MrMinty

I see a lot of shop or small business sponsored teams in local races. How do you go about getting sponsored by one of these? Do you get results and hope they come to you or is it a matter of who you know?

Radish_legs

Not all shops sponsor equally. Some really support their teams/riders, some don't. Some are race-oriented, some have a bigger umbrella.

hack

Does the shop currently have a race or club team? Either check their website or facebook page or whatever. If they do, you'd ask how you can join them. If they don't you could approach them and ask them if they'd be interested in starting one (for which you'd be leading a bulk of work). It seems rare that a shop would sponsor a single individual, but I'm sure it happens.

As noted above, the details of the sponsorship vary quite a bit.

Bandera

Clubs are officially sponsored, not individuals.

"Well, cycling tradition says you ride for a club - either a sponsored or an unsponsored club."

" only riders who belong to clubs can be sponsored; all others are considered unattached riders and are supposed to compete in clothing that doesn't bear any sponsorship identification."
-USA Cycling

Club or Team? - USA Cycling

Grumpy McTrumpy

different meaning for the word sponsor

globecanvas

Keep in mind that the actual value to the shop or business of sponsoring racers is almost certainly negative. They do it as a way of supporting the community. If you are starting a club or team and want to find sponsors, you should pitch it to potential sponsors that way. If you join an existing sponsored team, you generally get the benefit of whatever sponsorship deals are already in place.

If you are just a guy who wants free/cheap stuff because you race bikes, that's not going to happen. I race for a shop team; my buddy owns the shop; he sponsors the team by giving us cheap or free stuff and never charging for labor. It's clearly a money losing proposition for him because it's not like anybody watches bike races at all, much less decides where to shop based on what the racers' kits say. About once a week some doofus comes into the shop and says he's a super hot racer and what will the shop give him to race for them, and gets laughed out of the shop (I mean, politely told that sponsorship doesn't work that way). Businesses want to support a community, so if you want support, be part of that community.

Grumpy McTrumpy

as current president of a USAC club and a former team member of an amateur team that had several local sponsors, I have first hand experience with this.

First of all, all it takes to form a club is a check, made out to USAC, plus maybe an insurance payment. Now you're a club. USAC considers you "sponsored."

If you want to get some local business to pony up some dough so that your kit can look cool with all the same kind of logos and stuff you see on the pros clothes, then you either have to ask team members who own businesses (or work for them) or go out and pound the pavement. The dollar amounts can be silly small. I think our entry level was $300...

per YEAR.

To get on the kit. Add up all the local sponsors and maybe you have enough to offset some race fees or cheapen the kit orders.

If you are thinking you can get some business to really come through with the big bucks, so you can get all sorts of free stuff, you better either know some really generous cycling enthusiasts who are wealthy (this does happen) or get to category 1 and start participating in NRC/NCC.

Matt2.8NJ

Easiest way to get shop sponsorship is to be a customer of the shop, as in already done plenty of business there. Make friends, use your basic social skills, and seek to get something going.

That's your opportunity to ask for shop "sponsorship" which, as Grumpy alluded to above, the definition of sponsorship varies in meaning and value.

aaronmcd

When I moved to norcal and started riding, "Mike's Bikes" seemed like a dumb name for a bike shop. But now Team Mike's Bikes dominates norcal p/1/2 racing and I actually go there on a rare occasion. The marketing of sponsoring a bike team works like any other marketing I guess. But the target audience is stupidly tiny lol!

Radish_legs

There's a racing team here called Cadence Cyclery. They're all over Strava and have riders that do well in the local races. I looked up their website and discovered that their name comes from Cadence Cyclery which is a bike shop. I had no idea that it was a bike shop. Now I know. Thus the sponsorship served its purpose. Small unknown bike shop builds nice team/club, gets publicity. All of the members of CC do a good job of advertising their club membership. The members of my club generally do a not-so-good job. Almost none of them have their club name as part of their real name on Strava for example.

mike868y

that sounds really, really obnoxious.

hack

So guys have their name on strava as something like "Joe Smith - Friar's Tires Racing"?

topflightpro

For me, the shop sponsorship means I am going to my LBS to buy stuff when I need it and not going online. The prices generally are pretty competitive, as is the ordering time.

Sometimes my LBS is cheaper than online. Sometimes online is cheaper. The sponsor shops margins are reduced by my business, but, my sponsor shops knows they have my business and knows I'll send business there. Also, on the rare occasion I can't fix something, I bring it to them, and they generally turn my bike around quickly.

As for finding a sponsored club/team, there is a list on USAC's website: Clubs - USA Cycling

Find a local one and look them up. Some clubs are limited to only cat 1s and 2s. Some clubs have strict membership requirements or invite new members. Some clubs are open to anyone who wants to join.

dz_nuzz

Local team around here does that. I think they even have their "team call sign" on there (They have animal names as their team call signs).

I would guess it gives good publicity.

canuckbelle

Exactly. I now go through my LBS for stuff. His margins are low (because he gives the team a discount), but he's still brining in more revenue with my going to him rather than online. And for lots of things, it's WAY cheaper to go through him (with our discount) than online. E.g., my Kickr, my 2016 Foil I'm going to get...etc.

furiousferret

We're asked to do it, and many do. I just find it a tad pretentious for a Cat 4.

The funny thing is I've probably brought the most revenue ($10,000?) to the shop and its from commuting; getting coworkers to cycle again or go to our shop.

mike868y

let's be honest, the vast majority of amateur team "sponsorship" is little more than charity.

EventServices

Getting a little off topic here, but...
Our club took all sponsorship logos off the jersey and put only the top givers on the shorts. The return it was bringing our sponsors wasn't worth the mess it was creating on our kit design.

Our return to sponsors is in social media. The Strava idea is pretty clever, actually. No more obnoxious than printing all over your kit.

We also provide businesses with a tie-in to their wellness program offering their employees the opportunity to join our Club's touring faction. We also give clinics and training to employees.

Wolverine Sports Club, established 1888.

globecanvas

Maybe that frees up enough room for printing instructions on how to pin a number?

grolby

I know the one you mean. I guess it probably does give some publicity benefits, but eh. As social media goes, Strava hardly seems worth the effort. But maybe I'm crazy.

It's not just kit design; I think maintaining a club's identity as distinct from its sponsors is valuable for amateurs, particularly so for clubs that have a broader focus than just racing. One of the local big teams around here is totally subsumed by it's sponsor. Everyone knows who they are and refers to them by the team name rather than the sponsor name, so I guess it's working out for them but it's a bit confusing for people who are new to the scene. Not that my team doesn't have some of the same issues, but while our presenting sponsor has the most prominent placement on the kit by far, the kit design overall has no connection at all to their corporate branding. It's our look, with their logo and name prominently featured. They're cool with that and haven't asked us to change our color palette to match theirs. It's nice to have that freedom. But it is a different story for elite teams, I think. We have a couple of elite branches (sort of, one is not actually the same club, just closely associated), may have more at some point, and those kits more fully reflect the sponsors.

EventServices

Don't get me started.

As for the location, that's where the track officials want it.
As for the parachute pinning method, yeah....

caloso

Our shop sponsor actually has its own eponymous team, but that team is a P12 team based in the Bay Area (Hack and Aaron will know who I'm talking about) while we're more focused on 3's and 4's, so there's no confusion or conflict. Most of our other sponsors have a direct relationship to the team: either a team member is a small business owner or an exec in a larger company. I don't think anyone is under the delusion that they are going to make big money putting their logo on our jersey, but we do our best to represent them well on the bike and on social media.

hack

I'm guessing after their run at nationals this year, most should be familiar with them.

Our team's arrangement is pretty much spot on with the description @topflightpro laid out above. We generally buy there instead of online (or other local shops [to some extent]), have service completed there when we can't do it on our own, and we do some small events with the shop. We're a small team, but we'll use the outside sponsor monies to offset some team related costs (e.g., housing for stage races or fees for our U23 guys). It works for us.

Radish_legs

Exactly. "Joe Smith_Cadence_Cyclery"

Hashtags on social media are encouraged as well, but I don't see it happening very often. Most people just can't be bothered to give their sponsors any pub.

hack

Interesting ... My is just my name, but it does show my team under my lil avatar (basic strava feature). Links to the others on the team, too.