Many starting vintage racing bike enthusiasts have to deal with it. They buy a racing bike with an Italian name and think it comes from Italy!
However, this is not always the case. There are a lot of racing bikes made in Belgium and the Netherlands, but with an Italian name? You often see advertisements with beautiful texts such as superb Italian road bikes, but in fact the bicycle is of Belgian or Dutch manufacture.
You can't blame the seller because as a non expert it is difficult, because the name sounds really Italian and sometimes it even says made in Italy or there is an Italian flag engraved in the bicycle frame
Why an Italian name?
Italy indeed has a richer bicycle history than Belgium or the Netherlands in the field of frame building, but in the past there were also many small bicycle repair shops who put together their own frames. Every village used to have a bicycle repair shop that bought its steel tubes and lugs and marketed the bicycle under its own name.
Already in the 50s there were bicycle makers from Netherlands and Belgium who chose Italian names as bicycle brands, but the real boom only came from the 70s. Back then it was a real fashion phenomenon to ride Italian bicycles, they were more beautiful, attractive and there was a high demand for them.
Some bicycle repairers got the idea to make bicycles with an Italian name to boost sales. Some even went as far as to buy the frames in Italy, put their own decals on them, engraved them with their logo and finally put them together in their office.
The most important Dutch bicycle repair shops of that time can be found below. By clicking on the name you get more info.
You can find the most important Belgian bicycle repairers in the article Belgium bicycle brands that sound very Italian
If you know more brands, please send an email to desaevergunther@yahoo.com
Cicli Cornelo
Cicli Cornelo was het merk van Henk Kokke Sport uit St. Willebrord, opgericht in 1972 en helaas failliet verklaard in 2011. Henk Kokke ging begin jaren 70 veel naar Italië waar hij in contact kwam met Ernesto Colnago. Hij bracht enkele fietskaders mee waarvoor 1 voor zijn zoon Corné bestemd was.
The frames were quite successful and that is why Henk decided to order even more frames. The assembly was then done in his office in the Netherlands and they were sold under the Cornelo brand, which referred to Corné his son and also looked very much like Colnago and could lead to confusion.
Cornelo also bought frames from Eddy Martens from Belgium (Martelly)
Sirocco
Bicycles built by former cyclist Jacques van de Klundert from Hoogerheide. After his career he started constructing frames in a shed at his house, but after a while his business started to run smoothly because many bicycle repair shops in the area stopped their activities. Adrie van der Poel rode a Sirocco bicycle.
At the time, Jacques van de Klundert drove for the Televizier team of Kees Pellenaars and as a professional cyclist he only won once, namely in 1962 in the Tour of Terneuzen.
His shop still exists and you can see one of his vintage jerseys from the Televizier team hanging behind the counter, more info on www.sirocco.nl
Loverdi
Bicycles built by LOuis Van DIjk from Breda, he also bought frames from Eddy Martens (Martelly)
Cera
Cera was the brand from Cees Raas from 's Heerenhoek. Also a very sounding Italian name. Cees Raas was the brother-in-law of the well-known Dutch professional cyclist Jan Raas. When Jan Raas was still playing soccer in 1968, Cees urged him to start cycling, the rest is history.
Some well-known names who rode around with a Cera racing bike were Cees Priem, Cees Bal
In the Netherlands there is even a Cera club for enthusiasts and owners of a Cera bicycle> more info on the facebook page CeraRetro
Jan Raas in his amateur period on a Cera bicycle
Peka
Peka was the brand of Peperkamp from Amsterdam. The name Peka is a combination of Peperkamp and the name of his wife. Peter Serrier, Jan Kneppers, Klaas Kwantes, well-known frame builders once worked there.
Piet first worked at bicycle shop Smit in Amsterdam, at the time one of the largest bicycle dealers. In 1972 Piet founded his own business and started making his own frames under the brand name Peka. In the 1980s he stopped his business and moved to Spain.
Romany
Romany was the brand of Ad van Overveld from Zegge. It was his father who started the business in 1933, but it was Ad himself who invented the Romany brand. The most famous athlete who drove a Romany was duathlete Huub Maas who became duathlon world champion in 2002.
Foto’s van Stalenfiets.wordpress.com
Empella
Empella verwijst naar Ad van Empel die in 1981 startte met zijn eigen fietsmerk Empella. De fietsenwinkel bestaat nog steeds. Ad is trouwens de grootvader van Fem Van Empel die momenteel ongenaakbaar is in het veldrijden en de ene na de andere overwinning behaalt.
Vittorio
Vittorio was the brand of Jan de Groot from Alkmaar. He founded it in 1935 and in 2003 it was taken over by Ton Berkhout. The name Vittorio did not originate in the 1970s when it was fashionable to give the bicycles an Italian name. Maybe Jan de Groot already knew that an Italian name sold better.
Colossi
Jan Kole founded the Colossi brand in 2005, which specializes in handmade bicycles. The company is located in China. Jan Kole is an ex cyclist who started a small company after his career in 1982 and made handmade frames on demand.
He did this until 1990 when he started importing frames from Taiwan and China to Europe. First for Jan Janssen and later also for Union, Sparta, Batavus and Gazelle.
In 2005 he finally returned to his passion: making frames manually.
Vagacini
The Vagacini brand is from Rens Van Ganzenwinkel and stands for VAn GAnzenwinkel CycleImport Nederland Italie which sounds very Italian
Dit bericht bekijken op InstagramМой новый старый друг 😊 #vagacini #bikeporn #vintagebike #bike #colnago
Cascarsi
Is the brand of Wielerhuis De Meulenreek Geffen, Oss and Den Bosch. Ad van de Meulenreek bought the frames in Italy and assembled them in his studio in Geffen. At one point there were 2 dealers in the Netherlands, 1 in Belgium and even 1 in the Netherlands Antilles.
Corsoli
Private label of Johan Rijwielen Lippenhuizen, the name comes from the earlier flowerCORSO in LIppenhuizen. They opened their doors in 1977 and recently retired in 2017 after 40 years of activity.
Gellini
Bicycle brand by Jelle Offenga from Franeker
Dit bericht bekijken op InstagramOn the way. #schweiz #zurich🇨🇭 #kreis4 #steelframe #gellini #empella #shimano
Giovanni
Giovanni is the racing bike brand of Piet and Ria Slikker who founded Slikker Sport in 1976. The Giovanni brand quickly became a concept, in addition to road bikes, they also made track bikes.
Laurens ten Dam's first bicycle was a Giovanni, which he had converted into a fixie a few years ago. Marijn De Vries even wrote an article about it > read more (in Dutch).
foto Stalenfiets.wordpress.com
Besini
Private label of Bes Sport from Haarlem
Foto Klassieke Racefietsen Haarlem
Pherini
Bicycle brand of P. Heerings Tweewielencentrum from Eindhoven, still exists.
foto Edwin Gieske
foto Edwin Gieske
Germi
Germi was the bicycle brand of Gerrit de Weerd from Hilversum. Germi originated from the words GERrit and MIen, his wife. Gerrit started his business in 1951 and stopped in 1981, when Jan Van Zuijlen took over the business.
Gerrit had his frames made by Jasper Bouma van Jabo and then assembled them in his own office.
Graham Webb rode a Germi bike when he became amateur world champion in 1967. He also won the Ghent Six Days on a Germi track bike the same year.
Azzini
Azzini is the private brand of Simon Van Vliet from Almelo
Olympia
Olympia was the house brand of Rein Ruitenbeek from Hilversum called Olympia Sport. In many bicycles you see the initials RR engraved
Marciato
Brand of Marc Guns who was once an apprentice of Remy
Corano
Corano bicycles were made since the 1980s by Kees Noorloos from Waalwijk. Since 2017, the new owner is André van Gessel and the store is called Bicycle specialist store Maddex.
The name Corano comes from COrnelis Anthony NOorloos. Not an Italian flag on the decals, but a Dutch one.
foto Roogbikes.nl
Remy
Remy is ook een Nederlands merk dat nogal Italiaans klinkt. Of het de bedoeling was, is mij niet duidelijk. In alle geval is Remy ook een samentrekking van de voornamen van REné Wouters en diens vrouw MarY. Het merk Remy werd overgenomen door oud wielrenner Henk van der Kloof toen René overleed in 1956.
Het merk Remy is echter geassocieerd met Marten van den Bergh die altijd fietsframes voor het bedrijf heeft gemaakt en een prima vakman was. Onder andere Cees Raas van Cera leerde bij hem het vak.
In 1980 toen van den Bergh op pensioen ging, stopte ook Henk van der Kloof met zijn activiteiten waardoor het merk Remy ophield te bestaan. Marten van den Bergh, ook beter bekend als Marten van Toepse is ondertussen ook al overleden.
Meer info over Remy fietsen vind je op facebook op de pagina Remy Rijwielen Ossendrecht
foto dankzij Stephan Verhaerdt
Cupini
Over het merk Cupini is weinig gekend, enkel dat het fietsen afkomstig waren van De rijwielfavoriet in Schiedam. Dick Langkruis bouwde op verzoek fietsen onder de naam Cupini. Je kon zelf de onderdelen die je op je fiets gemonteerd wou zien, kiezen.
Colmo
Een zeer Italiaans klinkende naam maar zeker niet Italiaans is het merk Colmo. Info over dit merk is altijd welkom
