With their recently released debut bike costing a chunky €14,900, French brand Heroïn could use a unique sell to get a few more orders out the factory gates. Not that the remarkable aerodynamic dimpled finish on their framesets and wheels isn’t striking enough, it's just that a quick spin around the carpark behind the bike shop is probably a poor way to decide whether it’s worth dropping that sort of cash.
To give riders a better understanding of their latest bike they’ve partnered with multi-day sportive series, Haute Route, to allow riders to preview a bike specifically tailored to the event.
Taking in extended week long tours of the Rockies, Pyrenees, Alps and Dolomites, along with shorter three day forays around Mont Ventoux and Alpe d’Huez, the bike, called the Heroïn HR, will be available to test during the mountainous stages of all six of this year's events.
Marc Simoncini, founder of Heroïn explained: 'We decided to revisit our H1 model in order to create a unique design for the Haute Route.
'Made specifically to excel in the mountains, the rigidity of its bottom bracket combined with the flexibility of the top tube, and aerodynamic benefit of the honeycomb textured carbon make the HR an ideal climbing bike.
'The HR was designed specifically for participants in the Haute Route, which is viewed as the Holy Grail of amateur racing.'
While Heroïn has brought their latest bike in a couple of thousand euros cheaper than the H1, with custom carbon rims laced to tune hubs, an integrated carbon bar and stem and Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset replete with a Rotor InPower meter it’ll still set you back €11,900.