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No one could have realised the impact Ernesto Colnago was to have on the design and production of road racing bicycles back when he was a boy on his parent's farm in Cambiago, Northern Italy during the 1940's.
Turning his back on continuing the family's farming traditions he went to work in a local small bicycle factory which he then turned into a shop where he could service the local's bicycles.

Like many young Italian men at that time Ernesto Colnago had dreams of becoming a professional bike racer and enjoyed some success until a particularly bad accident scuppered his dream leaving him with a broken leg. At this point he chose to focus solely on bicycle components and mechanics and joined a racing team as a mechanic. The team enjoyed success and rose to prominence when the famous Eddy Merckx joined - infact it is one of the most iconic teams of its time and one most afficianados of cycle sport have heard of - the mighty Molteni squad.

Ernesto Colnago didn't just service the bikes for Molteni, he started making the frames as well. Originally they were painted in the colours of the team and had the team branding on them but eventually people were clamouring to find out who was making the frames that Eddy Merckx was riding and winning aboard.

With Eddy's compulsive attention to detail and Ernesto's engineering genius an awesome partnership grew - Eddy could tell Ernesto exactly what he needed from a frame in order to be the most successful cyclist that ever raced meaning Ernesto could build it exactly to his specifications and would in turn go on to develop one of the most prestiguous bike brands.

Look out for a future article on the Colnago frames that have been ridden at the very highest levels of the sport

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Gianni Bugno, born on the 14 February 1964, was one of the top Italian cyclists of the early 1990s at a time when the Italians were head and shoulders above everyone else.

He rode with a  great talent and class and always demonstrated a  pure and rare elegance.  He was al considered ccasionally fragile, thereby capable of alternating prestigious wins with periods of obscurity. Considered one of the last older racers who could compete at the highest levels both in the classic one-day stage race and three weeks grand tours , and to win time trials, mountain stages and reach a final sprint, participating increasingly in all major Cycle races of the season. He even experimented with good results in six days track events during the winter cementing his place as an all rounder.

Bugno showed great promise as an amateur, with victory in the prestigious GP Liberation in 1985 and then becoming professional in the the same year, achieving 72 victories.

He now works for the Italian television station RAI piloting their helicopter to film the Giro d'Italia.

Major wins

* Victory in the Tour of Italy in 1990, wearing the pink jersey from first to last stage, putting his with the greats Constant Girardengo, Alfredo Binda and Eddy Merckx.
* Two world championships, won consecutively in 1991 and 1992, plus a third place in 1990.
* Four wins in World Cup races: the Milan-Sanremo and the Wincanton Classic in 1990, the Clasica San Sebastian in 1991 (with 30 km of solo attack), the Tour of Flanders in 1994 (beating Johan Museeuw in a photo finish) . In 1990 he also won the final standings of the World Cup. Also ranked second in the Amstel Gold Race in 1993 and in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and in the Championship of Zurich in 1995. But has never succeeded in obtaining an important result on home soil in the Giro di Lombardia, which in those years finished at Monza where Bugno has lived for many years.
* Tour de France hewon the second place in the overall standings in 1991 behind Miguel Indurain, and third in 1992, preceded by Indurain and Claudio Chiappucci. He also won two consecutive years (1990-1991), the stage of Alpe d'Huez, one of the most prestigious in the world.
* Two victories in the Italian National Road Race Championship (1991 and 1995 Giro del Friuli Trofeo Matteotti).
* In addition to three consecutive Tours Apennines (1986-1988), two Coppa Agostoni (1988 and 1995), a Giro del Piemonte (1986), a Three Valleys Varesine (1989), a Giro dell'Emilia (1992), a Milan -Turin (1992), a Giro del Lazio (1992), 9 stages in the Giro d'Italy, 4 stages of the Tour de France, 2 in the Vuelta.

Between 1990 and 1991 was number 1 in the UCI world rankings.

In August 1994 he was found positive to caffeine in a dope test and was suspended for three months.

On 12 April 2006 he was awarded the gold part of the U.S. Apennines Pontedecimo Section Cycling for winning three times in succession, the Tour of the Apennines (1986, 1987 and 1988), as well as finishing second in 1989 and 1991. Previously this award was given to Alfredo Martini, Giambattista Baronchelli, Francesco Moser, Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi, Michele Dancelli, Gianni Motta and Italo Zilioli.

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If we ignore the cheaper supermarket style high tensile steel frames and look at the classic steel alloy frames which are often a mixture with chrome, manganese, nickel etc we can see the the recent successful utilization of aluminium and carbon fibre meant that steel had to raise its game to keep up in the bike frame business.
Go back to the 80s and Reynolds 531 and 753 and Columbus SL and SP dominated the racing market. Look at the 1990s and beyond to see Reynolds and Columbus joined by a multitude of other tubing manufactuers whilst expanding their own offerings of tubesets to satisfy a greater demand of rider's requirements. Touring, mtb, track, time trialing all require slightly different tubesets.
In addition to the wider selection of steels consumers are also faced with a wider choice of tubes made from the materials. Plain guage and double butted have been supplemented by a wide selection of different buttings and profiles.
To a great extent steel had become unfashionable amonst riders which means it becomes fashionable for restorers. Newer materials are often pushed as being 'better' , however its certainly worth remembering that good steel tubes remain eminently suitable for bicycle frames. They also usually offer the answer when the question is quite simply "what frame should I get?"

For: Strong, Cheap, Stiff, Repairable
Against: Rust

Good examples of steel frames for restoration projects

Easy: Raleigh, Bianchi, Colnago, Merckx, Peugeot
Harder to find: Masi, Botecchia, Pinarello, Moser, ciocc, wilier,
Great if you can get one: Legnano, Roberts, Mercian, Hetchins

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The name Atala was considered one of the great manufacturers of Italian bicycles, particularly racing models of the past. It was founded by Cesare Rizzato in Padua, Italy.

Since the early twentieth century Atala ran its own cycling team, participating in the first editions of the Tour of Italy and having success to win the unusual competition for teams of 1912.

Following a high period which saw many victories on the road at some of the world championships in the 80s the company hthen experienced a period of crisis, being sold by the Rizzo family in 2002, forming the new group Atala, owned by a group of owners of Milan and Banca Antonveneta. It is currently owned by the Turkish company Bisiklet Bianchi, with Turkey being almost the entire centre of production, so famous an Italian brand with production in Turkey.

Today Turkey produces mainly a leisure bike with various lines, but imports from China also accessories, spare parts and items for fitness.

Atala also diversified like many other manufactueres into motorcycles.
From 1938 to 2002 was a remarkable motorcycle production in the field of small displacements and some models were powered by the electric motor.

From our point of view looking at classic bikes Atala was definitely a full range manufacturer. They did produce entry level models and during the 1970's bike boom these models were barely above department store models. These bicycles left a lot to be desired, but they attracted the customers, because the Italians made sure they emphasized the cosmetics with lots of chrome and elegant paint. During the 1980s there were many lower mid-range model made which can still be picked up today and restored into an interesting project. During this period many of the Italian manufacturers simply named the bicycle based on the tubeset and/or grouppo eg Atala Aelle Triomphe. It may have been Campy Triomphe or Gran Sport equipped but more likely it was Campagnolo derailleurs mixed with various Miche, Gipiemme, Modolo, Ofmega and/or Universal componentry. If you are lucky enough find an old Italian frame to work on you might want to consider sourcing these components to keep it unique.

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It is thought there were around a million two-wheelers operating in Europe in the late nineteenth century, but at this point nobody had yet built one in Italy until a young mechanic in Milan could be classified the equivalent of what Henry Ford was for the United States, came up with the most revolutionary idea of his time, to build high-quality bicycles.
His name was Edoardo Bianchi and he was born in Milan on 17 July 1865. With no news about his origins or his family he grew up in the "Martinitt" (of which he was throughout his life one of the most generous donors) where he had been taught the rudiments of mechanics. The young craftsman had a premonition about the future of mechanized transport when, in August of 1885 he opened a shop in Milan, in Via Nirone n.7 to and between medical and wheeled carriages, bells and kitchen equipment, he happened to have to repair bicycle.
He understood immediately that the velocipede, with its efficiency, simplicity and self-propelled engine would be the future of transportation and he concentrated all his efforts on it, developing a philosophy: to only build high quality with the best materials available.

Already in 1888 his reputation had spread throughout the city so he had to expand with a factory opened in Via Bertani. Business was good and his reputation grew in tandem with the advances of his bikes. He was, for example, the first to adopt that very year, the invention of Scottish veterinarian John Dunlop's inflatable tyres and to offer its customers this avant-garde product.

He again expanded his store by moving to the Via Borghetto when they happened on two occasions he was able to exploit surprise and achieve a turning point for his company.
The first was when Queen Margherita, on holiday in Monza, called him to the palace. The request was to teach her to ride a bicycle. Edoardo hastily built a bike for the sovereign which was of course adorned with blue and gold crest on the frame of the House of Savoy, It also had knobs of ivory and Edoardo Bianchi took her to a wooden box lined with red velvet .
The impact of this was dramatic. Bianchi was awarded the title of "Official Supplier to the Royal Household" and it was even necessary to form an assembly line to meet the demands of bicycles the same as that of the queen who also came from Spain, France and Portugal.

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Legnano (pronounced Len-yan-o) has been one of the largest manufacturers of bicycles in Italy and is also known for having long had a vrey successful cycling team.

In addition to making high end race bikes, Legnano also produced leisure bikes, keeping unchanged for a long time the colors and graphics on the frame, a particular color green which even today is associated with the Italian brand.

The image of the company was a badge which represented an effigy of Alberto da Giussano, which until the 1960s, models were made of brass and affixed the head tube. Over time this was subsequently replaced by badges or stickers.

The brand Legnano has been taken over by fellow Milanese bike producers Bianchi, who today continues to produce a line of racing bikes under the Legnano brand aimed at the medium level racing market.

Present as a team since the first editions of the Tour of Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century, Legnano emerged in the decade preceding the Second World War thanks to riders like Gino Bartali. In the late '30s he was hired as an amateur along with Fausto Coppi, who, past professional won the Giro surprisingly in 1940.

The success that pro racing results bought Legnano meant that it still has a place in the heart of many Italians of a certain age. For those growing up during the 1950s and 1960s a Legnano bicycle was the machine to aspire to and with a price of several months the average wage it was a dream for many Italians to own one.

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Colnago is an Italian manufacturer of high quality racing bicycles founded by Ernesto Colnago in 1953.

Originally set up as a workshop  over the years Colnago have become one of the leading global manufacturesr of racing bikes.

Colnago split the early years of his career between working in the shop and  participating in various bike race competitions including the Tour of Italy. Later on the Colnago factory was putting out such mechanically very high level bikes that they were even used by the Italian national team. They evn produced bikes that brought great champions to victory in stage races and world championships.

In 1970  the company took a new symbol, the ace of clubs which is now throughout the world associated with the Colnago.

In 1972 the bike was produced for the record hour attmempt by Eddy Merckx. It was very innovative for its time with a great deal of materials research behind it, thanks to special tubing and the use of components extremely relieved and thanks to the work Colnago staff to file the welds, it came to weigh only 5500 grams.

In 1974 the name of the Colnago was associated for the first time with an entire professional team and in particular, that of Giuseppe Saronni, who  got the biggest wins of his career on Colnagos

In the eighties Colnago took a very thorough job of researching new innovations in materials research resulting in them coming to use carbon fiber and even a collaboration with Ferrari since 1986 in research.

At this time dates the start of production of the Colnago Master, a frame that has made history, with its tubing cold drawn, particularly from the "star", which Saronni won the Giro d'Italy. Particularly the fork introduced then, which had the feature of having the stems straight and not curved as in all other bikes. This feature became a prerogative of the Colnago since then.

In 1989, the collaboration with Ferrari, was born on the C35, a frame to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of Colnago, available in both a racing model and mountain bike.

The use of the material changes dramatically in subsequent years, moving from steel to aluminum, but especially to carbon fiber. However, Colnago retains its role in the market for top of the range bike, with the production of C50 in 2003, the fiftieth anniversary of the company.

Now for a little conundrum...Should you ever put Shimano components on a Colnago or is it heresy to have anything other than Campagnolo on it!?

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Bianchi's  activities in 1899 expanded the areas of motor vehicles with the production of cars and motorcycles under the name of Edoardo Bianchi  Cars and Cycles. In 1914 it produced 45.000 bicycles, 1,500 motorcycles and 1,000 cars.

Bianchi is dedicated to cycling and those of this sport among its ranks the most important bearers Tazio Nuvolari. Remarkable was also the construction of vehicles for military use during World War II. After the war, Bianchi contributed to reconstruction and Italy with the motorization Bianchina Motoleggera 125 cc, a small auxiliary engine to be applied to bicycles.

The part of the company that was solely involved with the construction of the four wheels vehicles  after initially joining of forces with Fiat and Pirelli all'Autobianchi who gave birth in 1955 was completely sold to two partners in 1958.

In 1959 Lino Tonti arrived as Bianchi's technincal director : with him a house in Milan takes effect; from the disgner's pencil rose the twin-cylinder DOHC 250-350-500 marking the return of the Grand Prix Bianchi (1960), the MT61, motorcycle for the Italian Army, the scooter 80 and the Teddy Bear Silas 175, motoleggera pitch sports. With the crisis in motorcycle sales in the sixties the Bianchi became a serious financial crisis, leading at the end of 1964, the declaration of liquidation. The production of motorcycles declined and the arm of the company inViale Abruzzi was taken over by Piaggio in 1967.
Since May 1997, Bianchi has become part of the Swedish group Cycleurope AB, the leading global company in the bicycle industry. The Bianchi group brands were added to those of Cycleurope, creating a single group on the bicycle market for the supply and distribution across the amplitude distribution worldwide.

It is among the most prestigious brands in the production of racing bicycles, which were used by the great champions of the past from Giovanni Gerbi ( "the red devil"), Constant Girardengo, Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi, to Danilo Di Luca and Marco Pantani.

The production of the Bianchis is not limited to the production of racing bikes in the racing department, but also bicycles for trekking, mountain biking, BMX and leisure.

The distintive Symbol of the company is the particular colour that the bikes were and still are produced in ,Celesete or as translated in Italian -  the  blue-green water Bianchi.

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The Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport is a groupset manufactured by Campagnolo as their  medium range componentry set of the 1970s.

The name was chosen by taking over those of the first product change in the early 1950s, the Grand Sport.

It was characterized by changing the parallelogram of the rear derailleur in aluminum and steel cage for the pulleys, but mainly by a very characteristic crank  with three arms to support the rings  (specially constructed so) instead of the traditional five. It was produced for the first time in 1974 and experienced a wide user takeup  due mainly to  its good quality units at lower cost than the top of the range of that group (New Record and Super Record). It even saw use by professional cyclists although not in the highest echelons.

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The first product to be branded under the banner of  Campagnolo's "Record" was a front derailleur in 1956. Two years later Campy introduced a Record crank with bolts of 151 mm, which allowed an inner ring of at least 44 teeth. The same year saw them introduce  aluminum alloy hubs, always marked with the Record insignia, available in both high flange and low flange options.

The first change to the Record groupset was introduced in 1963, while a new version, the Nuovo record, in 1967 saw aluminum alloy and not chromed bronze in the first version of the derailleur.

1967 also saw the introduction of a new crank i smaller than 144 mm, a measure intended to become a world standard for years, which was used to accommodate a minimum of 41 teeth ring.

In 1973 the group Super Record was introduced in both road and track versions.

Production of the Super Record continued until 1987, while the year before had seen the introduction of two new versions: Campagnolo Record and the C-Record.

Since then, the term Record has come back and is the only indication of the  top of the range groupset from the masters at Vicenza. In recent years it has had continuous innovation in technology with the introduction of Ergopower (a gear shifter integrated with the brakelever ), the first 9-speed rear transmission (1997) and finally 10 (2000). Both use increasingly valuable materials such as titanium and carbon in place of the now conventional aluminum. The 2007 version, which came into production in late 2006, provides the new Skeleton brakes and crankset with integrated pin to crank with the Ultra-torque.

The current Record group includes:

* Crank: with cranks carbon rings and aluminum, available in classic or in the 53-39 compact (rings from 48 or 50 external teeth, 34 or 36 inside). It is also available with aluminum cranks.
* Ergopower: with carbon brake levers
* Rear derailleur with parts in carbon and titanium screws, available in short or medium rocker (for the triple or up to 29 tooth sprocket)
* Front derailleur: with carbon fork and aluminum. It is available in versions for double, triple and compact.
* Bottom bracket: with box and carbon caps in aluminum, steel pin. The axis length is 102 mm for double crankset and 111 for the triple.
* Chain: lightened and the reduced width
* 10 Speed Gear: 6 of which in steel and titanium 4, available in scales 11-21, 11-23, 11-25, 12-23, 12-25, 13-26 and 13-29. Versions 11-23, 12-25 and 13-26 are also available entirely in titanium with aluminum supports.
* Hubs: with the body, axle and aluminum tape
* Seatpost: Carbon fiber with aluminum head