The UCI has announced it will cap the prices of track bikes and equipment used at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Following the 2024 Paris Games, which saw the cost of track bikes and related equipment soar to unprecedented levels, cycling’s governing body says price caps will bolster “the integrity of competitions by preventing excessive cost barriers”.
Though details of exactly how price caps will be implemented – or what level they will be set at – have not been revealed, the UCI says “maximum prices will apply for framesets, forks, wheels, handlebars and their extensions, helmets and skinsuits” from 1 January 2027.
The UCI says this decision has been approved by its management committee, which is headed by UCI president David Lappartient, and is designed to ensure “participants from all nations have fair access to equipment”.
Why does the UCI want to cap the prices of track bikes and kit?
According to the UCI, the establishment of price caps for track bikes and related equipment will complement its existing rules on commercial availability, which are intended to create a more level playing field in terms of access to equipment.
As before, new bikes and related equipment will need to be registered with the UCI and used in events prior to the Olympics in order to ensure compliance with the rules.
In theory, this gives competing nations a chance to see – and potentially purchase – any bike or item of equipment, clothing and so on, prior to the Games.
It seems the spiralling cost of Olympic track bikes and kit may have prompted the UCI to take action against prices that appear to be designed to discourage or even prevent such kit from actually being purchased by rivals.
The V-IZU TCM2 and TC-M1 track bikes used by the Japanese cycling team, for example, were priced at €126,555 and €112,320, respectively, according to the UCI’s ‘Final Equipment List’.
The UK Sports Institute UKSI-BC1 track bike, used by Team GB, was listed at €64,350 for a frameset alone, while other bikes from top nations were priced at similarly astronomical levels.
And that’s just bikes and framesets. The Pinarello MOST custom 3D-printed bar extensions used by the Italian cycling team were listed at €22,500, while the Black Inc Zero tubular disc wheelset was priced at €18,400.
In comparison, the most expensive bike listed ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was the Worx WX-R Vorteq Track, at €28,000.
With incoming regulation changes potentially banning radical track bikes such as the Hope HB.T and Look P24, it looks as if major cycling nations will need to go back to the drawing board and create bikes that are not only fast, but reasonably priced.
What counts as ‘reasonable’ according to the UCI remains to be seen, though nations will doubtless be hoping for clarity sooner than later given the limited time scale to develop new bikes and equipment before the next Olympic Games.
