OK call me a skeptic, but I’m not convinced that there’s much, if any, difference between certain items we Tri-geeks buy? Well I know running shoes are different to bikes of course, but while every team in TdF is riding a different make of bike, there obviously can’t be much difference between them in terms of performance. Or are they all still riding rebadged Litespeeds?
What we need to know is, what brands of equipment, if any, do the professionals and elite athletes buy for themselves or chose to use. eg I read a slowtwitch article about a saddle Spencer Smith preferred and used without being sponsored by that company(until Slowman alerted him to the commercial possibilty).
NB. I’m only interested in sports gear, I don’t really care what brand of toilet paper they use.
I have absolutely no proof of my opinion, but I don’t think they “buy” much for themselves at all. I know sometimes they have a bike that is made to look like one of their sponsors, and probably some of them have their preferred saddle, but since they basically get their stuff for free, they really don’t need to buy much on their own.
Also, I think it’s pretty safe to say that pretty much all of the high end gear is awesome, so if they get something that is “great” for free, why spend their hard earned cash on something else.