Disappeared bicycle brands: Fangio bicycles

Last week (beginning of September 2022) I rode my bike in the center past the bike shop of Cycling Fangio and noticed to my surprise that the shop has a different name. The neon sign has disappeared and has been replaced by a new one bearing the name Raida.

Large bicycle dealers buying up small bicycle shops, a trend that has been going on for several years now, which means that another renowned Belgian bicycle brand is disappearing.

Creation of Cicli Fangio

Cycling Fangio, also known as Cicli Fangio was founded by Guido Reybrouck, an ex teammate of Eddy Merckx, at the end of his career. The name Fangio came from Guido's son who took over the business in 1994.

Especially in the 1970s, Fangio was a well-known name in the cycling world when they had a professional cycling team with some big names such as Dirk Demol, Michel Vaarten, Danny Clark and Eric Van Lancker.

The biggest victories achieved on a Fangio bike are the Tour of Ireland in 1980 by Dave Cuming, Le Samyn in 1983 by Jacques van Meer, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 1985 by William Tackaert, the Bremen Six Days in 1985 by Gary Wiggins (indeed the father of Bradley Wiggins) and Nokere Koerse by Luc Colijn in 1986.

Below you will find the full list of professional teams that once rode a Fangio road bike

• 1979: Fangio – Iso-Bel
• 1980: Fangio – Amerlinckx – Campagnolo
• 1981: Fangio – Sapeco – Mavic
• 1982: Fangio – Assos – IM Iveco
• 1983: Fangio – Tönissteiner – IM Trucks – Mavic
• 1984: Fangio – Marc – Ecoturbo
• 1985: AVP – Viditel
• 1985: Fangio – Ecoturbo – Eylenbosch
• 1986: Fangio – Caroche

In 1987, the Fangio – Caroche team became the well-known ADR team, which achieved success in the Tour de France in 1989 with the victory of Greg Lemond over Laurent Fignon. The most exciting Tour ever won by Lemond by just 8 seconds ahead of Fignon.

Features Fangio bicycles

Steel vintage Fangio racing bikes can be recognized by the decals on which the Fangio brand is mentioned, but also by the pantos in the frame and the front fork with the stylized letter F. Of course, this only applies to the better bikes.

However, the first teams rode on an Alan bike, which had Fangio's decals attached in addition to Alan's decals. The Fangio decals are in the same style as the Alan decals and you can also find them on other steel bicycles. After a few years, the decals got a new look.

Along with the acquisition of Fangio bicycles, the acquisition of Ampello bicycles, the bicycle brand of bicycle maker Ampe from Torhout, also happened. You will soon find more about this (historical) bicycle brand in another article.