Who currently makes Mondonico frames?
 

Hi,

Does anyone know who now makes Mondonico frames? I've read online that the Mondonico family have closed their frame building shop.
These frames are available through many sources and I'm interested in either a Futura Leggero or Spirit frame to build with Campy Chorus parts. I really want a hand-built Italian steel frame and it's a toss up between Mondonico or Pegoretti.
I'm leaning toward Mondonico because the Pegoretti frames are sooo expensive.

Thanks!
Mike

Mauro Mondonico works for Columbus. His Dad was the man behind the frame building in the beginning.
If you visited NAHBS this year you would have seen him at the Columbus stand
he is the chap on the left of the picture.

I say get the Pego, it is only $
and you know you will enjoy the bike
and that is what matters
in fact, I would to Italy and meet Dario
and the Mrs or girlfriend will enjoy Venice, as it is just down the road from Caldnazzo.........

Thanks! I originally posted the comment in the Road section without any response. I'll try the Mechanics section.

Thanks Silverbraze! It will be a while till I can afford the Pego though. Any thoughts on the De Rosa Neo Primato or Colnago Master X-Lite?

I'd probably shoot for the DeRosa.

Road Fan,
I'm curious why you said to shoot for the De Rosa.

Thanks,
Mike

Sheesh, I totally forgot about this thread!

Mike, my reasoning is that I have a good friend who loves his DeRosas, and no experience of Pego beyond magazines and on-line chatter, most of which re-hashes what's in magazines.

I wonder if anyone has any new information about the current building of Mondonico frames. Torelli seems to still be selling them through its dealers, but are they still built in the traditional way, with pins?

Any knowledge of any other builders currently using pins?

Lots of custom builders do....but why would it matter to a customer?

Richard Sachs wrote an article in which he vehemently defended this method.

For a Mondonico it would be a sign that the new builders are following Mondonico's traditional methods.

For others, probably would not help me so much.

Grandis? Tommasini? Both amazing builders.

The porcupine method. Must have had a bad acupuncture experience. Actually, his method is planned to control the movement much more than they typical production shop that pins frames just to get them out of the expensive tooling. If he built differently he would not need them as much, but he has adapted a method that probably keeps scrap to a minimum.

Interesting, can you explain further?

try this site. http://www.smartcycles.com/about_mondonico.htm

I'm not sure what he is doing now but Mauro recently left Columbus.

Dave

I know that site, but it essentialy says the same thing (to be fair, I looked 3 weeks ago) it did a number of years ago, describing pinned construction as used by Antonio Mondonico. Now it's 6 years later, Antonio has finished delivering his last order book and retired, Mauro took another job (may have left, per Dave Kirk), and others are delivering the Mondonico product which Torelli still distributes.

Who, how good are they, and are they still pinned?

My focus is to decide if my new steel road bike will be a modern Mondonico. As I said, I find my current early '80s to be the best thing I've owned.

The site now says that the Taverna Brothers are the builders. Any intelligence or opinions about them and their products?

Yeah, I know! Too much top tube for me.

thread dredge here! Sorry!

I've read that the new builders of Mondonicos were Billato brothers (per Smart Cycles and other posters on different sites). I don't think the newer frames are pinned, but that is only my impression from stuff I've read. I have an EL OS Futurra Leggero and it is one of the nicest riding frames I've ever owned.

Since the previous update I spoke to Smart on the phone, and they said the quality of the current Mondonico product was well below where Antonio's had been, and that it was not likely to continue. I don't know which builder(s) they are talking about specifically, but I have noticed that Torelli's on-line info has become much more sparse than it was a number of years ago.

However, Smart is trying to float a new Italian bicycle brand, Il Massimo, which seems to be similar to Torelli's Torelli brand, started by Former Chairman Bill Semanian. So I don't know how seriously to take any of this.

The result for me is that I've given up on trying to get a modern Mondonico. I'm not even interested in buying a 2005 or earlier, because the ones I've seen float in the market for months plus, and I know that would be my situation when I'd be ready to sell. It's too bad!

Why would that stop you? It's not that the Mondonicos are not great frames. It's the market. In the last 2 years, I have seen some CRAZY deals. About 9 months ago, I saw a 2010~ Molteni Colnago Master X Lite with Record 10 sell for $1400 on fleabay. There is a De Rosa Neo Primato frameset that has been up on the bay twice recently, starting at $599 and it expired without a single bidder, both times. Both are examples how much of a buyer's market is. Sorry- you probably are well aware of this- don't mean to preach to choir. :)

Anyhow, my point is that I think you should not give up on a Mondo. They are some of the best frames ever. Especially those made by Antonio himself. What size do you need? There is a size 56 yellow monostay Futura Leggero on SF craigslist. I recall it was only $600 but don't know how good a condition it is in. It looked pretty pristine in the ad but as always, ask for close-up pics if you are really interested. As reference point, I paid $750 for my 2005 about 2 years ago. I was told by the shop that I bought it from, that it was one of the last made by Antonio. It was worth the cost to me. Mine is white (my favorite color for bike frames) and was basically NOS. Not a single scratch or mar or rub on it, and I am not exaggerating. I recently bought another, older (~1999-2001) Futura Leggero fastback (regular stays) made of Columbus Brain tubing for the gruppo that was on it. Pulled the Chorus 10 alloy group off it and put it on my ~2008 Tommasini Tecno. BTW, I like my Mondo better than my Tomo.

I am in search for my next steel quest. I want a De Rosa Primato in EL OS or a Neo Primato. Would have bought the one on ebay but it was the wrong size, but only barely.

Good luck and don't give up on a Mondo!

What stops me is that they have been hard to sell. There are crazy prices out there, but nobody knows they are great frames, and there is so much skepticism about "heavy" steel and unknown Italian builders. I don't believe it's just the market, because at $600, a handmade Italian modern steel bike with fully functional 8 or 10 speed Record or Chorus should be moving fast. But honestly, Torellis, Chairman Bill's bargain basement "I won't tell you who made these, but boy were they great!" bikes sell better AND HIGHER. And with Cromor, not just with Nemo 747. Buyers who are not Italian geeks do not know what they're looking at, and most road buyers want 16 lb max or anything carbon, dude.

That is what stops me; what I've noticed after monitoring this market for about three years.

If yoiu've read my posts you know I own one, so I don't need to be brought into the fold. I paid $600 for one with Shimano 600EX pre-indexing, nearly new in 1985. It's a phenomenal bike.

I'm glad you like yours. There's a $600 red Futura Leggero in 56 cm Brain with 8-speed on Arizona CL now. Go for it.

Anyone sees a EL monostay like the one below in a 61CM PLEASE PM me.

There's a shop in Detroit that has a used 57 cm Futura Leggero EL-OS non-monostay frame/fork. Great price, but too big for me.