crosscountry08

I'm hesitant to pose this question because it feels selfish. Recently someone who heard about my future cross country tour asked if I was getting any companies to sponsor the trip. He has done multiple bike tours and has been sponsered by different biking companies (i.e. trek). I see alot of people riding for charities, and while originally that was an idea we seriously considered, with my friend spending all his time right up til we leave in Africa we decided not too. Is it a common thing for cyclists to get sponsered for their personal tours?

Speedo

I'm sure it happens, but I doubt that it is common.

Speedo

gpsblake

Some people use charities as a sponsor. I don't mind people riding for charity as long as they don't use a penny of the money raised to fund their ride.

darksiderising

So you're against sponsoring.

staehpj1

I find the idea distasteful and wouldn't do it myself, but some folks do it. If the money all goes to charity I would find it more acceptable, but still wouldn't do it myself.

That said, my bias doesn't have to be everyone's.

Edit: The above was directed at charity tours. I didn't mention the notion of a business sponsoring a ride, so I am adding this edit. I have never heard of a business doing this for someone doing a US tour. I can't imagine they get much publicity out of that. We did get a few freebies from folks we did a lot of business with, but I think it had more to do with the fact that we bought a lot of stuff from them than anything and I didn't consider it sponsorship.

gpsblake

if it is a business sponsoring a person, I have no problem with that.

If a person wants do a charity ride in order to get the charity to pay for the fun, then give what's leftover to the charity, I am against that.

Machka 

IMO, it is selfish. It's also highly unlikely that you'd be successful ... in getting funding for the whole trip, that is. And it could be more of a hassle than I'd be willing to take on.

The thing is, everyone does cross country tours ... they aren't unique in any way. Although, you might be able to get some sponsorship if you were to participate in something like the RAAM.

And how would the sponsoring company benefit? I could see that maybe you could wrangle a set of panniers from REI or someone with the promise that you would do a detailed write-up on how well they survived the trip or something, but these companies aren't going fund your whole trip. If one started, they'd end up funding hundreds of riders every year.

As for non-cycling related companies, maybe if you promised to do appearances in towns along the way to promote products ... maybe you could set something up that way. But personally, that would be a hassle I could do without.

ricohman

If you can't afford to ride across the country, then maybe you shouldn't be out there to begin with.
Do the tour you can afford. Maybe stick to within 1000km's or so.
You can have a lot of fun without breaking the bank or begging.

raybo

Here is an article about how to get sponsorship by someone who got sponsorship for his long tour (Portugal to Brazil, the long way).

Here is a link to a page at www.biketouringtips.com that has several links to ways to make money on tour.

Ray

cosmo starr

wrong idea. creativity and ambition breed adventure

ricohman

I've done tours over 1000km with as little as $30.
And yes, we were very creative and quite ambitious. And we never resorted to begging.
Although we did bother one farmer for water.
Your point?

Losligato

There are several costs to sponsorship...

-You must be willing to go where and do what the sponsor wants. Often this can cost more than the sponsorship amount.

-You feel obligated to say things with which you may be uncomfortable... "Product was great", even though you found it poor.

-The time spent pursuing and wooing sponsors could be more productively spent working to earn far more in real cash than the few products supplied.

-and that leads me to... Sponsors often provide products that are not exactly suited to your needs.. (examples: A heavy four season tent for a summer bicycle tour. A canister stove for an international tour. We met one person with a poorly sized sponsored bike.) Beggars can't be choosers.

wologan

In agreement with Losligato, the cost to going down the corporate sponsorship route can esily exceed the benefit. Especially if your trip has any kind of environmental leaning (likely since it involves cycling) then expect the message to be twisted to suit their own agenda.

I wasted a tremendous amount of time trying to get businesses to support our nominated wheelchair charity by sponsoring our beijing-paris expedition (www.beijingtoparis.com). I even took two days of unpaid leave, from my well paid job. The only corporate sponsor we found was organised through a family friend. All the others we approached would only supply equipment or services, not funds to the charity. The equipment I was going to buy anyway, and barely saved as much as the money I lost from taking time off work.

In contrast the participants themselves, and friends and family were most supportive, and did donate a significant amount of money to the charity.

Some corporate sponsors of other riders created endless headaches for us. As did some media groups. I'll certainly not be going down that path again. It's just as fun without fancy gear and long plane rides anyway.