T-Mar

I always attributed the popularity of Italian racing bicycles to their racing heritage. Nothing breeds sales success like success in high level competition.

The American builders, as a collective whole, laboured over the details and finish more than anybody and offered Campagnolo but they didn't sponsor high profile pro teams.

The British had also had very fine builders and offered Campagnolo but outside of Raleigh they didn't have the financial resources to sponsor pro teams outside the British Isles.

The French had a great racing heritage, arguably greater than Italians, up to the 1970s. However, for the most part their success was tied to big, full range brands like Gitane, Motobecane and Peugeot.

Italy's popularity was also tied to the big, full range brands into the 1970s, with marques like Atala, Bianchi, Bottecchia and Legnano being the most popular during the early 1970s bicycle boom.

Then in 1975, a curious thing happened, the boom went bust. Looking to retain financial liquidity, many of the larger, full range manufacturers ditched their independent American distributors and set up their own USA based sales and distribution divisions in an attempt to retain a large piece of a much shrunken pie. This forced the independent distributors to look for new bicycles and the late 1970s saw a number of smaller, more exclusive brands introduced to the USA, many of them being Italian.

Now, this development was perfectly suited for the avid American cyclist. They'd been through the boom and had gained more knowledgeable about what constitutes a high grade bicycle. They were prepared to ditch their Peugeot or Raleigh for something more exclusive and exotic. As a result, the high end market swung away from Peugeot PX-10 and Raleigh Professionals.

As part of their education, it became known that many of the top riders rode custom manufactured, rebranded frames. Eddy Merckx was the undisputed king of bicycle racing and it became known that he actually rode Colnago, Masi and De Rosa. As a result, the demand for these frames outstripped the supply and when they couldn't be had, the prospective buyer started looking at some of the other Italian brands that were appearing in the American market, like Guerciotti, Pinarello and Rossin.

Penetration into the American market allowed these smaller brannds to grow, to the point where they could start sponsoring pro teams. That was immediate increased stature and racing success was only icing on the cake. Basically, it snowballed throughout the 1980s for the high end Italian manufacturers, with racing success bring increased sales and popularity, which allowed hiring better riders, which created more success in races and in sales.

I think you can look at certain high profile race performances as being instrumental in driving the USA market popularity of the smaller Italian brands.

1. Eddy Merckx, 1972 Hour Record on Colnago.

2. Dave Stoller, 1978, not winning but giving the "good old American try", in Breaking Away on a Masi.

3. Giuseppe Saronni, 1982 World Championship for Colnago.

4. Francesco Moser, 1984 Hour Record for Moser.

5. Alexi Grewal, 1984 Olympic road race victory for Pinarello

6. Stephen Roche winning the Triple Crown (Giro d-Italia, Tour de France, World Championship) for Battaglin.