Costliest bicycle vies with cheapest car at expo

New Delhi: Madone 5.2, a Rs100,000 ($2,500) pedal bicycle launched by India's FireFox Bikes, can go where the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano that comes at the same cost, cannot.

"Madone 5.2 can take you to places where the Nano cannot and with its 20 high-speed gears, it is much faster than the small wonder," said a Firefox official at the Auto Expo 2008 here.

Madone can notch up to 90 kilometres per hour (kmph) through its 20 high-speed gears, the company claimed.

The 'Tata Expo', as Firefox officials prefer to call this annual auto jamboree, may have deflected attention from the bike as well as other worthy products, but Madone's suppliers are not complaining.

This made-to-order bike is a de-tuned version of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's bike - Madone 6.5 SSL - and has a lifetime warranty on the carbon frame.

"As the concept of the Auto Expo is mobility, why not bicycles?" FireFox managing director Shiv Inder Singh told reporters.

He said the firm's participation was aimed at creating awareness among young customers on the need for environment-friendly transport alternatives.