i guess since they also signed a brit MTBer its a big push into the uk market, while buying the best kona bike add slot possible. So this is also fab for the german market where the race is shown live on tv.

Swiss side was the aero designer behind both the newest Canyon and the Cube. Before the newest Canyon, Swiss side claimed Cube was the fastest bike (obviously since they designed it).
So, if you're Cube and you think you have a really fast bike, what's the next thing to do? Marketing.
I don't think the logic behind hiring Lucy Charles is, people will buy Cube just because Lucy is riding it or says it's the best.
It's more that, if Lucy is riding it, it's gonna be on the radar of a lot more people (e.g. this thread).
Next step for Cube now that they have our attention, convince people that their bike is good and worth buying.

but i think its a very smart move for cube lol and iam pretty sure financially very good for lucy.


The financial details of these deals are rarely if ever made public, so we have no idea!

The Cube deal may actually pay her LESS (I would not be surprised), but don't forget that a Specialized deal often locks you up for other Product Categories - Shoes, Helmets etc - that Charles-Barclay can now, shop around as a separate category in her array of sponsors. That might create and upside financially for her.

As an example in a recent Instagram post I saw her wearing some Shimano cycling shoes!

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

in the old old days, there were athletes who just didn't do deals in fast paced categories of strategic import. as i recall, paula newby fraser eschewed sponsor deals in categories where she felt being locked into a particular brand may place her at a disadvantage.

more recently (maybe 7 or 8 years ago?) you saw the very bloody breakup between craig alexander and orbea, because orbea delayed and delayed its ordu update. there's a point where athletes are just not going to ride an inferior product. (in a timely twist to that particular story i just got the box from orbea, which i have not yet opened, but i assume inside is that brand new space-age looking ordu.)

if i'm canyon, QR, trek, giant, maybe cervelo, and i find out lucy is available, i'm going to come up with some money. also, if it's a large enough company, i'm going to put the touch on my suppliers, that is, i'm going to go to shimano or SRAM, to HED, ENVE, zipp, whomever i'm buying OE from, and say, "you're throwing in as well." then i'm going to take that pot of money and give it to lucy. lucy is like lionel: she's a worldwide athlete. she's an all-seasons, on-the-road, on-the-trainer athlete. she's going to deliver benefits all time, worldwide, male or female, young and old. it's fiction to think she couldn't get a nice deal from these other brands. so...

maybe CUBE offered her a bigger deal. but i get the sense that lucy's team doesn't want her to end up like crowie did. it's a lot more expensive having to back out of a deal than to just wait and take a deal with a company you believe in long term. no, i don't believe one word at all attributed to the athlete in the press releases. however, i find it extremely unlikely that lucy would do a deal with CUBE, DT Swiss, and schwalbe (the 3 obvious deals that she did here) unless she was convinced she would at least be racing on equipment on par with what haug and ryf will be racing on.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman