Pro mountain bike salary????

[Garrett Garcia]

any one know what these guys are making a year?





Julien Absalon, France
Jean Christophe Peraud, France
Nino Schurter, Switzerland
Christoph Sauser, Switzerland
Marco Aurelio Fontana, Italy
Christoph Soukup, Austria
Liam Killeen, Great Britain
Inaki Lejarreta, Spain
Sven Nys, Belgium
Jose Antonio Hermida, Spain
Manuel Fumic, Germany
Oli Beckingsale, Great Britain
Marek Galinski, Poland
Cedric Ravanel, France
Burry Stander, South Africa
Moritz Milatz, Germany
Fredrik Kessiakoff, Sweden
Jaroslav Kulhavy, Czech Republic
Roel Paulissen, Belgium
Geoff Kabush, Canada

[Pain Freak]

Not very much.

[metalmtbr]

Thats a good question. I think the payoff for them is the sponsorship and all the top of the line stuff they get for free. I would hope sponsors would pay for whatever they need for training and whatever it takes ($$$) for participate in big races. I've never raced so I don't know if there's a cost associated with entering a race. I could be wrong and all they get are bragging rights...and maybe some free beer.

[PAIN]

Pro skaters get payed well, cant see why a pro MTBer wouldn't get payed well either. No clue how much though.

[Kiehacker]

I used to be into climbing and I knew a few pros. Most got gear in exchange for showing up at events, trade shows...etc. When I ran the numbers in my head...it was usually a loosing proposition for the athlete. If they were going to all those events anyway...cool...if not...kind of a bad deal.

Another guy I knew had a payment schedule for every time he promoted the product...example...if he was on a magazine cover with the gear showing and the logo showing he would get $2000. Every time he said the company or gear name in a video he would get $1000....etc...

[gest24]

Pro MTBers not on a Factory squad get little to nothing.

[ISuckAtRiding]

Pro skaters get payed well, cant see why a pro MTBer wouldn't get payed well either. No clue how much though.

Ha. Skateboarding is a good spectator sport. MTB racing unfortunately is not, unless it's DH, but it's still nowhere near as popular as skateboarding. When i racing (semi pro when i stopped), i had a better sponsorship than alot of pros, and i was still losing alot of money to the sport.
Your pain and suffering is your reward, and as a masochist which most xc pros are, it's probably payment enough.

[Zebulon]

Floyd Landis went to road cycling to get bigger bucks.

[TMS]

Pro skaters get payed well, cant see why a pro MTBer wouldn't get payed well either. No clue how much though.

A small handful of today's Pro Skaters make money, the vast majority do not, much like Mountain Bikers.

[ranoaclan]

That is a pretty good list of names! There is a lot of euros being paid for sponsorship on that list. A good majority of the pros on that list make 6 figures ( American ). Euro pros get paid well deserve every penny. It is a shame Americans cant make the same living. Pro Cycling in Europe and other foreign spots is a huge sport. Kinda like soccer. If you are interested in making a living as a pro Cyclist, overseas is the way to go. It is much harder field to compete in. But if you got the goods, paychecks are there. But the talent is deep!

[DownhillWebKook]

Pro skaters get payed well, cant see why a pro MTBer wouldn't get payed well either. No clue how much though.

There is an interview on Freecaster with Shaun Palmer--he talks about how much he was making. If you know anything about Palmer, it makes sense why.

Now for skateboarders...

Skateboard companies make around $20 per board--more if their operation is tight. The price of a deck for the consumer is around $50 bucks (more if you're getting a legitimate board). I used to go through at least one board per week. Most kids that are serious will go through at least one per month. Now consider how many kids and adults ride those boards and how much insane cross-promotion there is: Mountain Dew, Scion, X-Games, MTV, Fuel TV, video games, etc. There is an entire infrastructure built around that sport to support the market, not necessarily the sport. Lots and lots of money moving around. It makes sense these athletes--the personalities--would make a great deal of money...at least the good ones.

Mountain biking in the US simply does not have that profile. It's an expensive sport for one and the spandex certainly doesn't help with the cool factor. I don't know too many kids that want to rock their Team Sho-Air gear at school.

This is unfortunate because I am sure there are a lot of really talented riders that don't get to compete professionally in the world arena let alone in the US. Perhaps that will all change.

[Rivet]

any one know what these guys are making a year?





Julien Absalon, France
Jean Christophe Peraud, France
Nino Schurter, Switzerland
Christoph Sauser, Switzerland
Marco Aurelio Fontana, Italy
Christoph Soukup, Austria
Liam Killeen, Great Britain
Inaki Lejarreta, Spain
Sven Nys, Belgium
Jose Antonio Hermida, Spain
Manuel Fumic, Germany
Oli Beckingsale, Great Britain
Marek Galinski, Poland
Cedric Ravanel, France
Burry Stander, South Africa
Moritz Milatz, Germany
Fredrik Kessiakoff, Sweden
Jaroslav Kulhavy, Czech Republic
Roel Paulissen, Belgium
Geoff Kabush, Canada

The top guys make a decent living. Sven Nys makes a pretty good living becuase he's NOT a MTB racer. Nys is the worlds best cyclocrosser and there is actually pretty good start money for those guys. Nys races MTB's for fun.

[Garrett Garcia]

still no numbers hahah???

[mpmffitz]

Bob root from new world disorder told me he gets 1500 a month, but bikes from his foriegn sponsor. Bob root is king of manuals.

[Kid A]

A small handful of today's Pro Skaters make money, the vast majority do not, much like Mountain Bikers.

much better to be a spectator

rob making it rain (short section at 2:00)

[Ride2live32]

I bet they would make more if it was on the TV alot like other extreme sports has been.

[El Rolo]

a buddy a mine owns a marketing co. Among other things, They put on the backyard bbq series events you'll see on fuel every spring. The pro skaters are paid by their sponsors to attend. Like others have said, if they are seen wearing a product on a cover, they get $$$.

BTW anyone watch the park final on the eXploited games today? Every rider had his brand and a podium for your sponsor translates into $$$. Perfect example was Omar's Slam, his hit was almost as hard as danny way last year, but like danny, he knew he was in the final and got up and went for it again.

MTB suffering usually comes one pedal stroke at a time, and americans rarely appreciate the years of conditioning that put a rider in that position.

Bottom line, in the US very few riders can afford to quit their day jobs. Whether on or off the road.

[jcka]

Who cares, they get to ride their bikes for a living...that's worth it's weight in gold.

[Garrett Garcia]

Who cares, they get to ride their bikes for a living...that's worth it's weight in gold.

is it enough for a living though?

[Drop D]

From what I was told... if you're not in the top 10, you're not making 100k/yr....