The Wheelmen Custom Bike Is for the True Connoisseur, Costs $35,000

To be sure, it was never the priciest because other people thought of making bikes out of solid gold before this one, but it still stood in a class of its own.

You can see the video below: there’s the bike, which is said to be hand-assembled in Detroit, out of parts shipped in from all over the world, covered in expensive real leather, and dipped in copper (though 2 Chainz mistakenly assumes it’s covered in rose-gold). It costs $35,000 and, on the first short ride with the rapper, it manages to come apart.

A little digging around reveals that the bike was something called The Wheelmen by Williamson Goods, a company from Detroit, Michigan. Out of the automotive city came a luxury sports goods maker that wanted to make a difference for the one-percenters, and The Wheelmen was the perfect example. Their $6,250 football made of actual crocodile skin is another.

Only 30 units were announced, 10 for each color combination available, with each unit customized down to every small detail. Anything on the bike, from the frame size to to the gear system, brake levers, pedals and cranks could be assembled to the future owner’s exact specifications. After all, when you pay this kind of money, you more or less expect to receive the literal bike of your dreams.

“Each Wheelmen bicycle is a custom-built masterpiece,” Williamson said at the time of the bike’s launch in 2017. “The lavish finishings and details of this exceptional bicycle ensure that The Wheelmen is both work of art and mode of transportation like no other.”

As of the time of writing, the official Williamson Goods website is no longer online, and the social media accounts associated with the company haven’t been updated since 2018. We’ve reached out to them in the hope of getting more specifics on The Wheelmen and will update this accordingly should we get a response.

Until then, we have this gem of a video below.

The item shown in it was custom made for 2 Chainz, or so the Williamson Goods rep claimed. It came with a Sturmey-Archer five-speed hub imported from Asia, tubing from Italy, the Brooks saddle from England, and it had been chrome-dipped in Detroit. Also here, it was wrapped in hand-sewn python skin and came with a saddle of crocodile skin because, the rapper was told, whoever rides this bike doesn’t want their one-percenter butt resting on a regular rubber or even leather saddle. Those are for peasants.

It also had a standard set of accessories like a matching leather bag at the back of the saddle, a center kickstand, a front carrier rack, and a matching beverage canister. The copper-black combination was meant to give it an air of exclusivity, but the general aesthetic ends up being more on the tacky side, at least from a distance. In photos, the details are quite stunning. Despite this bike being built for 2 Chainz, the geometry seemed off, and he didn’t look exactly comfortable riding it.

But the worst of all was the fact that the bicycle, despite being marketed as the epitome of luxury and craftsmanship, was not able to complete a short test ride without losing parts (his foot was too big for the pedal, 2 Chainz was told). In fact, that’s part of the reason for this cover story: like in every other industry, putting together a product that is visually striking and expensive is no guarantee of good taste or good quality.

Or, as 2 Chainz, ever the poet, puts it: “For $35,000, this motherf***er better fit. This motherf***er more than a Chrysler, man.”