Back in late 2020, Palace rounded out its Rapha collaboration with a few co-branded Cannondale bicycles. Designed for use by EF Pro Cycling athletes, the exclusive bikes were only available to regular customers via a charitable raffle, unless they happened to be Virgil Abloh, naturally.
Probably one of the Off-White™ founder's best Instagram flexes, Abloh's Cannondale (gifted back in January) is a special variant of the Palace x Rapha model that features a few nifty specs that elevate it beyond mere collectible and guarantee it to be much faster than the Supreme dirt bike from a few years back.
It's immediately obvious that Abloh's edition swaps drop bars for custom-gripped Flat 3 handlebars, though it takes a trained eye to realize that his bike also opts for rear gears with a single front chainring for ease of use. Though it retains the same SystemSix Hi Mod frame and aerodynamic HollowGram Knot wheels utilized on the raffled racing cycles (and a Palace water bottle), exclusive verbiage on the down tube denotes that this is Abloh's bike and Abloh's bike alone.
Abloh is, of course, no stranger to one-offs and special editions — his own signature is a favorite bit of customization. Not only does Abloh own plenty of exclusive luxuries himself, but he's a famously big fan of cooking up creative one-offs for his equally cool pals. Remember Brooks Koepka's custom cleats? How about Drake's multi-million-dollar jet?
No, Abloh's Palace Skateboards x Rapha x Cannondale bike isn't up for grabs, but there are plenty of speedy SystemSix cycles that are race-ready and available for purchase.
