Threatening to become the most talked about bike of 2009, Lance Armstrong’s custom liveried Trek Madone 6.9 Pro has been creating quite a stir. It was first publicly aired in the Tour Down Under where Armstrong made his return to racing.

The bike sports some pretty special decals. They all have a meaning, with 1274 alluding to the number of days Armstrong had been retired before returning to racing and, more pertinently, 27.5; the number of people who worldwide have succumbed to cancer, 27.5 million.

The bike was created by Trek’s Project One, a service available to all Trek customers that allows any Trek frame to be completely customised. Painted in Trek’s Waterloo, Wisconsin facility, no decals were used, instead a complex series of paint masks, each letter, logo and design element being masked to size, painted and then covered for the next layer. It took Trek 40 hours.

More at www.trekbikes.com and www.livestrong.com