In a sea of carbon, oversized tires, and gravel worthy machines, there is always some eye candy at Interbike, and nobody does it better than the folks who bring us Ferrari, MV Agusta, and great hair. When you look at something and immediately consider the passion that went into its design, you have to stop and stare. Elite’s old school aluminum bottles and cages make you want to build a bike around them and Italjet pulled the Italian wool over our eyes with the Ascot drawing our attention away from its main feature!
Vedere le bellissime moto oltre il confine……
Going to totally throw myself under the bus here. Even after walking around and staring at Italjet’s Ascot for several minutes, I did not realize this was an E-bike using the really cool NuVinci auto-shifting N360 motorized hub until I got on the Italjet website. After a few days of wandering Mandalay Bay’s floor, things can become a blur, but never would I think I would miss something like that. On top of it being distracting, they did a beautiful job hiding it…. literally!
The leather tank bag hides the battery in plain sight. Upon zooming in, the key not only opens the bag, but it is also the on/off switch for the bike’s motor. All of the leather components are made by A.G. Spalding & Bros. from New York except the Brooks saddle.
Even the display (which prompted me to dig deeper once I noticed it wasn’t a phone cover) is tastefully covered in leather and the clock top-cap, takes the cake.
Here is a video of the details of what went into building the Ascot. *drool*
And more pics.
Sharing importer Albabici’s booth were more Italian goodies from Alfa Romeo and Elite, plus a few other goodies that’ll find their way into other roundups.
Albabici’s Abarth Fat Bike was another take on some Italian flare, but was nothing out of the ordinary other than some bold graphics. Though pretty cool looking given the history of Abarth, the bike was an aluminum frame built with a 24-speed Acera group.
Elite, who many know for their trainers, also make some pretty nice accessories including waterbottle cages. These beauties are a part of their rightfully named L’Eroica line. They just look nice and inspire one to build up a vintage racer from the 20’s around them.
