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Customer Franco Dal Din has ticked off another one on his bucket list!
As he luxuriated in the beauty and style of the 2010 bikes, Franco met the founder Giovanni Pinarello on his daily visit to his cycle factory. In 1947, after winning 60 plus amateur titles, Giovanni became a pro cyclist until 1953, retiring with 5 wins to his name. For Franco, meeting Giovanni was an added bonus to just being there.
The making of the Pinarello marque began in Catena di Villorba, towards the end of the 1940's. At the age of fifteen, Giovanni Pinarello, began making bicycles at the factory of Paglianti. He continued making bicycles throughout his cycling career. In 1952 Giovanni Pinarello took up the opportunity to become an integral part of the beginning of manufacturing bicycles in Treviso. He had to give up his first love and passion, bicycle racing and the opportunity to cycle in the Giro d'Italia accepting his sponsors money he opened the first and most renowned bicycle store in Treviso.
The new Pinarello Dogma 60.1
As a young boy Franco moved with his family from the north east of Italy to New Zealand. He has always had a love for things Italian, especially cycling and fast cars. Franco cycled for many years and encouraged his children to cycle with both his sons doing well as schoolboys on the track and road. Having been thwarted on two previous visits to Italy, Franco finally last month got to Treviso and found the Pinarello factory open. He got to see the prototypes of cycles with innovative technology, many of them had not yet been released to market.
Some of the latest models on display were bound for American market. They are in response for the demand for retro fixed wheel/single speed bikes.. The model below is a track racing frame fitted with brakes and a "flip/flop" rear hub (that when the rear wheel is placed in the frame one way it has a fixed gear, the opposite way becomes a single speed free hub.)
A new single speed model amongst a display of memorablia
Franco got to see a custom Dogma 60.1 under construction as he looked around. The Dogma 60.1 (shown above) is Pinarello's flagship for 2010. Dogma 60.1 is their first completely asymmetric racing frame. The parts on the right side have different shapes and sections than the parts on the left. The fork, the rear and the basic shapes are derived from the Dogma frame and incorporate new technologies, including the asymmetric design, EPS Wrinkle Free System construction process and the material used are the exclusive 60HM1K carbon by Torayca® with NanoalloyTM to prevent sudden breakage.
For those of you not fortunate enough to visit the factory and shop in Treviso YouTube has a tour of the factory here.
Article by Linda Darragh |
