What`s a "Team Edition" bike?

[rochester21]

Hi. I really should be spending more time on retrobike, since there`s so many things to learn from you guys. Anyway, back to my question.

I`ve seen the term "Team Edition" mentioned in regard to certain bike models(road and mtb) and some bikes also have "team edition" written on the bike frame. But what exactly is a team edition bike and what`s the difference between it and a similar, non team edition one?

I`m also asking this because i`m planning on buying one as a personal project(2006 french mtb) and i want to learn as much as i can on the subject. Hopefully i`l get to share some pictures on the forum after Easter.

Many thanks

 

[cce]

Marketing mostly.

 

[mattr]

Team edition can be anything from a cheap nasty bike painted up to look like the team bikes all the way through to a full on team replica frame (same tubing, paint etc) with a high end groupset/forks/finishing kit (which might not match the actual team bikes due to sponsorship etc.) Or even (rarely) a full on team bike, with exactly the same specification.

Without knowing the brand and bike, there is no way for us to tell.

 

[catf]

its a bit of a minefield, but in my experience, "team edition" or just "team" is usually the low end painted team colours type, something like "team issue" would be the high end replica type. end of the day its usually pretty obvious from the frame material and groupo, but i guess if its a bare frame made of some random flavour of ali it could be hard to tell.

 

[KDM]

Agree, in here and ebay when ever I've seen "team" in the title the majority of the time has meant team look rather than team exact replica

 

[Harryburgundy]

Re:

In my trade (wine) it has the same relevance 'winemakers reserve' or 'old vine'...it means nothing.

 

[jackosbournesnr]

Re:

I disagree...Old vines can make a difference to the character of the wine as their lower yields tends to concentrate the flavour of the grapes. They don't do much quality-wise though.

Anyway...I'm out of the wine trade now and this is a bike forum...

The way I look at it is that if the word "Team" appears anywhere on the bike then its a lower-end bike with a splodge of marketing stuck on to "add value".

I have a Boardman CX "Team" which is mid-range at best. Its a very capable bike, but you won't find any teams anywhere near it.

At the other end of the spectrum I have a Concorde in PDM team colours but nothing else on it except the brand name and the tubing stickers. There is no model name eg "Squadra" (which was the top of the line replica), the frame has external cable routing rather than internal as seen on the Squadra and the bottom bracket has been modified to speed up cable changes. All of these indicate that this was an actual PDM pro-team bike.

When it comes to the word "Team"... less is usually more

 

[cce]

Re:

Except marins of course.

 

[jackosbournesnr]

Re: Re:

Except marins of course.

Indeed. Marin used "Team" as a whole range of bikes using the same frame design but different levels of components. Kinda like Spesh and their 47 grades of Allez.

One "Team" could be and entry level clunker and another could be a super-lightweight flying machine.

That'll be another mine to add to the minefield!

 

[Retro Spud]

I'm in full agreement with all if the above, even the old vines v's new

I own a Scott Endorphin "team edition" while it came with top end kit it bears no resemblance to the one used at the Atlanta, its just marketing hype.