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Taking a look at the other websites state of the sport survey, majority of high level racers are looking at 100k give or take 25k as a total salary (110-180k CAD). Not sure how that is split between racing contracts and separate brand sponsorship money but it’s safe to say most is coming through a race team. I guess the question is whether or not teams see Danny and other older riders as good investments at their age. Obviously there are exceptions to the age rule such as the GOAT but most riders are peaking in their late 20s these days. All things considered, probably not crazy to see them pay 175K CAD for Danny considering the track record/points.
The crazy part of this survey to me was the fact that a majority of riders are expecting to make more money this year than last considering the economic climate. Could be that they’re out to lunch or that the team shrinkage means that those who still have a ride get a bigger piece of the pie.
(Not an exact summary as it encompasses a few disciplines.)
Giant team announced and no mention of the enduro team. That’s another enduro team gone then?!
Its not crazy at all to think that he is making more than an engineer at the company, almost any other sport is like this. Its just a bike company we are talking about its not like you need to pay an engineer 250K a year.
no Enduro riders??
their PR says "sharpening focus on xc and dh"
In the announcement they said they'll pause it for 2025.
Anybody call it here before me?
I'm trying to figure out if I heard it somewhere else or if I just guessed correctly.
p.s. I was SUPER wrong about the Jewetts so I'll take this correct guess as a consolation prize.
Visited a bike shop up in Killington and the owner said Norco bikes generally sell really fast; another bit of anecdotal evidence is when I visited Squamish this past summer there was a shop there that exclusively had the older gen Sights (not the high pivots) as their longer travel rental fleet(the head mechanic there commented it was easy to service and hard to trash). While I have seen deep discounts on the outgoing Range and a couple other older models they also seem to be holding a relatively stable price too (as compared to the companies in trouble - Rocky/GT etc.) Maybe Norco decided this was the time to buy in when other companies are struggling?
There are a few factors:
- Norco is owned by LTP, which is a distributor of other brands in Canada. Norco has long been financially floated by the relative profitability of LTP
- At one time Norco had a solid XC team, a DH team, sponsored the Gehrigs for Enduro and had Jill Kintner and Bryn Atkinson, and a bunch of others at the same time not too long ago. They dropped everyone else.
- They just split with their CEO with "no plans to replace him". The company was flying him in from California to BC every week as he was an American and remained living there. I would imagine a CEO salary plus flights and accommodation every week would pay for most of these team additions this year
I'd agree that $150k USD might be steep for Danny these days. But I reckon he's getting at least $100k after some good results this year and his name. This will be the final 'big' contract of his career. Probably a 2-year deal. Maybe $80k-100k base, with bonus opportunity. The reason I think he could possibly be 100k+ is that Danny is a well-loved character, and is a consistent finals guy. Norco is now a full-blown marketing machine and they will find ways to bring his likable personality to the fore and get eyeballs on the brand.
I was pretty psyched to see a Norco last week on the north shore... of Oahu. I wonder if they are using some incentivized salaries to pay out more if individuals/the team get podiums etc...
Why have top tier enduro team when it seems like enduro at that level is being pushed out?
But, with some of the regional series still going strong, supporting some riders at that level can be worth looking at..
Tim Bringer off Canyon..
Shame this talent is without a ride..
Considering the points he brought along with him I wouldn't be surprised if Danny had the pick of a few teams this year. I'd guess negotiations have been very different for him than they were a year ago.
Seen as a marketing move, 100 grand for a World Cup racer is no problem to me…triple that for Danny fuckin Hart Mr stay on your bike big balls boy. Slam dunk! I remember launching a shitty bike for a Norco-esque company like ten years ago…IIRC it was like 35,000 bucks for a banner ad “takeover” week on pinkbike. They didn’t like the bike (it was ugly and nobody really liked it) but they took our money and came up with some positives…tons of money disappeared in those schmoozey “media camp” payola parties too I get it, thats a way to do it, but there’s tons of marketing dollars going to corny uncool slow mofos…it should be going to the racers!!!
Norco actually have a former f1 engineer helping them develop their bikes so it tracks.
Bummer... He seems to be on the upswing right now.. Hopefully he gets something good..
Tahnee commented some choice stuff in French on that post, I don’t really understand the translation though.
Canyon must be going through something…
Tried translating it a few times on various apps, seems like she is saying nothing is going right at the moment? Perhaps disappointed in canyon leaving many riders/teams
I think their finances might be taking a batter(y)ing.
Kaos putting this on his story adds fuel to the fire
I am here for the Danny Hart cartoon image on the back of the truck. So excited for him! We didn't know we needed him on proper Factory Team. He is gonna be the years biggest star!
I kinda assumed that Norco took a look at the landscape, saw an opening amongst North American (and specifically Canadian) brands, and is now making a longer term play to increase its market presence. Basically step into a void created by Rocky Mountain and Devinci, both of which are withering.
That's my bet.
When the competition reduces their marketing to cut costs, you increase your marketing to invade their market.
It must be hard for athletes who have to be outwardly “stoked” on their new sponsor when they are forced to give up a bike that offered a competitive advantage. Tahnee going from that new Canyon to a bike that doesn’t even exist yet must be painful.
It would be cool to hear a podcast on the ones that got away - thinking Gwin and his intense, Athertons with Trek, Greg with Honda and Sam Hill and his Iron Horse 😢
Y'a plus rien qui va bordel could be translated to everything is going to shit.
I think the Athertons are pretty satisfied with how the Robotbike/Atherton turned out.
Gold and Silver at the Worlds, plus a few WC wins is not exactly shite….
Not saying things don’t work out well in the end. I just imagine it must be frustrating to spend years getting a bike to feel exactly how you want it and then immediately move on for business reasons. Not to mention handing over all your homework to the next rider.
That is called being a professional. They're used to it. Sometimes your forced to use new gear that its objectively worse than what you were using before, but its how you get paid.
I mean Norco could have just said fuck it, the team are 90% of our entire marketing budget. Marketing budgets are huge. They can also work into rider contracts that they have to do x amount of photo/video shoots for product. With everything going on with wb and all the team stuff, maybe they are “buying the dip” and saying fuck it, everyone else is getting out, let’s go all in and that will be our marketing plan.
As for canyon, yea they are hurting. They also dropped all their “influencers” and told them all they had to send all their bikes back or they could “buy” their own 1-2 year old used bikes back for 20% off full retail 😂
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