These days with the ever growing popularity of cycling it's getting harder and harder to individually distinguish yourself and your bike from the rest of the pack. No matter where you turn there is always somebody nearby with a bike that looks very similar to your own pride and joy.
That being said, you can imagine my delight when I came across this customised sky blue Specialized Tarmac while trawling the internet recently (most likely searching for evidence to support my many conspiracy theories).
Personally I'm really into this colour; and while you may not share my enthusiasm for the palette of choice you have to admit that it's one of a kind and definitely won't blend in to the crowd.
The owner's intention was to build a quality bike for hilly stage races and cyclos. The idea was first and foremost about function over form; but as you can see meticulous detail has been applied to arrive at a very light bike with everyday usability. Amazingly this bike weighs in at only 5.94kgs.
The build specs of the bike are as follows:
Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL2 Frameset (54)
Sram Red Groupset
Ciamillo Negative G Brakeset
Omni Racer Ceramic Bottom Bracket
Reynolds 32mm Carbon Tubular Wheelset
Speedplay Zero Ti Pedals
Volcar Seatpost
Ritchey WSC Stem
FSA K-force Compact Carbon Bars
Fizik Antares 00 Saddle
Tacx Carbon Bottle Cages
Before it underwent the dramatic customisation, this bike began life an S-Works Quickstep Tarmac SL2.
And below a picture of the frame once it had been re-painted by BCP Special Paintwork in the Netherlands.
In addition to the custom paint, the stem, bars, seat post and bottle cages were given a sand job and thin satin clear coat finish. Not only does it look cool, but it allowed the owner of the bike the flexibility to use a number of different brands.
It's great to see a customisation project based around reinvigorating and updating the look of a frame set. It takes a little more courage to tackle something like this that the usual parts upgrade that is completed by most.
The spec of this bike is solid, but in my opinion it's the striking colour that really sets it apart from the crowd. The risky choice of the sky blue colour is a winner and such a refreshing change from the current stealth black trend (of which I am all too familiar given I own two matte black S-Works Tarmacs).
I'd like to say a big thanks to Theo for sharing the pictures of the bike and letting me feature it on the site.
~VL
