Sotheby’s is getting ready to auction off Lance Armstrong’s custom Trek bicycles on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 7pm in New York. Proceeds will benefit Livestrong, and all seven custom bikes are there to bid on: Yoshitomo Nara, Kaws (above), Shepard Fairey, Damien Hirst, Kenny Scharf, Mark Newson and even the Project One time trial bike that was stolen from the Tour of California! Here’s Lance’s letter about the auction, more pics of the bikes after the break:
It’s not about the bike. Never has been. But if 2009 taught us anything, it’s that change is truly the only constant in life.
When I returned to professional cycling this year to address the global cancer burden, I needed every bit of ammunition I could find. To help engage the creative community in this mission, I invited six very different artists to customize my Trek racing bikes to raise awareness for the STAGES art show benefiting LIVESTRONG that debuted in Paris during the Tour de France.
Presented in conjunction with Nike and featuring more than 20 of the most important established and upcoming artists in the world, STAGES brought an incredibly diverse range of painters, sculptors and photographers together in a visual dialogue about cancer – a disease that touches everyone and is expected to be the leading cause of death worldwide by 2010. The results were nothing short of incredible, and these bikes you see now proved to be the perfect rolling billboards for this unprecedented collection.
I’m not a gearhead, and my garage is anything but a cycling museum, but I can honestly say that letting go of my bikes has never been harder. From Damien Hirst’s masterpiece Tour de France “finale” Trek Madone covered in real butterflies, to the KAWS “Chompers” cycle that I broke my collarbone on in the Vuelta Castilla y León, every ride is a treasured piece of personal history that I’m proud to offer up to benefit LIVESTRONG.
Each of these artists gave their time freely to this cause, and, because of their generosity, all proceeds from the sale of these bikes will go directly to help LIVESTRONG continue to inspire and empower people affected by cancer. Through the dollars that we raise, we’ll increase awareness, fund research, and work to end the stigma about cancer that many survivors face. For the first time in my life, I can now say, “it’s about the bike” and mean it.
Please bid generously and LIVESTRONG,
Lance Armstrong
Hit ‘more’ to see the rest of the bikes…
Click any of the images to enlarge.
Kenny Scharf – Trek Equinox TTX
Mark Newson – Trek Speed Concept
Yoshitomo Nara – Trek Speed Concept
Damien Hirst – Trek Madone
Shepard Fairey – Trek Madone
Project One – Trek Speed Concept
Download the Auction Catalog as a PDF here, it’s got a great little background story on each bike and artist, and it has an absentee bid form and phone bidding instructions if you want to get in on the action.
