Canyon reveals custom painted bikes for Rio athletes

Following in the footsteps of the recently announced Scott custom painted bikes for the Rio Olympics (who followed in the footsteps of Specialized painting its bikes red for London 2012), German direct-sales brand Canyon has revealed details of the bikes its sponsored athletes will compete on next month.

Canyon will supply these custom painted Aeroad and Ultimate race bikes, which take inspiration from the colours of the Brazilian flag to the 20 road racers and triathletes sponsored by Canyon, including Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodriquez and Simon Spilak. It says the bikes are one-offs so presumably, that means you won't be able to buy these bikes, which would be a shame as we rather like the colour.

- Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 6.0

And like Scott, Canyon has coined a hashtag (#uniteddream) that it hopes fans of the brand will use during the Olympics. Canyon reckons its athletes are “unite in one dream - an Olympic medal” and it’s “committed to helping athletes from across the world achieve that dream.”

- Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 9.0

There are strict branding rules at the Olympics and it’s the reason Specialized cleverly decided to paint all its bikes bright red for the 2012 London Olympics, and it worked, with the bikes really standing out in the peloton. If any more bike brands release specially painted bikes that take inspiration from the host nation of Rio, it’ll be one of the most colourful road race pelotons we’ve ever seen.