Audi Teams up with Renovo Design to Create Wooden Frame Bicycles

Audi is joining a long line of car manufacturers that have reached out to bicycle specialists to create their own range of two wheelers. Being that the brand with the four rings is renowned for the use of aluminum in its cars, you’d expect Audi to employ the lightweight metal on its bicycle series. But that’s not the case as the Ingolstadt automaker teamed up with Renovo Design, a firm famous for its wooden frame bikes.

The all-new Duo bicycle from Audi sports a monocoque frame made of hardwood. According to the automaker, wood offers “the smoothest ride of any bike frame material thanks to its superior ability to absorb shock and vibration”. Audi says that the weight per cubic inch of wood is about one-fourth the weight of aluminum, meaning that the duo is lighter than most bicycle frames, adding that it also offers "equal or superior stiffness, durability, and toughness to an aluminum frame".

Other highlights of the Audi Duo bicycle series include a belt drive, aluminum and carbon fiber components, disk brakes and LED lighting, as well as woods selected to match the look of Audi vehicle interiors.

The series comprises of three bikes, the Duo City, Duo Sport and Duo Road, all of which are hand-made at Renovo’s Portland, Ore., studio. As you'd expect, none come in cheap as pricing for the three models (including shipping & handling) are set at $6,530, $7,350 and $7,460 respectively.

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Mercedes wants us to think the C63 AMG Coupe is Faster than a Ducati 848 EVO

The freshly revealed Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe is featured in two promotional videos released by the company. The first footage shows the AMG coupe taking on a Ducati 848 EVO motorbike on some scenic twisty roads. The winner of the duel isn't hard to guess - after all, this is a promotional video for the C63 AMG - but one can't help but wondering if the Merc could stand a chance in front of the Italian superbike if the race hadn't been a friendly one (or at least if the two vehicles would have taken the same route).

However, the appearance of the 140HP Ducati motorbike in the video is the fruit of the marketing collaboration between AMG and the Italian brand announced last year. Scroll down to enjoy the sights and sounds of this beautiful duel, plus a short presentation of the C-Class Coupe in AMG guise in the second video.

By Dan Mihalascu

VIDEOS

McLaren Combines Forces with SPC to Create Venge Aero Road Bike

McLaren, a pioneer of carbon-fiber technology, which it successfully uses in Formula 1 and on its MP4-12C road car, has teamed up with U.S.-based Specialized Bicycle Components [SPC] for an unusual project: building the ultimate road bike.

Called the Venge, the race bicycle has an ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber frame made by McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT). Its engineers optimized the way the carbon was cut and applied, and improved efficiency by 10-15 percent by choosing the most suitable plies. As a result, the frame weighs less than 950 grams (2.09 lbs).

According to McLaren, this improvement is “more than anything previously seen in the cycling world,” with the Venge being “the fastest complete-performance bike in the world.”

“The S-Specialized + McLaren Venge project is unique. We paid no attention to the typical limiting factors and focused solely on producing the most advanced bike possible – Formula 1-style!” said Brad Paquin, composite design engineer for Specialized Bicycle Components.

The Venge will debut in the classic Milan-San Remo race this Saturday with Mark Cavendish, the 2009 Tour de France winner, sitting in

Find out more about the project by watching the video below.

By Dan Mihalascu

VIDEO

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BMW Introduces One-Off 1-Series M Coupe MotoGP Safety Car

The upcoming BMW 1-Series M Coupe will serve as the official Safety Car for the 2011 season of the motorcycle road racing world championship (or simply MotoGP), which kicks off this weekend. The 1-Series M Coupe Safety Car is a one-off built by BMW’s M division specifically for this race series, with the Bavarian automaker stating that only the 340HP twin-turbocharged straight-six engine and the entire drivetrain were taken over unchanged from the production model, which launches in late April.

The Safety Car is lighter than its production counterpart thanks to a series of weight saving measures such as the carbon fibre-reinforced bonnet featuring additional large air vents, polycarbonate side and rear windows and the elimination of the rear seat bench. In addition, BMW’s M team developed a bespoke lightweight titanium race exhaust system that not only saves weight but also promises to delivers a much more exciting sound.

Details that set it apart from the production version include an additional splitter integrated on the underside of the front apron, an adjustable rear wing that provide the added downforce, white LED flashlights incorporated in the front grille, and blacked out 19-inch alloy wheels shod in 255/35 tires at the front and 285/30 at the rear.

In the interior, there’s a safety rollover cage bolted behind the B-pillar that has taken the place of the rear seats, an M steering wheel in alcantara, two racing bucket seats with 6-point safety belts, and a fire extinguisher.

BMW said that it has also revamped the suspension of the 1 Series M Coupe which now boasts an adjustable race track set-up that includes a sports-tuned chassis in which the dampers are independently adjustable for bump and rebound. Furthermore, the standard braking system of the series production model has been replaced in the Safety Car with a six-piston fixed-calliper racing brake system.

In addition to the 1-Series M Coupe Safety Car, BMW will have plenty of other cars at the 2011 MotoGP series including two reserve Safety Cars - an X6M and an M3, a 535i Touring serving as the Medical Car, an X5 M for the Safety Officer and an ActiveHybrid X6 for the stewards, as well as two Safety Bikes, the BMW S 1000 RR and a HP2 Sport.

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