I got this interesting follow up to my post on the De Rosa history that appears on the De Rosa web site:
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Brian Van Baush wrote:
>
> Hi Chuck - my history of how Ugo built for Geminiani is abit different
> from yours. The story I read from an interview with Ugo in an
> Italian book went like this; Raphael showed up to a race at the
> Vigorelli in 1958 with out a bike. Couldn't find one in his size
> until he arrived at Ugo's shop. He like the look of the bike, road
> it and did well. From this point on Ugo's carrer took off as he
> became Raphael's team mechanic. In 1961 he passed over to became the
> team mechanic for of FAEMA with Rik Van Looy. The author says Ugo
> built for Merckx for nine years, which seems to not match published
> records. He also talks about building 23-24 bikes for Merckx in a
> season. During the Tour of Switzerland and Giro spending the night at
> his shop building a new bike to have ready for the next days start.
>
> When he started he worked for three brothers, named Volta in Dergano,
> start date was at age 16. His first job was cleaning the shop and
> preparing meals. He went on his on at age 18 and then at age 22 moved
> to Brianza (suburb of milano) where he built bikes mostly for
> friends.
>
> He also talks about his mentor in his shop, a Gilardi, who at 86 years
> old had just retired.
>
> This book ws published in 1996, by Libreria dello Sport, author is
> Marco Pastonesi.
>
> I also read an interview with Colnago. He started his own company
> after working fro Gloria for a number of years. The story goes he
> started racing while working for Glorra, did well, butin one race
> broke his leg. While he was in the hospital recovering, he was also
> building wheels for Gloria. It was during this time he deiced to
> start his own shop. His first few jobs invloved putting together
> bikes for a large company... thats about all I can remember.
>
> Brian
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Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA
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