Page 42 - Bespoke Issue

arm pivots under the bottom bracket, you drop the seat post and the carbon handle bars unlock and swing down. If you are stowing the bike for travel, in a suit case for instance, then the seat post can be removed further reducing the folded size. The Hummingbird weighs in at just 6.9kg and folds to roughly 85x55x20 mm.
It was easy to see the attraction of this machine for Prodrive as it does not look out of place being built in their facility. Petre’s development workshop is a small room looking out across the main car preparation area, which he admits is a pretty good view; whilst we were there the Aston Martin GT Endurance cars were being prepared for the forthcoming season. As we were taken downstairs through the car preparation bays, past the museum like line up of historic winning cars, including the Metro 6R4 and the Rothmans Porsches, past the new GTE Aston’s and secret rally project behind some screens, we went through the door to the engineering technology side. This is where Hummingbird is built, racks of lovely carbon bre components surround the assembly benches as these fabulous, insect like creations take shape. The paint nishes are as good as any car, she’s available in four solid colours but the raw lacquered carbon nish just looks so sexy. It’s not cheap, but nothing that’s really worth having is, the standard single speed will set you back £3,495 and four speed comes in at £3,750 which in terms of serious road or mountain bikes is mid-range, you pay your money and take your choice... oh and you need to add another £500 for the raw carbon nish as it looks super cool.
Both Jenny and I rode the Hummingbird around the Prodrive carpark, and we both agreed it rides well, even though both cycles we are used to are opposite ends of the spectrum. It certainly had a very solid feel, the carbon frame gave it the stiffness I’m used to from my carbon mountain bike, the gears were smooth, not quite at my Shimano XE trigger level, but great for road use. The small diameter wheels gave a great response and although we didn’t get near the 5 seconds folding time, it certainly didn’t take long. Generally folding bikes are functional and very ugly, the Hummingbird is better than functional and looks like a serious piece of design, the smooth arch of the frame into the rear swing arm and small wheels give it a distinctive slick look. As a commuter bike its perfect and you’d certainly be the envy of the train carriage and the cycle lane on your way into the city. For us, I can't wait to fold one into the boot of a supercar, or a medium suitcase and use it to ride around the circuits and paddocks this season.
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WORDS CRAIG BLAKE-JONES IMAGES JENNIFER SCHAUERTE