Video: 5 Pro Riders' Garage Checks

 Matt Jones did 'garage tours' in the bedroom of his flat before he moved into that place

 Squeezing past a Santa Cruz for a pitch dark midnight wee...unintended bike thrills

 @hmstuna I feel you. But easy without kids
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20023716
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20023715

 5 bikes in a small flat around Paris. Real tricky. And for sure my kitchen is my workshop.

 People defending youtubers: I like youtubers because I can relate more

Youtuber: Check out the 35 bikes in my garage sponsored by Park Tool

 @kerosen1: no matter how small there is always space for one more :-)

 @kerosen1: the original workshop !! the smell of croissant and grease is amazing !

 I lived in a 2 bedroom basement suite for 8 years with 7 bikes. Rebuilding forks in the kitchen was standard practice. Needless to say I didn't get my damage deposit back

 @reecewallace: we had 5 guys, small house in Banff, 9 bikes, 3 snowmobiles, and 72 pairs of skis.

 welcome to my houseeeeee - adam from workaholics

 I've got an above average number of garages, but no bikes....

 @notphaedrus: NO BIKES? Will someone escort this gentleman out please?

 Bless your heart. You are a awesome example of following your dreams... you’ve earned it my friend @reecewallace:

 Like 30+ or so? Never counted them.

 @Bomadics: This a bicycle website. Please build a time machine and get more bikes in that apartment!

 @Bomadics: 72 pairs of skis for 5 guys? you each really using 15 pairs of skis per person???

 @rideitall-bmx-dh-road-unicycle: no some were leftovers from old room mates, we stored a few for friends with small apartments. Most of us had 5 or 6 pairs. A long fast pair, moguls skis, carving skis, mid fats, full fats, and of course rock skis for the spring.

 @Bomadics: I mean shit my friends that ski 70 days a year all over CO and doesn't keep 15 pairs hahaha

 @rideitall-bmx-dh-road-unicycle: I used to work at a ski hill and we normally did 100 plus days a year, my roommate went to Banff Ski Academy which was high school for ski racers!

 Real men degrease their drivetrain in the dishwasher

 Real men beat the meat for sealant

 @boardinbob: thats manly. but dont do that with aluminium chainrings

 @Curse-of-the-foot-long-sub: jaysus haha

 Real men wash their bikes in the bathtub, knowing the have to sleep at least a week on the Couch as a punishment of their girlfriends.

 @FloriLori: Real men sleep in bathtubs.

 @FloriLori: TRUTH!!

 @serathestaii: real men don't sleep

 No joke but a friend actually disasembled his bike in his room! After riding in mud... Without cleaning it!

 @winko: "a friend"...

Don't be shy and tell us the truth, we won't judge you.

 @jonnyoddy: Real men don't use a bath tub!

 @Curse-of-the-foot-long-sub: Stan's been busy. Is that a footlong sub in his pocket or is he just happy to be producing domestically

 hear hear

 Riding twice a week, mostly on short rides, I'll probably never know, but if a pro rides 5/6 times a week on longer rides, I can assume lots of spares comes in handy.

 Some will be emergency spares... you never know what will happen and knowing you’ve got spare parts to bring with you or swap out ASAP means it’s one less thing for them to worry about and they can concentrate on just doing the best riding possible.

The other reason could be that parts get scratched/worn and the sponsor might want parts looking fresh more often (used parts can be handed down to local groms or sold to help bump up the riders wage) or the sponsor might call upon the rider to go to a photoshoot or do some kind of promotion and the rider will have a fresh part ready to fit which saves time and costs.

Then there’s just the fact that parts do wear out and it’s more economical to send the rider a few extra items rather than sending single items out when they’re needed.

At the end of the season any unused items can be sold to help bump up the riders wage although that’s purely down to what the rider agreed to in the contract

 To fire out of the sponsored goods cannon at all the neighbourhood kids to get them hooked on an addictive and expensive habit for life presumably.

 With all that WD40 (Remi), where does he keep all the duct tape? Should be a one to one ratio.

 To that end I unsubscribed from The Punters page when he was gushing about all the "free" stuff he was getting. I left a comment that he should start a new channel "look at my free stuff", and keep this one for riding.. Butthurt? Yeah, maybe a bit, but the focus should be on riding IMO, I don't need to see that you have 38 cassettes, and blah blah blah...we get it, your sponsored.
Rant over lol

 It is much easier for their sponsors to ship everything in bulk. Basically whatever their minimum quantity is for a shop, they ship to their riders. WD40 as an example just ships a box of each product. Tire sponsors typically ship a case of tires. A helmet or clothing sponsor ships individually since they ship those items individually. Also as others have said, riding a lot with several bikes consumes a lot of parts. When I am riding a lot during the summer I will use 2-3 tires per month through flats and wear. I always keep spares around so that I don't have to rely on a local shop to have what I want in stock or not ride if they don't.

 @salespunk: All makes perfect sense, and is probably common sense to do things that way. But, do you have to make videos about all your "free" stuff? This article ties into the one about youtubers in more ways than one if you ask me. Have a good day! \m/

In Paul's defense I saw that he was making videos of surprising people with outfitting them, and their bikes with his sponsors items which is super cool, and good on him for doing so. Especially since he didn't have to do that.. but is more exposure for his sponsors which is exactly what they want. haha I know you weren't necessarily answering my comment, I guess I just had more to say.. haha Ok, done!

 Don’t forget that as with any form of sponsorship it’s all actually paid for by the customers who buy the product they are marketing. The retail price is higher than it could be because the sponsor has to factor in the full cost of sponsorship in to it

 @CM999: same thing as government sponsored, or paid by the government... no the eff it isn't. You're spending MY money mofo.. haha

 @cky78: My Maxxis dollars at work.

 You have got a good point: we get a lot of stuff. But do we really need it? Well it depends. As sponsored athletes we need the different colours and models to properly promote the brand that support us, and we need our stuff to stay in great shape for obvious reasons: performances, safety and look/professionalism. In the case of WD40, that looks like a lot but I clean my bike after every ride. I could receive packages every month but imagine the logistic and also the packaging waste as well as the shipping cost. Less shipping, the better for the company and the planet. For spare parts lots of time I get more than I need, especially the first year when not too familiar with the products, but these spares are not lost. Can always help out a shop, another rider etc. Hope it helps.

 I recently moved and have a decent sized garage now. Part of me really wants to organize everything there and setup my garage well, but I just don't trust the security of a garage door. As of now, I'm still keeping bikes, skis, etc. in the house and just tools and spare parts in the garage.

 Nonsense, the hydraulic system is closed and doesn't know or care which direction it is oriented in. My bikes are hung from the rafters in my garage and lever feel is the same when they come down to when they get hung back up after a ride. Give yourself some more space and hang your bikes up!

 That was a thing years ago. Or storing the bike upside down, happened to me ~15 years ago but I don't even remember what brakes it was with. Not an issue now, as far as I'm aware.

 If you have a good bleed, shouldn't matter. If your bleed has bubbles or your system has a leak, air can migrate up to the levers.

 @bman33: If you have air in the system you'll have inconsistent lever feel all the time independent of whether a bike is stored in a certain orientation. Cliff's notes, as always maintain your bike and its components and they don't care which way they are parked...

 @kleinschuster: 100% agree, my point wasn't saying that can't/won't happen and basically backing up the point you have which is 'bleed your brakes correctly'.

 I have heard about this view from a different point, mainly talking about how it's bad for fork oils and seals? So I've always stored my bikes in the normal standing orientation. I'd appreciate any thoughts on that.

 @JLastra: Personally, I doubt that matters much at all. If anything wouldn't storing your bike upside down be best to keep fork seals in contact with oil?

 @bman33: It won’t migrate to the levers when it’s upside down. The air above the master cylinder’s bladder (that allows for expansion and contraction of volume from heat and pad wear) becomes the low point when bike is upside down.. that air above the bladder can sometimes enter the system when it becomes the lowest point (upside down) and travel to the high point (now the caliper) because air rises in fluid. Happens more frequently with some brakes, hardly ever happens with others and sometimes the air is able to travel right back when the bike is upright, sometimes it requires a bleed, plenty of variables at play.

 @emptybe-er: correct, meant the highest point. Good call, Oops

 @bman33: although when air enters the fluid after being upside down I think it’s usually because air was already inside the master cyl rather than coming from around the bladder. Also, when the bike is upside down I think air can suck into the system through piston seals, especially if fluid is low or pads are worn. And if the storage space has cold/warm cycles.

 They do have cool garages but neither of them are professional bike riders.

 @kleinschuster: does Seth get paid to ride his bike? I bet his salary is right up there, or even past, everyone shown above. Just because you don’t race doesn’t mean you’re not a pro.

 @stevemokan: Seth doesn't get paid to ride his bike. Seth gets paid to make YouTube videos about riding bikes. It's subtle but there is a definite difference.

 @hmstuna:

I am not disagreeing with you however I would say Joe Barnes is more well known for his youtube stuff rather than being a racer.

J

 @stevemokan: Not right now. Seth gets paid to go under the knife until that leg of his gets settled.

 @stevemokan: Fully agreed about Seth's professionalism. To his credit, he's now giving back to the local community in NC with a community-focused bike park that he's helping to drive into existence, and he has certainly shown everyone (in the same way that Gwin has or Rémy does or Minnaar does or Peaty is now doing in the wider business of bikes) what a professional sponsorship/income-generating portfolio looks like. Anyone riding bikes for a living can take something from Seth's polish, sponsor-friendly presentation, intelligence, background in a marketable job skill (IT - which has also helped his content enormously), production quality on YouTube, and general ambition in the industry. Regardless of whether Seth ever enters a major race (unlikely), his rising tides of outward-facing professionalism stand to lift all sails. MTB has major-league talent; if salaries are ever going to match other sports it couldn't hurt to ape the practices of the biggest earners in the other sports. Seth essentially does as much - even though he isn't a competitor! That's saying something. It's hard not to respect Seth overall, and I think it would be foolish for any young rider serious about making a living on a bike to not emulate him in a number of important ways. Rémy seems to run a tight ship out in BC. Same goes for Eric Porter, a classy, marketable guy and a close Seth friend.

 Sounds decent

 @McArdle: Yea, he totally rebuilt the inside of his garage.. It was a really good mini series of videos

 @cky78: You just find it on YouTube?

 @McArdle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8aEd3TP7So

I am impressed with his carpentry skills tbh... good episodes to watch

 @cky78: awesome cheers, I’m 3 episodes deep and hooked!

 @McArdle: Awesome! Blake does really good work! I mean I'm no carpenter, but his work looks great

 Or. Get a better job?

 @ricochetrabbit: extremely complex issue. It's very very very hard to go from the low income class up to middle and above. Relatively straight forward from middle up. Generational wealth along with private education (not saying the education is better, but there are other effects) in oz is a massive advantage and its next to impossible for people starting from zero to match that for similar life stages.

 @ricochetrabbit: its failed plenty of people, you just aren't interested in listening to people's stories of how they came from nothing, worked their asses off and struggled their whole life to still be living paycheck to paycheck.

 @ricochetrabbit: denying something doesn't make it not exist.

 Making excuses doesn’t solve anything either @RonSauce:

 @ricochetrabbit: Although in general I agree with you about excuses, I don’t think that it can be applied to this concept at large. People come from all different starting places and sometimes it really isn’t up to them or how “hard they work”. They face barriers that others (who began in the same place) don’t face. That’s not to take away from your success at all, or to say that you didn’t work your ass off. But it is true that other factors come into play which makes blanket statements like “hard work can always overcome” difficult.

 @ricochetrabbit: definitely different outside of the western countries.

That being said, my parents bailed out of California when I was 18. They gave me the choice of moving with them or supporting myself. Never received a penny from them after they moved and had to put myself through college.

I worked 40-50 hours per week in a shop while going to school full time. Transferred from a community college to a UC because it was the most financially efficient way to get a degree. Had to work my way up the corporate ladder and now have a high level job in tech.

It is not easy, but it can be done. Having managed a lot of people, the biggest reason for failure that I see is lack of self awareness and trying to find shortcuts. I had both of these issues personally in my career. Humility and hard work will payoff in the long run. Don't get angry about why something happened, just figure out what went wrong or why an approach is not working and make sure it doesn't happen again.

 10-4. I can agree with that. @snicholas11:

 @ricochetrabbit: That's not even really true *inside* America. The World Economic Forum ranked the US as 27th out of 82 countries studied in their Global Social Mobility Index, published January 2020.

 Facts have nothing to do with your opinions (once again)

 Who decides facts? You? @RonSauce:

 @ricochetrabbit: you have been the one proudly announcing that you take opinion over fact. Your imagination is much more important than reality i guess.