Green Daily

To my mind, there is no sexier exercise than bombing down a trail on a beautiful, speed hungry bicycle. A close second might be cruising into the office on a sleek, speed hungry bike. It most certainly is not watching or participating in wrestling, judo, football, baseball, swimming, running or fencing. Soccer is sexy, too. But I digress.

My point--and I do have one-- is that a great bike is good for the body, the sex appeal and the environment. (You knew I was getting to the environment, didn't you? I know, we're predictable on GreenDaily.)

Take the Orbea Ordu a Spanish bike designed for time trial road racing. The bike was designed to have as little drag as possible, using wind tunnel testing. Carbon fiber Zipp wheels and brake and suspension cables tucked within the frame of the bike are just a couple of more subtle design features.

The bike itself is made of shapes you've never seen on a frame before: teardrops, rhomboids and airfoils. The Ordu was designed in a wind tunnel.

Personally, I'm dying to check out the Specialized S-Works Ruby SL. It's specially designed for women's bodies--longer legs, shorter torsos. Hopefully they figured out that lower center of gravity thing, but I haven't tried it.

This bike is for professional road racing and riding. Los Angeles traffic and Swiss Alps beware! The frame is carbon with titanium where metal is absolutely necessary. The carbon absorbs vibrations and cuts down on weight. The bike also uses rubber inserts along the tubes behind the seat, in the seatpost, and in the front fork.

If only my job was to test bicycles I would put the Calfee Bamboo Bike next on my list of those to try. This bike is actually built from bamboo. Bamboo is an incredibly strong building material. It's also lightweight and absorbs shock. The company designs its bikes for individual users, so it's built for your height and weight. It also provides a ten-year warranty on the bamboo frame.

How could you not want to try a bike made of renewable materials that qualifies for professional road riding and racing?

There are more high-end beautifully designed bikes to get you down mountains and through traffic on Fast Company's Web site.