Olympics: Japan track cyclists hope pricey bikes are gold standard

Japan's track cycling team has a new, exclusive and incredibly pricey weapon in its arsenal at the Paris Olympics: bicycles that cost more than some luxury cars.When Japanese riders hit the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome outside Paris from Monday, they hope to have an edge provided by their 19.85 million yen ($135,000) steeds.When thousandths of a second can be the difference between being an Olympic medalist or an also-ran, bicycle technology becomes all the more important."The higher the level of competition (where speed is at a premium), the more performance the bicycle can deliver,…READ FULL ARTICLE