Canyon rolls out a range of special tartan paint jobs for select athletes at the Glasgow World Championships
(Image credit: Canyon)
The Glasgow UCI World Championships this year marks the first time championships for all cycling disciplines have taken place at the same time, in a combined 'mega championships.'
The championships will no doubt see Glasgow and various parts of Scotland enjoy a festival of cycling and Canyon has decided to get involved, celebrating Scotland's rich heritage with a series of limited edition tartan-themed paint schemes for selected athletes as they do battle along their respective race routes for a coveted rainbow jersey.
It would appear to have ended the decades-long search for tartan paint, but the long weight, sky hooks and skirting board ladders remain at large.
Tartan itself, defined by the Oxford dictionary as "a pattern of squares and lines of different colours and widths that cross each other at an angle of 90 degrees, used especially on cloth, and originally from Scotland," carries a strong cultural significance in the country, and stretches back several hundred years.
We understand it's also fairly tricky to make the pattern fit and look good around a curved tube on a bike frame.
This silver and black Aeroad features Van der Poel's name on the top tube (Image credit: Canyon)
Canyon certainly has a history of wild paint jobs in relation to big events. As recently as the Tour de France Femmes, it supplied Kasia Nieuwiadoma with a polka-dotted Ultimate CFr, and going back to the Tokyo Olympics it was Anime for Annemiek (Van Vleuten) that stole the show.
One custom Canyon paint job that is not forgotten easily is the (get ready) Humuhumunukunukuapua'a fish-inspired Speedmax that was launched at the Ironman World Championships in Kona late last year. The latest tartan bikes look just as striking but it seems Scotland lacks a long-named national fish to name them after.
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The custom bikes feature the tartan patterns in various colours and designs as well as the names of the riders, and we understand each model will be ridden by at least one rider in a range of disciplines.
Various mountain bike riders will be on custom bikes also, in particular Australian downhill favourite Troy Brosnan, whose frame features below.
Downhill rider Troy Brosnan's bike features a yellow, black and grey colour scheme. (Image credit: Canyon)
The Speedmax TT frame gets a green and black tartan on the top tube (Image credit: Canyon)
Mathieu van der Poel will also be racing in the road and MTB XC disciplines at the world championships and as such will be the only rider with a custom tartan bike in two different disciplines, racing the Lux CFR mountain bike and most likely the Aeroad road bike for the men's road race.
Rumour has it that Canyon will also be launching a new Speedmax CFR track bike around the event. We expect this frame will feature the same tartan detailing, but we don't have any more details currently.
We don't know whether any of the designs will become publicly available, but keep your eyes peeled if you fancy a wee tartan beauty of your own.
A green and black tartan Speedmax (Image credit: Canyon)
Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
