Monday, September 23, 2013

Legnano, the Brand Will Continue On

After resolving a licensing agreement issue in 2010 with Bianchi, who had acquired the famous brand, the Bozzi family has once again moved ahead to revitalize the historic brand. The Bozzi family has now licensed the Legnano brand to Cicli Esperia of Cavarzere; Cicli Esperia is also the owner of the Frondriest and Torpado brands.

The new Legnano models were introduced this past week at EXPOBICI; I hope to have photos in near future. 

Legnano is a very famous name in Italian cycling although the name has virtually disappered; they remain quite popular with vintage bike collectors however. The list of Legnano victories is long:

16 Giro d' Italia
1921 Brunero 1922 Brunero 1924 Enrici 1925 Binda
1926 Brunero 1927 Binda 1928 Binda 1929 Binda
1930 Marchisio 1932 Pesenti 1933 Binda 1936 Bartali
1937 Bartali 1940 Coppi 1946 Bartali 1958 Baldini

2 Tour de France
1938 Bartali 1948 Bartali

14 Giro di Lombardia
1923 Brunero 1924 Brunero 1925 Binda 1926 Binda
1927 Binda 1928 Belloni 1931 Binda 1936 Bartali
1939 Bartali 1940 Bartali 1941 Ricci 1946 Ricci
1950 Soldani 1952 Minardi

10 Milano - Sanremo
1922 Brunero 1924 Linari 1925 Girardengo 1926 Girardengo
1929 Binda 1931 Binda 1939 Bartali 1940 Bartali 1941 Favalli
1947 Bartali

7 Road World Championships
1927 Binda 1929 Bertolazzi 1930 Binda 1932 Binda
1955 Ranucci 1958 Baldini 1988 Fondriest

15 Road Italian National Championships

1924 Girardengo 1925 Girardengo 1926 Binda 1927 Binda
1928 Binda 1929 Binda 1930 Binda 1937 Bartali 1940 Bartali
1942 Coppi 1943 Ricci 1956 Albani 1957 Baldini
1958 Baldini 1963 La squadra


Hour World Records
7 December 1942 Fausto Coppi km. 45.848
9 Septemeber 1956 Ercole Baldini km. 46.394 (bicycle with claimed weight of 6.7 kg)

And,  numerous other victories such as in Giro del Piemonte, Giro di Toscana, etc.

I don't know if the history of the brand will be enough to bring it back to life. The field is terribly crowded. What do you think?

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1 comment:

  1. Larry sez - this bicycle with Legnano's name on it, could be very attractive
    http://www.albabici.com/fondriest/sf2/sf2-mp.htm
    to some of us old guys.

    ReplyDelete