EF x Rapha x Palace x Cannondale x Off-White? Virgil Abloh posts his customized 2020 EF Giro bike
"BICYCLE"
Photo by:
Instagram/Virgil Abloh
Last year, EF, Rapha and Palace Skateboards released a limited edition Giro D’Italia kit. Fans’ opinions were completely divided between loving the kit and hating it, and it caused the team to receive a fine from the UCI. The kit sold out in minutes when it went live on the Rapha website.
RELATED: EF’s bold Palace kits and bikes will help grow the appeal of cycling to more people
To go with the special edition kit, Cannondale (EF’s bike sponsor) created special edition SystemSix, SuperSix EVO and SuperSlice bikes, decorated with a decal design and a checkerboard fork.
Cannondale released a limited number of the bikes, one of which went to Virgil Abloh, artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection and founder of Off-White. On Tuesday, Abloh posted a series of photos on his Instagram showcasing his ride.
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“Hits that ‘Leave Meeting’ button on Zoooom” Abloh wrote on the post.
The Cannondale SystemSix frame is unconventionally spec’d with flat bars and 1X SRAM Force gearing.
The Frame has some subtly hidden text that reads: “Cannondale for Virgil Abloh, CANNONDALE/RAPHA/PALACE, Giro d’Italia, c. 2020.”
Cycling looks
For his ride, Abloh wore high-vis yellow cycling gloves, Oakleys with a clear lens and a Giro helmet with high-vis yellow details matching the gloves.
The bike has flat pedals, so Abloh wore Tom Sachs x Nike Mars Yard 2.5 sneakers, but, stressfully, he left them slightly untied as he biked along. Adding to the look, but also increasing the danger of getting something caught in the drivetrain, he wore loose-fitting Arc’teryx pants.
Abloh also posted some photos of the smooth and quiet country roads he rode on during what looked like a perfect day to take out the bike. The location is tagged as ‘Planet Earth’, so it’s hard to guess where he was riding, but it was possible outside of his hometown of Chicago.
His label, Off-White, did make cycling caps in 2018, but (as of now) there have been no official announcements of an Off-White collaboration with cycling brand.
