Rock Racing done?

[Fredwina]

Free shipping!

yes, but for $400, I would expect Rashaan or Tyler to personally deliver it.....

[Fredwina]

http://nyvelocity.com/toto

[smurfalicious]

Whoa! What's with all the snarkiness and vitriol? If you haven't been looking around the economy sucks right now and luxury items are the first thing to go. So as a result things like team sponsorship might have to go to. Good thing there are all sorts of teams sponsored by things like pharmaceutical and health care companies. Those teams are on solid ground because people need their product! Wait, what's that? Those things are out of reach financially for a lot of Americans, even those who need those things? Bummer for those folks.

How in mocking this team are we any different than the old guard of cycling that want to retain the status quo no matter what? Sure that team is far from saintly but what team is? I think it's a nice change to see some teams with personality instead of short shorn automatons. They're like, the Tinker Jaurez of the road.

As far as the kits go, hey, if you have a product people want you get to charge whatever they're willing to pay. It's like we say with horses, they're worth what someone is willing to pay. $400 for a kit is spendy sure, but look at Castelli and Assos for crying out loud. Of course only Assos can provide you a luxury body. Someone help me with the math.

Castelli Saunier Duvall Free Bib Shorts: $230
Castelli Saunier Duvall Jersey: $150

That's what? $380?

And I am one of those idiots who will pay absurd amounts for jeans that I really like. It's not often, my life is way too dirty to have to worry about ruining jeans, but I LOOOOVE my butt crack grazing Miss Sixty jeans. They make me feel all, "Doooowwwn't you lookit me like your momma don't feed you!" sassy.

[Aggie_Ama]

DH brought up an excellent point this is still a cycling team that may fold and that is not good. There are some riders we like (Freddie) that may lose their ride. It is not a happy day whether we find Michael Ball and some of his alleged dopers annoying.

Still wouldn't pay $280 for jeans, I buy mine on sale at Kohl's for $15. Means more money to spend traveling. I don't buy expensive bike clothes either, I am happy in the cheap stuff and too cheap to spend on the good stuff. DH swears his butt and other parts are happier in the good stuff.

[bmccasland]

Not really stirring the pot... but... I'm just curious about the difference between a $15 pair of jeans and a $280 pair of jeans? I suppose that somewhere between the two is a living wage for the person that made them and a bunch of mark up for the label.

[Blueberry]

Not really stirring the pot... but... I'm just curious about the difference between a $15 pair of jeans and a $280 pair of jeans? I suppose that somewhere between the two is a living wage for the person that made them and a bunch of mark up for the label.

Not necessarily - remember Nike's factories? It may be the case that it's all markup for the company with no extra $$ for the workers.

There's a price threshold below which you don't get good fabric - but that threshold is way less than $280 from what I've seen (and yes, I've seen what I consider good jeans in the $15 range).

CA

[Aggie_Ama]

I probably don't know good fabric and I am okay with that! Just like I recognize a wine from a winery in the Hill Country is better than a box wine but probably couldn't tell why a $300 wine is $300. And I am happy like that.

[Kalidurga]

I LOOOOVE my butt crack grazing Miss Sixty jeans. They make me feel all, "Doooowwwn't you lookit me like your momma don't feed you!" sassy.

Umm... Eeuw?

I have to agree with what Aggie Ama said. This is a very colorful, black sheep sort of a team, and it does include some talented racers in amongst the more questionable ones. If Rock Racing does either downsize or shut down, I'll have my fingers crossed for guys like Bahati and Creed.

[Veronica]

Sometimes there's just a little too much info here.

Veronica

[smurfalicious]

Umm... Eeuw?

What? Miss Sixty is Italian and according to my very Italian boss there are cities in Italy where you can't tell the prostitutes from the casually dressed women and I should be thankful they cover my butt.

I feel like there are a lot of people who don't like Rock because of the sponsor and because they're friggin flamboyant but here's the deal. Lance is the one who turned bike racing into NASCAR.

Rock Racing is all sorts of entertaining. I LOVE that last year at InterBike they ended up across from like, World Bicycle Relief or something like that. It makes me chuckle. Perhaps I'm a gadfly but I love going against the grain and if they wanna roll in sweet Caddy's then so be it. I just think it's so easy for everyone in the bike world to stand back and hate on Michael Ball because he woke up one morning and thought, "Hey, why don't I sponsor one blinged out bad boy bike team?" Perhaps if I had the money I would have rebelled bigger than showing my arab with a nice rounded frame in western pleasure instead of the popular peanut roll.

As far as the clothing goes. Yeah, it's pretty absurd to me. I have a few jeans from Miss Sixty, Seven for all Mankind, Joe's, etc. It started with the Miss Sixty's when I was shopping for a cocktail dress at Hot Box Betty. They were on sale, and they made my rear end look ridiculously good and I had to have them. They come out when my friends insist on going to Centro and other occasions but most days it's Cruel Girl boot cut for me.

Here's what I've learned though. To each his own. Spending a ton of money on clothing for me really isn't my thing. If I had it in excess I might dabble into the frilly clothing department but most days I don't. I have a few friends though that do. Clothing is their "thing" like bikes are to us. And at first it might be easy to call them shallow, or vain, but they're not. My brother's ex who until recently was my hairstylist is a total clothes horse. She's an amazing girl. She looks like she should be a totally stuck up, conceited beyotch but she's not. She spends the bulk of discretionary income on high fashion clothing. Every time I see her what she has put on is a masterpiece. It makes her happy in the same way pink cable housing for Candy does for me.

So is $300 too much to spend on jeans? I don't know because I've come close at $200. It was a treat and the fabrics, style, and cut are brilliant. There's a reason when the designer denim trend launched that everyone else was trying to lay their pockets lower but not achieving what designer denim did.

As a seamstress I've bought Italian silk dupioni for $18 a yard wholesale and double scalloped, embroidered matte satin for $75 a yard. The good stuff isn't cheap. I say if it brings you joy, makes you happy, makes you feel good about yourself, then it's worth what it's worth to you.

[short cut sally]

I agree with smurf, an item is worth what everyone is willing to pay...i liked the fact that R&R racing was so in your face type of thing. So different from the other teams, yes flamboyant and extrodinair, but that's what made them so...unique. To the point, where I was more interested in their them than other teams, and wasn't that their point? I do think the economy stinks and will get stinkier...cuts are being made everywhere.

[Kalidurga]

Actually, my "eeuw" wasn't about the type of jeans you buy. I'll admit I don't understand spending that sort of money for denim clothing, but I'm sure there are things I spend $$ on that other folks would shake their heads at. It's was the way you expressed yourself that made me go . I'm sure you're a delightful person, but how many of us really want to know what sort of sassiness you're getting into with your butt crack?