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EICMA show
Milan, Italy, September 16-19, 2005
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Part 4 - Bianchi, De Rosa, Deda, Momo, Kuota
Bianchi's best
The marque of the great Italian campionissimo, Fausto Coppi, Bianchi has been building bikes for champions for over a century and took the opportunity of the Milano show to display two bikes ridden by its modern-day champions. Track rider Vera Carrera lapped the field to win the 25km women's points race at the world championships in Los Angeles in March aboard a white carbon Bianchi 928, while Liquigas-Bianchi rider Danilo Di Luca has been leading the inaugural ProTour series this year on a special edition Bianchi bike. Di Luca's rig was hand built in Bianchi's famous Reparto Corse custom shop for and is based on the Bianchi FG Lite in Dedaccai EV4 7000 series triple butted aluminium tubing, specially drawn for Bianchi, with sloping geometry. |
Old and new makes De Rosa smile
Ugo De Rosa was happy about the reception of his 2006 range at Milano. One of the few builders that uses all the main bike building materials, De Rosa's range spanned the classic steel Neo Primato, a favourite of Cyclingnews editor Anthony Tan, to the up-to-the-minute Cross Carbon Pro. De Rosa's new entry into the booming cyclocross bike market (which we suspect is at least partly fuelled by the impracticality of modern road bikes for anything but racing)the De Rosa Cross Carbon Pro mates a Deda alu front end with a carbon fibre fork and rear triangle. Like all cyclocross bikes, there's plenty of room for bigger-than-23mm tyres and even fenders, making the Cross Carbon Pro usable for both its intended purpose and winter road riding. |
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Deda aluminium fights back
Think that the future of lightweight frames is carbon, carbon and carbon? Deda would like you to think again. Like Litespeed with its 770g Ghisallo SL frame, Deda is leading the metallic fightback with its new hydroformed tubes called D 7.9 made in a special aluminium alloy that maintains rigidity yet is still light; according to Dedacciai, the tubeset weighs only 790 grams! |
Kuota KUPs it
Milano's Kuota pulled a crowd last year with its KUP suspension bike
which even had its shock linkages made from carbon fiber. This year Kuota
introduced the KUP HT hardtail. Weight-conscious cross-country racers
now have yet another option in the battle against gravity! |
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Multi Momo
Milano's Momo Design is well know for its high-style Italian design for watches, steering wheels and shift knobs. Once in a while, the designers at Momo come up with an innovative bike design, like this retro-modern carbon fibre city cruiser. We tend to be a bit sceptical about 'designer bikes' because they so often involve a non-cycling designer literally trying to reinvent the wheel, but Momo's city cruiser looks like just the job for the lunchtime cafe cruise. |
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Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Tim Maloney/Cyclingnews.com
- Ugo De Rosa - at his umpteenth Milano cycle show, Ugo De Rosa was happy about the reception of his 2006 range.
- De Rosa Cross Carbon Pro - De Rosa's new Cyclocross bike mates a Deda aluminium front end with a carbon fibre fork and rear triangle.
- The carbon stays of the De Rosa Cross Carbon Pro
- Just like Eddy - Ugo De Rosa built Eddy Merckx's bikes for the first half of the Cannibal's career, so the 'steel is real' Neo Primato has a direct link with the hard men of the Sixties.
- The head tube of the Neo Primato - very tidy lugged construction and the classic De Rosa crown.
- Dedacciai's D7.9 tubes - Deda brings aluminium back into the ultralight fight with these hydroformed tubes; a set weighs just 790 grams, so a sub-1kg frame should be relatively easy.
- Danilo DiLuca's Bianchi FG Lite - Bianchi has been building bikes for champions for over 100 years, and one of the latest successes is Danilo Di Luca who has been leading the ProTour standings aboard this special edition bike.
- Very Vera - Italian Vera Carrera rode this Bianchi track bike to lap the field and win in the World Track Championship Women's 25km points race in Los Angeles in March.
- It doesn't look like carbon till you get close. But when you do, you can see that Carrera's bike is a white carbon Bianchi 928 frame with elegant rear monostay.
- Kuota KUP HT - last year Kuota introduced the striking, all-carbon KUP suspension frame; this year it's joined by the KUP HT hardtail.
- Momo Design cruiser - when an Italian company turns its hand to a novel design there's at least a chance of it being usable, unlike most 'designer bikes'. It won't win any races, but Momo Design's show machine looks like a practical and elegant round-town bike, updating the bike style that still fills Italian streets at rush hour.
- Flowing lines of the Momo Design cruiser
- Toothed belt drive solves the main complaint regular folks have with bikes, the general nastiness of chain drives.
