Since the launch of a very special S-Works Venge, Specialized and McLaren have had a bit of history together. Like the S-Works x McLaren Venge, we’ve seen a few ultra high end limited editions spring up from the partnership, and their new Roubaix is no exception. Draped in a coat of Heritage Orange paint, the bike is designed to pay homage to the high performance cars of McLaren’s beginnings, all while offering a high performance ride worthy of the S-Works name…
We’ve seen a lot of McLaren Orange lately from Formula 1 to the Goodwood Festival of Speed – all as McLaren prepared to celebrate 50 years of Grand Prix Racing. Granted, their recent string of engine troubles with Honda haven’t exactly worked in McLaren’s favor, but the good news here is that you are the engine. More over, the color throws it back to a time of dominance for their Can-Am cars in the late 60’s/early 70’s, as well as their cars for F1 and Indy. Perhaps more importantly, the color is a tribute to Bruce McLaren himself, who died while testing the 1970 M8D at Goodwood. In spite of the tragedy, the entire team rallied together, won the first race of the season two weeks later, and ended up taking 1st, 3rd, and 7th in the championship that year.
In addition to the color, Specialized has added a few tasteful details like the polished head badge and hubs to mimic the polished wheels of the time. You’ll also find leather bar tape with orange stitching to tie it all together. Of course, a bike of this caliber doesn’t deserve just any old build kit, so the bike includes a full Shimano Dura Ace Di2 drivetrain with a Specialized S-Works carbon fiber crankset, Roval CLX 32 wheels, and CeramicSpeed upgrades on the hubs and bottom bracket. As expected, this level of performance doesn’t come cheap at $11,500, but hey, it’s cheaper than a 720s, right?
