Creator Stories: Where Art Meets the Ride

The S-Works Tarmac SL8 LTD Artist Series brings together three creators from three continents, each bringing their own world of ideas, experiences, and perspectives to the fastest race bike in the world. As artists who ride and riders who create, they were invited to interpret One Bike to Rule Them All through their own vision, shaping designs inspired by the movement, clarity, and feeling they find both on and off the bike.

Explore their stories and discover the vision behind each limited-edition frame.

Art, connection, and the courage to move through the world with an open heart.

For Lucas Beaufort, cycling changed the way he experiences the world. He rides everywhere. Through the streets of New York while working on creative projects and on long journeys like his ride from Normandy to the Côte d’Azur. On the bike, he sees more: the energy of a city, the movement of people, the details that might otherwise fade into the background. Riding makes him more aware, more open, and ultimately more inspired.

Lucas sees a natural link between cycling and creativity. On the bike, his mind clears; inspiration arrives afterward in the glow of the cycling high. He loves interacting with people as he rides; matching their pace, sharing a moment, moving together across the landscape. Every ride becomes a line drawn through the world, a rhythm he later translates into his work.

The design for his S-Works Tarmac LTD began with a simple idea: unity. Through his signature character, Gus Gus, Lucas expresses what he believes life is about: sharing, caring, and bringing people together. His frame carries that message forward, shaped by a style rooted in lived experience, skate culture, and a lifelong refusal to let go of his dreams. He grew up hearing that his ambitions were unrealistic, but riding — and creating — kept him moving.

When Specialized asked him to join the Artist Series, the decision came easily. As someone who rides often, the bike already held meaning. And with full creative freedom, he crafted a design filled with hidden layers and quiet symbols, inviting riders to interpret the art in their own way.

More than anything, Lucas hopes this bike sparks curiosity. That it encourages riders to explore, to look closer, to connect, to spread a little love. One word captures it for him: hope. Hope that movement can bring us together. On the bike and far beyond it.

Rhythm, movement, and the quiet focus found on the road.

For Yoon Hyup, cycling began as a way to reset, a simple routine that became essential. When the pressure builds in the studio, the bike brings him back to center. Early laps in Prospect Park, long rides to Nyack, and climbs in Seoul when he is visiting home all help clear the noise. Riding reminds him to trust the process, stay grounded, and return to his work with a clear mind.

On the bike, his thoughts drop away. The road, the wind, the feeling of moving forward take over. Sometimes there is a calm that feels cinematic, other times a shared rhythm forms within a group ride. He does not chase inspiration while riding, yet it arrives naturally. Colors on asphalt, the blur of city lights, textures, shadows, and shifts in speed stay with him. In the studio, those impressions return through the brush as rhythm and motion.

Yoon Hyup sees strong parallels between riding and creating art. Both require steady effort, consistency, and belief in the next step. In the studio he works like a stage race, finishing what must be done each day, returning the next morning, and continuing forward. Cycling taught him that discipline fuels progress, and that mindset shapes his art.

The design of his S-Works Tarmac LTD comes from the feeling of moving fast through the city, both quiet and sharp, almost like a stealth form in motion. Dawn rides, night air, and streetlights stretching into a runway became the foundation. He translated that energy into color, line, and texture, first by hand, then refined in collaboration with his wife in their Brooklyn studio. Hidden elements throughout the frame reflect layers of his riding life, from moments of calm to symbols of strength and spirit that have stayed with him over time.

Working with Specialized felt natural. The SL8 was already the bike he imagined customizing long before the collaboration existed. With rhythm and direction aligned, the frame became a place where his movement and the speed of the Tarmac meet in a way that feels unmistakably his. What Yoon Hyup hopes riders feel is simple: the energy. The impulse to take the bike outside, to feel the flow, to move with intention, and above all, to ride safe. One word captures the collaboration for him: synergy, the feeling of rider and bike becoming one.

Speed, clarity, and the clean rush of being fully in the moment.

For Parra, cycling opened up a world he had barely explored. Before he started riding, he describes himself as a home and studio person, someone who stayed within the same small circles of his city. His first road ride changed everything. Even without going far, he felt hooked immediately. Riding became a way to break out of his universe, to see more, to move with purpose. It is freedom mixed with speed, a combination that keeps pulling him back.

When Parra is on the bike, his mind goes quiet. It becomes just him and the machine. Focusing on his legs, the traffic, the pace. No room for overthinking. The inspiration arrives afterward, carried in the cycling high that follows effort. That clarity mirrors how he draws. Getting into the zone, shutting out the noise, letting rhythm guide the work. A fast ride resets him in the same way, clearing the fog so he can return to the studio with a sharper mind.

He approached the design of his S-Works Tarmac LTD with the same honesty. The graphics are curvy, hand drawn, and instantly recognizable, rooted in the visual language that has defined his work for years. He added hidden typography and refined logo elements, tucked in plain sight for anyone willing to look closer. The goal was to create something modern and intricate, something worthy of the SL8, a bike he already rides and loves.

Collaborating with Specialized felt natural. The Tarmac has long been one of his favorite bikes in the peloton, from Nibali and Sagan to Cavendish and Evenepoel. So when he was approached for the Artist Series, the answer was immediate. As an owner of a Tarmac himself, the project felt like a continuation of a relationship he already had with the bike.

What Parra hopes riders feel is simple: excitement. The urge to jump on the bike and chase the speed. One word captures the collaboration for him, natural. Cycling culture has inspired him for years, making this design an extension of everything he already loves.