Eric’s FiftyOne

This week’s Bike of the Week is Eric’s customised FiftyOne road bike – a bike that showcases that a custom bike build doesn’t just mean a unique frame size and custom components, but it is a process whereby the bike’s frame is your canvas. And Eric did just that, telling the story of his life on beautiful carbon fibre.

“At 5 foot 10, I can fit well on most stock frames,” said Eric. “I just never saw the need for one [custom-built bike]. But I now realise it’s not just about the fit, it is about the personality of the bike matching yours.”

But this is the very joy of being able to customise a bike. You want a stealthy looking bike? We can do that. You want hi-vis pink? We can do that too. Over the years we’ve worked with incredible artists who have brought our customers' visions to life, most of the time exceeding expectations. Touches such as initials or a small symbol adds another layer of personalisation. But Eric took this element of personalisation to another level and every detail on this unique bike tells a tale of a life lived to the fullest.

The first thing that catches your eye is the beautiful colourway – Maserati Rosso Magma – the colour licensed by Ferrari. Eric chose red for his bike because he recalled memories of his very first bike, gifted to him by his grandparents at the age of six. His grandparents have now passed and he has not had a red bike since, instead opting for unpainted titanium frames or pure black carbon. But for this very special bike, he wanted to bookend the latter half of his cycling journey with another red bike. Plus, being an avid motorsports fan, owning a Ducati and Maserati, what better colour than a three-stage pearlescent red? “So damn good Ferrari had to licence it,” Eric said.

The other colour to don the bike is gold, a colour representative of Eric’s passion for collecting vintage watches as well as metals such as zinc, which happens to also be Eric’s nickname. This is a nickname he acquired when he played college hockey in the US and has stuck with him throughout the years. To honour this nickname, it is not just the colour way that is representative of this, but there is also the symbol for zinc on the seat tube.

Another passion of Eric’s documented on this bike is his love for music. He plays the bass guitar and is influenced by three rock groups. The first memento to these bands is the way Eric’s full name is etched into the frame’s top tube, inspired by his favourite band, A Perfect Circle. The second is the three runes along the top tube as well which represent the band RUSH and their 2012 album, Clockwork Angels. These runes are said to depict the passing of time over one’s life, something that Eric finds very meaningful at the age of 56. The middle rune also means Aquarius, which Eric is, but is also associated with someone who has been at the top of their game. The rune near the steering tube also symbolises the sun or gold, representing balance between strength and warmth.

The front of the bike also links to Eric's love for rock music as it features the logo of the group TOOL and the group’s masterpiece Fear Inoculum. The emblem almost looks like a syringe to bring fear into the mind – something Eric said perfectly portrays his mountain top descents and town line sprints.

The top tube features a line arrow, something that is used in underwater cave diving to show the diver the way out of a cave. Eric was a professional diver in his twenties and he has placed hundreds of these line arrows to help him out of stressful situations – saving his life in some cases. He wanted to include this on the top tube, facing forward, because he wanted to remind himself to stay courageous and that the road ahead is the way he wants to go.

Towards the back of the bike on the side of the seat stay is a purple band, representative of his time doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. One final touch Eric wanted to include was the number 617 on the fork. This number represents the number of skydives he has done over his lifetime, a memory which he will cherish now sporting a titanium hip replacement which may prevent him from adding to that number.

Every detail on this bike means something to Eric, and everytime he looks at this bike, he’ll not only be in awe of its beauty but he’ll remember all the amazing memories he has carved out over the years and how on this bike he’ll carve many more. We’re so happy we could make this dream a reality for Eric and could really bring his personality into this FiftyOne bike. We will certainly remember it as one of the most unique and meaningful custom builds we’ve ever done.