You bought a Bugatti Chiron but need the bike to match? A new UCI-illegal limited edition Factor One

What happens if one of cycling’s most performance-focused marques teams up with a venerable supercar brand in the pursuit of producing a race bike without compromise?

You get the Bugatti Factor ONE, and scant change from €26,000.

This isn't the first time we've seen a car-bike brand collaboration. And whilst the right pairing can produce some exceptional results, plenty don't. What this particular one clearly is not, is simply an exercise in rebadging an existing bike.

Not only did the duo remove any financial restrictions in the pursuit of excellence, they also threw away the UCI rulebook, too. With the shackles off Bugatti and Factor could flex its engineering chops and, as a result, push the boundaries of elite-level bicycle design.

According to both parties the project was “born from a shared philosophy of obsessive attention to detail and performance without limits”, with every element of the Bugatti Factor ONE “meticulously engineered to deliver uncompromising aerodynamic efficiency, stiffness, and ride quality”.

The ONE turned heads on its release, and perhaps raised a few eyebrows in the process, but here, in a limited run of just 250 units, it might just have found its true identity as a superbike par excellence. While the radical fork design of the original still sat within the UCI parameters here the fork stance has been widened further to achieve lower drag and greater stability at high speeds, regulations be damned. Add in the gullwing cockpit with fully internal cable routing and a frankly ridiculously deep headtube and you have a front end that’s as aerodynamically advanced as it currently gets.

The fairing ahead of the brake caliper is also an addition. We reached out to David Millar who confirmed that it's not just aesthetic.

"The duct acts as a conduit for the airflow, and there is a slight camber on the outer inside edge which purposefully steers the airflow in."

The engineers, Millar confirmed, told him they had tested it, and liked the results they saw in CFD, but it was left on the table in the development of the original bike as it couldn't be made to work within the confines of the UCI regulations.

The bike is pretty expensive of course. But given the exorbitant price tag, it’s fair to say that those who purchase the Bugatti Factor ONE will probably be more concerned with the amount of bling present, rather than how many watts they might save. The exclusivity is manifested in that price but it’s really to be found in the incredible level of detail throughout.

It starts with the finish of the frameset. The two-tone split graphic is a signature of Bugatti’s automobiles and here you get a special 3K twill weave on the outer layer of the carbon alongside a royal blue, which the brands say “accentuates the bike’s sculpted surfaces and aerodynamic forms, creating a dynamic interplay of light and shadow that mirrors the Bugatti’s hyper sports cars.” You also get Bugatti’s dancing elephant symbol on the headtube, created by the artist Rembrandt Bugatti, brother of the brand’s founder, Ettore.

The Black Inc Bugatti Hyper 62 wheelset is equally extravagant, blending engineering prowess with aesthetic sensibilities befitting the hyperbike concept. Despite the 62mm deep rim, the wheels weigh less than 1300 grams for the pair thanks to an advanced carbon layup and co-moulded rim-to-rim carbon spokes. The result is a high degree of torsional stiffness but also less mass, which should make for a wheel that’s effective under load, stable in crosswinds but still sprightly. Importantly for a bike such as this they look as fast as the marketing copy states they are.

Many of the components continue the collaborative theme. The SRM Origin PM9 powermeter is paired with a THM crankarms and Carbon-Ti chainrings, the latter featuring 3K glossy structural carbon fiber, titanium teeth and a Bugatti logo. The Italian brand also makes the disc brake rotors which have a central carbon body alongside the steel braking track. The SRAM Red shifting is optimised by the inclusion of a Ceramicspeed OSPW.

The saddle is courtesy of another Italian brand, with the custom Selle Italia Carbon shell wrapped in the same Alcantara material used on Bugatti steering wheels.

The tyres are custom too, developed in partnership with Continental specifically for the project, using a blue sidewall, 30mm version, of the Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR designed to match the frame’s colourway.

"The Bugatti Factor ONE is not simply a bicycle. It is a statement," says Rob Gitelis, Factor Founder. "This project challenged us to rethink every assumption and push engineering boundaries in the same way Bugatti has done in the automotive world for over a century."

In Europe the Bugatti Factor One will retail for €25,799, while in the US it will be $23,599.