The relationship between race teams and spec is interesting for sure. Every brand/team does it differently, and even though you didn't mention this, I can tell you that these relationships are critical in the road world as well. Part of that depends on who actually owns the team. The Syndicate is owned by Santa Cruz, but other teams out there are not owned by the bike brand that graces the team's name.
I don't know how it works everywhere, but when I worked at Ritchey, we had relationships with as many as four or five World Tour teams at a time (out of 20). Each relationship was a little bit different, but all of them had a dynamic like you mention: we would sponsor the team (and again, in some but not all cases, the team's owner was an individual and not a brand) with product and cash. The team provided exposure and other agreed upon benefits. And the bike brand usually guaranteed a certain minimum amount of OE spec. This worked harmoniously: the bike brand naturally promoted the teams it sponsored, and assumed its customers wanted the ability to buy a team replica bike (spec'd the same way as the Pro Tour team bikes), or a down-spec'd version but with similar brands still involved. For our part, the sponsorship paid for itself before the team even started racing, due to the guaranteed spec, and the team was happy for the equipment and cash. Easy wins for everyone.
Now, I can't comment on the Syndicate, and the relationship I detailed above was from over a decade ago. But if I had to guess, I'd say there are a lot of things that prevent such an entangled set of relationships these days:
1. first of all the Syndicate is a DH race team, so for those relationships to spill into spec on trail bikes...many complications there.
2. logistics and supply chain (the last few years especially, but not exclusively)
3. the difference between team only race gear and consumer-grade OE stuff (especially suspension, but also things like tires)
4. in the case of DH racing, there aren't a lot of DH bikes sold every year, so guaranteed spec wouldn't amount to much for the OE suppliers involved.
5. also, Chris King stuff is really expensive for OE spec.
Look at the Scott SRAM XC team - all Scott Sparks use team-sponsored equipment. I bet the XC world still works more in that way, whereas DH has more variability. Enduro probably looks more like XC, but most brands and product managers don't want their choices dictated by sponsorships - that limits options as well as negotiating power.
This might make a good topic for a feature in the future.
Sept. 7, 2022, 2:52 p.m. - Pete Roggeman
The relationship between race teams and spec is interesting for sure. Every brand/team does it differently, and even though you didn't mention this, I can tell you that these relationships are critical in the road world as well. Part of that depends on who actually owns the team. The Syndicate is owned by Santa Cruz, but other teams out there are not owned by the bike brand that graces the team's name. I don't know how it works everywhere, but when I worked at Ritchey, we had relationships with as many as four or five World Tour teams at a time (out of 20). Each relationship was a little bit different, but all of them had a dynamic like you mention: we would sponsor the team (and again, in some but not all cases, the team's owner was an individual and not a brand) with product and cash. The team provided exposure and other agreed upon benefits. And the bike brand usually guaranteed a certain minimum amount of OE spec. This worked harmoniously: the bike brand naturally promoted the teams it sponsored, and assumed its customers wanted the ability to buy a team replica bike (spec'd the same way as the Pro Tour team bikes), or a down-spec'd version but with similar brands still involved. For our part, the sponsorship paid for itself before the team even started racing, due to the guaranteed spec, and the team was happy for the equipment and cash. Easy wins for everyone. Now, I can't comment on the Syndicate, and the relationship I detailed above was from over a decade ago. But if I had to guess, I'd say there are a lot of things that prevent such an entangled set of relationships these days: 1. first of all the Syndicate is a DH race team, so for those relationships to spill into spec on trail bikes...many complications there. 2. logistics and supply chain (the last few years especially, but not exclusively) 3. the difference between team only race gear and consumer-grade OE stuff (especially suspension, but also things like tires) 4. in the case of DH racing, there aren't a lot of DH bikes sold every year, so guaranteed spec wouldn't amount to much for the OE suppliers involved. 5. also, Chris King stuff is really expensive for OE spec. Look at the Scott SRAM XC team - all Scott Sparks use team-sponsored equipment. I bet the XC world still works more in that way, whereas DH has more variability. Enduro probably looks more like XC, but most brands and product managers don't want their choices dictated by sponsorships - that limits options as well as negotiating power. This might make a good topic for a feature in the future.