Lou- I had always been told that Billato was the contract manufacturer to every one under the sun. As far as all of the claims being made below, I can not confirm them. But I can't rule them out 100% either. Cheers- Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT
In a message dated 2/3/2004 4:36:23 AM PST, LouDeeter@aol.com writes:
I got the below email from Billato about a year ago. When I shared this with
some listmembers they thought it was bunk. Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
>From a Billato rep:
"I can't really go into who we build for a great deal as we have to respect
client confidentiality, but over the years Billato has built a great number of
frames for a whole host of well known names. You mentioned Lemond, when he won
the 1989 Tour, his time trial bike was built by Billato, so that should lead
to another brand! The guy who won the year before, rode a Billato-built
frame, as did the guy the year before. In 1990, Lemond won again, riding steel
frames built from Excell tubes that Billato helped develop. Some of these were
TIG-welded, which hadn't been seen on a road frame before. Others took the credit
for introducing this a year later.
There was the big Dutch team in the 80's, they rode Billato built frames. More recently, in 1999, five of the teams riding the Tour rode Billato-built frames. Last year 'only' three. Perhaps the best one \u2014 for me anyway, is that shortly after Silvio Billato started the company, he was supplying great rivals Coppi AND Bartali - at the same time! Some of the early US Masi's were Billato. Also Cinelli Super Corsa. They're no longer built so it's OK for the public domain as it were!
BTW, I spotted a Vicini on Classic Rendezvous a couple of weeks back. That one too :)