In the 60's, Oliviero Gallegati worked as a mechanic for the Giro d'Italia. Seeing a need to establish standards for Giro mechanics, he established the Società Meccanica (Mechanic's Society) thus creating the acronym for SOMEC frames which he began building in 1973. Not naming frames after oneself in Italy is a rarity among Italian framebuilders.
SOMEC adopted two symbols to identify its brand: the tulip and the prancing horse. The tulip chosen for its elegance, sweetness and variety of colors. The prancing horse, symbol of the famous aviator Francesco Baracca Lugo. When you see the SOMEC logo, do not be confused with Ferrari. As the story goes, back in ancient history when Oliviero and Enzo Ferrari both wanted to show the Cavallino on their product, they came to an agreement as fellow "Romagnesi": Ferrari would put the tail up, SOMEC the tail down. They have never argued from that day.
SOMEC has created some very beautiful bikes through the years, and they continue in business today, building carbon, steel, aluminum and titanium frames. They can be found at:
Somec Srl
Via S. Martino, 1/A
S. Agata sul Santerno (RA)
www.somec.com
Photos: vintage steel SOMEC bikes, pantographed Campagnolo Delta brake, Carbon SOMEC
Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome, contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,000 stories in this blog, the search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog.
SOMEC adopted two symbols to identify its brand: the tulip and the prancing horse. The tulip chosen for its elegance, sweetness and variety of colors. The prancing horse, symbol of the famous aviator Francesco Baracca Lugo. When you see the SOMEC logo, do not be confused with Ferrari. As the story goes, back in ancient history when Oliviero and Enzo Ferrari both wanted to show the Cavallino on their product, they came to an agreement as fellow "Romagnesi": Ferrari would put the tail up, SOMEC the tail down. They have never argued from that day.
SOMEC has created some very beautiful bikes through the years, and they continue in business today, building carbon, steel, aluminum and titanium frames. They can be found at:
Somec Srl
Via S. Martino, 1/A
S. Agata sul Santerno (RA)
www.somec.com
Photos: vintage steel SOMEC bikes, pantographed Campagnolo Delta brake, Carbon SOMEC
Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome, contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,000 stories in this blog, the search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog.
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