Baggio Cycles, located in the heart of Montreal's Little Italy on The Main (a.k.a. boul. St. Laurent) was indeed the mecca of cycling in this city in the 60s and throughout the 70s cycling boom, which tsunamied just in time for the 1976 Olympic Games.
Those were the days when Montreal was home to a handful of superb cycling emporiums -- Peel Cycle, ABC, Top Sport, Coppi and Mr. Baggio's great place. He indeed featured Torpado and a few other Italian makers prominently, but his influence was much greater than that of a mere merchant.
Every weekday evening we would ride with the "Baggio gang," doing laps in a quiet industrial park area around an enormous factory which produced Italian food products (called Roma ? -- they made pasta and tomato sauces, I recall).
I was a mere lad of 13 when I joined this gang in 1974 and I have fond memories of the crowd -- no one made me feel the slightest out of place for my age, mother tongue, ethnic background, or French-built Reynolds 531 bike. It was the kind of place where if you blew a tire and forgot to carry a spare (or just couldn't afford one), one of the other guys would spot you a worn tubular off the back of his seat, to be returned some other night...
My later absences from Montreal for schooling & work outside Canada means I can't tell you when Baggio finally folded, perhaps late 80s or some time in the 90s. The neighbourhood is now consumed by pricey restaurants and large-screen coffee bars, but is still 99% Italian.
A couple of the rival shops are still operating, but none with the old Baggio atmosphere.
The industrial park zone remains the same, including the pasta factory. Every now and then I'll ride out there on an evening to do a lap alone, but I never meet another rider on those streets.
Emanuel Lowi Montreal, Quebec
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