World War I is just over when Italian Angelo Luigi Colombo starts producing steel pipes. He starts from the ordinary tubes, good for many applications, but after 6 months he refines the tubes, making them lighter and lighter.
Advertising from 1975
In the early days Colombo mainly supplied pipes to the car and motorcycle industry, Maserati, Ferrari and Moto Guzzi were some of his customers, but also producers of skis and even furniture designers became regular customers and only wanted Colombo pipes. Because of its success and to protect the company, the Columbus brand was registered in 1930.
one of the furniture made with Columbus tubes
However, Angelo's great passion is the bicycle industry and he specializes in tubes for bicycles. A bull's eye because in no time all bicycle repairers knock on Colombo's door and he also starts exporting his pipes internationally.
Some tubes from the wide range
At one point, 900 different Columbus tubes were produced with the purpose to realize increasingly resistant and lighter tubes. It is no coincidence that 11 one-hour world records were set by Merckx, Moser, Anquetil and Bracke, among others, on a bicycle assembled with Columbus tubes.
the typical Columbus stickers
Not only on the track, but also on the road, Columbus triumphs: in the 1980s Bernard Hinault, Moreno Argentin, Greg Lemond and Stephen Roche become world champions on the road with Columbus tubes.
Since 1977, Angelo's youngest grandson, Antonio, has headed the company. He had a major influence on international success, but has also always been open to trends in cycling, such as the use of aluminum and even carbon. In the 1980s he bought the Cinelli company.
Antonio Colombo with one of his masterpieces the Cinelli laser
Due to the increasing use of carbon in the bicycle industry, the production of Columbus steel tubes is limited to exclusive bicycle makers such as Dario Pegoretti, Tiziano Zullo, Richard Sachs, Firely, Stoneridge and Condor Cycle.
Columbus has always guaranteed quality and will always be of a huge importance for producers of steel bicycles.
