Inside the De Rosa factory

While I was in Milan for the Colnago La Collezione event, I paid a visit to the De Rosa factory, and was given a tour by none other than Sr Christano De Rosa, Ugo’s son….





While I was in Milan for the Colnago La Collezione event, I paid a visit to the De Rosa factory, and was given a tour by none other than Sr Christano De Rosa, Ugo’s son….







Eddy Merckx Alu Sprint in 20th Anniversary Decor…








At King Carube’s Lucca , Tuscany ride .
I imported this from Belgium. It’s like Vlaanderen Team decor, so I finished with Campagnolo Chorus 9 speed. As far as I’m aware, the team rode with this.










I picked this up a while back, it was hanging on an online auction for a while.
“Colnago is bucking that trend and is offering 135 of Thomas Voeckler’s Colnago C59 Italia Team Edition frame decorated with polka dots. Why just 135? That’s to commemorate the points the Frenchman accumulate in the climber’s classification and secure him the overall prize as he rolled into Paris last Sunday.”
( source https://road.cc/content/news/62470-thomas-voecklers-polka-dot-colnago-c59-available-buy)
So, 1 / 135 makes it pretty rare !





I picked this up on the Carube ride trip, not far from the factory in Grosetto, Tuscany…



My friend, the legendary pro-race mechanic, Sr Roberto Lencioni organises a vintage ride from his hime town of Lucca, in Tuscany.
He invited me to attend, which was an honour. Roberto is fellow Lucca resident Mario Cippolini’s personal race mechanic.




















I attended HRH The Queen’s Royal Pageant this year, as an early ‘80’s cyclist. The event was directed by Hemingway design, and I managed to meet Mr Wayne Hemingway, a nice man.










I rode my 1985 second generation Colnago Nuovo Mexico…










At the beginning of May, I flew to Venice to attend the Novo Eroica Prosecco Hills gravel ride. I took my Colnago Rabonbank Team Lux Dream CX , which I ‘gravel-ised’ with an XTR long cage mtb rear derailleur and a large ratio sprocket cassette.

I turned up at the start point the day before the ride, on Saturday, and was fortunate to bump into some friends .
Davide and Paolo ….


Davide organises the Cicli Eroica cycling club and said there was a club ride that afternoon, and I was welcome to attend . I didn’t bring any ride kit, so I got what I could at one of the event stalls and got ready to roll…

At the start of the ride I met a nice couple with some beautiful bikes, a Wilier Triestina made with Columbus MS , one of only two tube sets from Gilco Design…




And a Grandis . An artisan brand from fair Verona, and where Mario Confente started out frame building…

Fine features on the frame, I actually managed to find one myself later in the year…



So, we set off into the Prosecco hills ,


It was great to see Eroica founder Sr Giancarlo Brocci and have the honour of riding with him…

Along the way my chain broke


When I got to a ride stop my photo was taken. When the chain broke, my hand were covered in oil. Not wishing to soil my new kit , I rubbed my hands on my face for a joke. At a later stop I managed to wash my face …


Sunday was the main ride, which was through some stunning scenery…




I look forward to the next time!