chapter 4: cino the indefatigable dreamer

Cino Cinelli’s great autonomy of thought, his stubbornness, his passion for the well-being of the cyclist and his meticulous technical preparation as a professional athlete all led him to become a truly indefatigable dreamer of new technical solutions to performance cycling that would go beyond any exist notion of what a saddle or stem or set of pedals or even a cycling company could be.

In fact whilst the list of revolutionary, industry-shifting inventions developed by Cino Cinelli is long what seems so remarkable today is the pure breadth of Cino’s inventions.

In fact at any one time between the 1960s and 70s Cinelli offered its clients: 

• The world’s undisputed best aluminium stems and handlebars
• Italy’s most exclusive (and perhaps most expensive) racing frame, the Supercorsa
• The world’s first plastic bodied saddle, Unicanitor, offered both naked and in a sophisticated range of leathers
• The world’s best traditional leather pedal straps, developed by Fausto Coppi’s mechanic Alfredo Binda, of which Cinelli owned an exclusive global license
• The world’s first clipless pedal, M71, introduced in 1971, 13 years before LOOK would launch its first pedal
• The world’s first and only bivalent hub i.e. a set of identical hubs – developed and manufactured in collaboration with Campagnolo and Regina – in which the cassette could be attached to either of the wheels, allowing for front and rear wheel to become interchangeable
• Columbus tubing – the world’s most respected cold-drawn tube for performance racing bicycles -  of which it was the worldwide exclusive distributor

This breadth of offering speaks volumes to Cino’s unstoppable imagination and to the hybridity, open-mindedness, experimental and transversal nature of the brand which has continued to define the brand over the last 75 years, from its Laser frames, Danese helmets, Art Program cycling caps, performance track bikes, urban track bikes, pioneering carbon fiber gravel bikes, the Nemo, the Ciao t-shirt and so many more.