Colnago Bought by Middle East Oil Money
 

...I sincerely hope this does not degenerate into another chain lube thread.

Uhmmm.....Melted wax still works very well for chains.......
Oh,..... Abu Dhabi company bought Colnago?? Why?? :rolleyes::D

Ernesto sells off the biz
 

He is 88, so retirement is allowed.
of the eponymous brands that come to mind, what has been the observations? Others to add? Many don’t make it beyond the founders.
some return later.

Pinarello-

Eddy Merckx-

Gios-

Masi-

the last two are kind of special cases-
there are two Gios brands with different geographic control

the Masi brand spilt pretty early- with Alberto continuing in Europe with his signature and his father selling off the rights elsewhere.

should be noted that the last two have continued for a long time after the initial bisection.

Money to be made
Louis Vuitton at one time was a minor luxury brand until it was sold off.

I asked elsewhere about the other eponymous brands

I hope the family will keep the museum.

merged duplicate threads.

Be prepared for prices to soar (sore!)....ever see the supercars wasting away in the desert garages?
Best, Ben

Makes total sense, since Colnagos are now plastic. Need to use that oil somehow.

Then give a reason why you posted this bit of news here...

Surprised LVMH didn't buy them.

I thought of that too.
Or Prada. (at least they are Italian)

Someone still has oil money? This is good news!

Cinelli. Sold 1978.
Frejus. Sold 1946.
Bianchi. Sold 1997.
Olympia. Sold 1960.

Seems like a good time for them to diversify. ;)

And in comparison, De Rosa was taken over by the sons.

Schwinn. Sold 2001.

What is Colnago, anyway? For many years it has been a company that employs a few Italians to "design" frames that are engineered and manufactured by a subcontractor in Taiwan. I think maybe the C60 is the only model still manufactured in Italy, and again by a subcontractor. I have no intention of saying this situation is wrong or bad, but given this info it's hard for me to be sad about a formality such as legal ownership changing hands.

Tommasini is supposedly in the hands of his children (daughters doing admin), and I'm pretty sure Basso has the second generation involved as well (although I don't now how much). Daccordi was already second generation in the '80s, so there must be even more family involved at this point. A lot of the "smaller" Italian brands are lesser known for exactly this reason. They preferred to keep the business in the family and keep things at a consistent level rather than making larger investments (and taking on debt or giving up some share of ownership) in order to boost the profile of the brand internationally.

I can't really see what this investment company plans to do with the brand, unless they are hoping it can become the "Italian" equivalent of Giant, Specialized, Trek... The name Chimera is already a worrying sign, considering what it means, so who knows what the real story is.

When I was in Italy I used to work as a consultant for deals like these, and it usually involved a bit of time spent at the factory/headquarters location. Would have been amazing to have been in on this one.

Well it did not end the same as when Ford almost bought Ferrari.
Using that as a segue, Before Ferrari was spun off as a separate company from Fiat, they stated that they would limit production to 7,500 per year...
Now, expect soon to overtop 10,000 units per year, and I think that was before the eventual crossover. The Purosangue due in 2021.

There might be a return to the Win on Sunday, sell on Monday plan.

I think the steel frames are still made in Italy. At least they were a couple years ago.

There were bicycles manufactured after 1994...?

Dream another dream, this dream is over. VH.

I’m glad Ernesto and family got a payday. I’m sure he’s lived comfortably but my guess is not extravagantly. Looking around and seeing the numbers of insanely wealthy around who have contributed nothing to the greater good, I’m glad a bike guy gets to cash in. His family will be Ok for a couple of generations, will probably still work for the company but not have to worry about trying to survive against Trek, Giant, etc. My guess is, even if we are paying attention, we won’t notice a difference.

Cipolloni. Italian-made carbon frames.