Gallery: Italian style at Expobici

The Expobici bike show in Padua, Italy is the biggest it has ever been, in its seven years of existence. Enthusiastic retail customers, who roam the halls the first two days of the show prior to the single dealer-only day. Expobici has now become the only bike show in Italy, thanks to an agreement with ANCMA, the long-time organizer of the Milan bicycle and motorcycle show. There had been vicious competition between the two shows, but they struck a deal. ANCMA has agreed to stop running its bicycle show, thus leaving the playing field open for Expobici. Expobici’s exhibits are dispersed throughout a number of pavilions as well as in the outdoor spaces between pavilions. There are indoor test tracks as well as large areas devoted to bicycle tourism, not only to different areas of Italy, but also to other European countries. And while the rise of Asian production has not been kind to the mighty Italian bike industry, it has survived the onslaught better than any other European countries’ bike industries. There are still many Italian brands coming up with innovative and relevant products.

If you’re going to ride your bike in the Dolomites (which was Austrian until WWI and still is largely German-speaking) and on into Austria, you might as well wear this lederhosen kit from SoulLimit. You’ll also fit right in at Oktoberfest in Munich. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

I rode to the show from my hotel each day without bringing a lock thanks to Expobici’s Bike Guardian system, which is designed to provide security in urban settings for bike commuters. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

When you check in with Bike Guardian, you get this numbered card and a matching one that is zip-tied to your bike. The card gives you access to the storage area by swiping its magnetic strip on the card reader to the right of the curved doors, causing them to open. Once inside, the doors shut behind you, and you have to stand on a sensor plate to trigger the second set of doors to open into the bike storage area. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Upon retrieval of your bike via the double-door system, an attendant will make sure that the code on your magnetic card matches the one zip-tied to your bike. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Casati’s carbon DNA disc model can be ordered custom sized, just like all of its frames. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Gianni Casati and his sons still make all of their bikes in their shop in Monza, including the full carbon models. The carbon tubes come from a manufacturer in Ravenna specializing in Formula 1 parts. Casati miters the tubes with an abrasive disc to avoid tearing any fibers and to achieve a perfect fit from tube to tube. After applying a layer of glue to the tube intersection, the joints are wrapped in carbon fiber and compression-cured. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

This steel road disc model, the DNA, is made specifically for the U.S. market. It will accept up to 30mm tires and has internal routing for hoses and cables, front and rear, as well as Casati’s signature seatpost wedge clamp concealed in the top tube. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Casati reinforces the DNA’s disc mount with a curved bridge between the chainstay and seatstay. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Like many other disc forks for 2015, Casati’s has internal hose routing. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Casati still makes lugged steel custom frames with custom lug work. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Effetto Mariposa (maker of Caffé Latex sealant) is hoping to have answered the wishes of tubular tire users everywhere with its new Carogna gluing tape. The problem is that, other than with a Tufo, which is not stitched together (and offers its own gluing tape for its tires) the interface between the rim and the tire is far from uniform, due to the bulge formed by the stitching. This means that the adhesive holding the tire onto the rim needs to be more than just sticky; it also needs to be structural, to fill large gaps and still hold strongly. Carogna promises exactly that. The rim-side adhesive, which is under the release film, is sticky, but not ridiculously sticky, and the side is firm to the touch. The other side, however, is ridiculously sticky and soft. It is hard to pull your finger off when you touch it. This tire-side adhesive is designed for holding underwater cables together and stays sticky under tough conditions.

Effetto Mariposa claims that Carogna tape will work as well as a good glue job, because the soft, tire-side adhesive material will gradually flow over a couple of days to fill the gaps between rim and tire and will hold the tire with a relentless grip. It claims that it will even work well on cyclocross tires, which face the added issues of having a larger radius of curvature than the rim bed, lower tire pressure, and higher leverage due to their taller height. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

For those of us who hate the relentless ticking noise that happens on many deep-section carbon wheels, Effetto Mariposa has a solution. Instead of resorting to wrapping a piece of electrical tape around the valve stem to keep it from rattling in the valve hole, use this little piece of Effetto Mariposa Shelter. Shelter is a clear, flexible, adhesive-backed, super impact-absorbing material that is perfect for chainstays. It can make all the difference on a cyclocross or mountain bike by quieting the chain noise and keeping the chainstay’s finish as good as new. Effetto Mariposa now includes little “silencer” pieces cut for the valve stem with every package of Shelter. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

With the proliferation of bamboo bikes on the market, it was inevitable that faux bamboo would follow. Troiano’s steel fixie has every part painted to look like bamboo – even the seatpost, stem, and wheels. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Fixie riders often wish to express their creative side, and this one from Troiano, signed by its painter, does just that. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

The liberation of Italy from the south through the Apennines by the US Army in WWII left an indelible impression on the Italian psyche. Troiano’s US Army fixie model has the riveted motif and red-headed bombshell of US Air Force planes of the era. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

There is a compelling technical story about Vittoria wheels, but this little QR code is what really sets them apart. This code, if it works as Vittoria says, will provide complete traceability of the wheel in perpetuity, from sales to repairs. Using your smartphone, you will be able to access the wheel’s entire history—when it was made, the QC checks it passed, when it was sold, if it was ever repaired (by a Vittoria-authorized service center), what repairs were done, and if it was ever reported stolen. Vittoria claims that it is only the second company in the sporting goods sector to use QR technology this way, the other being Adidas. The sticker cannot be peeled off without breaking it. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Vittoria will offer eight road wheel models and four MTB models, ranging from $1,800 to $300. All will come with wheel bags. This is the Elusion Nero AS road wheel with a special brake track coating. All Vittoria road and MTB products will now be under the Vittoria name (i.e., the Geax name is no more). Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Vittoria came up with an easily-replaceable freehub body for its wheels; you simply pull the end cap off with your fingers, and then you can pull the freehub body off. Since the freehub body is just a hollow shell with teeth inside and just one bearing at the narrow end, it is intended to be relatively inexpensive ($25). Vittoria’s design allows riders to avoid unscrewing the lockring and pulling the cogs off of the freehub to change gear clusters. Instead, they can just have a second freehub body with a second cassette on it. Then, switching is be a matter of seconds to pull the end cap and the entire freehub body with the cogs in place and slap on the other one. Plus, it would give the rider the opportunity to glom some new grease on the teeth and pawls, something most riders neglect for extended periods. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Vittoria’s carbon wheels, like this 46mm-deep Qurano 46, are laid up with a super-thin layer of nanotechnology Graphene, a material which adjusts its atoms in a given direction based on energy input. The Graphene adds essentially no weight, yet it is claimed to take 20 percent of the heat out of the braking surface while also stiffening the wheel. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Does the world need another wheel company? Vittoria asked itself this when considering entering the market, as their count showed that there were already 146 other brands of bicycle wheels on the market. Vittoria went ahead and became the 147th (with wheels like this 84mm-deep Qurano 84), however, as it decided that nobody had really “put the consumer at the center” in the way it intends to. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

All Vittoria wheels come with this multi-tool, which is supposed to be able to fix whatever might ail the wheel. Among the tools on it are internal and external spoke-nipple wrenches of different sizes, spoke-gauge measuring notches, a valve-core remover, hex keys and tire levers. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Canondale does custom paint jobs for riders besides Peter Sagan! Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

I’m not sure if the rider of this electric bike with a sidecar for a wheelchair is supposed to be the wheelchair owner, or whether someone will actually ride in the wheelchair while someone else pedals the bicycle. Probably the latter, or the market would be very small indeed. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Become a Member

Already have an account? Sign In

Outside Watch

Outside Learn

Podcasts

Maps

Events

New NFTs

Outside+

Shop

Advocacy

Become a Member

Already have an account? Sign In

Brands

Outdoor

Healthy Living

Endurance

Industry

Gallery: Italian style at Expobici

Lennard Zinn takes in the Expobici show in Padua, Italy, which is the biggest it's ever been

Stay On Topic

Technical FAQ: Tire rolling-resistance testing methodology and verification

Technical FAQ: More options for adjusting bike fit dimensions

Technical FAQ: Factory chain lube, elliptical subcompact chainrings

Share this

Join VeloNews.com

Join VeloNews.com

Weekly Newsletter