The Spartacus them on Fabian Cancellara's bike was not new for the Tour de France, but remains one of the most intricate - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sylvain Chavanel had a Swiss artist design his Scott Addict paint job - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Mark Cavendish only got to race this for one stage - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Specialized created the sparkly paint in conjunction with McLaren - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cav has a signature line of helmets, shoes and clothes with Specialized - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
This green just so happens to match one of Cav's cars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Okay, so a little sticker on a number plate is not a paint job. But what better decoration to a race bike than celebrating the number of Tour stage wins? - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Yukiya Arashiro's Colnago M10, painted for Japan - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cancellara's Domane Classics - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Tony M? That would be Tony Montana from the movie Scarface - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Gladiator? Cocaine-fueled gangster? When you're Cancellara, you get to decorate the bike however you want - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
And go ahead and add 'gambler' to the gladiator and gangster themes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The Trek Domane Classics has an unusual fork. The idea is to extend the fork blades for a bit of suspension, but kick the dropouts back for a relatively tight wfront end - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Andre Greipel has the Gorilla theme pretty much locked up in the Tour peloton - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Nibali has been on a few bikes at the Tour. This is his shark S-Works Tarmac - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Here is a Nibali shark bik stickered up for stage 3 after he won stage 2 - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Looks like Specialized didn't quite have a yelllow bike ready, so they went with this little sticker - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Although having the green jersey all but locked up, Cannondale's Peter Sagan has not yet won a stage. But he has his eyes on a win - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Cannondale gave each of its riders custom animal-based graphics - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
For those in the know, a simple rainbow-stripe motif speaks volumes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
By stage 2, Giant-Shimano had Marcel Kittel dialed tip to tail in yellow - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Orica-GreenEdge has a classy white bike for Simon Gerrans - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Gerrans' bike isn't over the top, just clean and classy - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Orica-GreenEdge has some sharp details for its bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Each BMC rider has his nationality embalzoned on his top tube - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The pink winning bike of the Giro d'Italia? Perhaps it's just here at the Tour for good luck… - Robin Wilmott / Immediate Media
For those who love to look at bicycles, there is no better place than the Tour de France. This year we have seen a variety of custom paint- and decal-modifications to frames, many accompanied by one-off saddles or at least complementary bar tape or a computer.
In the video below, we look at the top five custom bike designs of the 2014 Tour de France. In the gallery above, we show you those plus many more.
Sylvain Chavanel has a stunning Scott Addict painted by Swiss artist André Marty, designed by the team at Scott and Chava himself. Specialized partnered with McLaren for the sparkling green paint on Mark Cavendish's S-Works Venge, which just so happens to match the paint on one of Mr Cavendish’s cars.
top 5 custom bikes of the tour de france
Vincenzo Nibali’s shark theme gets a similar sparkle, but with a bit more teeth to the design. All nine Cannondale riders started the 2014 Tour de France above custom-painted SuperSix EVOs, each one painted with an animal theme of the rider’s choice. While his teammates picked actual animals like a grizzly bear or a lion, Peter Sagan went with a comic book super hero – the Wolverine.
Finally, although not brand new, you have to love Fabian Cancellara’s Spartacus design, while celebrates the gladiatorial theme tip to tail. Carrying over another theme from last year, Cancellara’s top-tube name place says T Montana, short for Antonio (Tony) Raimundo Montana, the protagonist of the 1983 gangster movie Scarface, played by Al Pacino.
Ben Delaney is a journalist with more than two decades of experience writing for and editing some of the biggest publications in cycling. Having studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, Ben has worked for Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, VeloNews and BikeRadar. He has also previously worked as Global Brand Communications Manager for Specialized. Ben covers all things road and gravel, and can be found logging big miles in the Rocky Mountains that nestle alongside his home in Boulder, Colorado. He has covered the most important bike races in the sport, from the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders, to the Unbound gravel race, and specialises in tech content, showcasing what the pros are riding and putting everyday equipment through its paces.
This website is owned and published by Our Media Ltd. www.ourmedia.co.uk
