De Rosa (company)
| De Rosa
|
|
|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Srl |
| founding | 1953 |
| Seat |
Cusano Milanino , Italy
|
| Branch | Cycles |
| Website | www.derosa.it |
De Rosa is a bicycle manufacturer in Cusano Milanino . The company is considered to be "one of the most renowned Italian frame manufacturers, whose fine products are used by many greats in the bicycle scene" .
The company's founder Ugo de Rosa was born on January 27, 1934 in Milan . He is a mechanic and engineer. His first job was in a bicycle shop. In 1952 he opened his own shop and manufactured racing bikes himself. Raphaël Géminiani , a well-known racing driver at the time, asked him to build a framework for his participation in the Giro d'Italia .
De Rosa became known, among other things, as the teacher of Eddy Merckx . After the end of his career, Eddy Merckx learned the craft of frame construction from Ugo de Rosa and founded his own company, which today supplies professional teams in the Tour de France and other races. Also Francesco Moser and Miguel Indurain rode on wheels of De Rosa.
De Rosa is the only manufacturer in the world to specify the frame height from the top edge of the bottom bracket shell, all other manufacturers measure from the middle of the bottom bracket. Bikes from this manufacturer are considered elegant, many details are reworked by hand. Unlike many other manufacturers, De Rosa is rather conservative when it comes to design and does not follow every fashion trend. Only racing bikes are produced.
Steel frame
As one of the few suppliers of real racing bikes suitable for professional cycling, De Rosa still has TIG-welded steel frames in its range. The heart as the brand logo can be found on the steel frame and the control head of the fork, which means that the pink frame can still be recognized after repainting. Double butted Columbus tubes, today mainly the highest quality SLX version, are used as frame material. This pipe material is used to produce bicycles that are at the lower limit of the UCI's mass limit (6.8 kg).
New trends
Since 1990 there have also been wheels made of aluminum and titanium alloys . In Italy, carbon frames have also been manufactured since 2001, initially with an aluminum head tube (King), but now the head tubes are also made of carbon (“King X-Light” model).
The approximately 9,000 frames produced annually are handcrafted. The company founder himself still builds around 20 frames per year.