Factor Bikes and Paul Smith collaborate on limited edition Ostro VAM

Factor Bikes, the performance bicycle brand, and celebrated British designer Paul Smith, have announced the Paul Smith Edition Factor Ostro VAM – an exclusive limited edition colourway.

This collaboration is a celebration of Smith’s love of colour and Factor’s engineering expertise.

Each colour block is inspired by bikes loved by Smith both past and present, both in colour and texture.

Featuring shades of blue, greens and the venerated Paul Smith pink, high-shine and matte lacquer finishes add another layer of contrast to areas of raw carbon visible through clear gloss.

The location of the colour blocks throughout the frame reflects the way Factor’s engineers lay up carbon fibre in the Ostro VAM mould to achieve its smoothness across all road surfaces.

Smith chose to highlight the positioning of these different sheets of carbon fibre and draw a parallel with how patterns are cut and constructed in clothing design.

Sir Paul Smith, said: “I used to be a cyclist as a young man, and I’ve stayed close to the whole world of cycling.

“Factor is a company whose technological approach to their bike making has been really impressive, and so it’s with great pleasure that I’ve customised one of their new bikes. I hope you like it.”

A number of Paul Smith design features are integrated throughout the frameset.

A gold foiled signature logo is central to the Black Inc bars, a Signature stripe runs down the seat post, plus abstract scaled-up Signature logos are positioned across the forks and downtube.

To complete this collaboration, Paul Smith and Factor’s component and accessories brand, Black Inc, worked closely together on an exclusive bar tape design featuring embossed Paul Smith logos on the tape and bar end caps.

Rob Gitelis, CEO of Factor Bikes, added: “Paul Smith’s passion for cycling and racing heritage is no surprise, but working so closely alongside him and his team on this limited edition design has illustrated how deeply into the detail and DNA of performance that this passion runs.

“It was particularly fitting that the special edition bike had its racing debut at Le Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium, followed by Le Tour de France Saitama Criterium in Japan this coming weekend – ridden by one of the greatest racing cyclists of this era, seven-time Grand Tour winner and Factor investor, Chris Froome.”

The Paul Smith Edition Factor Ostro VAM is available exclusively from Factor dealers and select Paul Smith stores worldwide.

It can be purchased as a frameset, frameset with Black Inc Forty Five disc brake carbon clincher wheelset, or as a complete bike in sizes 49, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 61.

Pricing, geometry and details of options including SRAM and Shimano groupsets are available online at Factor.com

The Paul Smith Edition Black Inc Integrated Aero Bar stem and Paul Smith Edition Black Inc Bar Tape are also available to purchase separately.