Until the 1970s, Universal brakes were the biggest competitor of the French Mafac and the Swiss Weinmann. From then on, Campagnolo and later Shimano came on the market with complete groups: crankset, derailleur, hubs, pedals, seatpost and also brake levers and calipers.
The hegemony of Universal, Mafac and Weinmann was broken and then things went downhill fairly quickly with these historic brands. Universal closed its doors in the early 1990s after 3 generations.
Universal brakes
Origin Universal
In 1919, the brothers Eugenio and Carlo Pietra founded their company in Milan . They were initially specialized in the production of small parts for jewellery, watches, ..., front forks for motorcycles, war material and other items such as toy cars with pedals for children. 200 copies of their first metal car were made, but it was not a commercial success. The car was way too expensive.
The name Universal, which many do not know that this was an Italian company, is because English names were fashionable at the time and had a much more international appearance.
There are 2 versions about Eugenio and Carlo's interest in the bicycle industry. The first is that a customer could not pay his bills and therefore paid with molds and machines to make brakes. The second is that it was on the advice of Ugo Bianchi, who was a distant relative.
Anyway, at that time the brakes used by the most famous Italian bicycle manufacturers: Atala, Bianchi and Legnano were from the English brand Bowden or from the Swiss brand Weinmann and the Pietra brothers decided to break this monopoly.
The successful years
The first collaboration with a professional team was with Legnano where Ugo Bianchi was the chief mechanic. Then it went quickly with the successes of Giuseppe olmo on a Bianche with Universal brakes in Milan Sanremo of 1935, the successes of Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Rik Van Steenbergen, Louison Bobet, Rik Van Looy and so on for a while.
In enkele jaren had Universal het monopolie van Weinmann, Bowden en Mafac doorbroken en was nu zelf de grootste leverancier van remmen in het prof wielrennen. Deze alleenheerschappij eindigt in 1968 wanneer de laatste prof wielerploeg de samenwerking met Universal stopt. Campagnolo kwam toen immers op de markt met zijn groepen waarbij ook de remmen zaten. Tegen deze gigant kon zelfs Universal niet op.
Universal has tried to partner up with Campagnolo and there was even the idea of launching its own group, but the idea disappeared in the wastepaper basket. After years of loss, the factory was finally closed in 1992.
Enkele ploegen die Universal sponsorde waren Azzini US – Universal in 1940 en Azzini – Freni – Universal in 1946.
The most famous Universal models are the following:
- Universal mod. 51
- Universal Extra mod. 453949
- Universal mod. 61
- Universal Super 68
The Universal models are easy to date because the model number corresponds to the year it was released.
Although Universal has not produced brakes for years, the factory still exists and there is still a huge amount of material available such as brake levers, brake calipers packed in the original boxes, posters, advertising panels, the original molds, even old catalogs. Collectors of vintage bicycles who need a certain part to restore their steel bike can still come here.
