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FEATURES: BEING THERE: MILANO BIKE SHOW, PT. 1
Zap
July 25, 2011
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The DeRosa King RS was one of the more beautiful bikes at the show. To see what we said about the bike in a test last year, check out Road Bike Action DeRosa.
While most eyes were trained on the waning days of the Tour de France,
that didn't stop Italy from hosting its annual bike show in Milano. This
years 69th annual show marks a new beginning for the show which has
traditionally run concurrent with the famous Milano Motorcycle show. Now
moved to a new venue, the Fiera Milano City, the show was small but
still full of some of the biggest names in Italian cycling.
The reasons behind who shows and doesn't show at the various bike
conventions has as much to do with cost and dates as it does politics.
To a brand, everyone I spoke to said they felt it was important to
support the Milano show as the city is famous for so much cycling
history. As opposed to their American counterparts, and like all other
Euro shows, the Milan show was open to the public which is always a
great way to keep the enthusiast base up on all the latest products.
Regardless of all the background stories, here's the opening salvo from
the 2011 Milano Bike Show.
Here's just some of what we saw...
The DeRosa Idol spec'd with their Arc Style Geometry and their own Vision wheelset. The melding of the integrated seat tube into the seatstays and top tube is as perfect as they come.
The DeRosa Scatto Fisso Pista bike is a fabulous example of combing simplicity & beauty. Ugo DeRosa is one of Italy's renowned legacy frame builders and their factory is located in Milano. For more info, DeRosa.
Selle Italia has decided to license their Monolink SLR saddle and post out to a handful of key builders - here's the DeRosa version.
Santini clothes are the official garments of the UCI and the Giro d'Italia. They have been producing high tech garments in Italy since 1965. There are three levels of clothing available: E1, E2, and E3, each with an impressive level of technical design and fabric use. The E3 spec is the most relaxed fitting of the three.
Santini founder Pietro Santini poses with his limited edition Gianni Bugno jersey.
For the last few years Santini has released a special limited edition jersey to mark a special occasion in cycling history (last year it was 500 pink jerseys). Since 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of Gianni Bugno's World Championship title, they are producing 1000 wool rainbow jerseys that have Bugno's name embroidered on the chest and is packed in a celebratory tin box.
Pietro's daughter Paola shows off an E2 jersey which proudly displays their "Handmade with passion in Italy since 1965" logo.
What better way to grow a Giro fan than to start them young! For more info: Santini Cycling.
Santini clothing is as Italian as it gets.
This is FSA's managing director Claudio Marra showing-off the view from atop his brand new, two story race truck that attends a variety of cycling events. Besides handlebars, stems and cranks, FSA has a host of new parts ready for 2012 including their new BB386 bottom bracket, and variety of Vision wheels as used by Team Katusha.
Okay, so maybe not all the bikes are beautiful, but apparently when you hang the "art" tag on something you can charge over $50,000 for it!
Look for more reports from Italy to come soon.
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