Aurumania


This track bike was advertised to the public on 7 Sept 2008 by the Swedish firm of Aurumania. The name is a compound of "aurum", the Latin word for gold, and "mania". The bike is gold-plated. No kidding. It comes in two models; 'plain' gold-plated, or gold-plated with Swarovski crystal-studded lugwork. No kidding. The plainer version has top quality aluminum components; on the crystal version, even the (metal) components have been gold plated.

The components include Brooks saddle and leather handle bar grips. Track version only.

The company announced that only ten exemplars of the crystal version would be produced, and only 50 of the 'plain' version, so exclusivity is guaranteed. I don't suppose that any owner is actually going to ride one of these; they appear to have been designed to hang on the wall. A wall mount is available from the manufacturer--in matching gold plate, of course.

For more information, visit their web site Aurumania.com, which is the source for the fotos below. The original web site had fabulous graphics: the image of the bike could be rotated through 360 degrees by clicking on buttons. Alas, this feature has been removed.

The price? As Andrew Carnegie once said about yachts, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. In this class of collector's item, either you simply have to have it, or you don't--the price is irrelevant.

Personally, The Editor would prefer the plainer version, not the crystal version, though a Rohloff gold chain would go well with either one. If any of the 60 owners would like to submit a bike for review, you know where to reach me. I promise to 'road test' it only indoors.