Alongside the racing at this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné, a new bike has stolen headlines. It came out of the blue, startling in design, and stood out among its contemporaries. Our friends at Cyclingnews were on the ground to spot and photograph it, describing it as “insane” and “mad”.
I’m talking about Factor’s prototype aero bike. We know little about it at the moment – we don’t even know its name – other than Jake Stewart rode a blacked-out version to a commendable fifth place on the first stage. One look at the bike’s obnoxiously wide forks tells us this is no typical road machine. No, Factor’s new model marks a new age of road design, a revolutionary idea that breaks the mould of what bikes should look like. Or does it?
