McQuaid's frame cost gaff??

[Basecase]

From Twitter:

Scott O'Raw (@velocast)
02/09/2011 18:08
Video in which Pat McQuaid makes his cost of frames gaff cc @carltonreid http://t.co/xLoP502

Why was it a gaff can anyone explain?

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

The only gaff I know of is a hook on the end of a pole used to haul a rather large sportfish onboard.

I think the word you may be referring to however, is "gap", which Paddy used between the 5'35 to 5'40 time slice of the video. He was referring to the gap that might exist between racer's bikes if there were no strict rules of bike design. He was expressing his desire for pro cycling to be about one cyclist's mind and legs against another's mind and legs, and to not have race outcome affected by the bike and equipment designs.

So did that answer your question?

I thought it was interesting that Paddy might have heard some of the opinions of our forum that relate directly to him or the UCI. He said, "some people and forums like to use the UCI as a punching bag..."

 

[ultimobici]

From Twitter:

Scott O'Raw (@velocast)
02/09/2011 18:08
Video in which Pat McQuaid makes his cost of frames gaff cc @carltonreid http://t.co/xLoP502

Why was it a gaff can anyone explain?

Where to start.....

Boardman & Lotus was 1992, Obree was not too long after.

Then we have the numerous sweeping generalisations that Fat Pat makes all the time.

While there are frames that cost $30-40 at the factory gate in China, they aren't necessarily sold for $5000. More to the point why single out frames from China or any other part of the world? His claim that there are safety concerns is BS, IMO. There hasn't been a single incident of a rider having their frame fail that I can recall of late. In fact the only one I can recall is that of Stephen Roche's fork blade coming apart in the Giro. That dates back to the 80's and was on a European built frame made of steel!!

Yet again we have evidence of Pat McQuaid being totally out of touch with the followers of the sport. Making disparaging comments about fans is hardly the best way to endear yourself to them. But then he doesn't have to worry about us because we have no way of deposing him from his Gravy Train post.

 

[Basecase]

He means: http://www.google.ie/search?q=gaffe&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

Now a gaffe on top of a gaffe on top of a gaffe!!!

 

[LukeSchmid]

There is the word gaffe which means a verbal blunder so I presume they claim is McQuaid said something wrong. What? I have no idea not having watched the video.

 

[Jacques Tati]

Just watched the video, never mind what he say's just take a look at his NVC's at the start, very aggressive clearly a man under pressure in a world he doesn't understand and his stance shows he is clearly ready to go on the defensive.

 

[PCutter]

The only gaff I know of is a hook on the end of a pole used to haul a rather large sportfish onboard.

Actually the word is Gaffe, with an e on the end, which is an embarrassing error, the tweeter just can't spell. The "embarrassing error" is at around 11:30 to 12:00 where McQuaid says it costs $30, $40, $50 to make a bike in China but cost Euro4000, 5000 6000 retail. Not sure either are really true, while you can buy a chinese frame for $300 direct, I think the cost of materials (ie, the better quality carbon) in a top end frame would be more than the $50 he refers to - though the cost to build (materials only) of the cheap $300 carbon frame may come in at this level. He obviously also ignores the cost of development and mould construction etc in his pricing. Not too many frames at Euro6000 either I'd think, burt anyway. Not too embarrassing really for McQuaid, maybe an over anxious tweeter.

 

[spalco]

Sweet velodrome the UCI has there.

 

[Benotti69]

I am at a loss to understand what McQuaid is thinking?

The Tour of Beijing is coming up and here he is slagging China and Chinese products where all the major manufacturers are getting their products made to make a profit in order to be able to give 100's of free bikes to pro and semi pro teams every year.

I doubt that lots of the manufacturers are making microsoft level profits???

Twek and Specialized are probably the biggest profit makers due to the big market in USA, and the rest have plenty of competition amongst themselves in Europe in order that profits are marginal.

Not that i am in agreement with the % size of mark up.

 

[cyclingPRpro]

I really think Pat is fading quickly into senility...

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Why was it a gaff can anyone explain?

The manufacturers are upset that McQuaid is telling the suckers that the frame they bought for $5000 cost pennies on the dollar to produce, so they are concentrating on the $30-40 figure and ignoring the larger point. The figure of $300 to produce a frame in Taiwan is still an obscene markup, and it ignores the common wisdom that labor costs in China are 1/10th that of Taiwan.

People are also upset that McQuaid mentioned that in crashes the super light carbon frames are breaking into multiple pieces, which are a potential danger. Some teams are reportedly going through a huge number of frames during the season because of the frames' fragility.