Earlier this week we saw that McLaren got together with Specialized to make their exquisite Venge road bike. Apparently Audi felt left out of the party, and has announced the fruits of its collaboration with Portland bike-maker Renovo: the “duo” series.
The bikes’ primary differentiating feature is, of course, the wood frames. Audi has built them out of “woods selected to match the look of Audi vehicle interiors.” One assumes they also picked the wood based on its strength and weight, but they don’t really mention that.
It comes in three flavors: City, Sport, and Road. The duo City has a belt drive mechanism and internal 8-speed Shimano gearing, and the Road is a more traditional 20-speed. The Sport is… wait, there’s no information on the Sport at all. I’m guessing it’s a more downhill-oriented bike with fat tires and perhaps some shocks
At around $6500 for the City and $7500 for the Road, I’d say these are definitely “message” bikes. If I felt like spending that much on a bike, I’d go with the Venge, personally. I’ll still go with Audi for those skis, though.
[via CNET]