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Heroin Bike Project, a limited & luxury take on aero road

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The brand Heroin was created as a project of a successful French businessman and avid cyclist, after him coming together with a materials engineer working on cycling R&D. The concept was to develop a new ultimate bike that benefited from the latest in carbon, aero tech, and aesthetics, but in the end was able to produce that rare simple pure riding experience that just couldn’t be lived without… hence the addictive drug name. The result is a limited edition bike, designed in France, crafted in Italy that applies a few innovative solutions in its luxury ride…

heroin-bike-project_limited-edition-luxury-aero-road-bike_studioBuilt to be a high performance bike, the Heroin Bike starts with a high stiffness:weight ultra high modulus carbon frame built in Italy with a combination of monocoque and tube-to-tube construction.

To balance stiffness with slippery performance in the wind tunnel, the bike combines some unique tube shaping at the front of the bike with what they call a ‘honeycombed’ texture of dimples on the bike’s leading edges. Molded into the frame, fork, and rims these shallow dimples break up the air moving across the tubing for decreased drag, much like we’ve seen used by Zipp for a couple of decades. Added up across the complete bike, the texturing is said to reduce drag to the order of 10%.

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The frame itself has profile not so different from some of the big name bikes we’ve seen in recent years, and includes a slightly dropped set of seatstays around an integrated seatpost clamp. Those stays taper to a tiny section at the dropouts to max out comfort, while tall boxy chainstays and an integrated bottom brackets do the same to ensure good power transfer. With an integrated fork and stem spacer design, the bike has a claimed weight of 750g in a size medium.

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No weight claim for the straight blade, tapered fork, but it does get a unique set of windows at the rim. They are designed to smooth airflow at the rim, where you have wind clashing as the wheel spins forward with rotation at the same time as the bike moves forward into the wind.

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In addition to the hi-mod frame and fork, Heroin has also had their own post and bar/stem made by their team of Italian craftsmen. The carbon seatpost is a fairly straight forward two-bolt offset design, while the bar is more unique. The carbon handlebar and stem are semi-integrated, which does away with the forward facing bolts, but does mean that adjustability goes away too. The bar itself has a compact bend and a wide flat, forward-sweeping top, and combines with internal routing channels and the internal routing panel of the stem for a super slick look that only exposes the front brake loop.

The Heroin Bike also gets its own custom wheels with the same aero dimpling pattern that makes its way down the leading edges of the frame tubes. The hi-mod, high temp resin rims with their specially developed carbon braking surface are hand built with 20/24 CX-Ray spokes and lightweight alloy hubs.

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The bike is available in 5 stock sizes across its limited 349 piece production, but built to each rider. Each frame is fabricated and tuned to the weight and riding style of the buyer and gets individually numbered, before being delivered with a lifetime warranty, with approximately a one month delivery time. The 14,500€ Heroin Bike is available as a complete bike only with a complete Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset including pedals, Rotor InPower crankset, and Hutchinson Fusion clinchers, and claims a complete weight of less than 6.5kg/14.3 lbs. The Heroin Bike is available to deliver worldwide.

Heroin-project.com

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Corey
Corey
7 years ago

That name is a bit tasteless.

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
7 years ago
Reply to  Corey

but its still better than calling campagnolo, campy campo campag etc etc

Pierre
Pierre
7 years ago

Possibly the most tasteless name for a bike, in so many ways.

Maza
Maza
7 years ago
Reply to  Pierre

“in so many ways” .. so what other ways than the drug?

Pedals
Pedals
7 years ago

We can all agree that this is the stupidest of names, right?

postophetero
postophetero
7 years ago
Reply to  Pedals

@Pedals–yes it is a ridiculous name, I don’t see how it is kitschy, funny or ironic on any level.

Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
7 years ago
Reply to  postophetero

With that name these are going to sell tons in Seattle and Portland.

Ryan
Ryan
7 years ago

Yeah, ‘cuz junkies have lots of spare cash to buy high end bikes, right?

Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan

Assuming all heroin junkies are cash poor is a bit, off.

Matt
Matt
7 years ago

Yes, we can agree.

Colin
Colin
7 years ago

It’s better than “Broken Bonez”

In all seriousness though, I would love if more companies would do more limited run, super high end frames. People who are into bikes always complain about how expensive top tier stuff is but you never here people complain about cars like the McLaren P1, most car guys are just happy it exists, and freak out at the chance to see one.

Maybe I’ve been in the industry too long and am too jaded, but the current state of top tier bikes is a little meh.

Dale C
Dale C
7 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Funny you say that. A guy on a car forum I frequent owns the special edition McLaren Orange S-works that Specialized sold a few years back that was a package deal with orange S-works shoes and orange Evade for $20k. He also happens to own an orange McLaren P1 (in addition to a LaFerrari, FXXK, Aventador SV, and a few other race cars and exotics lol).

Colin
Colin
7 years ago

Also Di2? do they know their audience at all, Super Record EPS or GTFO

ebbe
ebbe
7 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Just have it swapped out for R/SR EPS by your LBS, and you’ll have a “unique in the world” bike 😉

Maza
Maza
7 years ago
Reply to  Colin

my first thought also. hand built in Italy and no campa groupset?

riley martin
riley martin
7 years ago

yes we can agree. I agree….but its called “reversing the heat”……and the fact that it is the “stupidest” name…it is emblazoned in your head right now…..you’ll never get that brain space back…..

Lucas Carl
Lucas Carl
7 years ago

Open up some competition… “Meth Bicycles”, “Cocaine Fabrications”, “Opium Composites”, “Molly Bikes”

Maza
Maza
7 years ago
Reply to  Lucas Carl

Molly Bikes isn’t bad actually

Frank G
Frank G
7 years ago

It is better than the Ultegra version…which is called “Meth”.

nycebo
nycebo
7 years ago

I actually think the name is humorous and fun. Very tongue in cheek and oft used around NYC to describe coffee, best doughnuts, etc. Plus, the bike is spectacular. If I hadn’t just taken delivery of an F8 late last year, I’d be all over this.

Brian
Brian
7 years ago
Reply to  nycebo

Sure, who wouldn’t be willing to drop $15,900 (at today’s exchange rate) on a bike that nobody has ridden, based strictly on marketing hype?

gringo
gringo
7 years ago

I am guessing that all the comments about this bike having a bad name all originated in the United States. Being offended seems like a national pasttime there.

I say gimme more wealthy chaps who commision cool stuff. Trickle down tech is OK by me.

postophetero
postophetero
7 years ago
Reply to  gringo

You’re right gringo–I’m more than perplexed by a “wealthy chap” who would pick such a crap name for a passion project. I am not personally offended by the name–most of us just think its stupid which in some ways is worse than being offensive.

Colin
Colin
7 years ago
Reply to  gringo

I don’t think anyone is offended, just that it’s not a great name. That being said I think Lightweight, AX Lightness, and Zipp are all lame names too, but you can’t argue with the products.

Maza
Maza
7 years ago
Reply to  gringo

You know you can disagree with something, or have a strong opinion, WITHOUT being offended, right?

U.D.
U.D.
7 years ago

“Team of Italian craftsmen…” Looks like a Sarto.

rexated
rexated
7 years ago

Well I guess it would be bad marketing to call a carbon bike frame ‘Crack’. ‘Blow’ might work for the aerodynamic aspects, and ‘Bump’ for the compliance of the frame.

Lovely looking bike.

Andy
Andy
7 years ago
Reply to  rexated

Or, wait for it….. ‘Speed’.

OGMarkV
OGMarkV
7 years ago

Dimples on the leading edges of shapes…not the trailing edge? And no Kamm tails or similar conventional aerodynamic strategies? At the least the handlebar seems reasonably clean, but apparently aerodynamic is the new “laterally stiff, vertically compliant”

Greg
Greg
7 years ago
Reply to  OGMarkV

I thought the same thing. “ultra high modulus” too… And the pic shows conventional lug construction, not tube to tube ( where the tubes are mitered to fit right next to each other and then wrapped in carbon and re-cured).

Jonas
Jonas
7 years ago
Reply to  OGMarkV

Dimples should be on the leading portion, they are there to delay layer separation. If they are behind the point of layer separation, they have no use anymore.

Pete
Pete
7 years ago

That frame looks like it has elements of Storck’s Aernario.

kavitator
kavitator
7 years ago

it is….beatiful

Ashok Captain
7 years ago
Reply to  kavitator

+1 +1 + 1

Coffee Lover
7 years ago

nice bike, asinine name. heroin has nothing but negative connotations, particularly for those of us who have lost loved ones to that that drug and/or who have kids who have gone down that path.

sdfad
sdfad
7 years ago

Pay double the price for a Canyon Ultimate CF SLX with a stupid name. Sign me up!

Larry Falk
Larry Falk
7 years ago

Bike looks great. It just needs some color.

Jack Moore
Jack Moore
7 years ago

Me like. Beautiful and unique

gatouille
gatouille
7 years ago

Not convinced

Chi Zhang
7 years ago

really no stack and reach measurements?

Dominic
Dominic
7 years ago

decades? plural? I know time goes by at an unmanageable rate but Zipp introduced dimples in 2006. 1 decade max.

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
7 years ago

but its still a better name than calling campagnolo , campag campy campo ad nauseam

andy
andy
7 years ago
Reply to  blah blah blah

Really? Campy is a registered trademark of Campagnolo.
https://trademarks.justia.com/760/55/campy-76055313.html

beau clark
beau clark
7 years ago

It’s a better name than “Moth Attack”

Brian
Brian
7 years ago

Maybe they should just call it “Hype”. Compared to other similar bikes on the market, there’s essentially no value here other than the exclusivity of only 349 being built, which seems as stupid as the name. There’s no new tech, nothing special in the specs and no data on how it rides. It seems like a real “sucker bet” for people with more money than they know what to do with. Chances are that most of these will end up hung on a wall and rarely, if ever, ridden.

Sure, it looks nice, but there are dozens of bikes that are at least as visually appealing.

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