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cinelli Archivi - Pagina 2 di 3 - Cinelli

9 Gennaio 2023
0

eBay Find of the Month #1: Cinelli Supercorsa Leggerissimo 1970s

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To celebrate the launch of a new monthly feature dedicated to rare, unusual, neglected or just plain beautiful pieces of Cinelli history that we have found for sale on the internet over the last month we decided to shine a light on a true vintage classic Cinelli Leggerissimo from the early 1970s that a lot of connoisseurs out there probably already have on their watch list. 

 

 

 

The “Leggerissimo” is not just any old “special” Cinelli Supercorsa, it is an extremely sought after variation of our icon.

Produced by Cino’s factory between 1972 and 1976 for the German distributor, Brügelmann.

The Leggerissimo, as the name suggests, was an ultralight model with three very particular distinguishing features:

  1. the 7 cut-outs in its Georg Fischer investment cast bottom bracket 
  2. a Campagnolo Super Record bottom bracket with titanium spindle
  3. a striking, exclusive and never-repeated yellow and red paint scheme

The frame that we found for sale on eBay at a fairly reasonable (and surely negotiable!) $2499 retains only one of these original features – the cut-out bottom bracket – so the big question that remains for an eventual buyer is: what kind of restoration project should you follow?

 

 

 

On one hand the most obvious choice is a meticulous returning of the frame to its original glory with Brügelmann paint, titanium Super Record bottom bracket and other period correct features.

A second, to us more interesting and contemporary approach, might be to let the history and “patina” of the frame in its current state talk.

Discover the history of the bike: who first owned it? Who was it subsequently sold to? How did it end up in Serbia? Who repainted in its current (probably 1980s) paint scheme and why?
Perhaps the answers to these questions could inspire a more unusual, hybrid rebuild with layers of history…

 

If you are curious, you can find the Cinelli Supercorsa Leggerissimo for sale at this link.

Otherwise click here to see a beautiful meticolous restoration from our friends speedbicycles.

28 Dicembre 2022
3

How We First Met #5: Kondo and Cinelli Pressure & XCR

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Yuji Kondo is a 36-year old Japanese cyclist living in the Kanagawa prefecture, outside of Tokyo.
An impeccably stylish and strongly-opinionated cyclist he has developed something of a cult following online thanks to the extravagant modeling of his collection of bikes and clothes.
We caught up with him for a chat about his thoughts on performance cycling, fashion, design and of course his two very special Cinellis, a stainless steel XCR and aerodynamic 2022 Pressure.

 

 

 

Ciao Kondo!

Hi Lodovico!

So my first question is really about your uniquely creative approach to cycling style. Could you explain to me a little bit your “style philosophy”?

I have a passion for combining road biking with art and fashion. I don’t need a road bike to be only fast. My feeling is that in both road bikes and fashion it is good to seek rationality and the latest trends in simple design. Designs that pursue aerodynamics and lightweight to the extreme, or frames and jerseys with near-monochromatic color schemes, as has been the trend in recent years, are good. But I find it boring that “everyone is the same”. If you want to have fun, don’t you want to be more assertive? So as a cyclist I try to find and use more artistic products in order to express my sensibility differently from others. This also leads to more opportunities to socialize with different people. I try to be playful, even with socks or gloves. This way you might even get a “Hey, that’s so stylish! when you stop on a ride for a break. Following this philosophy Cinelli has become one of these tools for me to express my sensibility.

How did you first come across Cinelli and how did you understand that it could be, like you said, a tool for expressing your sensibility? 

 My first encounter with Cinelli was when I came across images of a 1980s Cinelli Laser track bike in a Japanese road bike magazine. Apart from the bike I also immediately was drawn to the logo, which I later discovered was designed by Italo Lupi. I was impressed by the overwhelming beauty and coolness of Cinelli’s design, and was captivated by the brand.

As I got to know the brand better I discovered that the appeal of Cinelli for me lay in its stylish design and hidden performance. Unlike with other companies, thanks to Cinelli’s tasteful design pioneered by Antonio Colombo and elements such as the Italo Lupi logo with its very unusual colours, and I feel that the concept of a road bike as a competition tool is removed in a good sense, and the bike can be enjoyed as a work of art.

In fact, I have a perception that in Japan Cinelli is considered a fashionable brand, and yet it has the performance to be used in competitions… It is truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing!

 

 

How did the XCR end up becoming your first ever Cinelli bike?

Up until I bought the XCR I had been riding so-called “high-end” carbon frames but I was curious to try other materials. The materials I considered were titanium and steel. Since above all I wanted to buy a Cinelli, steel had to be the material. And since I had already decided that the Supercorsa will be the last bike I buy in my life the XCR remained the most interesting option. I was intrigued by the fact that the bike was made from stainless steel, an unusual material for a road bike. And for this reason I bought it. 

I find the XCR to be a great frame that combines the suppleness and tenacity of chromoly with the responsiveness of high-end carbon. Surprisingly it tames uncomfortable road noise, and pedaling with the suppleness gives good acceleration. It is the most comfortable frame I have ever owned, and the weight is light for a steel frame, and it is very comfortable to ride. Not only for long rides, but also for hill climbs, as it is a frame that puts less strain on the legs in a good way, so it is more comfortable than the stiff high-end carbon frames.

 

And soon after buying the XCR you also bought a Pressure!

Yes! The Pressure is truly for racing. On the flat, I can ride very fast with an aero position. It’s so much fun to realize that the latest aerodynamic performance is so much better than traditional bikes, and I can face the headwind without getting tired. The Pressure handles more like a TT bike due to its geometry and although it does feel a little heavier, can hill climb. I don’t have any problem with this weight considering the advantages on flat terrain. 

Pressure and XCR are clearly aimed at different fields. I ride Pressure when training or ride a certain distance in a short time. XCR is for long distance or leisurely rides. For example, when I go for a gourmet ride with friends.

 

 

 

Last question, I know that your team is called Goloso i.e. good appetite in Italian. Obviously food is very important for you, so could you share with us a recommendation for a great place to stop to eat when riding outside of Tokyo? Or a classic local snack to have on a break? 

There are several places to eat that I would recommend when riding in Tokyo.

First, there is the tempura bowl at Yamatoya, located on the approach to Shibamata Teishakuten, a famous temple in Tokyo. It is a traditional dish of tempura topped with rice and sweet soy sauce.

This store is also famous for its sweets called Kusa-dango. The combination of mochi and anko (red bean paste) is sure to soothe your tired body and give you energy! The temple Shibamata Teishakuten is a very nice and Japanese sightseeing spot, although road bikes are not allowed. Please visit here as well.

My next recommendation is Zebra Coffee, located along the Ridge Highway. Here you can enjoy croissants and coffee, etc. in a stylish space. It is also nice that bike racks are located here since many cyclists use it. It’s close to the city center, so you can eat here before heading to your destination, or stop by for a post-ride rest.

My last tip is Enomoto Dairyfarm, located along the Arakawa Cycling Road, the most famous cycling road in Tokyo. This is a famous spot that is not unknown to Tokyo cyclists. You can enjoy fresh and delicious dairy products such as gelato, milk, yogurt, etc. that only a dairy farm can offer. And since winter is coming to Japan, you can warm your body and soul with a glass of hot milk!

There are many other delicious and highly recommended places to eat, but I can’t introduce them all…

 

Discover more about the Pressure and the XCR on our website.

24 Dicembre 2022
2

True Story: The Origins of the Cinelli Art Program Part 1

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The origins of Cinelli’s unique relationship with art are scattered across the late 1970s and early 1980s.

They can be found in their graphic designer of choice, Italo Lupi who would go on to design Miu Miu and Fiorucci logos as well as Miuccia Prada’s private residence, in its commissions from stalwarts of the 1980s Milan design scene such as Alessandro Mendini or the Alchimia group, or in the exchange of letters and ideas between Keith Haring and Antonio Colombo that led to the now iconic Laser collaboration…

 

 

 

But the origins of the Cinelli Art Program – the program within which the brand’s relationship with art has been formalized into products, most famously our signature cycling caps adorned with custom commissioned graphics for artists such as Futura2000, Ana Benaroya, Barry McGee, Mike Giant and Yoon Hyup – can be located in a single, unusual, moment: the Cinelli RAM AUTOGRAPH.

The Cinelli RAM, launched in 2001, was the world’s first ever integrated carbon fiber handlebar and stem.

A pioneering project at a time when carbon fiber technology was still nascent in the cycling industry, the bars were an immediate success in the professional peloton, with their stiffness and responsiveness literally changing the way a generation of professionals would ride their bike, as Gilberto Simoni so articulately put it in his interview in the Cinelli: the Art and Design of the Bicycle.

 

 

 

The success of the bar from a technological point of view immediately led to Cinelli’s favourite pastime: “play”.

Over the next 5 years a series of ever more exuberant and unusual hand-painted (or even randomly hand placed carbon strips…) graphic schemes were released, dedicated to different professional riders.

These were sold under the name of RAM AUTOGRAPH.

In 2010, Antonio Colombo’s friendship with the artist Mike Giant led to the brand commissioning Giant to produce a new RAM AUTOGRAPH graphic.

Thanks to the creative team’s closeness to the burgeoning fixed gear scene and urban culture in general they proposed to Colombo adapt Giant’s graphics to a series of more affordable and immediate products such as bar tape and cycling caps that could be purchased and used by urban track bike riders.

And it was these new Mike Giant illustrated products which inaugurated the first ever edition of the Cinelli Artist Program.
Over the last twelve years the brand has gone on to collaborate with over 25 different artists.

The opinionated, outspoken and spontaneous creative freedom of these artists, combined with Cinelli’s historical closeness to Il Grande Ciclismo has transformed the Cinelli cycling cap into the definitive icon of a new cycling attitude…

 

Discover more about the Cinelli Art Program products on our webstore.

16 Dicembre 2022
3

How We First Met #4: Bibi Enriquez and Cinelli Vigorelli “Shark”

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Bibiana Enriquez  is a fixture of the Oakland fixed gear scene.
From a background in competitive running she has slowly morphed into alley cat and crit racer as well as face of new, more diverse, wave of San Francisco riders. Here she tells us the story of how she got into track bike riding and her beloved 2020 Cinelli Vigorelli Shark.

 

I’ve been riding bikes and doing sport since forever. All my childhood I was a competitive runner from age 6 onwards.

I competed at the Junior Olympics in 2018 and won the silver medal for Mexico in the 5k. I was Norcal champ in my sophomore year and had a full scholarship at USF. In 2020 I tore my harmstring 90% and had to more or less give up running competitively.

The only thing they told me I could for my rehab was bike riding. I’d be limping around when I was walking but on the bike I felt no pain…

 

 

 

I started riding fixed seven years ago.

One weekend I was in downtown Oakland, at Lake Merritt, I was there with my regular bike that I used for riding everywhere… and I saw this guy riding backwards and I asked how is that even possible and somebody told me it was a fixed gear.

I looked around and saw tons of groups of people riding the same kinds of bikes… so that day I decided I wanted to buy a fixed gear too.
I didn’t know what kind of bike I wanted exactly, I just bought an old steel bike and put a fixed hub on the back.

Some people say I was the first Oakland girl to ride fixed

 

“In 2020 Shaun called me and said to me a Cinelli Shark is coming in today come check it out.
I went down and the very same day I cashed out.”

 

Because of my new interest I discovered the shop King Kog and started going there all the time. Each week they’d have some new frames in and I’d go check them out and Shaun, who is my main guy at the shop, would explain them to me.

One time there was a bike I thought was so beautiful I asked what’s that? They said “Oh that’s a Cinelli”. It was beautiful but so expensive and I would have been afraid of breaking or scratching it.

In 2020 Shaun called me and said to me a Cinelli Shark is coming in today come check it out. I went down and the very same day I cashed out.

Because of the sparkles in the paint, the shape of the tubes, everything. I had to have it! I built it up as my race frame for alleycats and the Mission crit but whenever I ride it around town people stop me and comment it especially at time when the paint sparkles… I also always flip the bike to show people the “shark fin”…

These days I prefer competing on the bike to running… I ride everywhere commuting to build my condition which means training is much easier to fit in around work unlike when I was running which was almost like a full-time job… The bike community here in Oakland is great and mixed and for me riding fixed and the visibility it has given me is kind of a social platform.

There is not a lot of women, especially women of colour, riding round here and I love inspiring people to keep riding more or start riding.

 

Discover more about the NEW Vigorelli coming back in stock very soon.

8 Dicembre 2022
2

2022 Xmas limited edition print: Thelma’s Bidon

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In the 1980s Cinelli was considered Italy’s leading mountain bike brand thanks in part to its extraordinary successful launch of the Rampichino, Europe’s first ever mountain bike (still today in the Italian dictionary the word Rampichino is associated with the mountain bike). 

Cinelli’s approach to mountain biking was outstandingly irreverent and creative. Enormous energies were devoted to creating rich, complex, witty and ironic paint schemes some of which would go on to become icons of the brand’s visual history.

 

 

During a recent trip to the archive we came across a box of hand-drawn illustrations of mountain bike graphics from the 1980s.

Mixed in with these illustrations was a series of apparel graphic proposals which we recognized as the genesis of one of the iconic jerseys in the brand’s history, what is now referred to as the “Thelma and Louise jersey” thanks to its appearance in the cult 90s film, worn during the unforgettable desert cameo of the bike riding Rastafarian.

The drawings, made by the internal Cinelli design team under the creative direction of Antonio Colombo, reflect the joyous visual experimentation of the era as well as the pure tactile delight of an era where most graphics and visual concepts were born from loose hand-sketching.

 

 

 

We immediately fell in love with one particular drawing of a water bottle graphic and chose to adapt it for this year’s limited edition Xmas artwork, printed in Italy to fine art archive standards in a limited edition of 50 pieces.

Visit our shop to discover and see if there is still one available!

CLICK HERE to purchase yours!

24 Novembre 2022
1

How We First Met #3: Eric Scaggiante and Cinelli Vigorelli “Vigorosa”

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Eric Scaggiante is a Milan-based fashion and street photographer as well as proud owner of the Vigorelli Vigorosa (his first track bike) and the world’s youngest ever finisher of the legendary unsupported endurance Silk Road Mountain Race.

We sat down with him in Milan and asked him about how him and Vigorosa met and what cycling has meant to him culturally over the last ten years.

 

If I’m a photographer today it’s thanks to my passion for cycling, which was the first important passion of my life.

I grew up in Spinea, a small town near Venice, and always loved cycling. As a kid for me it was a first taste of independence, and of speed.

But my real passion started in around 2013 when I first discovered the world of alley cat races and fixed gear bikes which at that moment, in Italy at least, were in full boom. I was initiated into this world by the ragazzi of TrueHardcoreCycle (THC).

After discovering this world I immediately started looking to buy a track bike for myself. One day on Subito [an Italian second-hand listings website – ED] I came across a listing for a Cinelli Vigorelli Vigorosa for sale in Treviso, fully-built up, for only €560! A real deal! I was so excited I immediately counted up all my savings from little jobs I’d done and sold anything I owned that had value and managed to scrape together the money to buy it.

 

 

“I can still remember how much fun I had on that bike… I rode it everywhere, so much so that my first – and probably only – nickname was “Vigo”.”

 

 

Among the most important races I rode with my Vigorelli I remember in particular my first Respvblica, Italy’s greatest fixed gear hill-bombing race, organized around Genova by SCVDO.

Through this scene and its races I subsequently met another a cyclist called Cesare Pedrini, from Bologna, who at the time was preparing to ride the Transcontinental Race on a fixed-gear. Through him I discovered another new cycling world: unsupported ultra-cycling.

To cut a very long story short I too became interested in ultra-cycling and in 2019 shortly after graduating from high school I flew to Kyrgyzstan where I celebrated my 19th birthday alone in a hotel room and two days later set off to ride the Silk Road Mountain Race. The race was my personal chimera, the single most beautiful, challenging, intense experience of my life. I completed the race becoming the youngest ever finisher and, upon my return to Italy, started my first job, at 3T in Bergamo.

With my first paycheck I bought a camera and from there discovered a new passion. Soon after I quit and began my career as a photographer… But the genesis of everything was the purchase of my Vigorelli Vigorosa for €560 in 2014!

Discover more about the upcoming release of the newly redesigned version of the legendary original “Vigorosa” paint scheme.

CLICK HERE to receive early access to purchase the limited edition frame before its public release!

17 Novembre 2022
0

How We First Met #2: Jobst Brandt and Cino Cinelli

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Jobst Brandt (1935-2015) was one of cycling’s most influential outsiders and inspiring explorers.

A pioneer of riding road bikes off road, he led legendary ‘Jobst rides’, which, years before the evolution of mountain bikes and gravel bikes, took cyclists like Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher and Eric Heiden deep into the trails of the Santa Cruz Mountains as well as developing meticulously innovative solutions for the modern cycling such as treadles tyres and the first bicycle computer.

Thanks to our old friend and contributor to Cinelli: the Art and Design of the Bicycle, Max Leonard we recently discovered that Brandt was a passionate customer of Cinelli’s framebuilding department throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, purchasing at least six bikes over these three decades as well as taking priceless photos of the factory and Cino. Because of Brandt’s longstanding passion for using road bicycles offroad, Cino’s own familiarity with these surfaces from his days as a professional in the heroic 30s and 40s we were extremely curious to discover more about the technical dialogue and relationship between these two very different, very opinionated innovators of the modern racing bicycle and how it might relate to gravel cycling innovation today.

Below are notes and photographs from Max’s soon to be published book on Brandt for which you can pre-order a copy and support the project HERE.

 

 

Throughout the course of his life Jobst also spent almost fifty summers in the Alps, lightweight touring and adventuring over 2,000 miles each time, always carrying a camera to document his trip. On his first Alps ride, in 1959, he paid a visit to the Swiss tyre manufacturer Sieber, who persuaded him to swap to wooden rims (Jobst’s tubular glue was melting on his Fiamme alloy rims on the long Alpine descents).
Then Jobst headed to see Cino Cinelli.

“The next morning with tires glued and wheels true,” Jobst wrote in his journal, “I thanked Mr Sieber for all his help and rolled on to Milano where I stopped at the train station and got rid of some extra clothes into the suitcase. I headed east across town on the via Andrea Doria and via Porpora to Lambrate, to via Egidio Folli 45 where the Cinelli factory is located, producing bicycles, bars, and stems at a great rate. Mr Cinelli’s office lies next to a branch of the Lambro river that is apparently a main sewer outfall”.


“I found a sharp contrast with the surroundings and the buzzing thriving factory that was producing such elegant machinery. Mrs Cinelli briefly mentioned her days at Sieber, and that she had been his secretary for years when a young bicycle racer from the Toscana, who dropped in for equipment on occasion, offered her his hand. Cino looked at my bicycle and how it fit me and said that he would do something about that tomorrow after giving it some thought”.

“In the morning he had me ride around the yard a few times and then raised the saddle a bit and moved it forward. He put his newest model 360mm extra wide bars with deep reach on a 120mm stem, placing the brake levers in a better position. Down below I got the newest Campagnolo crank spindle and 180mm five-pin Cinelli (Magistroni) steel cranks that finally gave me true running chainwheels in contrast to the previous three pin style. He was disturbed by my choice of wooden rims and tried to get me back on Fiamme aluminum but I didn’t take.”

 

 

 

“I had asked Mr Cinelli what the greatest road in the Alps was, to which he replied without hesitation, the Stelvio, but that I might not like it because it was unpaved.

That especially caught my interest so here I was heading up the Valtellina at Tirano where the road to the foot of this great pass starts its climb.”

 

 

The bike Jobst was riding on this trip was a 62cm blue Cinelli Super Corsa, ordered from Spence Wolf’s bike shop in Cupertino, California.

Jobst ordered one such frame in 1957 and one in 1958. After the 1959 Alp tour, Jobst took a job at Porsche in Stuttgart, where he translated the manual to the 356 and later worked on race car suspension. From his new European home he visited Cinelli again on his Alps tour in 1960, and then throughout the 1960s and 70s.

In 1962 he ordered a Super Corsa direct from Cino, and in 1964 he took his new wife Helga on a tour of the Alps, during which they stopped off at Cinelli to pick up a matching frame for her (which she still owns). They also dined with Cino and family in his private apartment. Helga’s bike features a very early set of vertical rear dropouts, which had been designed and manufactured by Jobst; later, he claimed Cinelli must have passed these to Campagnolo and that they became the model for Campagnolo’s own.

Back in the USA after he married, he would go on to order at least another Cinelli from Spence Wolf in Cupertino, in 1971, and kept up a correspondence with Cino into the 1970s.

After meeting and riding with Tom Ritchey, who was building fillet-brazed road frames while he was still in high school in the 1970s, Jobst began riding a Ritchey frame, and ended his riding life on a frame built another California builder, Peter Johnson.

All in all, Jobst owned at least six Cinelli frames. None of them survive: as a 6’5″ rider who liked to ride on dirt, he was hard on frames and components, often cracking, shearing or denting what he rode.
He was not shy of pointing out what he saw as manufacturing defects even to master builders like Cino Cinelli!

Pre-order your copy of Jobst Brandt: Ride Bike!   HERE 

Discover more about the history and contemporary practice of Cinelli steel framebuilding  HERE

14 Novembre 2022
15

How We First Met #1: Anton’s Vigorelli

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Anton Kuznetzov aka @antonbentframe is a young Russian ramen chef living in St Petersburg.

Earlier this year a video of him executing a “fish and chips” underneath the security barrier of a car park – that is sliding his bicycle and torso in a 360° rotation, what he calls a “normal trick” – became a viral sensation, evoking the ultimate, original, dream of urban track bike riding i.e. the ability to seamlessly adapt in motion to any obstacle whatsoever with perfect composure.

The bike ridden by Anton in this video was a 2016 Cinelli Vigorelli Alu. We called up Anton to ask him more about himself and how Vigorelli and him first met.

 

 

 

 

I started cycling in 2014. My first bike was a track bike Fuji steel track frame. I started riding because I wanted to do tricks and track bikes were popular in St Petersburg.

I immediately got hooked on riding track and for two years I even became a full time messenger.

The first time I saw a Cinelli trackbike was also in 2014, on a video on the internet.
In 2020 I finally bought my own Cinelli Vigorelli through a friend who got it on the blackmarket in Europe and brought it back to Russia.

In Russia it’s hard to buy Cinelli, it was hard then, even harder now… but I wanted  the Vigorelli because of its history, its design and the geometry which for me was perfect.
I was so excited to finally own it! 

 

 

 

These days I am riding my Vigorelli everywhere not just because I like it but for a more important reason: to avoid the police.

A month ago I received my mobilization papers to join the army but I don’t want to have anything to do with this war which only Putin wants.

If you ride the metro or walk around main areas there is always police asking for your documents. On my bike I stay free and off the radar.

 

 

I have taken this bike around Russia racing alleycats in different cities, people always comment on the frame.

In the whole of St Petersburg there are about 25 Cinelli bikes.
Often all the owners meet up and ride together… St Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia and today has maybe the biggest track bike scene.
My guess is that there are about 500 people on the streets currently riding track bikes.

Riding on the streets here is intense, racing against crazy Russian drivers…

 

 

 

My usual set up for the Vigorelli is 43×15 gearing (I just switched from 48×17) with Enve carbon riser bars (15mm rise, 680mm wide) and Vans cult grips for everyday use.

I love these bars and set ups for everyday riding, alleycats and tricks; I’m comfortable, have maximum control of the bike and can achieve a good fit. That said I am now looking to buy some 40mm carbon drop bars for short drag races where an aerodynamic position is advantageous.

When I have to ride mudguards I used a rollable from Mudguard company. Seatpost and stem are Thomson.
Wheelset is cheap because tricks often break bearings or rims.

Other interesting parts: Zodiak moscon chainring and cog, Izumi-Mash chain and a titanium top cap from Oh Sweet Ghetto… drop bars for racing. 

Follow our instagram profile @cinelli_official for more adventures and original stories!

And if you are curious about the Vigorelli frame, check out our website and stay updated because we might be having something special for you in the next weeks!

Pictures: Anton Seleznev

9 Settembre 2022
2
trick track bikes antonbentframe

My first UCI race

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What happens when two Milanese messengers pin on a race number for the first time at Italy’s first ever UCI-sanctioned gravel race, Monsterrato?

 

 

Several weeks ago two young Milanese messengers and friends Chloe Mazza and Pietro De Giacomo, came and visited at our HQ in Caleppio, outskirts of Milan.

Both Chloe and Pietro are fast, both ride cargo bikes for work, both are extremely active in local messenger-organized races around Milan and both ride Cinelli track bikes when not on their work bikes: Pietro an ultra-rare Cinelli x MASH CX ss that he found on subito.it last year for less than €700 (!), Chloe a 2019 Vigorelli Steel “black night” edition (her first ever “real” bike).

 

 

 

 

 

Together we discussed the possibility of them pinning on a number at Italy’s first ever UCI-sanctioned gravel race, Monsterrato and trying to achieve a “fairytale” qualification for the Gravel World Championships.

Both were more than up for the challenge.

We signed them to Circolo Ciclistico Cinelli-Iuter our “informal” team, open to anybody with same attitude as us, we gave them a team jersey, gear and bikes: Made in Italy steel Nemo Gravel for Pietro, carbon fiber Zydeco King for Chloe.

With only a few days of proper riding to get used to their new equipment Pietro and Chloe set off to the race with our team “manager” Cappe and Charlie, his vintage T3 Volkswagen van.

Of the race – their first ever “serious” race – both said much the same thing: the atmosphere was very different, the adrenaline of the mass start together with elite athletes is a kick unique to the sport of cycling but the speed, despite an enormous amount of kilometres in their legs this season, was just too much and very soon the dream of qualifying for the world championships evaporated and both were left to enjoy a different kind of challenge, with themselves and against a particularly technical course.

 

 

 

 

At the end of the race we asked Chloe what the biggest difference between this race and the Italian Cycle Messenger Championship less than a month ago and we found the answer pretty illuminating:

“The biggest difference is that the point of a messenger championship is to race but also to meet people and to learn new skills and techniques for messenger cycling, like how to strap objects to your cargo or discover strange, exotic, custom made components…”

 

Would they race another UCI race? Maybe yes, maybe not, it was a good experience, it was fun, it was intense, it was crazy!

The first few kilometres in the pack, covered in dust with only a few metres of visibility were unforgettable but when cycling becomes racing it also loses a lot of the values that they find so interesting…

 

 

 

 

Follow our instagram profile @cinelli_official for more adventures!

And if you are curious, check out the King Zydeco and the Nemo Gravel that Chloe and Pietro used for the race!

Photos: Luca Panegatti

29 Agosto 2022
2

Road to Badlands 2022

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Riders from all over the world are preparing for Badlands, one of the most famous long distance unsupported races in the Spanish desert.
We put together a team of four riders to compete, explore or just take a “sadistic holiday” in this already mythical race.
Scroll down to get to know our friends Taylor Phinney, Luisa Werner, Sophie Jail and Davide Belfiore.

 

TAYLOR PHINNEY

 

 

Since retiring as a professional cyclist in 2019 Taylor Phinney, laid-back and soft-spoken, has combined the experience of his ten very intense and varied years as a pro with his creativity and broader interest in culture to develop what we think are some of the most interesting ideas in the “industry”.

 

Hi Taylor!

Hi Lodovico!

So first question is really can you just please tell us about how the idea came about for geometry and build of the custom Cinelli Nemo Gravel we just sent out to you?

There are a couple of directions I could take answering this question…

Tell us both!

Well firstly over the last 5-6 years I have started seeing the bicycle as an explorative tool, whilst when I started riding it was a tool for success and for winning. For me the relationship with the bike as a piece of equipment now is: where can it take me AND where can I take it. I like the concept of underbiking i.e. taking a bike that is not technically really up to the terrain you’re riding on. I like to find a balance between how far I can push the bike, how deep into some weird trail I can go before either the bike explodes or I mentally explode.

Ok…

And secondly, from a technical point of view I believe that gravel cycling as we know it today is essentially a continuation of late 80s early 90s mountain bikes. Those bikes were also totally rigid and had a similar tyre profile. But one thing I think is missing or wrong about the current gravel market is that for whatever reason it seems that people just want to make road bikes with big tyres. That’s fine if you want to ride a road bike with big tyres… but when I think of doing a really long adventure or mixed terrain ride I want to be comfortable and a lot of that comfort stems from my upper body position, how straight is my back, how open are my shoulders… For open terrain and steep trails but even asphalt you need to be able to be dynamic, and I find that the strictly road position, very bent over and very far over the front wheel is very unhealthy for my back – with which I have a lot of problems because I’m a giant! – but also from a safety point of view. The further back you are, the easier it is to save the bike if you lose the front wheel. So to cut a long story short the geometry I worked on with the Cinelli technical office was less of a performance fit than your standard model and something closer to an 80s-90s MTB geometry. This is the second bike I’ve tried to develop this idea on and the first custom bike I’ve ever had in entire cycling career despite many promises from previous sponsors! All I ever wanted my whole pro career was a custom frame. It’s only taken about 3 years of not being a pro to have it…

And how does it ride?

Not perfect, but pretty close! [Laughs] I’ve been working on different setups these last few weeks. I’ve ridden it as a mullet bike, with 700c wheel at the front at 650b at the back, I’ve tried a few different handlebars…

Are you ready for Badlands?

To be honest riding Badlands was Davide’s [Cinelli’s trade marketing manager – ED] idea and I just said yeah sure. Only last week I looked at some videos and though oh f**k what have I got myself into… I’m going to take it like a kind of sadistic vacation: 4 or 5 days with no zoom calls no business to attend to. All you have to do is ride your bike and take care of your contact points. It’s total simplicity: stay alive and stay happy.

Haha sounds like a great holiday! One more question: I saw the poster you put out for your social ride with Cinelli this weekend (28/08) in Girona and I noticed that the most prominent piece of information on it (and on other posters you have made in the past for rides) was “100% ego-less ride”. When I read that myself personally as well as others in the office that saw it were really excited, to us it felt like exactly the kind of message we’d like about a ride we’d go on. Can you tell me a little bit about how you came to use this description of your rides?

I think it’s important to let people know up front when they’re coming to any kind of group ride what the vibe is going to be. The reason I write it is because there’s something about men mounting their bicycle and being around other men that makes them feel like they need prove themselves. There can often be this kind of energy where people become immediately competitive because they assume others there are being competitive with them. And it’s that kind of energy that really pushed me away from the road cycling environment. To me it felt like people weren’t connecting with each other but isolating themselves. That’s not the purpose of the bike for me. So I try to make it really clear from the start that this competitive mentality isn’t really welcome and that the people who come to the ride won’t be subject to that.

 

 

LUISA WERNER

 

 

After a brief sojourn as a semi-professional cyclist and, before that, a budding career as an elite rower, last year Luisa Werner began exploring a new kind of cycling: endurance races. This very quickly led to competitive success with victories at prestigious races such as the Italy Divide and Three Peaks. But competition is only a very small part of Luisa Werner’s interest in cycling!

 

Hi Luisa!

Hi Lodovico!

So, I wondered if you could begin by telling us how you first got involved in cycling?

Yes sure! So when I was younger I was a competitive rower, representing Germany at a U23 level. I started riding a road bike, like a lot of rowers and other athletes as a way of helping to build endurance. But soon enough the bike became about going out on long day rides, doing bikepacking trips using Airbnb in its early days… This eventually led to me stopping my rowing career and signing with a small semi-professional German cycling team.

How was your experience as a professional cyclist?

To be honest whilst I loved being with the girls and meeting other athletes I never felt comfortable, was often afraid of crashing and pretty quickly discovered that the peloton was not the side of cycling I’m interested in exploring. I rode for the team for just 1.5 years.

And after this you discovered endurance/bikepacking races?

About two years ago I discovered these kinds of races, yes and in September 2021 I rode my first one.

What attracted you about this format of cycling compared to your experiences as a professional?

Basically at an endurance race nobody goes home a loser. It’s not about position and ranking but adventure and the journey. People have a different spirit. You don’t feel competitiveness in the atmosphere, you feel people doing it for themselves and for the memories that will be created.

You’ve been very successful though, from a competitive point of view, from the very start in these races. What is your attitude towards winning and your objectives for Badlands?

The first priority for me is always to race against myself, not the others, because if do my best that will produce the best ranking. But like I said for me it’s not just a race but an opportunity to talk to the riders around me and to be pushed by them to try to do new things. In fact it’s the atmosphere created by the other riders that put me in the spirit of going fast.

Ok! Last question: you are of course going to be riding the Cinelli Zydeco King gravel bike for the race but are there any other special technical details that you have prepared for the race and that you are excited about using?

Well I am very excited about my mattress (laughs), the Thermarest Neoair X-Lite which I have used in every race over the last two years… And also a new 3 liter bladder bag made by Decathlon that can be placed under my aero-bar extensions to allow me to carry more water…

 

 

SOPHIE JAIL

 

 

Sophie Jail is a nomadic French adventurer with a passion for bikepacking and restoring vintage cars and mopeds. After a long “informal” history with bikes, as a commuter and occasional summer tourer, two years ago she bought her first serious bicycle and began properly bikepacking across the European summer.

 

Hi Sophie!

Hi Lodovico!

So, last time we spoke you told me that only last year you rode your first endurance race? How did this come about?

Well basically I had been suffering from some health problems and had been also using long-distance bikepacking as rehabilitation and “reappropriation” of my body. Signing up for an endurance race was a logical next step.

And how did it go?

I had studied the course before and prepared myself to try to finish it in about six days. I ended up finishing it in three days and a few hours. I was shocked to discover I could do this! To me it was amazing to discover what I was capable of, how the body could find ways to keep going, to handle pain, to use adrenaline. I was so proud and happy to achieve this. I didn’t care if I was the first one or last one over the line. I had discovered what I wanted to discover in a race against my body.

Had you any previous experience in competitive cycling?

No. In fact I have no previous experience in any kind of competitive sport. I never thought I was good at anything before this!

And how did you end up signing up to ride Badlands?

I actually decided during a ride, the Women’s Komoot Torino-Nice Rally, a great women’s only bikepacking ride. On one climb I started riding together with another girl, Sara, and we were really racing, going up fast, and at the top of the climb we said to each other we have to go do a race together and to us, because we both love gravel, Badlands seemed like the perfect race. At the time I actually had only ever done one endurance race so I was pretty scared by the idea. But now I have some more experience and I’m not scared!

What is your objective for Badlands?

To go as fast as I can!

So for you it’s a competition?

It’s not a competition against others, just an opportunity to do my best.

Last question: you have chosen to ride the carbon fiber Cinelli Zydeco King frame for the race… could you tell me a little bit about how you chose your exact setup for the bike?

Well, I’m a bit of a gearhead so I am very interested in lightweight solutions and I will try to go as light as possible because of the heat but at the same time I don’t want to run the risk of not being able to finish the race because my bag got ripped when I fell or I don’t have enough spare tubes… so really my build is all about striking a balance between lightweight solutions and neutralizing risk as for me my absolute first priority is finishing!

 

 

DAVIDE BELFIORE

 

 

Davide Belfiore, trade marketing manager of Cinelli, is our own endurance cycling guru. He has been riding his bike in extraordinary and unusual ways ever since we’ve known him. Last year he rode Badlands, broke his sternum and tore his rotator cuff and had to retire after 270km. This year he is going back with Taylor, Luisa and Sophie to resolve some unfinished business!

 

Davide, tell me about your history as a cyclist?

I grew up in Brianza and always rode my bike competitively, like so many other kids in the area. In 2002 I became a professional cyclist with the Sud Tirol team, I rode 3 seasons as a professional but to be honest the peloton was not a place I felt comfortable in during those years for many reasons that people now understand better!

And after that?

After that I hated the bike for quite a while and kept my distance… When I finally got back into cycling it was through Triathlon, where I found a much nicer atmosphere. There I was also able to compete at a high level and competed twice at 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater where I was the top Italian finisher. But in general, since stopping being a professional I’ve always had an approach to cycling which kept its distance from competition.

When did you start riding endurance races?

Only about three years ago, but that kind of cycling has always attracted me. Before I even knew about these kinds of races I was trying to invent them for myself. For example the last time I rode a triathlon, four years ago, the race was in Puglia so I decided to ride to the race from Cinelli. I left on Tuesday, rode 300km a day, arrived on Friday evening and raced the triathlon on Saturday…

What are you attracted to in endurance racing?

What I really enjoy is the experience of losing all the comforts of your regular life: your house, social media… Nothing is no longer in your possession other than the essentials: air, land, sky, your fatigue and your dreams. Riding these races is like a dream in which I carry most cherished memories with me. And this way of being produces visions for me, and ideas for life. It’s a kind of spiritual pursuit!

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Check out the King Zydeco and the Nemo Gravel that the riders will use to tame the desert!