If you have been following the Giro d’Italia this week, you have seen at least one of Lance Armstrong’s art bikes, which will be auctioned after the race to raise money for LIVESTRONG. Shepard Fairey, who is best known for his design of the Obama “Hope” poster, created the graphic scheme for the yellow and black road bike. Fairey’s intricate design was intended to pay homage to classic Italian architecture for Armstrong’s first appearance in the Giro. The time trail bike, with a paint scheme by Kenny Scharf, is based on an outerspace theme. See additional pictures of both bikes here.
I have talked to a few people who don’t really like the fact that Armstrong has been riding bikes with custom graphics since his return to racing. Yeah, I understand that some people don’t think he should stand out from the rest of the team, but personally I think the idea of auctioning these two bikes to raise money for cancer research is a really great one. I hope that Armstrong plans to continue with this idea and that we will see bikes decorated by other artist and designers throughout the rest of the season.
Of course, Armstrong’s ornate bikes are not the only ones that I have noticed this week. The tech section of CyclingNews points out several interesting bikes from the Giro including Fabian Cancellara’s Specialized S-Works TTR prototype. The article is interesting as it discusses the new design in regards to the UCI’s more stringent equipment rules, which will be effective July 1st. Another time trail bike that stands out is the new Scott Plasma 3. I particularly like the bike’s new integrated stem, which you can see in this shot.
While I am mentioning time trial machines, I will point out this gallery of TT bike shots, also on CyclingNews. Yeah, I know…I link to time trial bikes disproportionally when I get on the subject of racing bikes, but I just can’t help it. There are always interesting new design developments when aerodynamics are a major consideration…well, that and the fact that I just love the way those bikes look.
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