Mercedes-Benz Carbon Bike

Mercedes-Benz continues to leverage their brand with expansion into new product categories.  The new Mercedes-Banz Carbon bike is ultra light weight and a priced accordingly at $3,650.

From GizMag:
Carbon fibre has some extraordinary properties in that it is very light and very strong. It is also very expensive, so it only gets used where the amount of money spent is immaterial compared to the performance of the product. Mercedes Benz currently uses carbon fibre in just one of its products – the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, the world’s first production car with a bodyshell made entirely of carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is also used extensively in the McLaren Mercedes F1 cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. And later this month a second Mercedes-Benz product will be unveiled that is constructed mainly of carbon fibre – the Carbon Bike, the new flagship human-powered Merc. Thanks to its ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre frame, this US$3665 thoroughbred weighs in at a mere 8.3 kilograms.

The new Carbon Bike is the highlight of the 2006 Mercedes-Benz Bike Collection. Systematic use of lightweight construction techniques and its exclusive high-end equipment make this bike, the first racer produced by Mercedes-Benz, an attractive proposition for both ambitious amateurs and experienced professional racing cyclists. The centrepiece of this racer is an innovative monocoque frame made of carbon fibre.