UPDATE: I have been informed that Ciöcc, under the current ownership, is not bankrupt. More details to follow in a subsequent blog entry. The frames on the Ciöcc website are still available.
Two items came to my attention recently. The first, a note from a reader reporting that Ciöcc was bankrupt. The second, the new "Pelizzoli World" website and frame building under the name of Pelizzoli. The tie-in is this: Giovanni Pelizzoli was the founder and framebuilder of Ciöcc frames.
Ciöcc is a well known brand in Italian frame building, a name that came about as it was the nicknames of both Giovanni's grandfather and father, and that he decided to use it as the name for his frames.
I asked Pelizzoli to clarify the Ciöcc status and if the implication was that he would not be building any Ciöcc frames in the future. The reply:
"The Ciöcc brand is not within our competence, we sold it a long time ago. You are right about bankruptcy about the last owners. Unfortunately bad business for them, maybe for wrong choices of the past.
We are not happy, Ciöcc is our creation, it is sad to see what has happened.....maybe one day Ciöcc could come back to its first home.
We hope."
Pelizzoli is located at Via Enrico Fermi 24035 Curno (BG) Italy.
History from Pelizzoli website:
"My name is Giovanni Pelizzoli, I was born in Curno on the 01/03/1942 and I began my adventure in the world of cycling at the age of 12; thanks to the passion passed on by my father who was a bicycle mechanic. At the age of 14 I competed in my first bike race, obtaining a good result, which encouraged me in continuing on for the next 3 years.
When I interrupted my racing career I became manager of the junior team and, at the same time, I helped my father fixing bikes. It was in that moment that my dream of building a bicycle from the frame up started growing.
My dream pushed me forward and I started working for an artisan from Bergamo where I learned how to weld and build a frame. Afterwards, once the skills were acquired, I could move on and work with other respected frame builders.
In 1969 I created the brand CIÖCC and built my first frames. The brand was finally sold in 1980.
I worked as a mechanic for the pro team G.S. ZONCA, where Gianni Motta was racing, while producing my CIÖCC bicycles. Great results were achieved in the amateur racing too. In 1977 I won the world cup with Claudio Corti racing one of my bikes. Claudio also won a Giro d’Italia for amateurs and many other races.
A frame that during the years gave me countless victories in the amateurs, the SAN CRISTOBAL, was built In honour of the world title conquered by Claudio.
During the 70’s and 80’s also the polish national team, and some polish racing teams, competed on my bikes. Those collaborations lead to a second place at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, a second place at the Warsaw-Prague-Berlin and victories in many other amateur competitions. All the bicycles used were branded CIÖCC and signed Giovanni Pellizzoli. Signature that guaranteed the brand CIÖCC back then; and the brand PELLIZZOLI today.
In 1993 the company F.LLI MASCIAGHI, owner of the brand Fausto Coppi, put me in charge of the design and manufacturing of both their top line racing frames and of the ones for the pros of Team Polti. The pro team included Gianni Bugno, winner of the Flamish Tour, Mauro Giannetti, Mirko Celestino, Richard Virenque, winner of the pois jersey at the TOUR DE FRANCE, Davide Rebellin and Ivan Gotti, winner of Giro d’Italia.
From 1995 a new team joined the Coppi family; G.S MG. With this new team Gianni Bugno won an Italian championship; racing on the first aluminium frame I built specifically for him. With the same aluminium frame Pascal Richard, Max Sciandri and Ralf Sorensen dominated the first Olympics open to professionals with a 1° 2° and 3° place respectively. In the same team, great results were also achieved by Michele Bartoli, Gilberto Simoni and Paolo Bettini.
With Coppi bikes we manufactured frames also for pro women. Special mentions go to Fabiana Luperini, winner of 5 Giro d’Italia and 3 Tour de France, and the street world champions Alessandra Cappellotto and Staruschaia.
In 2005, the team G.S. Alessia, competed with Coppi bikes too and won a Giro d’Italia with Paolo Savoldelli.
Beside all these successes on the streets, my competence was growing also on track frames. Many track champions like Merlon, Martinello, Villa, Risi and Beusc used my frames. Many frames were also built for the Italian Cycling Federation.
Titanium and Carbon frames were recently introduced in our line and the new factory T.I.T.A.AC. founded.
In recent years, due to the high demand, I got back personally,and with great enthusiasm, into the production of steel frames; making sure that welding and plating are perfect in every little detail.
Since 1983 my bikes are branded PELLIZOLI; a brand, and a signature, that stands for quality."
The website, www.pelizzoliworld.com, also contains a blog and some interesting photos.
UPDATE: I have been informed that Ciöcc, under the current ownership, is not bankrupt. More details to follow in a subsequent blog entry. The frames on the Ciöcc website are still available.
Click on photos to enlarge.
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We remember visiting a guy near Bergamo (which could be Curno since it's nearby) who made frames with GION on the downtube. He said something about being involved with CIOCC during that time but we can't recall if he claimed to be the originator or had the rights to the name. It's great to see frames being made in Italy in any case, no matter whose name is on them or what they're made from!
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