Anyway.
As I shopped around I remember an owner of a bicycle shop taking me and a friend upstairs to show us his prized possessions: Italian bikes.
Usually, Italian bikes are not kept in showrooms fully mounted. Rather, the frames are hanging from the ceiling. It was at this particular bike shop I saw my first Pinarello with a price tag listed at a cool $4000 (for just the frame).
Pinarello, not surprisingly, has helped propel many great cyclists to victory over the years. They include Miguel Indurain, Bjarne Riss, Pedro Delgado, Jan Ulrich and Alessandro Petacchi.
From Blacks Cycle who also recites Pinarello's rich history and tradition:
"In 1980 Pinarello affiliated itself with Inoxpran, the leader in the development of stainless steel (also known for its specialty kitchen accessories). Inoxpran was in part responsible for revitalizing the once victorious cycling athletes that made up the Jolly team."
From Competitive Cyclist:
"Pinarello has earned a reputation for new tubing technology before other builders even considered experimenting with it...carbon fiber are some of the cutting edge raw material used by Pinarello in recent times to manufacture bikes with an exquisite knack for overwhelming their owners' most optimistic expectations...delight in Pinarello's groundbreaking designs, their hardheaded attention to detail in production, and their delicious paint and finish work."
Although I'm not sure what they mean by"delicious." Did they eat it?
Actually, on a slightly off topic, now's a good time to mention if there's one weakness I consistently find on Italian websites is the poor English grammar structure. I don't blame them but there are great writers out there who can enhance their message to heights they probably never imagined. If they're masters of attention to detail and perfection then language is no different; it's still art.
Yes, I'm available to help out. Heh.
Enough of that. Here's a link to 'Rello's factory in Treviso:
