As I mentioned yesterday, we live in a surreal world here in Bergamo, Italy. Here’s the backstory about how we ended up with this announcement today. Three years ago I first approached BMW, because I have always enjoyed driving a BMW car. I like its unique combination of performance, comfort, luxury and style. “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, as their slogan goes.
My idea was to collaborate on a project and let BMW customers experience the fun and freedom of gravel riding. As you can imagine, inside a huge company like BMW even just finding the right person to talk to can be an adventure.
Many discussions, ideas, approvals and more approvals would follow (they test and certify every little part on the bike, even if we have already. Really a great learning curve for a company like ours to go through, and helpful for all our regular projects). Then a few months ago, March 16 was picked as the day we would announce our project to the world.
And then Corona arrived, and Bergamo became the epicenter of the pandemic. Yet we still announce today. Why? Well firstly, because changing something with a big company like BMW is complicated and secondly, because doing nothing for a few months isn’t really an option.
As mentioned before, we have to keep our employees safe but also employed. That means that for all of us here, just like for our customers, suppliers and partners like BMW, it’s best if we somehow move on within the safety restrictions we all adhere to.
Back to the bikes. It felt like a great honor when BMW agreed to let us design a ‘3T for BMW’ bike. I saw a perfect fit for a special edition 3T for BMW Exploro, our “Ultimate Riding Machine”. With two striking designs and special components to further boost the performance AND luxury, these new bikes stand out from the pack.
The 3T for BMW Exploro is based on the fastest and most aerodynamic gravel bike frame on the market, and build with the world’s lightest aero carbon crank (made in 3T’s Italian carbon factory), an exclusive Brooks saddle and matching Brooks leather handlebar tape. The bike is finished off with Fulcrum wheels and Schwalbe G-One Speed tires to ensure a secure grip with maximum speed on any terrain. The Shimano GRX groupset specially developed for gravel bikes completes the bike. Full specs of the grey/grey/mint bike here, full specs of the grey/blue version here.
I am proud of the end result: 100% Sheer Cycling Pleasure!
The 3T for BMW Exploro retails for € 5.499 / US$ 5.499 and is available through select BMW dealerships, select 3T Experience Centers and online from 3T.bike (CLICK HERE for the grey/grey/mint version and CLICK HERE for the grey/blue version). 3T launch partners are:
United States
Finland
Germany
the Netherlands
Belgium
Croatia
Italy
Taiwan
Japan
Korea