The Rules on Olympic-Level Cycling Equipment Are Broken—and There’s No Easy Fix

Cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale , has a rule stating that any bike, part, helmet, or any other piece of gear a rider might use in a UCI race must also be commercially available to anyone “practicing cycling as a sport” This rule ensures that the same high-tech bicycles and accessories used by top competitors could, in theory, be acquired by everyday cyclists.

Manufacturers skirt the rule by making their bikes available to the public at an obscene cost.

The Olympics require bikes to be commercially available for one year and one day prior to the events in which they’ll be used.

Companies set astronomical prices in order to discourage competing nations from buying new and competing technologies for their own research and development purposes.

The cheapest bike being used by the majority of these Olympics ’ wealthiest nations is the Look P24 , whose radical new frameset retails for $ 13,010 .

Assos Fenoq was designed and developed with WorldTour , World Championship , and Olympic-level performance in mind.

Assos is happy to make bespoke skinsuits for the average consumer.

According to the World Bank Group , those nations’ economies rank fourth, sixth, eighth , and thirteenth , respectively.