Road Bike Racing - What happens to the TDF bikes

or any team racing bikes for that matter after the end of a season. i'm sure the top teams get new bikes atleast everytime a new model comes out, anyone know what happens to the old bikes? maybe they get given away. and i dont mean the bike LA one his 5th tour on. just in general, do teams sell there bike at the end of the season, do they go back to the manufacturer to be destroyed (ferrari used to do that with factory race cars).
just curious.

destroyeeddd!!!??? :cry:

how can you destroy a ferrari...

Originally posted by deliriou5
destroyeeddd!!!??? :cry:

how can you destroy a ferrari...

they don't want the technology leaking out to other manufacturers.

the old race cars get 'crash' tested. 2 examples of each chassis is usually kept back for museum pieces.

TDF bikes get raced on through the season till the frame is tired or cracks up after which they get sent back the factory for recycling or examination for product development purposes.
Those bikes that make it through the season either get resprayed for next (low budget teams) or get sold off to the general public (medium to top budget teams)
I know Trek keeps Lance's TDF winning bikes for their factory display. Bianchi does something similar as does Cannondale and a few other top brands.

Lotto -Adecco returned their Litespeed Ultimates, Vortex and Blades to the factory where they were sold off as ex works machines. Some guys at the owners forum managed to snap one or two up.

Our local bike shop put together (after shipping from france) 2 bikes last year in early august that were ridden by heras and pena in the tour and given/sold to people locally. It was cool to see them but they were pretty thrashed.

Trek has traditionally auctioned the USPS team bikes at the end of each season. You can go to their website and bid on any of them. Problem is that do something like 7 or 8 each week over the off season so you have to watch to get your size. My guess is that they will not be auctioning Lance's with the Shimano 10-speed proto-types this year, though.

May top bikes are put on as show. my local bike shop had a couple in the other day.

Have you guys seen some of these bikes up close and personal? As someone alaready said, they're usually REALLY trashed up...as in dents, chips, and scratches everywhere!