Potencial: la Specialized Roll es una de esas bicicletas que suma potencial. La mayoría de la gente probablemente aprovechará el potencial de la suya como una herramienta para mejorar la salud, para hacer la compra o para ir de un lado a otro, pero imagina el escenario "¿y si...? ¿Qué potencial podría desbloquearse en esta bicicleta si realmente te lo propusieras? En un intento de descubrir los límites de la versatilidad de la Roll, retamos a nuestros diseñadores internos a crear lo que, a sus ojos, era la Roll perfecta. Sin guardarraíles, sin reglas: sólo hay que abrir la caja de los sueños y construir.

Disfruta de los frutos de este ejercicio -una flota de bicicletas que reflejan realmente el amplio espectro de aplicaciones del Roll- en el vídeo, y lee las inspiraciones y explora más detalles de cada bicicleta a continuación. Desde un corcel para el Burning Man hasta el equipo definitivo para una expedición de pesca, es evidente que estas bicicletas son tan diversas como los personajes que las idearon.

1. “The River Roll” by Eric Jepson

2. “Skaterroll” by Brandon Boswell

3. “Eye Roll” by Jon Takao

4. “The Rainbow Roll” by Alain Lanusse

5. “Dope Soul” Roll by Kayla Clarot

6. “The Roll With No Name” by Dylan Buffington

7. “Booze Cruz” Roll by Jimmy Browning
8. “BKDJ” Roll (Big Kid Dirt Jumper) by Evan Perrone

Fly fishing takes finesse. Its actions are peaceful and serene, much like the environment it occurs in. What better way to get to the river to go fly fishing than with a bike that’s quiet, doesn’t scare off wildlife, and is fully equipped to seek out those Browns and Rainbows? “Access,” as Jepson says, “is everything.”

“I’ve spent many days fly fishing where I walked—in waders—miles of trails and gravel roads, and along rivers and lakes to fish,” he says, when talking of the inspiration for his vision. “I’ve often wished I had a better way to get to those more remote areas, and were able to haul more supplies and gear, to and from fishing spots.” Why? Because the quicker you can do that, the more fishing time you get.

The River Roll is Eric’s answer to his own wish. It’s equipped with ample storage, a rod holder, and an optional cargo trailer to haul whatever you can strap to it. The River Roll allows the angler to comfortably travel faster and farther to those areas that are not accessible by car, or that may be too far by foot. A clear advantage of his Roll is the step-through design and relaxed geo—it allows an angler to ride with ease in full gear, including waders. The rod holder fits a disassembled rod, or rod tube, so they can also keep their hands on the bars rather than awkwardly wrangling a rod while riding.

“Besides being an angler’s dream bike, it can be enjoyed at mountain lodges and resorts or around angling towns and lake communities,” says Eric. As for potential? “This concept could also naturally adapt to other types of sporting recreation, such as camping, photography, or hunting. I wanted this bike to not only convey a fun, rugged feel with colors and textures that reflect nature, but also to stay discrete while fishing.”

If your dream is to become a professional YouTuber, with a focus on skate films on the streets and in the skate parks of your neighborhood, this may very well be the Roll for you. For starters, it’s the best "roadie" to lug all your gear around. It has some rack mods, with an adaptation to carry your deck around, a rack for your camera gear, and even a “skitch” bar to tow around your eager director’s-assistant friend. A secondary bonus—you can also just cruise around town on scouting missions, looking for locations to shoot your skate masterpiece.

“The inspiration for this Roll,” says Brandon, the creator, “was to make something fun to ride to all the local skate spots with the crew. It's the ultimate rig to fuel those that enjoy skateboarding and filming skateboarding, just as much as cycling. Not only is this Roll set up to get you to your favorite spot, but to also carry all of your photo and video equipment, ensuring you get the best footage possible.”

But is this bike guaranteed to turn you into a YouTube sensation? Here’s the prescription: take one Skaterroll, get your board in the bowl, upload the result, and we’ll give you a thumbs up or thumbs down in the morning.

Take approximately 1,000 googly eyes, some fish scale pattern, some glue, a shed-load of Nevadan dust and what do you get? The Eye Roll. While the name might suggest it’s the kind of bike you groan at when you hear the pun, it’s actually derived from the brain-bending eyes that wiggle their pupils around as the rider happily meanders along—in this case, upon the playa at Burning Man.

Dreamed up by footwear designer Jon Takao to serve as his primary mode of transportation for his first ever trip to the desert of Burning Man, it quickly became a labor of intense gluing devotion prior to the event. Evidently, it takes a long time to apply about $80 worth of eyes, procured from a nearby craft store, to a bicycle. The process wore Takao down and, with time running out before leaving for Nevada, he stopped where he was and finished up the back end of the bike with an eye catching, shimmery fish-skin look. “It’s like a fishing lure,” he says. Unfortunately, after 10 days on the playa, that particular design feature isn’t as prominent or flashy as before. The googly, incessantly-rolling eyes are now the lure for a passersby.

This is the only Roll in the collection that was vigorously field tested prior to presentation. The dust has now settled upon this bike to become a key design callout, and whilst the dust-crunchy chain doth protest, you can’t deny this Roll has reached its true, full-Burner potential.

Aunque el nombre evoca al instante el sushi, basta con echar un vistazo a esta rainbow para darse cuenta de que no hace falta wasabi: esta bici ya tiene mucho sabor. Para Alain, el objetivo era sencillo: crear una bicicleta divertida para que su mujer, Nicole, montara con sus hijos y se fuera de aventuras. Tenía que estar preparada para pasarlo en grande, pero también ser capaz de transportar todos los accesorios necesarios para pasar un día divertido con los niños.

"En el fondo, montar en bici es divertido", dice Alain, "así que intenté potenciar el factor diversión. Como ciclistas establecidos, a veces damos por sentadas las increíbles experiencias y la sensación de búsqueda del alma que nos proporciona la bicicleta desde una edad temprana. Intenté captar esta esencia para alguien que es relativamente nuevo en el ciclismo. Quería darle [a Nicole] una muestra de lo que las bicicletas han hecho por mí, e intentar compartir esa experiencia a un nivel emocional. ¿Sabes lo que se siente cuando te regalan una bicicleta nueva y reluciente y no puedes dejar de mirarla? ¿Y cómo esa bici nueva y reluciente te hace querer montar en ella? Esa es la sensación que quiero que tenga con esta bici".

Los colores Hi-Viz y los numerosos y prácticos accesorios de almacenamiento hacen que la Rainbow Roll esté a la altura de las circunstancias, y esas circunstancias son divertirse juntos, en familia.

"You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens."

— Mandy Hale

Namaste. The Dope Soul Roll is a lesson in finding your truth. In designer Kayla Clarot’s case, that truth is a bike with a mellow mood and pure heart. “I chose snowboarder Jamie Anderson as my muse for this project,” she says, “because she not only sees the importance of caring for her mental and physical health, but also this amazing planet that we live on.”

“Being born and raised in a small Californian town, I was able to spend much of my childhood escaping into nature—whether it was snowboarding in the winter, hanging at the beach in the summer, or going to the Central Valley and picking pumpkins during fall. I think growing up with nature being such a huge part of my life, I have grown to see how important it is to take care of our environment, as well as noticing how it takes care of us.”

With this in mind, Kayla found her happy place by incorporating some mood-soothing accents to her Roll, with calming wood and the ethereal colors of Lake Tahoe, then added an air of "Namaste, bitches" to wrap it up. Practical, soul-searching, and as chill as an ocean breeze, the Dope Soul Roll is a lesson in “Om.” Now breathe.

Dylan no dio un nombre a su Roll, pero empezó su descripción de la bici diciendo: "La Roll tiene mucho potencial" y fue entonces cuando me di cuenta. No puso nombre a su Roll porque esta bici se niega a ser etiquetada. Puede ser lo que el diseñador quiera que sea. ¿Y qué quería Dylan que fuera la suya? En pocas palabras: una mezcla de moda y funcionalidad. La funcionalidad era fácil, ya que la Roll puede equiparse con portaequipajes y bolsas para transportar cualquier cosa, de modo que cumple su cometido en la ciudad y le permite desplazarse por ella para ir a tomar un café, recoger artículos de fiesta o simplemente pasar el rato con los amigos. La parte de moda se inspira en el diseñador Dusen Dusen, y convierte a esta Roll en una pequeña funk-fashionista de las calles.

"La Roll tiene mucho potencial", escribió Dylan. "Esto quedó claro cuando nos dieron la oportunidad de fabricar a medida una mezcla especial de bicicletas con clase, cómodas y creativas a nuestro gusto. Al infundir nuestras experiencias y habilidades en un conjunto de bicicletas, somos capaces de tender un puente hacia nuevos mercados y nuevos ciclistas. Mi Roll es una expresión de la conducción no competitiva, con un diseño de gama alta en mente. Porque las bicicletas bonitas no son sólo para el pelotón, y esta Roll quedará bien con el resto de tu equipo".

"Los detalles son más que detalles. Hacen el diseño."

— Charles Eames

"Que empiece la diversion."

— Jimmy Browning

"Soy un chico británico que vive en Santa Cruz, California", dice Jimmy. "Cuando no estoy bebiendo té, mordisqueando bollos o diseñando bicicletas, me gusta ensuciarme las manos en mi estudio de diseño: creo letras e ilusiones dibujadas a mano bajo el alias 'whoisthiskid'. Además, mis otras pasiones son los coches clásicos y mi preciosa familia. Una regla que intento seguir es: 'Crea tu propia diversión, aplica pasión a todo lo que tocan tus manos y nunca olvides los detalles'".

Hay muchos detalles en la bici de Jimmy, y podríamos enumerarlos aquí, pero las fotos lo dicen todo. Y, para ser sinceros, no tenemos palabras para describirla: es una obra de arte que no hace falta estar borracho de buen whisky para apreciarla. De verdad. Fíjate.

"Mi musa para el Booze Cruz Roll es el ficticio director creativo Don Draper, de la serie de televisión Mad Men", dice Jimmy. "Como Don Draper, el Booze Cruz representa una época de trajes entallados, prosperidad y almuerzos con whisky. Es innovadora, sofisticada y se ajusta a las necesidades y deseos de un hombre de publicidad, siendo la sencillez y la hidratación las características clave de su diseño."

Refinada, llamativa y con clase: la tomaremos sola, gracias.

There’s an outlier in every group, and while the designers at Specialized HQ got a crack at designing their dream Rolls, an unexpected submission to the Roll Your Own challenge came from outside the building. Evan Perrone, the Regional Director of Sales for the Central Region, heard about the challenge and set about throwing his Roll into the ring. Or jumping it in, really.

“My inspiration for my design originated with one of my retailers who had a lot of success with Roll. When I asked a staff member about their own, personal like for the Roll, and what their enthusiasm for pushing it heavily on the floor was, he said, “Well look at it—it’s like a big dirt jumper for adults!” BOOM. That’s where the inspiration came from.”

At first glance, you might not even recognize it as a Roll, but hey, you’ll be too busy yahooing over big jumps to think about anyway.