The Olympic Games in Paris is without doubt one of the uncommon events the place riders deviate away from the group livery we develop accustomed to seeing them put on all through the season. With riders representing their residence nations somewhat than their commerce groups, producers typically go above and past to create some eye-catching restricted version bikes.
Here are simply a few of the custom-painted wonders that remember the Olympic Games, from Specialized’s Fiftieth Anniversary colourway to Trek’s placing metallic pink framesets.
Specialized
Specialized is celebrating its Fiftieth anniversary this 12 months and what higher solution to rejoice such an illustrious milestone than with a run of limited-edition bikes for the model’s Olympians?
The model says “This assortment combines game-changing efficiency with beautiful attractiveness. Gold represents our Fiftieth 12 months and the way our want to enhance lives by driving has not misplaced an oz of lustre. The pink calls again to our historic Team Stumpjumper and our dedication to racing with an irreverent, rebellious spirit.”
If you’re a fan of the Fiftieth-anniversary styling there may be additionally a restricted run of each the S-Works Tarmac SL8 and Epic World Cup with 250 of every being made publicly accessible. It is not only the bikes which have been given the makeover, although, with the Evade 3 and Prevail 3 helmets additionally sporting the placing design.
Although not accessible to the general public, Belgium’s favorite for the time trial, Remco Evenepoel, additionally stormed to his first Olympic gold medal driving an S-Works Shiv TT in the identical ‘Forward 50’ paint scheme.
In a press launch, Kayla Clarot, Leader of Brand Concepts mentioned, “When you take a look at the essence of Specialized, it’s clear we’re born from a rebellious spirit and perspective that continues to problem the business. That spirit is one thing that lit a hearth inside Mike [Sinyard, Specialized’s founder] 50 years in the past, and it’s that very same want and confidence we stock now to carve out the subsequent 50 years.”
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Orbea
The Basque bike model has some simple heritage having turned its hand to bicycle manufacturing in 1930. The model additionally tasted gold in 2008 when Samuel Sanchez rode to victory within the street race aboard his Orbea Orca. For Paris 2024, Orbea has launched a {custom} design that spans its street, TT and mountain bikes.
The assortment seems to take inspiration from Paris’s nickname ‘town of sunshine’ a title that may be attributed again to the early nineteenth century when it grew to become the primary European metropolis to make use of fuel lamps for avenue lighting.
Unlike Specialized, Orbea will maintain this particular version Olympic colourway solely for its Olympic members. Each bike has been painted in Orbea’s personal Basque manufacturing premises to make sure the very best high quality end, deserving of an Olympian.
Orbea says, “The bike owner turns into the gasoline, the sunshine. All this power that has been generated is unfold all through the bicycle, ranging from the seat and shifting in direction of the entrance, filling your entire body with power and velocity.”
Wilier
Wilier is thought for providing a few of the most placing custom-painted bikes within the peloton with the likes of Mark Cavendish and Henok Mulubrhan driving some spectacular bikes this 12 months. For the Olympic Games, the Italian model has turned its consideration to its mountain bikes.
The Urta Max SLR is a well-known sight on the XC World Cup circuit however for the Paris Games, Wilier has gone one step additional and created a restricted version Oly Pop design that comes with the colors of the Olympic rings on a white backdrop to create a vibrant however minimalist design.
If you’re a fan of the Oly Pop color scheme, Wilier is releasing a restricted run of 150 bikes accessible to the general public.
Pinarello
Pinarello has a wealthy heritage on the Olympics each on the street, within the time trial and on the observe. It was again in 2000 on the Sydney Games that Jan Ullrich rode to a gold medal aboard a prototype Pinarello, earlier than Bradley Wiggins would declare time trial gold in London on the model’s Bolide TT bike.
In more moderen years, the model has celebrated success with Filippo Ganna on the observe and with Richard Carapaz within the street race on the final Games in Tokyo.
At the 2024 Games in Paris, the athletes who conventionally experience for Ineos Grenadiers rode a brand new Bolide F TT bike in an Olympic Games color scheme that sports activities a modern metallic gold-to-blue fade from entrance to again.
The colourway is bound to show heads and the design of the bike has lots to get folks speaking together with a novel design to the seatpost and seat tube that took inspiration from the fins of a Humpback Whale.
Trek
Trek arrived in Paris because the defending girls’s XC mountain biking champions. Although the rider that claimed that gold medal, Jolanda Neff, didn’t make an look this time spherical, Trek had a powerful lineup of athletes together with Evie Richards who got here fifth.
The Supercaliber bike utilized by Trek-sponsored athletes incorporates the rear shock into the highest tube of the bike in a expertise the model calls IsoStrut. Away from the common commerce group colourways, riders have been noticed on a metallic pink model of the body that definitely stands out from the gang.
In the time trial, Trek athletes have been seen driving the model’s Speed Concept TT bike in the identical placing metallic pink color. Even on the rain-soaked roads of central Paris, they introduced a glimmer of color to proceedings.
These are simply a few of the {custom} colourways to grace the Parisian parcours to date, and there’ll undoubtedly be much more throughout the upcoming males’s and ladies’s street races, in addition to on boards of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
Which is your favorite, and did we miss any?