How brandmybicycle Works, From Zone to Wrap

There are two bikes, both real, both from Scott, both size M. Each carries a fixed set of sponsor zones on its frame, wheels and parts. Each zone is sold once, printed in vinyl and stays on the bike for its life. When a bike’s goal fills, its board closes forever. If it does not fill, everyone on that board gets their money back. That is the whole thing, and this post walks through it in order.

Two bikes, two boards

The road bike is a Scott Foil RC Ultimate, an aero road bike that rides city centres, commutes and fast descents. The gravel bike is a Scott Addict Gravel RC that rides mountain passes, forest tracks and roads with no name. Each has its own board, its own zones and its own goal, and the two are settled separately. Taking a zone on one does nothing on the other.

The goal on each board is the bike’s own list price as Scott publishes it in Germany, converted to dollars. There is no second number. Both bikes link to the maker’s own product page, so the claim about what the bike is comes from the maker, not from us.

Zones, and why they have different prices

A zone is a surface on the bike: the upper down tube, a rim, the stem, a fork blade. The road bike has 21 of them and the gravel bike has 24, because a gravel bike has surfaces a road bike does not, such as a fork cargo mount and wider rims. Each zone has a print area in square centimetres and a visibility factor for how much of the road sees it. The two together give the zone’s weight, and the zone’s price is that weight’s share of the bike’s goal. Our post on how zone prices are worked out goes through the arithmetic.

The practical result is that a down tube costs more than a crank arm, every price is a whole number of dollars, and the prices on a bike add up to exactly its goal.

One sponsor per zone

Each zone holds one sponsor. When a zone is paid for, it is closed on that bike. The same zone name exists on both bikes, so the upper down tube can be taken on the road bike and still be open on the gravel bike, at the gravel bike’s own price. You can hold more than one zone, and you can hold zones on both bikes; each shows on its own board.

Claiming a zone

You pick a zone, type a name and upload a logo. The logo lands on the bike in the preview before you pay anything, so you see the real placement in your zone. Then checkout. The moment the payment completes, the zone is yours and it appears on the board. If someone took the same zone while you were deciding, the claim does not go through and you pick another; a zone is never sold twice.

Our post on preparing your logo for the wrap covers formats and what happens if you skip the upload.

The board

Each bike’s board lists every sponsor who paid and the zone they hold. The home page shows the first rows of the same board, and a strip at the top of the site shows the most recent paid claims across both bikes. None of it is mocked: an empty board looks empty. Reading the board explains what each part shows.

Closing, filling and refunding

A board closes in one of two ways. The goal fills, or every zone is sold, which amounts to the same thing because the zone prices sum to the goal. When it closes, no more zones are sold, the wrap is printed and the bike rides. If the goal is not filled and the campaign closes, every backer of that bike is refunded in full. Nothing is printed before the goal fills, which is what makes the refund clean. The refund rule has the details.

What the price buys

The price of a zone is the whole of what you pay. There is no listing fee, no setup charge for the print and no charge at each wrap refresh. The vinyl, the cutting, the application and every reprint over the bike’s life are part of the zone. What you are buying is the share of the frame that zone is worth, and the share is the price.

The two films

Each board page carries a film shot from the bike’s handlebar on a real ride, with the sound removed and no edit. The road film is a daytime ride through tunnels and traffic and down the far side of a pass; the gravel film is a night ride hours from a city, lit by the bike’s own lamp. They are there so that “where the bike goes” is something you can watch rather than something you have to take on trust. Where the road bike goes and where the gravel bike goes describe the rides in words.

For the life of the bike

The vinyl goes on and stays on until the bike is retired or destroyed. There is no monthly fee and no renewal. Artwork can be replaced once per reprint, at the next wrap refresh, as long as it is your brand. That is the end of the obligations in both directions: you paid for a zone, the zone carries your logo everywhere the bike goes, and the bike goes a long way.