Factor is bringing some cartoon color to the Tour de France Femmes, with two custom Factor ONE aero bikes dressed up in SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star custom graphics – and they look amazing.
Battlefield Bikini Bottom SpongeBob or Patrick Star
Human Powered Health will race the SpongeBob version, while Ma Petite Entreprise gets the Patrick Star bike. Both are built on Factor’s ONE aero platform, which gives the artwork plenty of real estate across the deep fork legs, broad tube shapes, and aero frame sections.
The bikes use artwork from Jason Freeny’s XXRAY series. The design gives familiar characters a split-view, part-cartoon, part-anatomical look.
On the Human Powered Health bike, that means plenty of SpongeBob yellow and blue, with character graphics worked into the frame and fork. The Ma Petite Entreprise bike gets the Patrick treatment, with pink and purple tones and matching details across the same Factor ONE chassis.
Still A Proper Race Machine
Under the paint, these are still proper race bikes. Both teams are SRAM-sponsored, so the bikes will run SRAM Red AXS drivetrains, along with Black Inc 62 wheels from Factor’s in-house component brand.
Not The First Time
It is not the first time Factor has gone big on limited paint and artist collaborations. The brand has done high-profile projects before, including the $25,000 UCI illegal Bugatti Factor ONE. Plus earlier this season Human Powered Health and Modern Adventure Pro Cycling raced Factor Monzas with graphics from Belgian artist Vexx at Paris-Roubaix.
This one is different, mostly because it puts world renowned characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star into the middle of a prestigious WorldTour-level race. The Tour de France Femmes already brings plenty of special bikes and sponsor tie-ins, but this should be one of the easiest to spot in the bunch.
Special paint at the Tour is nothing new, but Factor went a little further than the usual color fade or team-edition decal package here and I’m totally here for it. These are full-character builds on one of its fastest race bikes, and love it or hate it, nobody is going to miss them – especially the kiddos watching.
The Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS SpongeBob SquarePants Edition and Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS Patrick Star Edition are available for sale in very limited editions when you visit factorbikes.com or an official Factor dealer.