Benjamin Preston has a BBC article about bicycles:
Several automobile manufacturers— Dodge, Mercedes-Benz, and Peugeot among them— began life as bicycle companies. A century-plus on, many carmakers the world over still sell bicycles, if in significantly lower volumes than their core products. These two-wheelers may be run-of-mill mountain bikes and urban cruisers, or high-end road bikes brimming over with the kind of advanced materials and aerodynamics found on, well, cars. In between are electric and hybrid models at the cutting edge of personal-mobility technology.
Apropos of the 2015 Tour de France, now in full sprint, here is a look at the moments, both memorable and regrettable, when carmakers let two wheels run the show:
Aston Martin
With hydraulic disc brake lines hidden in the frame, electric shifting, built-in LED lights and carbon-fiber everything, the Aston Martin One-77 bicycle is about as premium as a road bike can get. Like the limited-edition One-77 supercar that inspired it, the bike is also very expensive, its $39,000 tag eclipsing those of most cars on the road.
Audi
The German luxury carmaker has been busy in the velosphere, recently introducing an e-bike concept in June and, in May, a $19,500 lightweight road racing bicycle. The e-bike (pictured) seems unlikely ever to see production, but Audi says it and its German partner, Lightweight, will build fifty of the carbon-fiber racers dubbed, appropriately enough, the Sport Racing Bike.
BMW
If you can't afford a BMW M3, take comfort in knowing that the pedal-powered version is available for a fraction of the cost. The M bicycles start at $1,350 for the cruiser (pictured) and $3,228 for the carbon-fiber racing bike, which represents rather good value in the brand-extension universe, particularly for something with an “M” on it. To maximize their fealty, Bimmer fans can also purchase a bike lock emblazoned with the company's roundel logo.
Chevrolet
If you need more than just the family Chevy to get around, and you happen to live in Argentina, Chevrolet affixed its bowtie logo to three bicycle models in 2014. Argentine customers can choose among mountain, folding, and children's models, which range in price from the equivalent of roughly $375 to $925. For GMC partisans, however, a licensed (ie, non-official) aluminum-framed 21-speed GMC Denali road bike can be had for less than $200 at your local Walmart.
Chrysler
The Chrysler PT Cruiser was an attempt to reconnect with a bygone era of US automotive design. Some would debate the car’s success in that endeavor, but the 1950s delivery-van simplicity of the Cruiser made a smooth transition to two wheels. The PT Cruiser beach cruiser was much the same as its four-wheeled source material, a low-priced 1950s throwback.
Ferrari
The most revered of Italian sports-car manufacturers has sold a few bicycles in its time. Some, like the $16,750, Colnago-built Di2 racer, were limited-run models built to fit Ferrari's demand-outstrips-supply business model. Not so with its mountain bike-handlebarred, steel-framed bike, which sells for a much more reasonable $520 in the US. If that is not sufficiently exclusive, then Pininfarina, Ferrari's longtime design partner, hand-built thirty bicycles priced at almost $10,000 each.
Fiat
What Volkswagen is to Germans, Fiat is to Italians, so it stands to reason that the macchina del popolo should offer sensible pedal power to the masses. Although the trekking bike would probably not fit inside a 500, Fiat says its folding bike (photo)– the 500 Lounge Model– is designed to stow in the boot, presumably with the hatch closed.
Ford
A well-used Ford Mustang can easily be found on eBay for less than $3,500. Not so with Ford's electric bicycle, a sixty pound, aluminum-framed model that Ford insists could carry its rider anywhere from fifteen to thirty miles, depending on the rider's weight and the terrain, at up to twenty miles an hour. If a twenty-year-old Mustang 5.0 can get you farther faster with more stuff on board, so be it. But the $3,700 electric bike will return much better fuel economy.
Honda
The Japanese industrial giant has cranked out more than its fair share of legendary motorbikes. Bicycles, on the other hand, are not its forte. The Honda Racing mountain bike, while undoubtedly an economical choice for getting around the racetrack paddock, can be had for less than $100. That is, if you can find one.
Hummer
In another brilliant licensing parry, GM forged a deal with Montague, a company that had once tried to sell folding bicycles to the US military. Thus the Hummer Tactical Mountain Bike was born. Although the Department of Defense never issued these to paratroopers, an Amazon.com reviewer wrote in 2012 that he used one "to get around on a base in Afghanistan". From his account, it held up well against the rigors of a dusty climate and long stretches of extreme boredom.
Jaguar
The British sports car manufacturer does not build bicycles, but it allowed Pinarello to use its wind tunnel in 2014 to develop the fearsome Dogma F8 racer. As a sponsor of Team Sky in the Tour de France, Jaguar has also been known to follow its riders with extra bicycles and parts mounted atop a snarling F-type coupe or, less snarlingly but more practical, an XF Sportbrake wagon (photo).
Jeep
If Jeep stands at the apex of American off-road adventure-mobiles, it stands to reason that the brand should carry a line of pedal-powered off-roaders. Named after Jeep SUV models, the bicycles all retail for less than $500.
Kia
Kia went far beyond slapping its name on an inexpensive two-wheeler when it introduced a pair of electric bikes at the 2014 Geneva motor show. With avant-garde styling and a claimed twenty-five-mile range, the models were said to be geared towards urban dwellers keen on avoiding congested roadways and crowded public transport. Such urbanites must still be suffering, as Kia has yet to produce either bike.
Lamborghini
The Lambo of bicycles costs a fair bit, surprise, surprise. But that $32,000 worth of robot-woven carbon-fiber framing and yellow leather-wrapped handlebars were built by Impec, the super high-end division of BMC, a Swiss company that makes bicycles as revered by their riders as Lamborghinis are by their drivers. Impec also only manufactured fifty of the Lamborghini models, so the cachet was woven in, too.
Land Rover
Unlike a Range Rover, which is as comfortable in the city as it is capable off-road, a Land Rover bicycle must be chosen based on end use: street or trail, but not both. Another discrepancy, the two-wheelers are relatively inexpensive. There are city cruisers, folding bikes, mountain bikes and children's models, and none of them list for over $800.
Lexus
Toyota's luxury arm has followed two paths in the cycling world; one real and one fantasy. The NXB Concept mountain bike, unveiled at the Tokyo motor show in 2013, followed the fantasy route, while the F-Sport carbon-fiber road bike (photo) was actually offered for purchase in Japan. And, like the Lexus LF-A supercar that inspired it, it was expensive, with a price tag roughly equivalent to $11,000.
Mercedes-Benz
The three-pointed star may adorn a few of the most expensive cars in the world, but Mercedes-Benz bicycles can be had for a relative song. Mercedes contracts out bike work for men, women ,and children, with the most expensive adult bikes selling for less than $2,000, or about as much as the new set of wheels you might need on your E-Class sedan. The children's bicycles are much less expensive; under $400. But each one is adorned with a prominent three-pointed star above the front fork, where all the other children– and grown-ups– will see it.
Opel/Vauxhall
Who would have guessed that Vauxhall, originator of such mass-market fare as the Viva and Adam, could devise a two-wheeled concept worthy of a design blog’s attention? The RADe concept electric bike looks impressive, even if it never rolls farther than the motor show display booth.
Peugeot
Rest assured the French automaker is still in the pedal-power game. Peugeot has more than fifty bicycles in its catalogue, including road racers, mountain bikes, electric assist models such as the wild AE21 (photo), cruisers, and children's bikes.
Porsche
The Porsche Bike S may not represent the most advanced cycling technology money can buy, but it does have Porsche printed on its frame in rather large lettering. Aside from the name, an aluminum frame, carbon-fiber forks, hydraulic disc brakes, and a belt drive system may be sufficient cause for a $4,450 price tag. But, unlike the corresponding cars, the Porsche bike weighs almost twice as much as the Audi competition, albeit at a fraction of the price. How’s that for Volkswagen Group corporate synergy?
Spyker
Once there was a dream called Spyker, the Dutch company that hand-built some of the most stirking sports cars on the planet. It also, at one point, joined forces with a high-end bicycle manufacturer called Koga to build the Spyker Aeroblade. Only fifty of the titanium-framed super-bicycles were made, more than Spyker's highest annual sales for cars, and they cost about $12,000 each.
Subaru
The successful automotive branch of Fuji Heavy Industries has long been associated with professional bicycle racing, so the company surprised few when it introduced a high-end mountain bike in 2008. The Subaru XB steel hardtail was a limited production model that sold for nearly $3,900, or the approximate price of two hard-living Subaru GL wagons in the Pacific Northwest.
ToyotaRico says he won't be riding any of these, alas, but some lucky (and rich) person will... (And this list seemed endless.)
Toyota's brush with high-tech cycling came in 2011, when it introduced the Prius X Parlee, or PXP, a concept bicycle that could be shifted using mind power. That may sound a bit sci-fi, and perhaps it is, but the idea behind the concept was simple. Sensors mounted in the rider's helmet would pick up neuro-electrical signals and transmit them to an electronic gear shifter. Where is the PXP now? Who knows. Perhaps something more pressing distracted the developers during their mind-control experiments.
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