Waterfall bank, which looks like a P5 with waterfall bank stickers over cervelo?
Definitely a P5. The stickers are where all the Cervelo logos are.
Dang. I was hoping it was Snickers
Sweet gig if you can get it. You can pick a really fast bike that fits you vs. being tied to your sponsor’s offerings.
Going downhill for Argon 18 really fast these day
Definitely and excited for her. Unfortunately you also need to talk about your bike in a weird way.
Going downhill for Argon 18 really fast these day
https://www.argon18.com/en/athletes/triathlon
Huge win for them signing Joe Skipper this year.
It’s a great bike and think Skipper will put it to great use this year.
Definitely and excited for her. Unfortunately you also need to talk about your bike in a weird way.
It definitely felt bizarre and would have been more honest to say “I don’t have a bike sponsor this year, so I bought a fast whip and put my financial sponsor stickers on it cuz I ain’t shilling shit unless I get paid”.
The whole thing reminded me of the rebadged Walsers in the pro peloton back in the day.
Going downhill for Argon 18 really fast these day
https://www.argon18.com/en/athletes/triathlon
Huge win for them signing Joe Skipper this year.
It’s a great bike and think Skipper will put it to great use this year.
I think in terms of the Tri/TT segment bike companies for various reasons have pigeon holed themselves into the cynical end of the market.
Meaning that most of us know how fast a product is, we come on here and cross reference white papers from 12 years ago and we simply aren’t buying a Canyon because Frodeno/Lange/sanders ride one.
For me personally though sponsorship of athletes or portions of the sport ticks a box, along with any company willing to invest in RD and moulds to actually (be crazy enough) to design a new bike in this environment. I think argon for their size are doing their part….looks like they are now sponsoring Ruth Astle.
Maurice
As a pro athlete you got to weight up what will pay the bills. If a logo on a bike pays more than a bike sponsor, why would you not? Nobody really cars if she rides a cervelo or an Argon at the end of the day. Frankly I have no idea why more athletes don’t do this if it pays more bills? She says in the video her goal is to win Kona this year - and good on her for keeping the dream alive.
I’m surely not the only one who just sees a rude word every time I look at the Waterfall Bank kit?
It’s a great bike and think Skipper will put it to great use this year.
Interesting session…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgrvfVC57mg
Going downhill for Argon 18 really fast these day
https://www.argon18.com/en/athletes/triathlon
Huge win for them signing Joe Skipper this year.
It’s a great bike and think Skipper will put it to great use this year.
agreed, and would suggest that skipper and astle are both good gets for argon: really strong bikers with great social media presence. eric lagerstrom is also a great one on that front - he seems quite loyal to argon and cranks out a video a week for them that average 25-100 000 views. good value!
more generally, i think triathletes need to understand that sponsorships aren’t a reward for being fast. they’re a strategy for selling product, and that’s it. a company might want exposure to a certain demographic or region, they might want to align themselves with a certain athlete’s brand, whatever. sometimes, going fast is a good way to sell product, but it’s far from the only way.
Going downhill for Argon 18 really fast these day
https://www.argon18.com/en/athletes/triathlon
Joe Skipper and Ruth Astle are two of the strongest cyclists out there at the moment, I think they’re doing ok.
Going downhill for Argon 18 really fast these day
https://www.argon18.com/en/athletes/triathlon Joe Skipper and Ruth Astle are two of the strongest cyclists out there at the moment, I think they’re doing ok.
This ^^^. Ruth’s ride in IM Florida 2020 was the fastest bona fide 180.2km in the last few years (since Daniela rode that amazing 4:26 at Kona in '18). And Joe’s biking prowess is legendary (in 2021 Tulsa and Chatanooga come to mind; any other strong bikers riding those?).
Edit: Argon 18 really need to put some effort into their ‘athletes sponsored’ webpage: it is greviously out of date.
https://www.argon18.com/en/athletes/triathlon - as @cherry_bomb may have meant: that’s gone downhill.
They also have Tyler Mislawchuk on the ITU front, who is an excellent athlete with a good social media presence.
I’d say Argon is doing great and likely making calculated decisions in who they sponsor.
I’m a big fan of Skipper, Astle, Mislawchuk, and Lagerstrom.
Basically Skipper for Long and Astle for Jackson. I’d consider that an upgrade. Skipper for Long is an even trade and Astle for Jackson is an upgrade. Heather is a beast but Astle has a very high ceiling as a young, up and coming athlete.
Agreed: athletes are billboards. Not all billboards are the same
Note: Skipper just announced he’s on Bahrain this year
Why not pay to have it painted? This day and age it isn’t that hard to have a frame custom painted or that expensive, Moxi (where she got the bike) is constantly showing custom painted frames.
Just to be the rando fan making an armchair observation, lots of these bike brands already sponsor both a men’s and women’s pro team of just cycling. If not just the men’s pro team. And those teams ride at least the “tt variant” of the tt or tri bikes offered.
I cannot imagine there being a ton of interest of having piles of triathletes sponsored also other than “here’s a bike, but no cash”. While the bike is nice, that may not help pay bills like getting some cash to ride something would.
You get this with F1 racing. Non manufacturer teams.
This whole Waterfall Bank marketing scheme weirds me out. Sponsoring triathletes isn’t going to make me move my money over to them, or anyone really. Research in sports shows that the most loyal a customer is when it comes to products they use is their bank. You will stay with your bank likely forever, even if you move across the entire country, especially since we use so little cash on a day to day basis. But when I need cash I’m either getting 40 on a cash back buying groceries or getting it in the hundreds so the transaction fee is kinda minuscule. But that loyalty is why financial institutions sponsor all sorts of sports teams.