Remembering Ferrari’s Rare Foray Into Cycling. Remembering Ferrari’s Rare Foray Into Cycling.

Best known for F1 and other motorsports, of course, few Ferrari fans will have experienced the Scuderia’s occasional forays into the world of two-wheeled vehicles. But it’s true: Ferrari once released their own bicycle, complete with the famous Prancing Horse livery.

Hitting the Road

Regarded as one of the finest engineering teams in F1 and motorsport as a whole, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Ferrari did make a foray into competitive cycling.

Automotive manufacturer Citroen have featured prominently in cycling bets thanks to their link-up with AG2R, while Ineos – who have launched their Grenadier 4×4 – have contested the sport’s Grand Tours for a number of years. Whether Ferrari could topple Team Jumbo-Visma, whose rider Jonas Vingegaard led the way in the Tour de France 2023 odds from the start before hitting -100000 by Stage 17, remains to be seen.

But Ferrari have previously released their own officially-endorsed bicycle. They teamed up with another legendary Italian brand, Bianchi, to create a range of road and mountain bikes back in 2017.

Engineers from Ferrari’s R&D team were involved in the project and collaborated on the performance-level bike that came finished with the traditional red livery. Upon release, the bike was available to buy for a rather cool $18,000.

The two firms also partnered up for the SF01 project, which was launched to celebrate the birthday of Enzo Ferrari in 2020. Limited to just 12 bikes worldwide, the SF01 used game-changing production and some F1 specs to produce a road bike that weighed just 780 grams.

This wasn’t Ferrari’s first foray into the world of two-wheelers. Piero Ferrari once gave express permission to David Kay to build a Prancing Horse-endorsed motorbike in honor of his late father.

The gorgeous 900cc bike, which boasted a top speed of 164mph, took 3,000 hours to studiously build from scratch. It would later find its way to auction, where it would change hands for $110,000 to its lucky buyer.

Bike Battle

A number of F1 drivers, including Charles Leclerc, are known to be keen cyclists.

In fact, you’d often see the Monegasque man cycling around F1 tracks as part of his big race preparations – using two wheels to propel him around his track walks rather than two feet.

But then, in March 2023, FIA chiefs made the bizarre decision of banning bikes and other vehicles, such as e-bikes and scooters, as part of a team’s pre-race prep.

This incensed a number of drivers, not least Leclerc, who hit back at officials by declaring ‘you probably won’t see me around the track anymore’ in advance of race weekend.

In May, Leclerc was photographed riding his bicycle around the streets of Monte Carlo ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, while F1 even shared a video to their YouTube channel of the 25-year-old and Carlos Sainz riding around the Losail circuit ahead of the 2021 Qatar GP.

It’s rare that the worlds of F1 racing and cycling collide, but when they do Ferrari – and Leclerc – have been at the forefront.