Bartali Gino

“At the end of 1948, GINO BARTALI left Legnano and decided to race with his own team, Cicli Bartali. The bicycles, for both consumer commercial use and the racing team were produced by Santamaria in Novi Ligure.” (The writer lives in this town).

“Bartali probably chose the Santamaria factory due to Fausto Coppi’s advice (who lived in Novi Ligure). Fausto was a great friend of the brothers Santamaria (the Santamaria brothers built Coppi’s racing bike in 1939 for the Giro of Piemonte, after which Legnano convinced Coppi to move to them for the 1940 Giro d’Italia.)”

“The commercial involvement between Santamaria and Bartali continued until 1955. After that, the Bartali bikes were produced by a low-level factory, Fratelli Margherita near Genoa. I don’t know who produced the bikes Bartali between 1956 and 1959 for racing department, but I’m sure that starting in 1960 the frames of the racing department Bartali were made by Galmozzi … I’m sure because I have a Bartali from San Pellegrino team of 1961, and the frame is made by Galmozzi.”

“This information was confirmed to me by a professional rider from the San Pellegrino team. Galmozzi and Bartali had known each other for many years and were friends from the early 1930s. When Bartali raced for the Legnano, his track bikes was made by Galmozzi and not in Legnano factory!

“From 1956 to 1960s, many of the Bartali high-end racing bikes (not the special racing dept., but normal consumer production) have the Galmozzi style head tube… But production from Galmozzi’s workshop was extremely limited, so it is doubtful that Galmozzi actually built all those frames, more likely that Galmozzi provide some frame components… especially the head tube!”