I’m not a car guy which you could probably tell by looking at my Honda Civic with 176,000 miles, a leaky door, and busted suspension or my Jeep Cherokee with a dying/dead transmission and failed emissions report to its name. Since I’m not a car guy I’m really not all that familiar with Lumma, the German auto tuning company that designs kits for BMWs and Porsches, but a recent news item caught my attention: Lumma has designed a mountain bike.
Of course plenty of car companies have put their names on mountain bikes in the past (Jeep, Hummer, Volkswagen) but those deals are usually just about licensing famous names to sell mid- to low-tier bikes. In some cases, however, the car companies use their own designers to build a mountain bike from scratch using cutting edge materials and technology.
So classy. Via Popular Mechanics, January 1997 issue.
Back in 1997 Mercede Benz slapped their logo on an AMP designed mountain bike that could be disassembled to fit in a suitcase for the Benz trunk. The bike sported an aluminum frame and weighed in at just 24 pounds – not bad for 1997 and not bad for a bike that fits in a suitcase. Price tag: $3,300.
Via PopularMechanics.com.
In 1997 BMW also sold a mountain bike with a decidedly less luxurious price tag – just $795. The BMW Olympic Games MTB was a folding bike with a hinge in the middle which made it heavy at 29 pounds. Popular Mechanics claimed the bike was “not much fun to ride.” Bummer.
Photo via gizmag.com (more pics available).
In 2001 Porsche released the FS Evolution mountain bike with eye-popping yellow wheels and a jaw-dropping $10,612 price tag (nobody said Porsches were cheap). The frame was carbon fiber (natch) and the bike featured both adjustable front and rear suspension with 140mm of front travel using an “upside down” fork design. Cutting edge indeed.
Ferrari was still in the mountain bike business back in 2007 and offered the Colnago Ferrari CF2 for the low price of $6,500. The Ferrari CF2 was full suspension, carbon fiber, and sported the Ferrari badge on the head tube (probably the most expensive part of the bike). This bike was actually co-developed with Ferrari engineers which is evident in the flowy frame profile.
Finally we arrive at present day: the Lumma Design mountain bike is not available for purchase yet but if you want one you’ll need to get on the waiting list because only 50 bikes will be made. This bike features an aluminum frame and Shimano components (ho-hum) and appears to utilize an open spring rear suspension. Thankfully Lumma enlisted design help from BMX champ Jordi Miranda but we think the $4,320 price tag is a little steep.
In the end most of these bikes will be more valuable as collectors items than as real off road workhorses. It’s still fun to see what car companies are able to come up with and shows that mountain bikes are still relevant to the sports car crowd. What car brands would you like to see design your next mountain bike?
