With the racing off-season in full bloom, the past two weeks provided a short window of opportunity to sneak out of the office. But unlike a leisurely jaunt to ride the back roads of Tucson or a few days railing Fruita singletrack, we needed to get some work done (so said the boss). With a week's notice, I was told I needed to, "Pack my bags and grab as many notebooks as I could," because we were off to Italy for a manufacturer meet-and-greet. Part social call, part product fact-finding tour, this trip provided the opportunity to introduce myself to a good segment of the Italian manufacturers who play such a large role in producing many of the products we drool over.

With 18 visits in seven scheduled working days, this wasn't going to be a romp through the vineyards--I was going to have to skip the Milanese discotheques and stick to the interviews. Sure, good times were had--the food is worth the trip alone--but more importantly, I was able to check-out how, where and by whom many Italian cycling products are made. But it wasn't the dry statistics that impressed me the most--carbon production in the U.S. is damn-near identical to that in Italy--it was the emotion behind the product which really left a mark on me. Few companies in the U.S. pour that kind of heart and soul into the products they sell.

Not to say U.S. companies don't have a emotion for the products they produce, but for Italian manufacturers oftentimes business and family are closely related. With generations of family members contributing to the passion of their products, mother, father, brother and sister work hand-in-hand to combine old-world craftsmanship and state-of-the-art design.

It was an eye-opener for me, to say the least. Never before had I had the opportunity to meet some of the biggest names in the business--DeRosa, Colnago, Pegoretti, Campagnolo and Pinarello, just to drop a few names. These are the names that boast a cycling heritage few worldwide companies can match—the following is a brief summary of what's going on inside their hallowed halls. Look for reports every few days right here.

Wednesday December 4Selle Italia (www.selleitalia.com)
Number of Employees: 110 (including the sub-contracted shops)
Number of products produced in 2002: 200,000 (in leather)
What's New: SLK--offers cut-out SLR-like construction in a 185-grampackage

I Didn't Know That:
1. Selle Italia's Steve Merlini showed us a temperature and humidity controlled room where the company stores all of its full grain leather—turns out cows don't come cheap--about $1.5 million in hides were stacked on the shelves around us.
2. Whereas less expensive synthetic saddles can be almost entirely machine-made, real leather saddle must be painstakingly hand-assembled. From cutting, to stretching to sewing (using a sewing machine), your trusty Flite takes about one hour to make.
3. About 10 percent of the pro riders that Selle Italia sponsors request custom saddles. From a simple stitching change (Axel Merckx) to a radical re-design to compensate for a nagging injury, Selle Italia does whatever it can to keep its riders happy.
4. Each pro rider receives five saddles for the season, and interestingly, many are produced using a lower-grade leather which is said to last longer under the countless of hours the pros spend perched on them.
5. Selle Italia offer a online ordering option which allows customers to pick custom colors, stitching and embroidering for those who want to stand out in the pack.

Selle Royal/ Fi'zi:k (www.selleroyal.com/www.fizik.com)
Number of Employees: 300 total (including the sub-contracted shops)
Number of products produced in 2002: 10 million (Selle Royal), 200,000(Fi'zi:k)
What's New: Fi'zi:k's new Aliante is slightly longer and wider to accommodate more rider's (especially mountain biker's) fit needs. Also a new lighter Pave (Fi'zi:k's most popular selling saddle) is in the works.

I Didn't Know That:
1. Christoph Sauser is one of the company's most useful testers offering valuable feedback for both road and mountain versions.
2. Fi'zi:k believes that cut-aways are strictly a design fad—its own independent testing (at the University of Milan) shows that the cut-outs only focus pressure on sensitive areas thereby exacerbating the very problem these popular saddles are designed to alleviate.
3. While some of the saddle components are sourced from around the world (titanium from the U.S.) the company prides itself on Italian-only leather raised locally in near-by Vicenza (the prevailing winds proved their point).

Gaerne (www.gaerne.com/)
Number of Employees: 60
Number of products produced in 2002: 100,200 (Motorcycle boots and cycling shoes)
What's New: Gaerne's Coranta carbon road shoe

I Didn't Know That:
1.The carbon sole (the only all-carbon sole in the business) on the Quaranta road shoe is produced in the same factory as many Ferrari carbon components.
2.Gaerne was founded 40 years ago and first produced hiking boots. In response to his son's needs for a motorcycle boot, the Gaerne's founder started making them. Cycling shoes soon followed.
Gaerne prides itself on using only Italian Tuscan leather

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Reports from Andrew Juskaitis's whirlwind factory tour of Italy will continue on VeloNews.com over the coming weeks.