Lennard Zinn: Mountain Bikes from Italy
- By Lennard Zinn
- Published Oct. 11, 2011
- Updated Oct. 17, 2011 at 5:26 PM UTC
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Among Italians, Scapin has been a pioneer in mountain bikes, but Stefano Scapin sold his company a couple of years ago, and “DESIGNED BY LIGHT” is emblazoned on this Vyrus MTB; I bet Scapin did not expect that he could be replaced by photons! Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
The fictional American Lee Cougan lends credibility to the “Bicycles USA” statement and is why you’ll never see them sold in the USA, at least without a change in marketing methods. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
FRW’s mountain bike models all are named after places in the USA and Canada, but good luck finding this carbon Big Bear at a shop there. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
FRM is an extremely innovative company near Bologna offering everything from tubeless sealant to rigid and suspension forks and bikes. This 18-pound FRM Anakin XCR1 1X10-speed carbon hardtail 29er features FRM fork, cranks, brakes, stem, bar, seatpost, headset, grips and full-carbon saddle along with Dugast tubulars and SRAM XX rear drivetrain. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
The fully-rigid FRM Galaxy carbon 29er weighs 18.6 pounds with this XCR2 build, but with the XCR1 component selection of the Anakin in the prior photo and the rigid FRM fork, the Galaxy 29er weighs under 16.2 pounds! Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
Lee Cougan is a full-line Italian mountain bike brand that has been around for many years with the subtitle “Bicycles USA;” an American image helps sell mountain bikes in Europe. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
The MDE Bolder 29 All-Mountain/Enduro/Freeride 29er has a simple, single-pivot suspension system with adjustable rear travel ranging from 140mm to 180mm by means of moving the body eyelet of the rear shock into one of three holes. Six different swingarms are available, from 135mm X 10mm standard rear axle to 150mm X 12mm Maxle. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
Located in the mountain-biking paradise of Val di Susa, the longest valley in Italy running through the Alps from the French border to Turin, MDE is an Italian high-end full-suspension mountain bike company making low quantities of a few models in-house; the new 160mm-travel Carve AM 26er features MDE’s I-Link suspension system. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
A new brand based in Turin and imported into the USA by ZAR International, Ratio has a range of mountain-bike products including this rigid carbon 29er fork. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
Ratio’s Anthrax carbon 29er hardtail frame nestles the fully-housed derailleur cables in a square groove under the down tube. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews -
The down tube of the Ratio Anthrax monocoque carbon 29er hardtail frame widens out and is flat on the bottom to match the profile of the bottom of the tapered head tube. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews
The fictional American Lee Cougan lends credibility to the “Bicycles USA” statement and is why you’ll never see them sold in the USA, at least without a change in marketing methods. Photo: Lennard Zinn © VeloNews
The recent bike show in Padua, Italy, 35km west of Venice, has become the principal bike show in Italy, and it has hopes of becoming an important show for all European brands.
Shows come and go, and 20 years ago, the Milan bike show and the Cologne bike show were the biggest in Europe — huge combined bicycle/motorcycle shows that had a gentleman’s agreement to not compete against each other but rather to each only appear in alternate years.
When the Eurobike show came along, those shows both became annual shows in response, but it did not have the desired effect; the bicycle side of them has declined dramatically. Padua show organizers sensed an opportunity to provide a relevant show for the many proud Italian brands still in existence and created the ExpoBici show four years ago, which has doubled in size every year since.
Mountain biking in Italy is far behind its road cousin, but the Italian Alps and Dolomites are playgrounds for trail-riding enthusiasts. That said, mountain bikers you meet there tend to be German, French, Austrian or Swiss more often than Italian.
And while 29ers have been slow to catch on in Europe in general, they’ve been really slow to do so in Italy. Not any more, however; 29ers abounded at the Padua show this year.
As always, look to right of each photo, rather than under it, to find the associated caption.
FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech TAGS: Italy