When Asa signed two years ago, I thought for sure they could only afford him for his junior years. I was taken aback when he signed for a couple years of elite today. Think of that, a sure perennial World Cup contender who can backflip, ride rampage chutes, and nearly win Hardline as a minor will be racing for a tiny brand that hardly sells bikes.
I am interested to hear what others think of this arrangement. My theory is that Asa is able to make up for the difference in salary of not riding for a big frame brand because Fox and other component brands see more value in sponsoring such a popular, hyped up project and pay accordingly. Plus with Red Bull, Asa isn't hurting financially.
The reason I bring this up is because it would appear that Asa is leaving a lot on the table. I know the vibes are impeccable on that team, but does that really go far enough when he seems to come from a middle class background and by the nature of the sport, has a short window to make money in a sport whose future at least could be rocky? Either way I am stoked to see Asa with the FW crew for three more years.
I really doubt Neko would feel comfortable paying him under market too. I think your theory of Neko getting everyone to pay up because of the opportunity at hand is correct.
This is my strongest belief as well: Neko was a racer who briefly tasted a top contract and otherwise had it pretty rough, he's not going to take advantage of Asa. I rambled on about this in Team Rumors so I'll resist repeating myself, but I'm confident Asa is well compensated and well informed.
I would assume there were not the best offer in terms of just money. While a racer like him is not cheap I think there are a lot of advantages going to elite with the same team and crew you raced Jr's with. I would guess Asa has a contract with Red Bull and Fox Head so that may also offset the need for a big team contract.
Kanuga and Rock Creek also get some assistance or "angle investment, or ownership" whatever you want to call it from a local doctor so it very well could be that he is just footing the bill to make it happen. A lot of money to one person can be play money to another....
Red Bull gives you wings and money. If Red Bull likes a marketing story and it's valuable. They can do whatever they want. 🤣
Asa looking at this thread
Neko reads these. Chime in, buddy!
If Asa is happy and successful where he is, why does he need to leave for more money? Switching teams is a gamble. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Worst thing that could happen to Asa (besides injury) is he switches teams, is unhappy there and goes from being the next big thing to….poof. Then he’s burnt out on bikes and playing pickleball on the weekends, and nothing good comes from pickleball.
Seems more to me like Asa’s 18 and got a recipe for success and good times, and enough good mentors to let him know not to mess this up by chasing money.
Equity?
i'd wager neko has far more business acumen than he lets on.
Only J Melamed knows…
Agreed, but I assume Loic makes a shit ton from Spesh before Red Bull money even enters the equation. It is this interplay that I am interested in: how does Asa get compensated compared from his team vs RB and how does that ratio compare to Jackson or Loic. I imagine Ronan and his smaller team is a different story and probably closer to what we speculate Asa's arrangement is.
Agreed, but I still don't see how the math can possibly math to make Asa numbers work with the size of FW.
by all accounts FW seems like a super lean company / team. their small size may actually work to their advantage.
Maybe Asa isn't a money hungry vampire and happy to get paid well and ride for a team he enjoys and is getting incredible results with?
Could others pay more, probably, would Asa enjoy riding with them as much? Probably not?
Asa will be getting paid very well when he turns senior/elite. That's for sure. Neko will have got the other sponsors to throw in large sums of cash related to sponsoring Asa. Will he be making $400k+/yr (total comp) like Loic and the other top few boys. No. But he'll likely get $250k-300k/yr. (total comp).
Loic isn't American...
I feel Frameworks, the team and company, are doing quite well at the moment. Do some math on how many frames they have sold, at a premium price, and it's a pretty big number in terms of cash flow for a very small company. They don't even pay to paint the frames, raw is popular!
-They don't have issues with Asian tariffs like most of the bike industry currently does (carbon rear end from TW being the exception).
-The team title sponsor (5DEV) is in the same position.
-The Frameworks brand is currently known world wide with very little (if anything) spent of marketing.
-Every frame run has sold out (often before production starts), they are not sitting on product like everyone else.
-They are smart in terms of production partners like 5DEV. They are a title sponsor for the race team and also produce many of the CNC frame parts required for production. That's a good partnership.
-It's a very small and efficient operation, minimal employees with most of the design and production work (beyond Neko's abilities) being handled by contracted partners.
-Neko has had Martin Whitley in his corner offering advice since day one. Probably the most experienced and knowledgeable person in the industry in regards to rider/team/sponsor negations and contracts.
Neko has run Frameworks very well and they have not gone about taking on huge debt with building a facility, hiring production employees, etc. It is a very lean and highly agile business from what can be seen.
And don't forget Neko also owns a bike park and a very popular race series. Quite the business man these days.
Am I crazy to remember that top dogs were making over a mil in a pb survey a few years ago? I recall the number being much higher than 400k.
Edit: oops I was wrong the benchmark I was thinking of was 500k
Asa is an incredible talent, but he didn’t actually win the title last year. You can’t compare him to the likes of loic who is in the conversation for top 3 to ever do it. Give him 3 years and if he has destroyed the field then imagine the dollars he could ask, at the moment he is just a promising junior - maybe him signing a long term deal with a large team now would actually be the wrong decision financially - he is on a team with the ability to win, im sure he is getting paid very well, and when the contract is up his bargaining power should be significantly greater.. if he achieves what people expect of him.
Neko has said the teams fox clothing sponsorship is his own, he just said hey can you do clothing for these too.
We shouldn’t view Frameworks through the lens of a traditional bike manufacturer needing to sell products to stay afloat. Sure, they’re selling some frames—but likely not enough to fund the entire operation. Instead, think of the whole project as a powerful marketing engine, one that’s attracting serious attention from major players like Fox, TRP, Specialized, Red Bull, 5DEV, and likely more to come.
Worth noting: 5DEV is the title sponsor. They’ve been growing rapidly, hiring, and clearly have both funding and ambition.
It seems like Neko has cracked the code—people connect more with authentic, grassroots projects than with polished, traditional marketing campaigns. Case in point:
Specialized’s official Levo4 video: ~10K views in 3 weeks
Frameworks' video featuring the same bike: ~24K views in the same period
As for Asa, there’s no doubt he has massive potential—but he’s still a junior. It's premature to compare him to someone like Loïc Bruni. While he might already have offers on the table, the current state of the industry makes it unlikely that brands are throwing huge contracts at young prospects. History shows that many junior prodigies take years (if ever) to make it at the elite level, and big factory teams don’t always excel at developing raw talent.
one thing that's always talked about is making the jump from jr to elite. by all accounts its a significant change - from the size and depth of the field to the overall talent. staying on the same team that's been supporting him from day 1 is one less element of change, allowing him to focus on the racing aspect of things, rather than that plus getting situated on a new team and a new bike.
Exactly this, we've had amazing juniors in the past who absolutely dominated the field but not everyone really made it in the elite, for example Finn took a few years before winning his first elite race (has been close a lot of times though) and even Vali struggled in the first year but she pulled it together eventually while Jackson just crushed it. And there are others who have won races but their consistency has not really been that great like Daprela or Jordan Williams.
So while we all agree on Asa being being top talent in the field, there is absolutely no guarantee he will be able to just carry his dominance into elites and nobody will pay him millions just on potential! But if he has his first elite season like Jackson had, then his value will surely explode!
Red bull lids come with a solid annual paycheck it's not just access to their facilities.
I've thought of this as well.
In the case of Frameworks, I would believe that isn't where the majority of Asa's paycheck is coming from, when there are more popular brands with much deeper pockets behind him.
Frameworks as a bike company is a juicy medium for sponsors.
They have 5Dev with their crazy margins, Fox with the lion's share of the suspension market, and Red Bull, which is notorious for giving golden tickets.
Asa rides Frameworks bikes and loves his team, but the bigger companies see him as a way to sell merch. There's nothing wrong with that so long as they're appropriately compensating him, and given how small Frameworks is, I would believe that to be the case.
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