Originally Posted by
sced
The possibilities for bling at any cost have increased a lot as well. I think that if pros had to pay for their own bikes they would ride bikes that are less expensive than what some BF'ers have with no loss of competitiveness.
Might be true at the US pro level, and the Domestique level in Europe. But you can be certain guys at the Ullrich/Armstrong level would pay if they had to for anything that they thought would give them an edge.
For example, its been widely reported that Ullrich had to pay for his own Lightweights.