Originally Posted by Laggard
A little of both. Teams will never use bad gear simply because it's free. They work with their sponsors to get equipment that meets their needs.
At that level of riding though, bikes don't really mean the difference between winning and losing. The one thing they are really concerned about is reliability.
Well the reason I ask is that I would think the team's technical director (I guessing there is such a title) would be very concerned about reliability and quality of the parts being used by his team. So much so that he would stand up to the sponsors bully tactics of "use our parts or we'll drop our sponsorship." For example, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) USPS use Cane Creek headsets. Now I'm not saying CC is no good, but few can argue that Chris King headsets aren't the best headsets ever made. So, if a CC headset has a lifespan of say three years (just a random number) and unless the mechanics are swapping them out at the end of the season, wouldn’t you just hate for one of those to go out on you during the middle of a race? So why not swap out parts even when they’re free or it’ll upset the sponsor? Other parts like saddles, pedals and shoes and just comfort and personal preference.
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